Portal:New York City

The New York City Portal

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km²), New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States and more than twice as populous as Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city. The city also has a population that is larger than that of 38 individual U.S. states. New York City is located at the southern tip of New York State. The city constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.

Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors and extending into the Atlantic Ocean, New York City comprises five boroughs, each of which is coextensive with a respective county of the state of New York. The five boroughs, which were created in 1898 when local governments were consolidated into a single municipal entity, are: Brooklyn (in Kings County), Queens (in Queens County), Manhattan (in New York County), The Bronx (in Bronx County), and Staten Island (in Richmond County). (Full article...)

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Better Out Than In was a residency undertaken by pseudonymous graffiti artist and political activist Banksy in New York City during October 2013. Banksy unveiled at least one work of art daily, documenting it on both a dedicated website and an Instagram account. The majority of the works were stencil graffiti and chiefly political, a distinctive characteristic of Banksy. Other pieces and multimedia exhibits toyed with dark humor and satire.

The unpredictability of the show and Banksy's elusive nature stirred excitement amongst fans, while defacement from competing street artists and vandals became an imminent problem. While Banksy's works were inherently illegal, no official complaints were reported to the police; most property owners praised the art and some took measures to protect it. The month-long residency drew controversy amongst some locals for its more politically strong pieces, and received mixed reviews from critics.

An HBO documentary film covering this period and residency titled Banksy Does New York was released in 2014. (Full article...)
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689 Fifth Avenue (originally the Aeolian Building and later the Elizabeth Arden Building) is a commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. The building was designed by Warren and Wetmore and constructed from 1925 to 1927.

The fifteen-story building was designed in the neoclassical style with French Renaissance Revival details. The primary portions of the facade are made of Indiana Limestone, interspersed with Italian marble spandrels, while the upper stories are made of decorative buff-colored terracotta. The first nine stories occupy nearly the whole lot, with a rounded corner facing Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. On the 10th, 12th, and 14th floors, the building has setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, and the building contains several angled sections. The decorative details include urns at the ninth-story setback, garlands, and a mechanical penthouse with a pyramidal roof and a lantern.

689 Fifth Avenue was commissioned by iron and steel magnate Charles A. Gould, who died before the building's completion. His daughter Celia Gould Milne bought the structure at an auction in 1927 and kept it until 1944. The building was the headquarters of the Aeolian Company, an instrument manufacturer, until 1938. Afterward, the storefront was renovated and the building's upper stories were used by a variety of office tenants. During the mid-20th century and late 20th century, the building was also named for Elizabeth Arden, Inc., which occupied the northern storefront and some office space for eight decades. The southern storefront has been used by numerous tenants including Gucci, Zara, and Massimo Dutti. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 689 Fifth Avenue as an official landmark in 2002. (Full article...)
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Our Lady of Pompeii Church, or more formally, the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, is a Catholic parish church located in the South Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, in the United States. The church is staffed by Scalabrini Fathers, while the Our Lady of Pompeii School is staffed by Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is located across from Father Demo Square, which is named for the church's third pastor, Antonio Demo.

The church was founded in 1892 as a national parish to serve Italian-American immigrants who settled in Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the American counterpart to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei in Italy and a shrine in its own right. The church has resided at its present location since 1926, when construction on its current edifice began. While it has remained a largely Italian American parish, the church has come to incorporate many other immigrant groups. (Full article...)
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Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to the north and includes the subsection of Sea Gate on its west. More broadly, the Coney Island peninsula consists of Coney Island proper, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach. This was formerly the westernmost of the Outer Barrier islands on the southern shore of Long Island, but in the early 20th century it became a peninsula, connected to the rest of Long Island by land fill.

The origin of Coney Island's name is disputed, but the area was originally part of the colonial town of Gravesend. By the mid-19th century it had become a seaside resort, and by the late 19th century, amusement parks had also been built at the location. The attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century. However, they declined in popularity after World War II and, following years of neglect, several structures were torn down. Various redevelopment projects were proposed for Coney Island in the 1970s through the 2000s, though most of these were not carried out. The area was revitalized with the opening of the venue now known as Maimonides Park in 2001 and several amusement rides starting in the 2010s.

