A History Lover's Guide to New York City

A shorter workday in the latter part of the nineteenth century gave Americans more leisure time. As people moved to the city, they missed the physical activity of country life. To fill the activity gap, many Americans turned to sports—as participants or as spectators.

Americans had many choices for sports. Lawn tennis arrived in this country from Bermuda in 1874, hockey from Canada in 1895 and lacrosse, a game first played by Native Americans, from Canada in the 1880s. The first permanent golf course in the United States was named St. Andrew’s in honor of the home of golf in Scotland. The American St. Andrew’s opened in Yonkers in the Bronx in 1888. It is still in operation as a private club. Van Cortlandt Golf Course in the Bronx, which dates to 1895, was the first municipal golf course in this country. It remains open to the public today. The first athletic club in the country, the private New York Athletic Club, was founded in New York City in 1868.

Bareknuckle boxing drew crowds in the nineteenth century. Boxing gloves were introduced in 1892. The first indoor World Championship Heavyweight Boxing Match was held on Coney Island in 1899. Jim Jeffries knocked out Bob Fitzsimmons to win. Roller rinks multiplied around the country after wealthy New Yorkers summering in Newport, Rhode Island, took up roller skating in the 1860s. The bicycle high wheeler, with its enormous front wheel and a small rear wheel, was a hit when it was introduced in the 1870s. However, the real breakthrough in bicycling came after John Kemp Stanley, an Englishman, introduced the bicycle with two wheels of the same size in 1887. In 1888, 50,000 men and women in the United States were cycling; two years later, over 1.8 million cycled. Today, more than 100 million Americans ride bicycles, with more than 9 million of them riding every day.

The Triple Crown of horse racing—the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes—originated in this period. The Belmont Stakes was the first to run. It dates to 1867. The Belmont, named for August Belmont Sr., moved from Jerome Park, New York, to Morris Park in the Bronx in 1890 and to its current Belmont Park, New York location in 1905.

Baseball has strong New York roots. The members of the Knickerbockers Baseball Club of New York, founded in 1845, were the foremost advocates of the New York–style game, which played a significant role in the evolution of baseball from English cricket. The virtues of “the New York Game” and “the Massachusetts Game” were the subject of hot debate in the nineteenth century, with each having its advocates. Baseball today is most similar to the New York game except for two Massachusetts contributions: a small, hard ball and pitchers throwing overhand.

One of the original Knickerbockers was Alexander Cartwright. Many consider Cartwright to be the father of baseball. Cartwright codified the rules of the game. He established that three strikes made an out and three outs retired the side. The Knickerbockers, white-collar workers, began playing baseball in their free time in Madison Square. Other baseball clubs also organized in the New York area, establishing regular schedules for inter-club play. These clubs formed a National Association of Baseball Players in 1857. Despite the term “National,” the clubs were all from Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The Civil War, from 1860 to 1865, gave great impetus to baseball’s popularity. The war brought together young men from different parts of the country. Between deadly battles, the soldiers had long periods of slow time. They used this time to distract themselves with games of baseball. Baseball quickly took off and became firmly entrenched as “our national pastime.” William Commeyer built this country’s first enclosed baseball field in Brooklyn in 1862. This enabled him to charge admission. Commeyer also started the tradition of playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before each baseball game. The National League was founded in 1876 and the American League in 1901. In the first World Series, in 1903, the American League Boston Red Sox beat the National League Pittsburgh Pirates for the title.

The American League New York Yankees, also known as the Bronx Bombers because of their location, began in 1903. Until 1913, they were called the New York Highlanders. From 1913 to 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets Field, named for Charles Ebbets, the team’s owner. The Dodgers took their name from their fans, who had to cross a number of trolley tracks and “dodge” speeding cars to reach the stadium. The Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers became the Dodgers. The Dodgers left New York in 1957. Although now in Los Angeles, they remain the Dodgers. The Giants were another New York baseball team. They also left the city in 1957, moving to San Francisco. To counter the loss of these two teams, the National League New York Mets started playing ball in 1962. Notably, the office of the commissioner of baseball is located in New York City.

Although the origins of football and basketball are not directly associated with New York, both the National Football League Headquarters and the National Basketball Association Headquarters are located in New York City. Neither headquarters building is open to the public.

The Downtown Athletic Club began in 1930. Its legacy is the Heisman Trophy, named for football player and coach John W. Heisman. First awarded in 1935 to the best collegiate football player in the United States, the prestigious annual award continues, notwithstanding the 2002 bankruptcy of the Downtown Athletic Club. The award ceremony is nationally televised from New York City.

