New York City is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 19,979,477 people in its 2018 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 22,679,948 residents in its Combined Statistical Area.
A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy. New York consists of five boroughs - Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York was the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, and has been the largest US city since 1790.
The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U.S. by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is an international symbol of the U.S. and its ideals of liberty and peace. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability, and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. In 2019, New York was voted the greatest city in the world per a survey of over 30,000 people from 48 cities worldwide, citing its cultural diversity.
My wife and I visited this great city for a week in October 2019.
Central Park Design and Layout
Central Park is roughly divided into thirds. From north to south, they are the "North End", north of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir; "Mid-Park",
between the reservoir to the north and the Lake and Conservatory Water to the south; and "South End", south of the Lake and Conservatory Water.
The park contains five visitor centers: Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, Belvedere Castle, Chess & Checkers House, the Dairy, and Columbus Circle.
While planting and land form in much of the park appear natural, it was almost entirely landscaped during the 1850s and 1860s.
The park contains seven lakes and ponds that have been created artificially by damming natural seeps and flows. There are several wooded sections,
in addition to lawns, the "meadows", and many minor grassy areas. In addition, there are 21 children's playgrounds, as well as 6.1 miles (9.8 km) of drives,
located within the boundaries of Central Park.
Central Park is the fifth-largest park in New York City, behind Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Van Cortlandt Park, the Staten Island Greenbelt, and Pelham Bay Park.
Central Park is located on 843 acres (3.41 km2; 1.317 sq mi) of land, making it larger than two of the world's smallest nations, Monaco and Vatican City.
Central Park constitutes its own United States census tract, numbered 143. According to American Community Survey 5-year estimates, the park's population in 2017 was four people,
all female, with a median age of 19.8 years. Though the 2010 United States Census counted 25 residents within census tract 143, park officials have rejected the claim of anyone permanently living there.
Central Park Governance
The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that manages the park under a contract with NYC Parks,
in which the president of the Conservancy is ex officio Administrator of Central Park. The conservancy employs 80% of maintenance and operations staff in the park.
It effectively oversees the work of both the private and public employees under the authority of the publicly appointed Central Park administrator,
who reports to the parks commissioner and the conservancy's president.
The Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980 as a nonprofit organization
with a citizen board to assist with the city's initiatives to clean up and rehabilitate the park.
The Conservancy took over the park's management duties from NYC Parks in 1998, though NYC Parks retained ownership of Central Park.
The Conservancy also provides maintenance support and staff training programs for other public parks in New York City,
and has assisted with the development of new parks such as the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Central Park is patrolled by its own New York City Police Department precinct, the 22nd (Central Park) Precinct, located at the 86th Street transverse.
The precinct employs both regular police and auxiliary officers.
The citywide New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol also patrols Central Park,
and the Central Park Conservancy sometimes hires seasonal Parks Enforcement Patrol officers to protect certain features such as the Conservatory Garden.
Epicenter of the arts. Architectural darling. Dining and shopping capital. Trendsetter. New York City wears many crowns, and spreads an irresistible feast for all.
It's the city that never sleeps, always in motion with limitless activities and events.
Manhattan island packs more famous destinations into its 33 square miles than just about anywhere else in the world.
At its southern tip, tour the World Trade Center Site, then hop the Staten Island Ferry to glimpse Lady Liberty. Head northwest to the High Line,
an elevated park overlooking the trendy Meatpacking District near Hudson Yard.
Midtown must-sees include the Empire State Building, neon-drenched Times Square and Fifth Avenue icons
like the New York Public Library, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center. Upper Manhattan is nirvana for culture lovers, thanks to Lincoln Center,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and dozens of other world-class institutions.
And there is the Central Park located between the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side with an estimated 37.5–38 million visitors annually, and one of the most filmed locations in the world.
Central Park is the fifth-largest park in New York City by area, covering 843 acres (3.41 km2).
Central Park was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and as a New York City scenic landmark in 1974.
Vessel (TKA) is a structure and landmark which was built as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Construction began in April 2017; it opened on March 15, 2019. Designed by the British designer Thomas Heatherwick, the elaborate honeycomb-like structure
rises 16 stories and consists of 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings for visitors to climb.