Coney Island had around 32,000 residents as of the 2010 United States Census. The neighborhood is ethnically diverse, and the neighborhood's poverty rate of 27% is slightly higher than that of the city as a whole. (Full article...)
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Platform for trains going to Brooklyn (right)

The Bowling Green station is a station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at Broadway and Battery Place (at Bowling Green), in the Financial District of Manhattan. It is served by the 4 train at all times and the 5 train at all times except late nights.

The station opened in 1905 as an extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT)'s original subway line to South Ferry. At the time, there was a single island platform with one exit at Battery Park and another in Bowling Green. When the Lexington Avenue Line was expanded to Brooklyn in 1908, some trains continued going to South Ferry, resulting in the creation of a short island platform at the Bowling Green station for the Bowling Green–South Ferry shuttle. The shuttle operated until 1977. During the 1970s, the station was completely renovated, a new exit was built, and a third, side platform was created for northbound trains.

The Bowling Green station contains two island platforms and one side platform. The westernmost island platform, formerly used by the shuttle, has been closed since 1977. The station retains its original head house in Battery Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a New York City designated landmark. There are two other exits to Bowling Green, one of which contains an elevator that makes the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. (Full article...)
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A street elevator serving as an entrance to the underground 66th Street–Lincoln Center station

The physical accessibility of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s public transit network, serving the New York metropolitan area, is incomplete. Although all buses are wheelchair-accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), much of the MTA's rail system was built before wheelchair access was a requirement under the ADA. This includes the MTA's rapid transit systems, the New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway, and its commuter rail services, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad. Consequently, most stations were not designed to be accessible to people with disabilities, and many MTA facilities lack accessible announcements, signs, tactile components, and other features.

A city law, the New York City Human Rights Law, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Since 1990, elevators have been built in newly constructed stations to comply with the ADA, with most grade-level stations requiring little modification to meet ADA standards. The MTA identified 100 "key stations", high-traffic and/or geographically important stations on the subway system, which have been or are being renovated to comply with the ADA. One of the key tenets of the 2018 Fast Forward Plan to rescue the subway system is to drastically increase the number of ADA-accessible subway stations, adding accessible facilities to 70 stations by 2024. In 2022, the MTA agreed in a settlement to make 95 percent of subway and Staten Island Railway stations accessible by 2055. (Full article...)
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Portrait by John Trumbull, 1806

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was a Nevisian-born American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first Secretary of Treasury from 1789 to 1795 during George Washington's presidency.

Born out of wedlock in Charlestown, Nevis, Hamilton was orphaned as a child and taken in by a prosperous merchant. He pursued his education in New York City where, despite his young age, he was a prolific and widely read pamphleteer advocating for the American revolutionary cause, though an anonymous one. He then served as an artillery officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he saw military action against the British in the New York and New Jersey campaign, served for years as an aide to General George Washington, and helped secure American victory at the climactic Siege of Yorktown. After the Revolutionary War, Hamilton served as a delegate from New York state to the Congress of the Confederation in Philadelphia. He resigned to practice law and founded the Bank of New York. In 1786, Hamilton led the Annapolis Convention to replace the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution of the United States, which he helped ratify by writing 51 of the 85 installments of The Federalist Papers.

As a trusted member of President Washington's first cabinet, Hamilton served as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He envisioned a central government led by an energetic president, a strong national defense, and an industrial economy. He successfully argued that the implied powers of the Constitution provided the legal authority to fund the national debt, assume the states' debts, and create the First Bank of the United States, which was funded by a tariff on imports and a whiskey tax. He opposed American entanglement with the succession of unstable French Revolutionary governments and advocated in support of the Jay Treaty under which the U.S. resumed friendly trade relations with the British Empire. He also persuaded Congress to establish the Revenue Cutter Service. Hamilton's views became the basis for the Federalist Party, which was opposed by the Democratic-Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton and other Federalists supported the Haitian Revolution, and Hamilton helped draft the constitution of Haiti. (Full article...)
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150 Nassau Street, also known as the Park Place Tower and the American Tract Society Building, is a 23-story, 291-foot (89 m) building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is located at the southeast corner of Spruce Street and Nassau Street, next to 8 Spruce Street, the former New York Times Building, and New York City Hall.