Not all Americans played or even watched sports. Many turned to other diversions to fill their leisure time. Amusement parks, circuses and the theater grew rapidly as important public distractions. Early Dutch settlers had called the seaside area of Brooklyn Conyne Eiland, or Rabbit Island, after the many rabbits that lived there. Anglicized, this became Coney Island. Its development as a resort for the wealthy began in 1829. With improved public transportation, Coney Island became accessible to the middle and even lower middle classes, who could escape the city heat for a day to enjoy the beach or the growing number of activities found there. In 1903, several amusement parks opened, including the famed Luna Park and Steeplechase Park, making Coney Island the largest amusement park area in the United States.

The Coney Island Boardwalk dates to 1923. The first boardwalk in the United States was built in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1870. The boardwalk was named for its creator, Alexander Boardman, as well as for the fact that it was a walk made of boards. The boardwalk allowed ladies in their long skirts and intricate footwear, as well as children and gentlemen, to walk along the beach without getting sand all over them. The boardwalk, however, quickly became much more than a practical invention, as merchants and other attractions set up business along its way.

The first modern roller coaster, the earliest carousels and multitudes of electric lights made Coney Island a unique and wondrous destination. Sadly, one by one, these great amusement parks closed. Dreamland burned to the ground, Luna Park closed in 1946, Steeplechase Park closed in 1964 and Astroland closed in 2008. The City of New York, with the determined backing of many boosters, revived the amusement tradition of Coney Island when it opened a new Luna Park in 2010. The 1927 Cyclone roller coaster and the 1906 B&B Carousel are now operated by Luna Park. Luna Park offers many additional rides and amusements. The 1918 Wonder Wheel is part of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. The Parachute Jump that made its debut at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 no longer operates but stands on the Coney Island Boardwalk in tribute to adventures past, present and future.

The golden age of the circus occurred during the late nineteenth century and continued until the 1929 Depression. The genius who put together the special combination of animal acts, music and bizarre attractions that became “the circus” was Phineas Taylor Barnum. In 1841, P.T. Barnum purchased Scudder’s American Museum, a collection of oddities on display in New York City at Broadway and Ann Street. Understanding the appeal of the exotic to the public, Barnum made the museum a great hit. The collection of freaks of nature, such as the “seven foot tall woman,” and fabricated oddities, including a “mermaid,” drew enormous crowds. His greatest success came in 1843, when he introduced General Tom Thumb to the American public. The General was actually a five-year-old midget named Charles S. Stratton. Barnum fabricated a wonderful history for the General that included a British military record. When Tom Thumb later fell in love with another midget, Lavinia Warren, Barnum staged a grand wedding celebration for the happy couple, complete with a little carriage pulled by white ponies. Barnum even arranged to have General Tom Thumb presented to Queen Victoria at court. Barnum’s American Museum in New York City was a big attraction until the building burned to the ground in 1865.

Barnum started his Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus in 1870. He called it “The Greatest Show on Earth.” One of the most popular attractions was Jumbo, the elephant Barnum brought to New York in 1882 to great acclaim. A year later, Jumbo demonstrated the safety and strength of the Brooklyn Bridge by walking across it. It was the popularity of this enormous elephant that added the word jumbo, Indian in origin, to the American vocabulary to mean “something very large.” In 1880, Barnum merged his circus with that of James Bailey to create the Barnum & Bailey Circus. This circus merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1907.

Vaudeville was a great attraction in nineteenth-century New York. Vaudeville was fun-filled song-and-dance routines and comedy that provided clean entertainment for the entire family. While the opera and the legitimate theater catered to a wealthy clientele, vaudeville appealed to second-generation New Yorkers and the middle class. Vaudeville began in New York in 1881 in Tony Pastor’s New 14^th Street Theater. Vaudeville continued as a theater tradition through the first part of the twentieth century, until competition from radio and movies and the hard times of the Depression did it in.

In contrast to vaudeville, theater in New York City continues and thrives. In the years right after the Civil War, the theater district was concentrated around Union Square. As the audience moved uptown, so did the theater. By the 1880s, the theater district had moved to the Madison Square area. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the theater district would find its permanent home in New York City in the district then known as Longacres. Longacres had been home to the horse trade and carriage shops. In 1900, the horse and buggy were beginning to give way to the automobile. There was space available in the area for new ventures such as theaters. After 1904 and the opening in Longacres Square of the New York Times building, Longacres Square became Times Square. Broadway Avenue running through Times Square gave its name to the theater district. Many of the most beautiful Broadway theaters date to the early twentieth century. Architects such as Herbert Krapp and Henry Hertz became known for their elaborate theater interiors that helped pack in audiences.

