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SORRY, New York. You had your chance. The Dog Museum has abandoned the Big Apple for St. Louis. Was this still another sign of the pervasive problems that experts say are threatening New York's economic base? Is it the final certification that life in New York is not fit for a dog?
Never mind. The New York area still abounds in dozens of institutions dedicated to what the French call the idee fixe: persistent or obsessive themes that surface as odd and quirky or just narrow-focused.
Most of these museum collections grew out of somebody's hobby or passion. A group of pack rats get together, and, lo, a museum is born. Some, in time, are taken over by city, county or educational institutions. Others are supported by small bands of devotees of turn-of-the-century puffer steamboats, passing-strange dolls of every shape, sex and complexion, rinky-tink pianos, exotic rocks, old subway cars and fire engines gleaming bright with the fond applications of untold gallons of Brasso over the decades.
And the list is still growing. Coming soon to Manhattan is a museum celebrating the horse. Another will pay homage to wine.
These days when thousands flock to such standard attractions as the World Trade Center or the New York Stock Exchange, try visiting one of the following museums, where the lines are shorter and the entertainment longer. Museumn of the American Piano 211 W. 58th St., Manhattan (212) 246-4646 Noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Fri.
Suggested donation: $2.50 adults; $2 seniors and students
"I love a piano . . . I love to hear that ragtime tune." Hungarian musicologist Kalman Detrich indulged his love of the piano by founding this world of ebony and ivory in 1984. Here are vintage Steinways, Chickerings, Square Grands - names that bespeak a time when every self-respecting family parlor boasted a piano.
Aunt Len's Doll and Toy Museum 6 Hamilton Terr., Manhattan (212) 926-4172
$2 adults, $1 children; call for appointment.
Aunt Len has amassed 5,000 dolls of every size, age, character and national origin: French, English, Haitian, Filipino; Shirley Temple, Winston Churchill, Muhammad Ali. They've taken over this four-story house, but Aunt Len (collector Lenon Hoyt) can tell you the history of every one.
American Numismatic Museum Audubon Terrace, Broadway at 155th Street,...