150 Nassau Street was built in 1894–1895 as the headquarters of the American Tract Society (ATS), a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization that distributed religious tracts. Designed by the architect R. H. Robertson, it is one of the first skyscrapers built from a steel skeleton and was among New York City's tallest buildings when it was completed.

150 Nassau Street is located near Park Row, which contained several newspaper headquarters. The building failed to make a profit during ATS's occupancy, and the New York Life Insurance Company foreclosed on the building in 1914. After ATS moved out, the New York Sun occupied the building from 1914 to 1919. The building's 10th through 23rd floors were converted into condominiums between 1999 and 2002. In 1999, it was designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The American Tract Society Building is also a contributing property to the Fulton–Nassau Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2005. (Full article...)
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Kubrick filming Barry Lyndon, c. 1973–74

Stanley Kubrick (/ˈkuːbrɪk/; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films—almost all of which are adaptations of novels or short stories—cover a wide range of genres and feature innovative cinematography, dark humor, realistic attention to detail and extensive set designs.

Kubrick was raised in the Bronx, New York City, and attended William Howard Taft High School from 1941 to 1945. He received average grades but displayed a keen interest in literature, photography, and film from a young age, and taught himself all aspects of film production and directing after graduating from high school. After working as a photographer for Look magazine in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he began making short films on shoestring budgets, and made his first major Hollywood film, The Killing, for United Artists in 1956. This was followed by two collaborations with Kirk Douglas: the war picture Paths of Glory (1957) and the historical epic Spartacus (1960).

Creative differences arising from his work with Douglas and the film studios, a dislike of the Hollywood industry, and a growing concern about crime in America prompted Kubrick to move to the United Kingdom in 1961, where he spent most of his remaining life and career. His home at Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire, which he shared with his wife Christiane, became his workplace, where he did his writing, research, editing, and management of production details. This allowed him to have almost complete artistic control over his films, but with the rare advantage of having financial support from major Hollywood studios. His first productions in Britain were two films with Peter Sellers: Lolita (1962), an adaptation of the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, and the Cold War black comedy Dr. Strangelove (1964). (Full article...)
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The Seagram Building as viewed from across Park Avenue

The Seagram Building is a skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe along with Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Robert Allan Jacobs, the tower is 515 feet (157 m) tall with 38 stories. The International Style building with a public plaza, completed in 1958, initially served as the headquarters of the Seagram Company, a Canadian distiller.

Phyllis Lambert, daughter of Seagram CEO Samuel Bronfman, heavily influenced the Seagram Building's design, an example of the functionalist aesthetic and a prominent instance of corporate modern architecture. A glass curtain wall with vertical mullions of bronze and horizontal spandrels made of Muntz metal form the building's exterior. The pink granite plaza facing Park Avenue contains two fountains. Behind the plaza is a tall elevator lobby with a similar design to the plaza. The lowest stories originally contained the Four Seasons and Brasserie restaurants, which were replaced respectively by the Grill and Pool restaurant and the Lobster Club. The upper stories contain office spaces of modular construction.

Seagram revealed plans for the building in July 1954, when it announced construction of its headquarters on the up-and-coming commercial strip of Park Avenue. After Lambert objected to Pereira & Luckman's original design, Mies was selected as the architect that November. The building's construction began in late 1955 and finished in 1958, although the official certificate of occupancy was not granted until 1959. The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) purchased the building in 1979, and it remained Seagram's headquarters until 2001. TIAA sold the building in 2000 to Aby Rosen's RFR Holding LLC, which has continued to operate the structure. (Full article...)
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1933 Goudey baseball card of Berg while with the Washington Senators

Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four American League teams, Berg was never more than an average player and was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball." Casey Stengel once described Berg as "the strangest man ever to play baseball".

A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Berg spoke several languages and regularly read ten newspapers a day. His reputation as an intellectual was fueled by his successful appearances as a contestant on the radio quiz show Information Please, in which he answered questions about the etymology of words and names from Greek and Latin, historical events in Europe and the Far East, and ongoing international conferences.