Not only were Americans going out for entertainment in the second half of the nineteenth century, but home life also became idealized during this time. The celebration of many family holidays dates to this period. In the 1870s, Congress authorized four federal holidays: George Washington’s Birthday, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. At first, the holidays were only for federal workers in the District of Columbia. In 1885, these holidays were offered to all federal employees across the country. In 1888, Decoration Day, later called Memorial Day, was added to this list. It expanded again in 1894 with Labor Day. In 1938, Congress authorized Armistice Day to remember those who served in World War I; Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954 to recognize veterans of all wars. The last federal holiday created by Congress was in 1983 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

New York is a wonderful place to celebrate holidays. New Year’s Eve in Times Square is the ultimate celebration. Easter, with its wacky “parade” up 5^th Avenue; the Fourth of July, with dazzling fireworks off barges in the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge; and Thanksgiving, with its famed parade, are exciting and special. Christmas, in particular, has a unique historical tie with New York City.

The concept of gift giving at Christmas has existed for a very long time. St. Nicholas, an Orthodox Christian bishop in fourth-century Turkey, gave gifts. St. Nicholas wore a bishop’s traditional red cape. He had a long, flowing white beard. Other religions and countries formulated their own versions of St. Nicholas. The French called him “Père Noël” and the English called him “Father Christmas.” The Dutch named him “Sinter Klaas.” In the seventeenth century, the Dutch brought Sinter Klaas with them to New York, where he would be their patron saint. In New York, his name took an American form: Santa Claus.

For centuries, Santa Claus remained a gift giver but otherwise a rather vague fellow. It was nineteenth-century New Yorkers who gave him definition and an endearing image. The first to contribute significantly to our concept of Santa Claus was Clement C. Moore. Moore, a New York landowner and scholar, published his 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” This beloved poem, now more commonly known by its opening line “’Twas the Night before Christmas,” describes Santa as a rotund, jolly old elf. Santa laughed as he went about his business filling the stockings the children had laid out with such great care. He went up and down the chimney and he traveled from house to house by sleigh and reindeer. Moore’s Santa firmly caught the public imagination, never to be displaced. There is a plaque on the building that now stands at 420 West 23^rd Street to remember where Moore wrote this cherished poem.

Thomas Nast, a New York cartoonist, contributed further to Santa’s image. Nast, born in Germany, came to New York with his family in 1848. In 1862, Nast landed a job with Harper’s Weekly, considered the preeminent American magazine. Before television and radio, publications with a national following were influential trendsetters. For a December 1862 issue of Harper’s, Nast drew a picture “Santa Claus in Camp,” showing Santa as a kind-looking, white-bearded gentleman in a fur-trimmed suit. In the cartoon, Santa was passing out presents to Union soldiers. Nast’s image of Christmas struck a responsive chord with many during the difficult winters of the Civil War. It was so popular that Nast began drawing pictures of Santa Claus annually for Harper’s: Santa decorating trees, making toys, giving gifts. The image Americans and many around the globe associate with Santa Claus today derives from the pen of Thomas Nast in the pages of Harper’s Weekly.

And it was a New York newspaper, the Sun, that reaffirmed for children everywhere that Santa Claus really does exist. In 1897, an eight-year-old girl wrote to the Sun that friends told her there was no Santa Claus. She wrote a letter to the Sun because her father told her if the Sun says something is true, then it must be. The Sun printed its answer to the little girl on its editorial page, entitling it: “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.” The editorial stated, “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist.” Francis P. Church wrote the editorial. It is one of the most famous editorials ever written in any newspaper. The Sun reprinted the editorial yearly at Christmastime until the newspaper stopped publishing.

Part of the Christmas celebration is the decorated tree. Germans who settled in this country in the eighteenth century brought the Christmas tree tradition with them. Yet the Christmas tree did not become popular in this country until the mid-nineteenth century. In 1846, an image appeared in the Illustrated London News of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, with their children gathered around a decorated Christmas tree. Queen Victoria was not only a trendsetter in England but also in the United States among the middle and upper classes. Following Victoria’s lead, Americans made the decorated tree a Christmas tradition here.

British and European Christmas trees were tabletop size. In America, large trees were plentiful. Christmas trees here came off the table and went onto the floor, often reaching the ceiling. Americans decorated their trees with toys and homemade pictures and sweets. Sensing commercial opportunities in Christmas tree decorations, F.W. Woolworth of Woolworth’s Five & Dime Department Stores, headquartered in New York City, began importing German glass tree ornaments to sell in this country in 1880. The glass ornaments caught on quickly. An associate of Thomas Edison’s, Edward Johnson, created the first string of electric Christmas tree lights for his own tree in New York in 1886.

