Fun Facts and Famous Firsts About NYC - New York City Article
FUN FACTS
New York City is the safest major city in America, with the lowest crime rate of the 25 largest U.S. cities since 2005. And it’s still dropping.
New York City is now the most populated city in the USA with more than 8.2 million people.
6% of the current population of New York City was born outside the United States.
The New York Yankees have won a total of 27 World Series Titles. The most championships in North American Sports.
The New York subway system is the largest mass transit system in the world with 468 stations and 842 miles (1355 km) of track. Unlike most major subways systems around the world, the New York Subway runs 24 hours a day.
The Holland Tunnel, which connects NYC with New Jersey, was completed in 1927 and is one of the first ventilated tunnels in the world. The ventilation system was needed to clear out vehicle exhaust and carbon monoxide generated by the automobiles passing through. The Holland Tunnel is a designated National Historic Landmark.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (“The Met”) contains over 2 million works, making it one of the largest art museums in the world.
The Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan is the only school in the world offering a Bachelor of Science Degree with a Major in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing.
European settlers who brought seeds to New York introduced apples in the 1600s.
The Big Apple is a term coined by musicians meaning to play the big time.
New York City has 4,000 street food vendors.
The New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the US behind only the Library of Congress.
The average temperature of New York City’s pavement on a hot summer day is 150 degrees.
Manhattan’s Chinatown is the largest Chinese enclave in the Western Hemisphere.
New Yorkers travel an average of 40 minutes to work each day.
The Federal Reserve Bank on New York’s Wall Street contains vaults that are located 80 feet beneath the bank and hold about 25 percent of the world’s gold bullion.
The musicians who perform in the NYC Subway system go through a competitive audition process.
New York's Yellow Cabs are yellow because John Hertz, the company's founder, learned from a study that yellow was the easiest color for the eye to spot. He was right.
Your Teddy Bear is a proud New Yorker. In 1902, Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michtom named his furry creation after Teddy Roosevelt, and it stuck. Roosevelt later used the Teddy Bear as his reelection mascot.
Dedicated on October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty, 152 feet high, is believed to be the tallest metal statue ever built.The Statue of Liberty measures 305 feet and 1 inch from the ground to the tip of the flame.
Nearly all of New York City's water supply comes from a system of reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains.
More than 47 percent of New York City’s residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home.
More than 250 feature films are shot on location in New York City each year.
Patsy's Italian Restaurant on W. 56th St was a long time favorite of Frank Sinatra.
An average of 4.9 million people ride the New York City subway each weekday.
There are 215 different bird species in Central Park.
The is no Main St. in Manhattan.
Times Square has the highest annual attendance rate of any tourist attraction in the US.
Members of NYPD are "New York's Finest," members of the FDNY are "New York's Bravest," and the FDNY EMS are "New York's Best."
The seven spikes on the Statue of Liberty's crown represents the seven oceans and the seven continents.
Crushed oyster shells were used to pave Pearl Street and to make mortar for Trinity Church.
Track 61 is a secret underground track connecting Grand Central to the Waldorf Astoria. FDR often used it to keep out of the public eye.
The most stolen street sign in NYC is "Joey Ramone Place."
The Radio City Music Hall stage is the size of a full city block!
HISTORICAL FACTS
The Algonquin Hotel opened November 22, 1902 and is the oldest continually operating hotel in NYC.
In 1626, the Dutch purchased Manhattan Island from the Lenape Native Americans for 60 guilders (about $1000).
The English conquered the city from the Dutch in 1664, and “New Amsterdam” became “New York.”
The "New York Post" established in 1803 by Alexander Hamilton is the oldest running newspaper in the United States.
On July 28, 1945 an Army Air Corps B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building at the 79th floor level.
In 1924, Macy's NYC became the largest department store in the world, offering nearly a million items for sale on 10 stories at its famous 34th and Herald Square address.
Brooklyn was an independent city rivaling NY until 1898.
Wall Street was so named during Dutch rule in the 1600’s, as there was an actual wall built there on the city limit.
George Washington was the only US President to hold office in NYC.
The city's nickname "Gotham" came from Washington Irving's "A History of New York From The Beginning of the World To The End of the Dutch Dynasty."
Many legendary jazz and popular music performers have given memorable performances at Carnegie Hall including Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Harry Belefonte, Ike & Tina Turner ans Stevie Ray Vaughan, all of whom made celebrated live recordings of their concerts there.
At the age of 20, Frederick Douglass, escaped from slavery when he arrived in New York in 1838.
New York Yankees home uniforms did not bear the "NY" logo from 1916 through 1935. This period encompassed Bae Ruth's 15-season tenure in New York (1920-1934). As such, Ruth never donned the "NY" logo on his jersey as an active player.
THEATER FACTS
The icononc NYC retailer, Hammacher Schlemmer, was the inspiration for the tune, "Hammacher Schlemmer, I Love You," composed by Howard Dietz for his Broadway Show, The Little Play in 1929.
New York City's Broadway theaters omit the row "I" in their seating to avoid confusion with the number one.
"The Phantom of the Opera" is the first and only Broadway musical to perform over 10,000 times.
A "Broadway Theater" must have a seating capacity of 500 seats or more, while an Off Broadway theater generally has100-499 seats. Off Off Broadway theaters have fewer than 100 seats.
The first nude Broadway musical was Hair, which opened in 1968 and ran 1750 performances.
The original production of The Wizard of Oz, based on the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, was the premier performance at the Majestic Theatre on January 21, 1903; it ran for 293 performances.
The second longest running show was Cats, which staged 7485 performances. Cats opened on Broadway in 1982, and continued to live up to its motto of playing "Now and Forever” until 2000.
The Richard Rogers Theatre has housed the most Tony winning Best PLays and Best Musicals with 10.
Tickets to the first Tony Awards ceremony in 1947 cost $7.00 each. Given the event's overwhelming success, the price shot up the very next year, to $10.
The Helen Hayes Theatre is the smallest Broadway theatre, holding only 597 seats.
In 1857, New York City sold the Fifth Avenue property that St. Patrick's Cathedral sits on for one dollar.
FAMOUS FIRSTS
Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper in 1857.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's first US Performance was at Carnegie Hall on opening night of the Hall's inaugural season in 1891.
Gennaro Lombardi opened the first United States pizzeria in 1895 in New York City. Lombardi's Pizzeria is still operating at the corner of Mott and Spring Streets in Little Italy!
The first public brewery in America was established by Peter Minuit in a Manhattan log cabin in 1633.
Completed in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge is the world’s oldest suspension bridge and also the first bridge to be lit using electricity. Today it still carries 150,000 vehicles and pedestrians daily.
New York City was the nation’s first Capital, from 1789 to 1790. President Washington took his presidential oath on the balcony at Federal Hall.
In 1992, the New York Supreme Court altered a public decency code (penal law 245.01) that allows women to go topless in NYC.
FM radio was invented by Edwin H. Armstrong in the basement of Columbia University's Philosophy Hall.
The world's first passenger elevator was installed in the Haughwout Building in 1857. The steam-powered elevator worked for 50 years
The Waldorf-Astoria was the first luxury hotel to allow women to be admitted unaccompanied by a male.
The Chrysler Building was the first man-made structure over 1000 feet tall.
The first game played in the original Yankee Stadium was against the Boston Red Sox. Yankees won 4-1, April 4, 1923.
The first ball used to celebrate the New Year in Times Square was made of wood & iron. It dropped one second after midnight.
WNBT-TV (now WNBC) in New York became the first commercial television station in the world on July 1, 1941.
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