Museum of the City of New York

Should be a tourist must. History through films, television and artifacts. Floor contents explained by guides, maps and in elevators.
History film in ground floor and film on third.
Small cafeteria and clean bathrooms

Fantastic museum with such a rich history of NYC and well-cultivated exhibits. I’ve been here numerous times a year for several years and it is always fulfilling and engaging.

I highly recommened visiting the museum on your first few days in New York specially if you don't have an idea about the city.

Through July 2024, there is an interesting exhibit about NY in art and pop culture, a real treat for everyone who got introduced to the city through music and films.

Super interesting place.

I came alone and came to learn, which I did.

The history of the city is fascinating, and the museum actually does a superb job is presenting that.

The building is nice, clean and accessible, and not at all crowded. (I went on a Thursday evening).

Also, the gift shop is wild (& made me wish I had more $$$😉)

Would definitely recommend for nerds!

A wonderful "little" museum that included a lot of variety. There were 4 exhibitions in total with each representing a different part of the city's history or culture. I paid 20$ but the entry fee was optional. If you 've already been to the National museum, New York Library and the MOMA this might curb a bit of that tourism itch.

The first floor showed the main history of New york from New Amsterdam to the covid years. There was also a smaller room dedicated to New Yorks food culture.

On the second floor there were two exhibitions with one taking a look into what people find home to be in the big city and the other side showed New Yorks resistance movements and struggles to change society in a variety of ways.

It is definitely worth about 2-3 hours if you want something extra to satiate your curiosity about the "city that never sleeps". Additionally for those that enjoy history take the time to listen to some of the audio files and read the plaques instead of trying to find a famous "selfie picture" since you will be hard pressed to find any there. For art lovers the photos showing peoples ideas of home is a real treat. I had a great time and even if the café was slightly expensive the carrot cake was more made up for it.

The museum is also conveniantly close to Central Park so take a stroll through on your way there or on your way home.

Need to spend more than two hours here. So many good exhibits . The ground floor movie is where to start. The third floor dedicated to movies and art of NYC lots of fun . Check out the book room on 3 take a book place on table and listen to a few minutes from NYC book .

Excellent museum. Worth going every time. At the moment there is a wonderful immersive exhibition "New York in movies". A must see! I also loved the musical display about the different boroughs and their music. Museum shop and café are fine, too. Oh, and don't miss the staircase!

Very nicely organized museum to learn about the city. Lots history to read and love that they high lights lots of individuals as well. It was very cool to see the music section as well as the movie section on the 3rd floor. It might look small compared to other museums in the city but three hours wasn't enough for us to get through everything!!! Will definitely come back soon for more!

It was a nice 10 minutes walk through Central Park to the museum when you take 2 train from the west side! Highly recommended for both New Yorkers and tourists.

Although this is a big tourist destination, I've always heard that the Museum of the City of New York is an absolute must for New Yorkers.

The museum is located on Fifth Avenue at about 103rd street, right across the street from Central Park's beautiful conservatory gardens. Lots to see and do in the area, so make a day of it.

Suggested admission is $20 for adults, but free for anyone under 20 years old. Its about $15 for seniors (65+) and students over 20. There are also discounts available regularly via Groupon or your NYC Library Card. Be sure to check those out before visiting.

I visited on a nice Sunday at around 12:30pm and it was NOT too crowded. There was enough space for everyone to take their time to read and see all of the exhibits without overcrowding.

The Museum is amazing. Essentially three floors of well-designed exhibits offerings lots of information about the beginnings of NYC up through 2020. You'll learn about how New York came to be the iconic city that it is...and journey through its various decades. Though I've always visited museums to learn about other cultures and historic times...it is very different when you have lived through some of the exhibits...9/11...and most recently COVID-19 to name a few.

The first floor is more of the information, taking you through each decade...must like what you would expect from a typical museum. There is also a FOod of New York exhibit currently in place there. The second floor has a lovely photography exhibit displaying photos of the "homes" of New Yorkers and another exhibit covering the various movements throughout the history of New York up through Black Live Matter. The third floor is dedicated to entertainment; music, movie and fashion that were influenced by New York. There is a large room surrounded by large monitors displaying popular New York-based movies...visitors can sit in the middle area and look all around..pretty cool. There is also a basement floor which has an informative movie showing every (30 minutes?!) about New York.

There is a cafe there on the second floor which sells baked items from Amy's Bread.

Street parking isn't bad on the weekends...particularly easy on Sundays when most of the parking restrictions are NOT in effect.

I absolutely loved my visit to the Museum. Although I expected to be in and out in an hour or so...I ended up spending three hours there. While I think this is a great museum for everyone, I absolutely agree that it is a MUST for all New Yorkers.

The museum demonstrates New York City’s history in a very interesting way, and with some interactive installations, it’s such a fun visit! There is a cafe in second floor. And many iconic stories, histories, music, images in the showroom.

Highly recommend checking out this museum if you have even a fractional in the history of the city of New York. The museum itself is a beautiful building from the 1920s with a glorious marble staircase at its center. The exhibits were all marvelously well put together as well very digestible. There is a great 30 min documentary about the evolution of the city (narrated by Stanley Tucci) that plays in the basement. I highly recommend viewing this as it was very informative! A lot of folks seem to miss this when they visit as despite the museum being busy there were only 4 people in the theater including myself!

I personally loved visiting the Museum of the City of New York. It’s a small museum, but as a resident, I loved learning about the history of the city on the first floor. I think that the time lapse videos showing the progression of the density, diversity, and money through time to be absolutely fascinating and a cohesive way to illustrate the history of this amazing city! I highly recommend this museum to any locals to learn more about our great city ❤️