The outdoor decorated tree has become an important part of public celebrations at Christmas. The first community Christmas tree lighting ceremony occurred on December 24, 1912, in Madison Square Park in New York City. A crowd gathered around a seventy-foot-tall tree with electric lights provided by Thomas Edison. This annual tradition in Madison Square Park occurs to this day. The most famous outdoor Christmas tree in the world is the one at New York City’s Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. In 1931, construction workers at the site decided to put up a decorated tree to bring cheer to their surroundings during the depth of the Depression. Today, the Rockefeller Center tree lighting is a highly anticipated event attended by thousands and watched by millions on television.

YOUR GUIDE TO HISTORY

Images

The Richard Rogers Theater. Courtesy of James Maher.

Thousands of bicycles are at hundreds of stations around the City of New York. Details on how to access the bicycles and where to find the stations are on the website.

This website is a handy guide to where to find the best and safest bicycling routes in New York City.

On several Saturday mornings each August, New York City closes Lafayette Street at the Brooklyn Bridge and Park Avenue to Central Park to motor vehicles. Seven miles of roadway are open to pedestrians and bicyclists to enjoy fully. There are art installations, music and rest stops along the route.

This marathon is the largest in the world, with over fifty thousand runners and two million spectators. It occurs annually on the first Sunday in November. The only year since its first year in 1970 when there was no New York City Marathon was in 2012, when super storm Sandy flooded parts of New York. The marathon did occur in 2001 as a testament to the resiliency and determination of New Yorkers after the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The first marathon had 127 entrants who ran laps around Central Park in Manhattan. Fewer than half of the runners finished. In 1976, a revamped New York City Marathon route included all five boroughs to celebrate the diversity of the city. The New York City Marathon begins at Fort Wadsworth Park on Staten Island. It crosses the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, continues through Brooklyn, into Queens and then Manhattan, briefly touches the Bronx and reenters Manhattan to finish in Central Park. There is also a highly competitive wheelchair marathon. The New York Road Runners have been a key partner in the marathon since its inception. Information on entering the marathon and related events is on the website.

Fort Wadsworth Park is part of the vast Gateway National Recreation Area that encompasses land from three New York City boroughs as well as the state of New Jersey. www.nps.gov/gate.

4 Pennsylvania Plaza at 7^th and 8^th Avenues, West 31^st to 33^rd Streets Manhattan/Garment District
www.thegarden.com

This is the fourth Madison Square Garden. The first, in 1819, was located at Madison Square, therefore the name. It was rebuilt in 1890 on the same site before relocating to 8^th Avenue at West 50^th Street. This Madison Square Garden opened in 1968. It hosts the Knicks, the Rangers, the Liberty and the City Hawks, as well as concerts and circuses.

Originally, it was the New York Americans that played hockey at Madison Square Garden. Hockey became so popular in 1920s New York City that a second team formed in 1926. This second team was owned by Madison Square Garden. It became known as Tex’s Rangers after the president of Madison Square Garden, G.I. “Tex” Richard. Later, “Tex” was dropped. The ice hockey team simply became known as the Rangers.

The New York Knickerbockers or Knicks, a professional basketball team, play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. Founded in 1946, the earliest team uniforms featured Father Knickerbocker, the creation of New York author Washington Irving in 1809 that took hold as a nickname for all New Yorkers. Changes and updates to the uniforms have occurred many times since.

Founded in 1844, the private New York Yacht Club is housed in a 1901 Beaux-Arts building designed by Warren & Wetmore. The yacht club building is landlocked. In 1851, the yacht America, representing the New York Yacht Club, defeated a British yacht in a race off the coast of England to win the beautiful silver trophy and bring it to New York City. America’s owners decided to donate the trophy to the NYYC to be awarded annually to the yacht and nation that won the America’s Cup, named in honor of that first victorious yacht. For 132 years, the America’s Cup trophy remained in New York until an Australian team successfully challenged the United States in 1983 to take home the most prestigious trophy in yachting. Since 1983, the United States has again won the cup, which has also gone to victorious teams representing New Zealand and Switzerland. The yacht club owns an exceptional collection of sailing ship models that are occasionally loaned to other institutions for public display. The building is a National Historic Landmark.

545 5^th Avenue at 45^th Street • Manhattan/Midtown
866-746-7622 • www.nba.com

The NBA is opening a New York City flagship store at a new location in 2016 to replace a previous one.

The Brooklyn Nets play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. They play at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Established in 1967 in the American Basketball Association as the New Jersey Americans, the team moved to Long Island in 1968 and became the New York Nets. In 1976, the ABA and the NBA merged. Since 2012, the team has played at the Barclays Center as the Brooklyn Nets. The Barclays Center also plays host to top musical performers and entertainers.

Newly arrived at the Barclays Center, the New York Islanders hockey team plays in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. The franchise began in 1972.