Vessel is the main feature of the 5-acre Hudson Yards Public Square. Funded by Hudson Yards developer Related Companies, its final cost is expected to be $200 million.
The structure's name is a working title, noted in the TKA abbreviation, which means "Temporarily Known As".
The structure owners have asked the public to give it a formal name and have a website devoted to naming it.
One of the most discussed names on social media was "The Shawarma", after the cone-shaped Middle Eastern meat popular on street carts.
The attached 5-acre (2 ha) public square has 28,000 plants and 225 trees, located on the platform upon which Hudson Yards is built.
The plaza's southern side is to have a canopy of trees. The southeast entrance is to contain a fountain as well. A "'seasonally expressive' entry garden" is meant for the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station's subway entrance at 33rd
Street.
The plaza is also designed to connect the High Line promenade.
Ranked as one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, Fifth Avenue is a prime destination for visitors with a taste for luxury.
The section of Fifth that crosses Midtown Manhattan between 49th and 60th Streets is lined with high-end shops including designer showrooms and prestigious department stores.
The section of Fifth Avenue between 82nd to 105th streets on the Upper East Side is referred to as the Museum Mile. Nine museums are situated along this stretch of Fifth
including the Guggenheim and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States, has welcomed new arrivals to the shores of America for over a hundred years.
Lady Liberty on her pedestal stands at an impressive 93 meters (305 feet), which visitors can climb for views of Brooklyn and Gustave Eiffel’s supportive framework.
For those who choose not to climb the 154 steps to the crown, the pedestal offers panoramic views of the harbor and downtown New York City.
Guided tours of Liberty Island are offered throughout the day by Park Rangers and a self-guided audio, offered in nine languages, tour is included with a ferry ticket to the island.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met, as it is commonly known, was founded in 1870, and is one of the most famous museums in the United States.
The permanent collection of The Met contains more than two million works of art, spanning a period of 5,000 years.
Although the museum has three sites, the centerpiece is The Met Fifth Avenue.
Highlights of the collection include American decorative arts, arms and armor, costumes, Egyptian art, musical instruments, photographs, and much more. Exhibitions bring some of the world's most famous works to the public.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks,
which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six.
The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site,
the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks.
It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for,
program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site. A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction
of the World Trade Center for the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations.
The winner of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Israeli-American architect Michael Arad of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm.
Arad worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design, creating a forest of swamp white oak trees with two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood.
In August 2006, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began heavy construction on the memorial and museum.
The design is consistent with the original master plan by Daniel Libeskind, which called for the memorial to be 30 feet (9.1 m) below street level—originally 70 feet (21 m)—in a plaza,
and was the only finalist to disregard Libeskind's requirement that the buildings overhang the footprints of the Twin Towers.
The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007.
A dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial on September 11, 2011, and it opened to the public the following day.
The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, with remarks from Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama. The museum opened to the public on May 21.
You’ll find a smorgasbord of New York sites in this distinctive, multi-block complex—in fact, the ground level alone is home to the tourist-packed ice-skating rink, the bronze Atlas statue and the ‘Today Show’ plaza.
Higher up, Top of the Rock rivals the Empire State Building in panoramic city views.
You may not be able to access the five private rooftop gardens if you’re not a Saturday Night Live cast member,
but you can still peek at the spaces from Saks Fifth Avenue’s eighth-floor shoe department if you can't help but be curious.
Special credentials are not required, however, to inspect the Art Deco murals that appear in several buildings. Don’t miss the triptych above the outdoor entrance to 5 Rockefeller Center
or the rinkside Prometheus statue; both purportedly contain secret Freemason symbols.
For over a hundred years, this transit hub has funneled thousands of daily commuters (over 700,000 a day) through its expansive halls and concourses.
Though technically a passageway for those looking to go elsewhere, the building is certainly a destination in it's own right. With its grandiose Beaux Arts framework,
the terminal is a spectacle of both form and function.
Familiar features include the vaulted, constellation-adorned ceiling and the four-faced opal clock topping the main information booth,
both located in the Grand Concourse. Above the 42nd Street entrance find symbolism of Mercury, the god of travel (naturally), and an ornate Tiffany-glass timepiece.
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 by combining the collections of the Astor and Lenox Libraries with a $2.4 million trust from Samuel J. Tilden that was given to,
"establish and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New York."
