While in New York I stumbled across a bookstore that was so welcoming I returned to it several times throughout my 10-day stay. It’s called Book Culture, it’s independent, and the address is 450 Columbus Avenue between 81st St. and 82nd St.  On my way to the American Museum of Natural History (just across the road), a sudden downpour caused me to take refuge somewhere. And what a delightful place in which to shelter! Book Culture has two other Manhattan locations.  See their link below.  In addition to books, they also sell gift items, cards and stationery.

After browsing for an hour, I purchased a knitted hat made by VERLOOP, a knitwear design studio based in New York, (link below), and a book.

LOCAL GUIDES BY LOCAL PEOPLE

A supperclub on a helipad, dinner in a dumpster, a hidden heavy metal bar in Brooklyn, a dim-sum restaurant that turns into a nightclub, New York’s “most legitimate speakeasy”, a club “not open since 2009”, a Swiss ski chalet accessed through a kitchen, a referral-only Japanese restaurant, a grungy underground sake bar, an open-to-the-public dining room in the United Nations, gourmet donuts inside a car wash, restaurants inside freight entrances …

A hundred places with amazing decor, eccentric owners, bizarre food, old-time survivors and more that will please and astonish underground and post-industrial design buffs, refined gourmets and cocktail drinkers, world food lovers and anyone curious enough to discover the infinite possibilities to have fun in New York.

Latest releases are ‘Abandoned America‘, ‘Secret Washington D.C.‘, ‘Secret London – Unusual Bars and Restaurants‘, and lots of other cities.

Here is one excerpt out of many –

Campbell Apartment

One of the most unique and distinctive spaces in all of New York is hidden in the basement of Grand Central Terminal, yet few of the 750,000 people who pass through the station every day know it exists. Originally the office of tycoon John W. Campbell (a friend of Commodore Vanderbilt, who constructed the station), the Campbell Apartment was restored to its Gilded Age glory in 2007, complete with Oriental rugs, antique Italian furniture, porcelain vases, and a massive stone fireplace.

http://www.bookculture.com/

http://www.verloopknits.com/

http://www.jonglezpublishing.com/en/