Visit the website for information on schedule, tickets, transportation and parking. The Mets Hall of Fame and Museum is located adjacent to Citi Field, the park where the Mets play. It is open on game days or accessible through the Citi Field tour. Special exhibits include the 1969 and the 1986 World Series Trophies, Mets Defining Moments and Hall of Fame Plaques. Founded in 1962, the Mets—short for the Metropolitans—were intended to replace two New York baseball teams that left the city in 1957: the Dodgers to Los Angeles and the Giants to San Francisco. Several times a season, the National League New York Mets play the American League New York Yankees in the Subway Series. The Mets were the 2015 National League Champions, playing in the World Series against the American League Kansas Royals, who won the title.

A huge Red Apple sits in the Mets Stadium Center Field and pops up whenever a Mets player hits a home run. New York is sometimes called “the Big Apple.” The nickname became popular as part of an advertising campaign to lure tourists to New York City during the doldrums of the 1970s. Its origins date to the 1920s, when a city sportswriter named John J. FitzGerald describing horseraces referred to New York as “the big Apple.” Apples are a favorite treat for horses.

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park • Flushing, Queens
718-760-6200 • www.usopen.org • Admission Fee

The United States Open is an international tennis event that is the final major of the four majors that compose the Grand Slam. It takes place over a two-week period in late August to early September each year. Its history dates to 1881, when the United States National Championship was held at Newport Casino, a sports facility in Newport, Rhode Island, commissioned by New York Tribune publisher James Bennett Jr. The women’s championship began in 1887. In 1915, the championship moved to Forest Hills, New York. In 1978, it relocated again, this time to Flushing Meadows. Since 1976, the open is played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens. This is a tournament of the United States Tennis Association, a not-for-profit organization.

Belmont Park, 2150 Hempstead Turnpike • Elmont, New York
516-488-6000 • www.belmontstakes.com • Admission Fee

The Belmont Stakes horse race, first run in 1867, is named for August Belmont Sr., a nineteenth-century New York banker and racing enthusiast. His son, August Belmont Jr., continued the racing tradition and served as head of New York’s first Racing Commission and as chairman of New York’s famed Jockey Club. The Belmont Stakes is the third event in the prestigious Triple Crown of Racing, which begins with the Kentucky Derby in early May, continues to the Preakness in Maryland and then culminates in New York in June. For tickets to the Belmont Stakes or other racing events at Belmont Park, go to www.ticketmaster.com.

Information on purchasing game tickets, pre-game tours or individual and group tours of the stadium is on the website. Hands on History is a special tour of the New York Yankees Museum presented by the Bank of America. Those on this tour may, for a significant fee, hold Babe Ruth’s 1922–23 bat, Derek Jeter’s jersey from his 3,000^th hit in 2011 or one of the many, many World Series trophies won by the Yankees. What is included in the tour varies between the season and the off-season.

MetLife Stadium, 1 MetLife Stadium Drive • East Rutherford, New Jersey
www.giants.com • Admission Fee

The New York Giants football team, founded in 1925, is one of the original five National Football League teams still in existence. Today, the team plays in the National Football Conference Eastern Division. The extensive website provides information on schedules, tickets and the history and glory moments of the team.

MetLife Stadium, 1 MetLife Stadium Drive • East Rutherford, New Jersey
800-469-5387 • www.newyorkjets.com • Admission Fee

The Jets’ schedule and ticket information are on the website. The American Football League New York Titans were founded in 1959. After bankruptcy, the Titans became the New York Jets in 1963. In 1969, the Jets became a success story when they won the Super Bowl under the flamboyant and brilliant leadership of quarterback Joe Namath.

The Coney Island Boardwalk runs from West 37^th Street to Corbin Place. Since 1923, the Coney Island Boardwalk has been improved many times, and the beach has been widened. Landfill has turned Coney Island into a peninsula. Crowded, with a “honky-tonk” atmosphere, Coney Island is not for everyone. However, its attractions are famous the world over. Coney Island’s association with food, fun and frolic lives on.

1000 Surf Avenue • Brooklyn
718-373-5862 • www.lunaparknyc.com • Admission Fee

This amusement park has a multitude of rides, games, eateries and shops to keep visitors entertained all day and all evening long. The legendary wooden Cyclone roller coaster, which opened in 1927, offers drops and speeds up to sixty miles per hour that are not for the faint of heart. It is now joined by the new Thunderbolt roller coaster with speeds and sharp turns for only the most adventurous.

The first carousel on Coney Island arrived in 1876. The B&B Carousel in Luna Park is the last of the great Coney Island carousels still on Coney Island. Built in 1906, it has fifty hand-carved wooden horses. There are thirty-six “jumpers” (ones that go up and down) and another fourteen “standers” (ones that are stationary). The horses, carved by Charles Carmel, are in the Coney Island style—they are extremely stylish and spirited with large, animated faces and bared teeth that make them appear aggressive. Their manes and tails are flowing. Charles Carmel, Marcus Charles Illions, Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein, W.F. Mangels and Charles Loof had all been trained as woodcarvers in Germany and Eastern Europe. After they immigrated to New York, they made late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Coney Island and Brooklyn the center of the carousel industry in the United States.