Sixteen years later, on May 23, 1911, President William Howard Taft,
along with New York Governor John Alden Dix and New York City Mayor William J. Gaynor, dedicated the Library and opened it to the public the next day.
When the building opened, it was the largest marble building in the United States and home to over one million books.
There’s nothing more recognizable in the Big Apple’s skyline than the Empire State Building. NYC’s most iconic building has had a rich, interesting history that’s full of drama,
passion, and unexpected beauty. It’s cemented itself, with steel and elbow grease, as one of the most important and enduring images of American ingenuity,
and nearly 4 million visitors stop by every single year.
No visit to America should go without a visit to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
NYC’s skyline has featured this jewel for nearly 90 years, and today, visitors can learn many interesting Empire State Building facts as they admire this iconic structure up close.
St. Patrick's Cathedral holds its own among Midtown's tall buildings and historic architecture, its twin spires jutting 330 feet up toward the heavens.
Fresh off a $177 million restoration—which cleaned those spires as well as the heavy bronze doors, ceiling, stained glass and enormous pipe organ—the Neo-Gothic church
is among NYC’s most-visited religious sites; in fact, it's among the City’s most-visited attractions period, welcoming an estimated 5 million people every year.
You can join them yourself—whether to attend one of the daily masses (there’s seating for more than 2,000 worshipers) or to just to look around.
The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above Manhattan’s West Side. The park is maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line,
which fought for the preservation and transformation of the rail line into green space.
Every month there are new fun and diverse activities for visitors.
These include stargazing, tree tours and art tours along with season specific events such as the Haunted High Line Halloween in October.
Some of the park’s attractions include naturalized plantings and splendid views of the Hudson River.
The High Line also integrates cultural attractions into its design with architecture and art installations.
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue.
It stretches from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Brightly adorned with billboards and advertisements, Times Square is sometimes referred to as "The Crossroads of the World",
"The Center of the Universe",
"the heart of The Great White Way", and "the heart of the world".
One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.
Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists,
while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.
Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters
to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square. It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, began on December 31, 1907, which continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year.
Brooklyn Bridge - Brief History
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City. It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River.
The Brooklyn Bridge has a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m) and a deck height of 127 ft (38.7 m) above Mean High Water.
It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and was the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge, as well as the first fixed crossing across the East River.
The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and the East River Bridge, but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915.
Proposals for a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn were first made in the early 19th century. These plans eventually led to the construction of the current span,
designed by Washington Roebling. While construction started in 1870, numerous controversies and the novelty of the construction process caused the work to be prolonged
over thirteen years, and the bridge opened on May 24, 1883. Over the years, the Brooklyn Bridge has undergone several reconfigurations, having carried horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines until 1950.
To alleviate increasing traffic flows, numerous bridges and tunnels were built to the north and south. Following gradual deterioration, the Brooklyn Bridge was renovated several times,
with major renovations in the 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s.
Brooklyn Bridge - Opening
The New York and Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883. Thousands of people attended the opening ceremony, and many ships were present in the East River for the occasion.
Officially, Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross the bridge. The bridge opening was also attended by U.S. president Chester A. Arthur and New York mayor Franklin Edson,
who crossed the bridge and shook hands with Brooklyn mayor Seth Low at the Brooklyn end. Though Washington Roebling was unable to attend the ceremony (and rarely visited the site again),
he held a celebratory banquet at his house on the day of the bridge opening. Further festivity included the performance of a band, gunfire from ships, and a fireworks display.
On that first day, a total of 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed the span.
Less than a week after the Brooklyn Bridge opened, ferry crews reported a sharp drop in patronage,
while the bridge's toll operators were processing over a hundred people a minute. However, cross-river ferries continued to operate until 1942.
The bridge had cost US$15.5 million in 1883 dollars (about US$403,339,000 in 2018) to build, of which Brooklyn paid two thirds. The bonds to fund the construction would not be paid off until 1956.[152] An estimated 27 men died during its
construction.
Since the New York and Brooklyn Bridge was the only bridge across the East River at that time, it was also called the East River Bridge.
Another popular nickname was the Brooklyn Bridge, because of the economic benefits the new crossing provided to the city of Brooklyn.