As a spy working for the government of the United States, Berg traveled to Yugoslavia to gather intelligence on resistance groups which the U.S. government was considering supporting. He was sent on a mission to Italy, where he interviewed various physicists concerning the Nazi German nuclear program. After the war, Berg was occasionally employed by the OSS's successor, the Central Intelligence Agency. (Full article...)
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Nicholas Colasanto (January 19, 1924 – February 12, 1985) was an American actor and television director who is best known for his role as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in the American television sitcom Cheers. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the 1950s. (Full article...)
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Bush Terminal in 1958, looking north, with Lower Manhattan in the distance

Industry City (also Bush Terminal) is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Upper New York Bay waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The northern portion, commonly called "Industry City" on its own, hosts commercial light manufacturing tenants across 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m²) of space between 32nd and 41st Streets, and is operated by a private consortium. The southern portion, known as "Bush Terminal", is located between 40th and 51st Streets and is operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) as a garment manufacturing complex.

Founded by Bush Terminal Company head Irving T. Bush in the early 20th century, Bush Terminal was the first facility of its kind in New York City and the largest multi-tenant industrial property in the United States. The warehouses were built circa 1892–1910, the railroad from 1896 to 1915, and the factory lofts between 1905 and 1925. During World War I, Bush Terminal was used as a United States Navy base, though it returned to private ownership after the war. At its peak, Bush Terminal covered 200 acres (81 hectares), bounded by Gowanus Bay to the west and north, Third Avenue to the east, 27th Street to the north, and 50th Street to the south.

The surrounding area entered a period of decline after World War II, and by the 1970s, the ports in Bush Terminal had been filled. The entire complex was rebranded as Industry City during the post-war years, though the Bush Terminal name remained in popular use. In the 1970s and 1980s, sections of Bush Terminal were demolished or converted into other uses, including a shopping mall, a federal prison, a privately operated manufacturing and commercial complex, and a garment manufacturing district operated by the NYCEDC. (Full article...)
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Verdi Square is a 0.1-acre (400 m²) park on a trapezoidal traffic island on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Named for Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, the park is bounded by 72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north, Broadway on the west, and Amsterdam Avenue on the east. Verdi Square's irregular shape arises from Broadway's diagonal path relative to the Manhattan street grid. The western half of the park is built on the former northbound lanes of Broadway, which were closed permanently in 2003 during a renovation of the New York City Subway's adjacent 72nd Street station. Verdi Square is designated as a New York City scenic landmark and is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The eastern half of Verdi Square contains the Verdi Monument, sculpted in 1906 by Pasquale Civiletti. The monument contains a dark-granite pedestal with four statues of characters from Verdi's operas; a statue of Verdi stands atop the pedestal. Surrounding the monument is the original park, a triangular site with plantings. The western half of the park contains a head house that serves as an entrance to the 72nd Street station. Designed by Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton, the head house contains artwork that references Verdi's opera Rigoletto. Each September, the park hosts a series of free concerts called Verdi Square Festival of the Arts.

The portion of Broadway around modern-day Verdi Square opened in 1703 and was added to the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which created Manhattan's street grid, in the late 19th century. The city government acquired the site of Verdi Square in 1887. The site was originally the northern part of Sherman Square, under which the subway station was built in 1904. The Verdi Monument was installed in 1906 following a fundraising effort led by newspaper founder Carlo Barsotti, and the site around the monument was named for Verdi in 1921. The park gradually fell into disrepair and was frequented by drug dealers and homeless people in the late 20th century; as a result, Verdi Square was nicknamed "Needle Park" in the 1970s. The monument was restored in the late 1980s, and the park was significantly expanded in the early 2000s. (Full article...)
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Gorman in 1943

Lawrence Clifton Gorman (September 28, 1898 – December 28, 1953) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who held senior positions at several Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in New York City, he was educated at Jesuit institutions, before entering the Society of Jesus. He then became a professor of chemistry at Georgetown University, and continued his higher studies at Jesuit universities in the United States and Rome.

