Far from being a conventional guide, this volume reveals what actually makes New York a unique place. Anyone who loves traveling will be eager to learn about the culture of specific places and the legends that have contributed to their fame—such as those recounted in the following chapters.
Vertical Symphony
“Unlike Rome, New York has never learned the art of growing old by playing on all its pasts. Its present invents itself, from hour to hour, in the act of throwing away its previous accomplishments and challenging the future.”
– Michel de Certeau, 1980
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (Ctbuh), a Chicago-based international organization that focuses on tall buildings and sustainable urban design, ranks New York City third in the world when it comes to the number of buildings that exceed 150 meters (492 feet) in height (it has three hundred and fourteen) and fourth in terms of buildings over 200 meters tall (656 feet) (it has ninety-five). If we’re speaking of buildings over 300 meters (984 feet) tall, it ranks second; of these it has at least sixteen. Although today the city has to reckon with Dubai, Shenzen, and Hong Kong, the period that has witnessed history’s most daring architecture does not yet seem to be over.
← The Empire State Building towering over a spectacular view of Midtown
tion-grabbing. It consists of a 14th-15th-century Tuscan reliquary that holds—according to tradition—that very tooth of the Magdalene. It took Morgan only twenty years to amass a collection that was valued
↑ The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Nicknames, Symbols, and Branding
“New York, New York—so nice, they had to name it twice”
– from George Russell’s song Manhattan sung by Jon Hendricks
← “The city that never sleeps” is one of New York’s most appropriate epithets
Big Apple, Big City, Big Burg, Fun City, Fifty-First State, Gotham City, Metropolis, or simply the City to underscore its uniqueness . . . New York’s hundred nicknames speak to the countless identities embedded in its multifaceted genetic code and reflected in its flag, the emblem of the city. Nonetheless, the logo of the iconic metropolitan brand —the most effective ever produced— dates to the 1960s.
↳ The signature on the new transportation hub at the heart of the World Trade Center is unmistakably that of architect Santiago Calatrava. Known as the Oculus, the white winged structure was inspired by the open one at the Pantheon, here transformed into a long narrow window between two wings.
Movies and TV Series Shot on Location
“In Hollywood, actors learn to act from watching television. In New York, people learn to act by walking down the street.”
– Sidney Lumet
The IMDb-Internet Movie Database lists two hundred and sixty-seven feature films whose titles contain the city’s name—from New York, New York (1977) starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro, to Autumn in New York (2000) with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, and Gangs of New York (2002) with Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel DayLewis, and Cameron Diaz. The earliest such movie on record is The Lure of New York, which dates to 1913.
← Woody Allen before the Coney Island cyclone on the movie set of Annie Hall, 1977