ABOUT NEW YORK

NEW YORK CITY itself is the most magnificent character in a city of almost nine million people with an extraordinary large cast of amazing characters.  The city is an ever-changing colorful kaleidoscope of American history and culture.  The throbbing soundtrack and rhythms of the city, both exhilarating and maddening, are those of the rattling of subways, the laughter of crowds, screeching cars, police sirens, the honking horns of taxicabs, and, if you're lucky, the sound of jazz played by a street musician.  No other city in the world has New York's combination of excitement, joy, energy, vitality and, most of all, its diversity.    

Paris and Venice have their own beauty and Old World charm, but New York City is uniquely alive and electrifying.  The architecture of the city streets is a magical blend of Old World styles from the 18th and 19th centuries combined with the innovative and revolutionary Art Deco, International Style, and the more recent designs of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  

New York City has been a symbol of freedom, hope, tolerance, power, culture and artistic expression from its early days when it was the Dutch trading post of New Amsterdam.  It's a city of immigrants, a first stop on their journey to freedom and from poverty, and a sanctuary city welcoming immigrants from all over the world.  The hopes and promises of the city and what it means to its almost nine-million residents vary as much as their diversities.  Americans, who do not fit into small town America, may move to the city to find a different kind of home.  For many of them New York City is a sheltering refuge where they are free to be themselves.   

New Yorkers will complain about their city as long as there is a New York.  Living in the city is a big challenge in both good and bad ways.  It's totally impossible to experience all that New York City has to offer.  But, it's amazing to see how well a city of almost nine million people actually works and survives.  This city of beautiful skyscrapers is the country's most loved and most hated city.  Some Americans might think it's a great place to visit, but can't fathom the idea of living here.  Some instantly fall in love and want to be a part of New York, New York "the city that never sleeps."  Thomas Wolfe, author of Look Homeward Angel, said that "One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years."  Some say New York City "is not a place but a feeling."  Others see the city as a decadent Babylon. 

Washington Irving, author of Rip Van Winkle, gave New York City the nickname Gotham comparing the city to the English Village of Gotham of which it was humorously said:  "more fools pass through than remain in it."   Other nicknames have been:  "the Big Oyster," "the Empire City," "the Melting Pot," "A Hell of a Town," and "Little Old Bagdad on the Subway" (the latter by O'Henry).   According to Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, authors of Gotham A History of New York City to 1898, the Lenape tribe gave Manhattan the name "the island or place of intoxication" after the first white men landed and toasted them with an alcoholic drink.  The Lenapes' story also claims that everyone got drunk. 

There are many misconceptions about New York.  Hollywood and the mass media often focus on the negative, i.e., murder and crime.  Despite its reputation, New York City is one of the safest cities in the United States and safer than many smaller American cities.  It is not, as so many think, the most crime-ridden city in America.   St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Chattanooga, and even Little Rock are more dangerous and have higher crime rates.  Crime in New York City rose during the pandemic as it did in many American cities.  There was an increase in subway crime, but, your chances of becoming a subway victim are low.  New York City has other problems such as decaying infrastructure, a divide in inequality, and slum housing.  As in other U. S. cities, New York City has become a city for the rich.   

New Yorkers, especially native New Yorkers, often take New York for granted.  They have become accustomed to all of the advantages of the city.  Many New Yorkers, as well as Americans, have little knowledge of the important role New York City played in American history.  New York Harbor was the entrance to this country for a large number of European immigrants and their city of hope and dreams.  New York City has also had a huge impact on America's economy, culture, entertainment and media, scientific research and technology.   

The first blood shed in the Revolutionary War was in lower Manhattan at the Battle of Golden Hill on January 18, 1770 six weeks before the Boston Massacre.  Important Revolutionary War battles were fought in Harlem Heights, Brooklyn and Staten Island.  The Bill of Rights was written in downtown Manhattan at the first U.S. Congress at the original Federal Hall on Wall Street on September 25, 1789.  George Washington was inaugurated as the country's first President in America's first capital, New York City, also at Federal Hall.  (In 1842, the present Federal Hall National Memorial was constructed on the same site as the original one.)  After the Revolutionary War, New York City's wealth and trading expertise would contribute to the success of the new country.  New Yorkers played significant roles in the administration of George Washington.  Alexander Hamilton served as Washington's aide-de-camp and secretary during the war, and became the nation's first Secretary of Treasury, developed the nation's financial system, and created the country's first national bank.   