He became the acting dean of Georgetown College in 1935, and then vice president and dean of studies at Loyola College in Maryland, before being appointed president of Georgetown University in 1942. His tenure was largely shaped by World War II, which necessitated his admittance of women into the Graduate School of Arts and Science. A proponent of racial integration, he instructed administrators to admit the first black undergraduate students. While this did not materialize until shortly after his presidency, the university did begin admitting black students in several of its graduate schools during his term. He also joined the presidents of other local universities in agreeing to allow medical students from Howard University to train at Washington, D.C.'s public hospital.

During his presidency, Gorman constructed the new Georgetown University Hospital building, and raised funds for the construction of McDonough Gymnasium. Following the end of his term of office, he became vice president and dean of studies at the University of Scranton, where he died in 1953. (Full article...)
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Exterior of the Q in August 2021

The Q was a multilevel LGBT nightclub in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Backed by celebrity investors including Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto, the club was billed as "the largest queer-owned and -operated nightlife venue in Manhattan". It was known for its five distinctly themed rooms and for its entertainment selection, which featured A-list comedians, prominent local drag queens, burlesque acts and jazz bands. The establishment was originally set to open in 2020, but its debut was pushed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2022, Frankie Sharp—one of the club's three founding owners—filed a lawsuit against the other two, Alan Picus and Bob Fluet. The club shuttered in March 2023 in the aftermath of the legal proceedings. During its operation, the Q garnered praise from critics, who have described it as innovative, inclusive and chic. (Full article...)
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23 Wall Street (also known as the J.P. Morgan Building) is a four-story office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broad Street. Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in the neoclassical style and constructed from 1913 to 1914, it was originally the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co. Since the late 2000s, the building has remained unoccupied for long periods, although it has occasionally been used for events.

The building has a facade of ashlar masonry and pink Tennessee marble. The first floor consists of a piano nobile over a low basement; above are the second story, the main cornice, and two more stories. After its completion, the building became known as the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co.—the "House of Morgan"—although its exterior was never signed with the Morgan name. The banking room, which took up nearly the entire ground floor, included offices and was used for banking transactions. This space was designed with a domed, coffered ceiling and, later, a large crystal chandelier. Mechanical systems and vaults were in the basement, and executive offices were placed on the upper floors.

23 Wall Street replaced the Drexel Building, which was the banking headquarters for J.P. Morgan & Co.'s predecessor Drexel, Morgan & Co. When the building was damaged during the Wall Street bombing in 1920, J.P. Morgan & Co. refused to make repairs, in defiance of the bombing's perpetrators. The building was linked to neighboring 15 Broad Street in 1957, and the two buildings served as the J.P. Morgan & Co. headquarters until 1988, when the firm moved to 60 Wall Street. During the 2000s, there were plans to convert both 23 Wall Street and 15 Broad Street into a condominium complex. In 2008, 23 Wall Street was sold to interests associated with the billionaire industrialist Sam Pa but mostly remained empty afterward. (Full article...)
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With Pretty Woman on the facade

The Nederlander Theatre (formerly the National Theatre, the Billy Rose Theatre, and the Trafalgar Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 208 West 41st Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, it was designed by William Neil Smith for theatrical operator Walter C. Jordan. It has around 1,235 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. Since 1980, it has been named for American theater impresario David Tobias Nederlander, father of theatrical producer James M. Nederlander. It is the southernmost Broadway theater in the Theater District.

The facade is relatively plain and is made of brick, with a fire escape at the center of the second and third floors. The auditorium was originally designed in the early Renaissance style, which has since been modified several times. Unlike other theaters operated by the Shubert family, the interior contained little plaster decoration. The venue has hosted a variety of shows, including the plays Cyrano de Bergerac, Inherit the Wind, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; live performances, including those by Lena Horne; and the musical Rent, which is the theater's longest-running production .