1025 Boardwalk at West 12^th Street • Brooklyn
718-372-2592 • www.wonderwheel.com • Admission Fee

The flag piece of this amusement park with its many rides for children is the Wonder Wheel. The Wonder Wheel, the invention of Charles Hermann, opened on Memorial Day 1920. The Wonder Wheel stands 150 feet tall. It has twenty-four individual cars for passengers. In 1983, Denos Vourderis bought the Wonder Wheel. It has been in the Vourderis family ever since.

Coney Island is known for its hot dogs. The hot dog was invented by Charles Feltman after he arrived on Coney Island from Germany in 1871 and put a frankfurter on a long bun. Feltman’s was the place to go for food and fun, whether inside the restaurant or outside in the beer garden. Nathan Handwerker, a Polish immigrant with a special recipe, opened a hot dog stand on Coney Island in 1916. A hot dog cost five cents. The original Nathan’s still exists on the Coney Island Boardwalk. The popular hot dog–eating contest occurs every year on the Fourth of July. It is nationally televised.

This Coney Island parade, at the opening of each beach season, is the largest in the country celebrating seaside culture. Floats, antique cars and marchers in sea creature costumes make this an artsy and fun way to welcome the summer.

602 Surf Avenue at West 8^th Street • Brooklyn
718-220-5100 • www.nyaquarium.com • Admission Fee

The New York Aquarium is the oldest aquarium in continuous operation in the United States. It opened in Castle Garden in the Battery in 1896. It has been at its current fourteen-acre site on the Coney Island Boardwalk since 1957. In recent years, the aquarium has undergone extensive renovation and enlargement with new exhibits and experiences, including the popular sea otter feedings. The aquarium is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is also responsible for the zoos in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Central Park in Manhattan. Its mission is to conduct research on aquatic life in addition to public education.

P.T. Barnum had an eye for what would appeal to the public. Born in 1810 in Bethel, Connecticut, Barnum got his real start when he was twenty-five. He paid $1,000 to obtain the “rights” to a woman, Joice Heth, who claimed to be 161 years old and the former nurse to President George Washington. Crowds of people bought tickets to see Joice Heth only to learn after she died that she was probably no more than 80. Barnum claimed to be tricked too. The public forgave him, and he went on to find other crowd pleasers. This circus extravaganza plays around the country and regularly in New York City.

Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center • Manhattan/Upper West Side
888-541-3750 • www.bigapplecircus.org • Admission Fee

Created in 1977 by Paul Binder and Michael Christensen, who were juggling partners, this classical-style, award-winning, nonprofit circus first made its home in the Battery in Manhattan. Today, it pitches its tent around the country. When in New York City for the fall to winter season, it performs under the big top at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center. Many consider this the “big-hearted” circus as it features rescue animals and devotes considerable time and resources to entertaining hospital-bound children. Its acts include performers from all over the world. “Big Apple” is a reference to one nickname for New York City.

Although many of the beautiful Broadway theaters built in the early years of the twentieth century fell on hard times, went into decline and were even demolished, in recent years, quite a few have undergone restoration and a return to elegance. Today, the theaters play to a full house. The earliest, the New Amsterdam Theater, dates to 1903. Many others were built from 1910 to 1927. It is inspiring to stand on West 44^th or West 45^th Street near Broadway and see a row of brilliantly illuminated theater marquis and know that theater is alive and well in New York City.

This is the official site of the Broadway Theater League. Access it for up-todate information on shows, openings, closings, locations of theaters and the online purchase of tickets.

The Theater Development Fund, a nonprofit organization, supports theater productions and enables a more diverse population to attend Broadway shows through discounted ticketing. Same-day tickets at greatly reduced prices are available at TKTS. If you are willing to be flexible about what show you see and are able to stand in line, this is a good deal. The location of the three TKTS booths are on the website. One is in Times Square, one is at South Street Seaport and the third is in downtown Brooklyn.

2124 Broadway at West 74^th Street • Manhattan/Upper West Side
212-465-6500 • www.beacontheatre.com

The Beacon Theater, designed by architect Walter Ahlschlager, opened in 1929. Its beautiful 2,600-seat theater plays to major musical acts. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Built as a movie theater in 1929, Kings Theatre fell on hard times and closed its doors in 1977. After many years, the city and the public worked to save the French Baroque–style building, designed by Rapp and Rapp. After a complete renovation, it reopened in 2015. Go for one of the varied musical or theatrical performances at Kings Theatre if only to enjoy the splendid, lush interior.

