Marlene Wagman-Geller

The Grande Dame of mystery, Agatha Christie wrote, “It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.” Although the writer’s words ring true, the following unveils secrets hidden in the core of the Big Apple.

Times Square CRAZY FACTS:

Nicknamed “the Crossroads of the World,” Times Square is a snow globe that holds a kaleidoscope of images, some erotic, some exotic, some idiotic. But an adjective that is not applicable is the word boring. Here are glimpses into the peephole of the iconic landmark at the intersection of Broadway and 42^nd Street-one of America’s most Instagrammed sites.

 At its christening, Times Square was known as Long Acre Square. In 1904, when the New York Times took up residence in the building (One Times Square), the mayor renamed it after the newspaper. Both names are misleading; the area is technically a triangle. As the heartbeat of the city, the site is where crowds ring in the New Year to the haunting tune of “Auld Lang Syne.” (The phrase is a nod to Scottish poet Robert Burns who wrote, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lange syne?”) The tradition began with a 700-pound, wood-and-iron globe, replete with 100 light bulbs, that descended from the top of a flagpole. The modern counterpart weighs almost six tons, and its illumination derives from 32,256 LEDs. The city has lowered the ball since 1907 except for 1942 and 1943 due to the wartime mandate of “dimout of lights.” However, crowds still congregated and greeted the New Year with a minute of silence followed by the ringing of chimes, a nod to the earlier celebrations at Trinity Church where New Yorkers gathered to “ring out the old, ring in the new.” Each year, hundreds of thousands stand in One Times Square for the iconic ritual. For those unwilling to brave the NYC cold and crowds, over one billion watch the event on television.

     While the slogan “Virginia is for Lovers” is the travel motto of the southern state, the concept also applies to Times Square. The locale is associated with a timeless kiss immortalized in the Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph of the sailor locked in an embrace with a nurse, celebrating the end of World War II. Although the locale’s subway is rife with graffiti, it also holds the work of New York born pop artist, Roy Lichenstein whose multi-million dollar canvasses have pride of place in the MoMA and the Met. The scene depicts a futuristic train in an underground station.  The landmark is also-literally-out of this world; Times Square has so many lights that astronauts can pinpoint it from outer space.

The Empire State Building CRAZY FACTS:

Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Egypt the pyramids, Rome the Coliseum-and Manhattan the Empire State building. The famous landmark opened in 1931 when President Herbert Hoover flipped a switch that turned on the building’s lights. A crowd of 2,000, including Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, attended the inaugural ceremonies. Until the completion of the Chrysler Building, the skyscraper reigned as Manhattan’s highest structure. If the building that kisses the clouds could talk, it would relate tragic tales: the collateral cost of construction was the deaths of five construction workers. In 1945, a B-25 bomber, enshrouded in fog, slammed into the north wall between the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth floors, an accident that claimed fourteen lives.

     As with all larger-than-life ladies, the Empire State building is a nod to romance. In 1933, the lovestruck gorilla, King Kong, ascended the 102-story tower in pursuit of the women he loved before plunging to his death. Sixty years later, the E.S. B. played matchmaker in Sleepless in Seattle when Sam (played by Tom Hanks) met his soulmate, Annie, (played by Meg Ryan), in its observation tower. The landmark also made inroads on the heart of billionaire Harry Helmsley-then owner of the Empire State Building. On the bicentennial Fourth of July, he bathed his building in lights of red, white, and blue. Rather than borne of patriotism, the gesture was on  the occasion of his wife, Leona, (dubbed the Queen of Mean) July 4^th birthday. He said of the hundred-thousand-dollar cost that it was cheaper than a diamond necklace. In tribute to Frank Sinatra’s eightieth birthday, in 1995, the Empire displayed a baby blue hue, a nod to the singer’s nickname: Ol’ Blue Eyes. In 2004, in honor of what would have been the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia’s eightieth birthday, the citadel of capitalism turned hippie and displayed a pattern of tie-dye. After the 2004 death of actress Faye Wray who had starred as King Kong’s love interest, Ann Darrow, the building remained in  darkness for fifteen minutes.

The Statue of Liberty CRAZY FACTS:

When Rita Moreno departed Puerto Rico and sailed into New York Harbor, upon seeing the Statue of Liberty, she remarked, “In the harbor when I saw that amazing big, tall lady. I remember thinking oh my goodness, a lady runs this country.” In 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the landmark, a gift from France. For the finale of the inaugural ceremonies, the statue’s designer, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, perched in Liberty’s torch, pulled a rope that unfurled a large French flag that revealed Lady Liberty’s face. While New York City was in raptures with their famous addition, not everyone shared in the excitement. Matilda Joslyn Gage, (the mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum-the author of The Wizard of Oz), staged a protest to coincide with the unveiling of the Statue. Her argument was it was a mockery for a female figure to hava dominance while her female flesh and blood counterparts had no business in the polling station. She argued, “The Statue of Liberty is a gigantic lie, a travesty, and a mockery. It is the greatest sarcasm of the nineteenth century to represent liberty as a woman while not one single woman throughout the length and breadth of the Land is as yet in possession of political Liberty.” The suffragists chartered a boat to circle Ellis Island to blast their protests from its deck, but the fanfare of the inaugural ceremony rendered made their shouts inaudible.

     The 151-foot-tall, toga-clad woman represents Libertas, the Roman Goddess of Freedom whose full name is Liberty Enlightening the World. From her sandals to the top of her torch, she weighs 204 tons. In her right hand she holds a torch; in her left hand, she carried a tablet inscribed with the publication date of the Declaration of Independence. The seven spikes of her crown represent the seven continents and the seven seas, while the broken chain by her foot symbolizes freedom from Britain. The pedestal holds the inscription of a sonnet by Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” that includes the passage, “Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”

   The words of Antony to the Queen of the Nile can serve as a paeon to New York City, “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale/Her infinite variety.”