The modern-day Nederlander Theatre was developed as a carpenter's shop in 1920 before being converted into the National Theatre the following year. When the National opened on September 1, 1921, the Shubert family managed bookings on Jordan's behalf. The Shubert brothers bought the National in 1927 and operated it for three decades. In 1956, as part of a settlement in an antitrust lawsuit, the Shuberts sold the venue to Harry Fromkes, who died shortly thereafter. The National was acquired in 1958 by theatrical producer Billy Rose, who renovated the venue and renamed it after himself the next year. The Nederlander Organization and the Cooney-Marsh Organization acquired the theater in 1978, first renaming it the Trafalgar Theatre; the theater assumed its current name in 1980. Because there were few other Broadway theaters nearby, the Nederlander housed few productions in the late 20th century, becoming popular only after Rent opened. (Full article...)
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View from Fifth Avenue

Trump Tower is a 58-story, 664-foot-tall (202 m) mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well as the penthouse condominium residence of its developer, businessman and former U.S. president Donald Trump. Several members of the Trump family also live, or have resided, in the building. The tower stands on a plot where the flagship store of department-store chain Bonwit Teller was formerly located.

Der Scutt of Swanke Hayden Connell Architects designed Trump Tower, and Trump and the Equitable Life Assurance Company (now the AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company) developed it. Although it is in one of Midtown Manhattan's special zoning districts, the tower was approved because it was to be built as a mixed-use development. Trump was permitted to add more stories to the tower in return for additional retail space and for providing privately owned public space on the ground floor, the lower level, and two outdoor terraces. There were controversies during construction, including the destruction of historically important sculptures from the Bonwit Teller store; Trump's alleged underpaying of contractors; and a lawsuit that Trump filed because the tower was not tax-exempt.

Construction on the building began in 1979. The atrium, apartments, offices, and stores opened on a staggered schedule from February to November 1983. At first, there were few tenants willing to move into the commercial and retail spaces; the residential units were sold out within months of opening. After Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent election, the tower saw large increases in visitation, though security concerns required the area around the tower to be patrolled for several years. (Full article...)
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The 1966 New York City smog was a major air-pollution episode and environmental disaster, coinciding with that year's Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Smog covered the city and its surrounding area from November 23 to 26, filling the city's air with damaging levels of several toxic pollutants. It was the third major smog in New York City, following events of similar scale in 1953 and 1963.

On November 23, a large mass of stagnant air over the East Coast trapped pollutants in the city's air. For three days, New York City was engulfed in dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, and haze. Pockets of air pollution pervaded the greater New York metropolitan area, including parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. By November 25, the smog became severe enough that regional leaders announced a "first-stage alert". During the alert, leaders of local and state governments asked residents and industry to take voluntary steps to minimize emissions. Health officials advised people with respiratory or heart conditions to remain indoors. The city shut off garbage incinerators, requiring massive hauling of garbage to landfills. A cold front dispersed the smog on November 26, and the alert ended.

In the months that followed, medical researchers studied the smog's impact on health. City officials initially maintained that the smog had not caused any deaths, but it soon became clear that the smog had significantly harmed public health. A study published in December 1966 estimated that 10% of the city's population had suffered adverse health effects, such as stinging eyes, coughing, and respiratory distress. A statistical analysis published in October 1967 found that 168 deaths had likely been caused by the smog. (Full article...)

Selected biography -

"He was a tall slight man, with a stoop, quick in his movements...his mobility of expression was so extreme that the very shape of his features actually changed with his emotions."

Jacob Little (March 17, 1794 – March 28, 1865) was an early 19th-century Wall Street investor and the first and one of the greatest speculators in the history of the stock market, known at the time as the "Great Bear of Wall Street". Little was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and moved to New York City in 1817, first clerking for Jacob Barker; he then opened his own establishment in 1822, and finally his own brokerage in 1834. A market pessimist, Little made his wealth "bearing stocks", at turns short selling various companies and at others cornering markets to extract profits from other short sellers. Through his great financial foresight Little amassed an enormous fortune, becoming one of the richest men in America and one of the leading financiers on Wall Street in the 1830s and 1840s, but his speculative activities irritated his peers and earned him few admirers. Little lost and remade his legendary fortune multiple times before losing it for good in 1857; although a great many owed him enormous debts, he was a generous creditor and never collected them, and at his deathbed in 1865 Little was penniless. Although well-known on the stock market in his time, he was quickly forgotten after his death, and today has been relegated to relative obscurity. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

The five boroughs

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Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long Island, with Nassau County to its east. Queens shares water borders with the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

With a population of 2,405,464 as of the 2020 census, Queens is the second-most populous county in New York state, behind Kings County (Brooklyn), and is therefore also the second-most populous of the five New York City boroughs. If Queens were a city, it would be the fourth most-populous in the U.S. after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Queens is the fourth-most densely populated borough in New York City and the fourth-most densely populated U.S. county. About 47% of its residents are foreign-born. Queens is the most linguistically diverse place on Earth and is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States. (Full article...)
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The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge looking toward Staten Island

Staten Island (/ˈstætən/ STAT-ən) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 495,747 in the 2020 Census, Staten Island is the least populated borough but the third largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km²).