Steinway & Sons Piano was founded by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg in 1853 in a building on Varick Street in Manhattan. While once there were many piano manufacturers in the United States, now Steinway is the only one. Most consider Steinway to be the preeminent manufacturer in the world. The factory offers two-hour tours once a week from September to June that cover the entire process of making a piano. It is important to sign up well in advance for these very popular tours.

Each year on Easter Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 5^th Avenue between 49^th and 57^th Streets is closed to vehicular traffic. The Easter Parade in New York City, which began around 1890, is really a “stroll.” Anyone may participate. Individuals enjoy wearing their Easter finery of fancy outfits and elaborate hats. Many parade with their pets attired in coordinated costumes. You do not have to dress up, but it is more fun if you do. On 5^th Avenue, you will see many an Easter bonnet “with all the frills upon it,” as New Yorker Irving Berlin wrote in 1933 in his song “Easter Parade.” Berlin was inspired by the New York parade. Irving Berlin had come to New York City as a child late in the nineteenth century with family members who were fleeing Russia and pogroms against Jews. He was one of the many who came through Ellis Island. Easter is a Christian holiday falling on a Sunday in March or April. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Thomas Episcopal Church and 5^th Avenue Presbyterian Church along the parade route hold Easter Sunday services.

The largest Fourth of July fireworks display in the United States takes place each year in New York City. Fireworks are set off from barges in the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge. The twenty-five-minute-long pyrotechnic spectacular uses more than fifty thousand fireworks to celebrate the nation’s birthday. There are also musical performances by major stars. Macy’s department store sponsors the festivities, which are televised nationally on NBC. The website is helpful for the best viewing locations.

The largest Halloween parade in the world is in New York City. Please see Chapter 8 for details.

The annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, sponsored by Macy’s department store, has been part of our national holiday celebration since 1924. Millions watch on television each Thanksgiving morning as the large helium balloons, floats and marching bands pass down Central Park West to Columbus Circle and then down Broadway to the parade’s end point at Macy’s on Herald Square. Early risers get the best opportunity for frontline positions along the parade route, arriving by 6:00 a.m. for a spot along Central Park West between 75^th Street down to 59^th Street. The Herald Square area is not optimal, as it is almost completely blocked by television equipment and reserved grand stand seating. Some prefer to watch the balloon inflation on the Wednesday afternoon and evening before the parade at 79^th Street and Columbus Avenue near the Museum of Natural History.

The origins and details of this celebrated tradition are described in Chapter 11.

Christmas in New York is a magical experience. Roasted chestnuts are sold on street corners during the winter months, adding a wonderful aroma to the city scene. Store windows beckon with elaborate moving displays. Lights dazzle. Even Patience and Fortitude, the stone lions in front of the New York Public Library on 5^th Avenue, get into the act with their large, red, festive bows. There are many special Christmas events, sights and sounds to experience in New York City. Descriptions of some of the highlights of Christmas in New York follow.

No city does it like New York. Take a walk up 5^th Avenue to see the fantastic Christmas displays in the windows of stores like Lord & Taylor (424 5^thAvenue at West 39^th Street), Saks Fifth Avenue (611 5^th Avenue at East 50^thStreet), Cartier’s (651 5^th Avenue) and Tiffany’s (727 5^th Avenue at East 57^th Street). Even if you do not have a child by the hand when you see these elaborate and moving delights, you will rediscover your own inner child. The very first Christmas displays in store windows were at the old Lord & Taylor’s beautiful cast-iron building at 901 Broadway Avenue, which still stands today.

5^th to Madison Avenues from East 23^rd and East 26^th Streets • Manhattan/Gramercy
www.madisonsquarepark.org

The first public Christmas tree in the United States was here in Madison Square in 1912. This tradition continues with an annual tree illumination in December that offers music and other festivities.

The website above includes a calendar of the Empire State Building Tower light displays visible throughout the city. Since 1976, the signature Empire State Building white lights have given way to other hues on holidays such as Christmas (red and green), Hanukkah (blue and white), St. Patrick’s Day (green) and the Fourth of July (red, white and blue) to enhance the city’s celebratory mood. In 2012, the installation of a new LED lighting system permitted more colors and rapidly changing light displays. These lights honor organizations such as the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society, as well as major sporting and other events.

225 Madison Avenue at 36^th Street • Manhattan/Midtown
212-685-0008 • www.themorgan.org • Admission Fee

J. Pierpont Morgan acquired the original manuscript of the English novelist Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol in the 1890s. The Morgan Library and Museum displays the manuscript each Christmas season. Charles Dickens helped popularize the notion of Christmas with A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, not long after a visit to the United States, during which he spent one month in New York City. Some believe that nineteenth-century New York City, with the grimmest slums in the world, served as the inspiration for the book’s scenes of extreme poverty and illness.

