Posts tagged History
“Franco the Great” Gaskin’s “We Fit You to a T” on 125th Street…Hamilton Heights, NY (via Harlem World)
Fred Lebow, Founder of the NYC Marathon…New York City, NY (via DailyMile)
As the Wealthy World Turns
After spending the last two decades of her long reclusive life living in hospitals, Gilded Age copper heiress Huguette Clark died earlier this year at age 104. At once, the jackals descended—actually, they descended well before her death, it seems. The Manhattan DA is currently investigating Clark’s lawyer, Wallace Bock, and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, for their handling of Clark’s affairs. Her lawyer has a will that shows Clark didn’t want to give any money to her family, but now the family is in possession of a different will, signed by Clark, that says she DID intend them to have a big inheritance! Fire up some Jiffy Pop and hit the Drama Button—this is gonna get petty. (read more via Gothamist)
A Brief History of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The first-ever Macy’s Day Parade actually took place on Christmas of 1924. Macy’s employees dressed as clowns, cowboys, and other fun costumes, and traveled with Central Park zoo animals and creative floats a lengthy six miles from Herald Square to Harlem in Manhattan.
The parade was meant to draw attention to the Macy’s store in NYC, and the gimmick worked - more than 250,000 people attended the inaugural Macy’s Day Parade. It was decided that this NYC parade would become an annual NY event in Manhattan.
In 1927, Felix the Cat became the first giant balloon to ever take part in the Macy’s Day Parade. In 1928, Felix was inflated with helium, and without a plan to deflate this massive balloon, NYC parade organizers simply let Felix fly off into the sky. Unfortunately, he popped soon thereafter.
The Macy’s Day Parade continued to let the balloons fly off in subsequent years, only these balloons would have a return address written on them, and whoever found the balloon could return the balloon for a prize from Macy’s.
The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934 and the parade became a permanent part of American culture after being prominently featured in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, which shows actual footage of the 1946 festivities. The event was first broadcast on network television in 1948 and by this point the event, and Macy’s sponsorship of it, were sufficiently well-known to give rise to the colloquialism “Macy’s Day Parade”.
(via NYCTourist.com and Wikipedia)
Haunted Manhattan: The Palace Theater
Located in midtown Manhattan at 1564 Broadway, The Palace Theater first opened its doors on March 24th, 1913. Considered to be the world’s most famous and premier performance theatre from its opening until the 1930’s, to “Play the Palace” was a popular phrase created by entertainers that represented The Palace Theater’s immense importance and popularity. Currently used as a performance theatre like its original incarnation, the venue has seen many transformations and been used in different fashions; e.g. movie house, vaudeville shows and musical concert. Many famous people have performed at The Palace Theatre like Sandra Bernhardt, Harry Houdini, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Buddy Hackett, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Better Midler, Shirley MacLaine, Diana Ross and Harry Belafonte.
The Palace Theater has a unique haunted history and more than 100 different ghosts seen by former patrons, performers and ex-employees. Various paranormal activity has been reported in multiple locations: a ghost of a little girl near on the balcony, a cellist ghost with a white-gown in the orchestra pit, an apparition of a little boy near the mezzanine, and even the ghost of Judy Garland near a private door used by the performer. Also, piano keys are heard and seen playing without someone there and the smell of burning cigarettes at the spot where a former manager purportedly committed suicide. Legend also has it that there is an “omen” ghost here. The omen ghost is one of an acrobat that used to perform at the Palace Theater. The legend states that the acrobat broke his neck while performing and died instantly. If you are in the Palace Theater and you see the ghost of the acrobat then you will soon come to your death. (via Long Island Paranormal Investigators)
Crypt Crawls: A Halloween Tour
Shake your spirits loose this Halloween at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine! Creep into the Cathedral’s crypt with Cathedral Guides and learn the origins of Halloween as the Celtic New Year celebration and later transformation into All Hallows Eve. Space is limited and participants must be 12 years of age and older. Tickets are $20 per person, $15 per student/senior.
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, Morningside Heights
October 25, 26, 27, 28 or 30
CLICK HERE for tickets or call (866) 811-4111
Image via alicia954
Completely restored back to it’s 1913 splendor, Grand Central Terminal has become a midtown destination with five exquisite restaurants and cocktail lounges, 20 casual international eateries in the lower level Dining Concourse, gourmet foods from the Grand Central Market and the 50 unique specialty shops throughout the concourses, all in to addition to transportation.
Grand Central has also transformed itself into a venue for ongoing public events. Throughout the year, Vanderbilt Hall, the Terminal’s 12,000 square foot former Main Waiting Room, is the site for ongoing free promotions and entertainment ranging from tennis exhibits to the annual Holiday Fair which brings 72 craftsmen, artisans and international importers to the Terminal selling an outstanding array of merchandise for holiday gifts.
Grand Central has become an international example of a successful urban project that gave new life to an historic building which otherwise would have been discarded and destroyed.
Grand Central Terminal
87 East 42nd Street, Midtown East
From Showplace to Scrap Heap
Palm Beach’s most notable places are often remembered more for the circumstances surrounding their demise rather than the splendor of their heyday. Designed for the timeless pursuit of uninterrupted pleasure, Palm Beach’s history is structured within a series of episodic seasonal cycles expressing each era’s concerns and beliefs. For years after a significant building has been removed from the town’s historic fabric, if not by accident then either by whim or the need to be modern, stories and photographs recap the spectacle of ruin or the unfolding melodrama from showplace to scrap heap. (via Palm Beach Daily News)
Dr. Phil and the Walking Tours of the East Village
By Becky Flaum at The Local East Village.
Andy Levin’s Coney Island
Really, could there be anything more to say about Coney Island?
Second only to Times Square — the old, nasty, funky, scary, sexy, vibrant Times Square — Coney Island must be the most photographed precinct of New York; inspiring not just chapters, but also whole picture books, like Peter Granser’s “Coney Island” (2006) and Harvey Stein’s “Coney Island” (1998).
In the late 1970s, when he was in his late 20s, Andy Levin began exploring Coney Island as a G-rated family destination, not entirely unlike the seaside community on Long Island where he was raised. (Read more…)
Mad Men's New Office
In the months following their inauspicious debut in a suite at the Pierre Hotel at the end of Season 3, the principals of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, who got the name “Mad Men” from their former Madison Avenue headquarters, have decamped to offices in the Time & Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas — Sixth Avenue — between West 50th and 51st Streets. It is the perfect location for an upstart firm nurturing an image of being cutting edge. Read more…