A home to the Lenape indigenous people, the island was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century. It was one of the 12 original counties of New York state. Staten Island was consolidated with New York City in 1898. It was formerly known as the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when its name was changed to Borough of Staten Island. Staten Island has sometimes been called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government. (Full article...)
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Yankee Stadium (center), Bronx County Courthouse and the Grand Concourse (towards the top), and the site of Yankee Stadium's predecessor to the far right

The Bronx (/brɒŋks/) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York City borough of Queens, across the East River. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km²) and a population of 1,472,654 in the 2020 census. If each borough were ranked as a city, the Bronx would rank as the ninth-most-populous in the U.S. Of the five boroughs, it has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density. It is the only borough of New York City not primarily on an island. With a population that is 54.8% Hispanic as of 2020, it is the only majority-Hispanic county in the Northeastern United States and the fourth-most-populous nationwide.

The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, and a flatter eastern section. East and west street names are divided by Jerome Avenue. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914. About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old; it is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city. These open spaces are primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan. (Full article...)
Image 4
Midtown Manhattan, the world's largest central business district

Manhattan (/mænˈhætən, mən-/) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. Located near the southern tip of the State of New York, Manhattan is based in the Eastern Time Zone and constitutes both the geographical and demographic center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. Over 58 million people live within 250 miles of Manhattan, which serves as New York City's economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, and the city's historical birthplace. Residents of the outer boroughs of New York City often refer to Manhattan as "the city". Manhattan has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world, and hosts the United Nations headquarters. Manhattan also serves as the headquarters of the global art market, with numerous art galleries and auction houses collectively hosting half of the world's art auctions.

Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, the borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers along with several small adjacent islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, and Randalls and Wards Islands. Manhattan additionally contains the small neighborhood of Marble Hill on the U.S. mainland, which is separated from Manhattan Island by the Harlem Ship Canal and was later connected using landfill to the Bronx. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan. (Full article...)
Image 5
Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn Bridge; Brooklyn brownstones; Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch; Brooklyn Borough Hall; and Coney Island

Brooklyn (/ˈbrʊklɪn/) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan). Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough, with 2,736,074 residents in 2020. If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the third most-populous in the U.S. after the rest of New York City and Los Angeles, and ahead of Chicago.

Named after the Dutch town of Breukelen, Brooklyn is located on the westernmost edge of Long Island and shares a border with the borough of Queens. It has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan, across the East River, and is connected to Staten Island by way of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. With a land area of 70.82 square miles (183.4 km²) and a water area of 26 square miles (67 km²), Kings County is the state of New York's fourth-smallest county by land area and third-smallest by total area. (Full article...)

In the news

15 March 2022 – 2022 Northeastern U.S. serial shooter: The DC Police Department arrest a suspected serial killer involved in the murders of two homeless men, and the attempted murder of three others in Washington, D.C. and New York City. (New York Post)
14 March 2022 – 2022 Northeastern U.S. serial shooter: The New York City Police Department releases images of a suspected serial killer who has shot five homeless men, two fatally, in New York City and Washington, D.C., in the last week. (The New York Times)
10 March 2022 – 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: U.S. bank Goldman Sachs announces that it is closing its operations in Russia, becoming the first major Wall Street bank to leave the country following the invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
7 March 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in New York City; New York City formally ends its mask mandate for its school district as well as its indoor vaccine mandate for restaurants, bars and theaters. (The New York Times) (WNYW-TV)
27 February 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in New York City; New York City Mayor Eric Adams announces that the city will lift their vaccine mandate for indoor businesses and dining on March 7. (NBC News)