During an extended holiday season, Lionel model trains run on tracks that go in and out of a small-scale Grand Central Terminal. Lionel Trains were founded in 1900 very near City Hall in New York City. Their creator was Joshua Lionel Cowen, whose family had immigrated to New York City after the Civil War. His father was a hat maker on the Lower East Side. The first Lionel trains went on display in a New York City department store window in 1901. The train’s movement was intended to catch the eye of passing shoppers, who would then enter the store and make a purchase. But it was the small trains themselves that caught the attention of children, who put them on their Christmas wish list. Soon, Lionel Trains became big business in the United States. A lasting association began between Lionel Trains and Christmas. They went under the tree and into holiday displays everywhere.

Tens of thousands attend the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center, while millions more watch on television. The exact date in early December changes annually. Information is on the website. It is a thrill to be one of the 150 skaters on the winter ice rink at Rockefeller Center, passing under the iconic golden statue of Prometheus by Paul Manship and the beautiful Christmas tree. Bring your own skates or rent them here.

1260 Avenue of the Americas between West 50^th and West 51^st Streets • Manhattan/Midtown
212-247-4777 • www.radiocitychristmas.com • Admission Fee

The ninety-minute no-intermission show is indeed a fabulous spectacle. The amazing precision dancers, the Rockettes, appear in the holiday season Parade of the Wooden Soldiers. The show also includes a living nativity with a live menagerie.

Radio City Music Hall opened in 1933. It owes its name to David Sarnoff, the head of NBC Radio, who partnered with John D. Rockefeller Jr. to make Rockefeller Center a reality during the height of the Depression. Radio City Music Hall has the world’s largest indoor theater with the largest stage in the world. Its nickname is the “Showplace of the Nation.” Radio City also features the massive “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ, which has played here since 1932. The Radio City website has information on tours of the facility, including the Stage Door Tour and the Art Deco Tour, featuring the architecture of the beautiful entertainment complex designed by Donald Deskey. Movie premieres and musical acts are among the performances in this majestic venue.

10 Lincoln Center Plaza • Manhattan/Upper West Side
212-875-5456 • www.nycballet.com • Admission Fee

From the end of November through December of each year, the New York City Ballet performs the holiday favorite The Nutcracker. The ballet has music by Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky and choreography by George Balanchine. The Nutcracker of George Balanchine made its New York City debut in 1954. This ballet for young and old tells the tale of the young girl Maria, who is transported from her family’s living room at Christmastime to a fantasy world with a wooden nutcracker who comes alive, mischievous king-sized mice and beautiful sugar plum fairies. The sets include a Christmas tree that grows from twelve feet to forty feet. Fabulous costumes and ninety incredible dancers transport the audience to a magical world in a span of two hours.

1000 5^th Avenue at 82^nd Street • Manhattan/Upper East Side
212-535-7710 • www.metmuseum.org • Admission Fee

Each holiday season, the Metropolitan Museum of Art displays a magnificent Christmas tree and eighteenth-century Neapolitan nativity. Fifty terra-cotta, silk-robed angels alight on the branches of the tree. At the base of the tree is a large nativity from eighteenth-century Naples, Italy. Adoring magi, shepherds with their flocks of sheep and other animals surround Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger. In all, there are more than two hundred figures and decorative buildings. First displayed at the Met in 1957, the Christmas tree and Neapolitan nativity scene command large crowds. Information on the exact dates of the annual display and how to obtain timed entry tickets to avoid waiting in line are on the Metropolitan Museum website.

Brick Presbyterian Church, 1140 Park Avenue at 91^st Street • Manhattan/Upper East Side

More than forty blocks of Park Avenue from 54^th to 97^th Streets put on a display of illuminated Christmas trees in the center divider that separates the northbound and southbound lanes. The tree lighting occurs on the first Sunday evening in the month of December in front of the Brick Presbyterian Church. This annual holiday tradition began in 1945, when a few families living on Park Avenue wanted a way to thank the returning United States servicemen who had served in World War II.

2900 Southern Boulevard • The Bronx
718-817-8700 • www.nybg.org • Admission Fee

The New York Botanic Garden visit is described in Chapter 7. During the Christmas season, the Haupt Conservatory at the NYBG houses the Holiday Train Show. Visitors experience the magic of New York in miniature as model trains wind their way along a track that takes them by 150 tiny versions of famous New York landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Empire State Building. Most impressive is that, in keeping with the garden, the miniatures are all made of leaves, bark, twigs and other natural materials.

Images

The High Line. Courtesy of James Maher.