Some interesting places/things in NYC for research?

I'm travelling there with a class in about a month, and for an assignment we're supposed to find something to do research on for a project. Since everyone else will probably choose something like the statue of liberty or the empire state building, I'm looking for something more unconventional and fun. Does anyone have any ideas?



(for example: I've been considering the wax museum, parsons school of design, and julliard)Some interesting places/things in NYC for research?
Read Ron Chernow's great biography of Alexander Hamilton and then retrace the places that Hamilton frequented in NYC and sadly NJ .

AH is buried in the churchyard of Trinity church

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi鈥?/a>

If you're musically inclined the pop music that came out of the Brill Building was the music that legends are made of

http://www.spectropop.com/hbrill.html

Staying with the musical theme an incredible amount of great music happened in the small clubs that are on or just off of Bleeker St

Here's a list of who played in just two of those clubs

The Bitter End which is still there and the Bottom Line which isn't

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bitter_鈥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_Line

Speaking of Bleeker St ; my favorite pizza joint in NYC is on Bleeker just SE of 7th Ave

So you could go off on a who's got the best Pizza in NYC tangent

Jones st Intersects Bleeker across the street from Johns

What so important about Jones St ?

The album cover for The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was taken at the corner of Jones and W 4th St

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/vi鈥?/a>

If your tastes lean to the darker side , you could a history of major mob hits in NYC

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime鈥?/a>Some interesting places/things in NYC for research?
How about the history of the legendary CBGB? Especially now that it's closed thanks to an astronomical rent hike (despite protests and efforts to raise funds to save it), it's history is especially interesting. Some of the biggest bands in the world have performed there.



Or how about the history of hip-hop? As you probably know, much of it originated in the Bronx. And NYC is now home to Hip Hop Karaoke. It might be interesting to trace hip-hop's evolution and it's effect on NYC.



Also, I did a pretty cool scavenger hunt once with a company called Watson Adventures (they're sort of like walking tours of the city). It was in Chinatown and Little Italy and talked about all the gangsters who once ran those neighborhoods. Very interesting.



Or how about the history of Coney Island in Brooklyn? That would be fun and interesting. I went to an exhibit about it once and they said that when the Cyclone roller coaster first opened, there was no limit to how many times you could ride. So people would get on and stay on for hours, resulting in massive lines--and eventually fights and murders! The Wonder Wheel is about to celebrate it's 90th anniversary (and I believe still sports a sign boasting that since it opened there have been no fatalities on that ride--which isn't true of other rides at Coney, like the parachute drop). Lots of fun options in New York.Some interesting places/things in NYC for research?
How about the New York Stock Exchange? =)

Find info here:

http://www.quiz-tree.com/New-York_New-Yo鈥?/a>Some interesting places/things in NYC for research?
NYC Public Library, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Cypress Hills Cemetery (in Brooklyn), the Lower East Side, Rockefeller Center........this list could get very long.
how about time square in december or just time square period

central park and the history of it