The population of New York City surpassed that of Philadelphia in 1790 making it America's largest city.  By the year 1910, the city's population had grown to 2.3 million.  The Lower East Side of Manhattan with its large immigrant population became the most crowded area in the entire world.  There are over 180 languages spoken in New York City.  

Three different types of NEW YORKS are described in Here Is New York by author E.B. White:

• "the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the City for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable."

• "the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured each day and spat out each night," and 

• "the New York of the person who was born elsewhere and came to New York in quest of something."

The city's tempo, its reputation for tolerance, its public transportation and its incredible diversity are among the ten factors that make New York City so special according to authors Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar in their history of New York City, Empire City:  New York Through the Centuries.  NYC's reputation for tolerance and its diversity can be traced back to the Dutch settlers' tolerance.   However, New York City, like many American cities, had enslaved Africans from 1626 to 1841.   Black people, brought to America as laborers, played a major role in the building of New York City. 

Visitors may see New York in very different ways from such extremes as sparkling or dirty, rich or poor, exciting or noisy, elite or vulgar, and absolute heaven or a fiery hell.   New Yorkers themselves may have conflicting feelings about the city and at times may even be a little "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" as the Rodgers & Hart song from Pal Joey goes.  In 1975, the U.S. government and President Ford refused to help NYC when it was suffering a major fiscal crisis.  The Daily News' front-page headline proclaimed:  "FORD TO CITY:  DROP DEAD," a sentiment shared by many Americans at that time.    

New York's awesome skyline is the most recognizable and photographed one in the world.  Although New York City is most famous for its skyscrapers and Broadway musicals, some of NYC's lesser known contributions to American culture have been:

• cookies ("koekje" or little cakes), doughnuts, pickles ("pekel" meaning brine), bowling, and ice skating, all introduced  by the Dutch;

• cocktails, invented by a New York City bartender, Professor Jerry Thomas, who served cocktails at a NYC Hotel and published the first bartenders' guide:  How to Mix Drinks in 1862; 

• American's oldest continuously published daily newspapers, the New York Post, was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801;

• the first U.S. pizzeria which opened in 1895;

• the tootsie roll named in 1896 after the daughter of its inventor, Leon Hirschfield, an immigrant from Austria, and Chunky candy bars (introduced in 1930 by Philip Silverstein);

• Oreo cookies, created by the National Biscuit Co. at their Chelsea factory in 1912;   

• the concept of a jolly old, fat, white bearded Santa Claus in a bright red suit, conceived by Clement Clarke Moore in his poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas at his Chelsea neighborhood home.  (St. Nicholas or Sinterklaas in Dutch was the patron saint of the Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam.)

• the first "Big Three" television networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC were all located in New York City. 

The Big Apple is New York City's most famous nickname.  There are several stories about its origin and the one given more credence dates back to the 1920s.  It is attributed to jazz musicians who picked it up from horse racing fans in New Orleans where New York races and New York gigs were thought of as "the top of the game" and "where the money is."  Singer Cab Calloway used the expression to mean “the big town, the main stem, Harlem.”  

In the 1970s the “Big Apple” nickname was revived by the New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau as part of its huge I LOVE NEW YORK promotional campaign to attract tourists to the city.   I LOVE NEW YORK television commercials featured Broadway performers singing the I LOVE NEW YORK theme song.  The now popular red heart logo has been copied by cities and countries all over the world. 

Seeing the Big Apple, especially on your first visit, takes planning.  There are many wonderful treasures here and you can sometimes find them in unexpected places.  A walk through different neighborhoods may reveal entire new worlds.  Walk along the old streets and twisting alleys of lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village where ghosts and clues about the past linger.  Stop and listen to the sounds.  Be adventurous and explore!  The possibilities are endless.

Note:  This website focuses on the landmarks, historic sites, hidden gems, and my favorite places in New York City that make the Big Apple so very special.  It is for anyone who dreams of visiting New York City and all those who love it.  I reside in Manhattan and most of my photos and the Information here is about Manhattan.  I hope to eventually add sites in other boroughs.