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General images

The following are images from various New York City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 21932 school, Turtle Bay (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 3Lower Manhattan, as seen from a ferry, December 1941 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 4Poster about air service, in 1937 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 5Anderson Avenue garbage strike. A common scene throughout New York City in 1968 during a sanitation workers strike (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 6Robert Moses with a model of his proposed Battery Bridge, never built (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 7Pennsylvania Station, opened in 1910 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 8Pennsylvania Station in 1962, two years before it was torn down, an event which jump-started the historic preservation movement. (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 9The Sunday magazine of the New York World appealed to immigrants with this April 29, 1906 cover page celebrating their arrival at Ellis Island. (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 10View of the World Trade Center under construction from Duane Street, Manhattan, 1970 (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 11NASA image of the Port of New York and New Jersey (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 12The Grand Concourse and 161st Street at the beginning of the 20th century. (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 13Aircraft engine at Naval Training School in the Bronx (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 14The World Trade Center site after the September 11 attacks. (from History of New York City (1978–present))
Image 15The World Trade Center, completed in 1973 (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 16Lower Manhattan in 1931. The American International Building, which would become lower Manhattan's tallest building in 1932, is only partially completed. (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 17The Woolworth Building, built in 1913 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 18A 1973 photo of New York City skyscrapers in smog (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 19The World Trade Center skyline before September 11, 2001. (from History of New York City (1978–present))
Image 20Stock Market Crash (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 21Louis Armstrong (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 22Manhattan skyline around 1970 (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
Image 23Mulberry Street, on the Lower East Side, circa 1900 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 24Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. (from History of New York City (1978–present))
Image 25Al Smith, leader of the Democrats in the 1910s and 1920s (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 26Huron Club, formerly a neighborhood Democratic club (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 27NASDAQ MarketSite at Times Square. (from History of New York City (1978–present))
Image 28The South Tower of the original World Trade Center immediately after United Airlines Flight 175 was crashed into it by hijackers; the other tower, the North Tower has been hit by American Airlines Flight 11 around 15 minutes earlier (from History of New York City (1978–present))
Image 29Low Library at Columbia University, ca. 1900 (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 30A workman helps raise the Empire State Building 25 floors higher than the Chrysler Building (at right), as seen in 1931. (from History of New York City (1898–1945))

Did you know...

... that New York City's Equitable Building, completed just before the 1916 Zoning Resolution, was described as being "more famous for what it caused than what it is"?
... that American business executive William M. Ellinghaus helped rescue New York City from bankruptcy in the late 1970s?
... that the Hearst Tower was built nearly eight decades after its base was completed?
... that while 1271 Avenue of the Americas was being built at New York City's Rockefeller Center, Marilyn Monroe re-launched the Center's long-dormant "Sidewalk Superintendents' Club"?
... that during contract bidding for structural steel for New York City's New Lots Line, all three bids were rejected partly because the chief engineer was banking on steel prices falling?
... that the Twin Parks housing project in New York City, the site of a January 2022 fire that killed seventeen people, won architectural awards after it was constructed in the early 1970s?
... that The Little Players performed invitation-only puppet shows out of a New York City living room for over 25 years?
... that Wall Street Journal architecture columnist Julie V. Iovine caused an uproar when she wrote that Yale University had a reputation for being a "gay school" in 1987?

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New York City Theatre WikiProject

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Topics

Manhattan landmarks

A panorama of Manhattan, the world's largest central business district, February 2018.
1. Riverside Church • 2. Time Warner Center • 3. 220 Central Park South • 4. Central Park Tower • 5. One57 • 6. 432 Park Avenue • 7. 53W53 • 8. Chrysler Building • 9. Bank of America Tower • 10. Conde Nast Building • 11 The New York Times Building • 12 Empire State Building • 13. Manhattan West • 14a: 55 Hudson Yards, b: 35 Hudson Yards, c: 10 Hudson Yards, d: 15 Hudson Yards) • 15. 56 Leonard Street • 16. 8 Spruce Street • 17. Woolworth Building • 18. 70 Pine Street • 19. 30 Park Place • 20. 40 Wall Street • 21. Three World Trade Center • 22. Four World Trade Center • 23. One World Trade Center

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