Hey there! I’m Mike Rugnetta, and welcome to the salon! Today, I’m excited to share some amazing facts about New York City with you. Did you know that one in every 38 people living in the United States calls New York City home? I’m one of them! Let’s dive into more cool facts about this incredible city.
Between 1925 and 1954, Ellis Island was the gateway for over half of the immigrants coming to the United States, totaling around 2.3 million people. It played a huge role in shaping the diverse culture of New York City.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, New York City’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia appointed Abraham Hurwitz as the city’s official magician to lift people’s spirits. Hurwitz performed magic shows and even taught magic tricks in parks for 18 years!
The oldest building in New York City is the Wyckoff Farm, built in 1652 in Brooklyn. It became a city landmark in 1965. Another unique building is 33 Thomas Street, a windowless skyscraper that looks like a supervillain’s hideout. It’s designed to withstand nuclear blasts and is now owned by AT&T.
The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in the late 1950s. Its round design caused some artists to worry their paintings wouldn’t hang straight. Despite this, it’s now a beloved art museum.
Wall Street got its name from a wall built by New Amsterdam’s citizens in the 17th century to protect against pirates and other threats. New Amsterdam later became New York City.
Salsa music and dance have roots in the Bronx, thanks to Puerto Rican and Cuban communities. This vibrant culture emerged after World War II, and the Bronx is still known as the borough of salsa.
Astoria, a neighborhood in Queens, was named after millionaire John Jacob Astor, even though he never visited. He did donate $500 to a local women’s seminary, though!
John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased the land for Rockefeller Center in 1928. After the stock market crash, he financed the project himself, spending $100 million to develop the area.
Ruth Finley organized the New York Fashion Calendar, including Fashion Week, from its start in 1944 until 2014. Her work was crucial in shaping the fashion industry.
In 1899, Henry Bliss became the first pedestrian in the U.S. to be fatally hit by a car while getting off a trolley on West 47th Street.
There’s a fire hydrant on Forsyth Street in Manhattan that earns the city $33,000 annually from parking tickets. UPS trucks receive about 15,000 parking tickets each month in New York City!
If you want to ride all the subway lines, it will take about 24 hours. In 1993, a 16-year-old named Kiran Thomas operated a train for three hours before getting caught. And who can forget the famous Pizza Rat?
The New York City Marathon has a runner-to-volunteer ratio of about 5 to 1. Runners cross five bridges but not the Brooklyn Bridge, which was once tested for safety by having 21 elephants walk across it!
Getting married on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day grants you free observatory admission every year on that day. The building opened in 1931 and had its first exterior cleaning in 1962.
Broadway’s first known theater was on Nassau Street, not Broadway itself. Only five of the 40 current Broadway theaters are actually on Broadway. The rest are souvenir shops or restaurants.
Times Square billboards cost companies $1.1 million to $4 million per year. Grand Central Terminal celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013 with shops offering 1913 prices, like 10-cent French fries!
Staten Island has a tugboat graveyard with decomposing ships. It’s a unique spot to explore, along with the island’s parks, ferry rides, and delicious pizza.
Developers in Manhattan often buy air rights, allowing them to build upwards and create futuristic skyscrapers in the city.
Contrary to popular belief, the Flatiron Building wasn’t named for its shape. Also, Central Park isn’t the biggest park in the city; it’s the fifth largest, behind parks like Pelham Bay Park and Greenbelt.
Thanks for joining me on this journey through New York City! Share your favorite NYC landmark or pizza place in the comments. Mine are Walter DeMaria’s Broken Kilometer in Soho and Anna Maria Pizza in Williamsburg. If you visit, reach out, and remember to be awesome!
Research the history of Ellis Island and its role in immigration. Create a timeline of significant events and share how these events influenced New York City’s cultural diversity. Present your timeline to the class and discuss the impact of immigration on the city’s development.
Learn a simple magic trick and perform it for your classmates, just like Abraham Hurwitz did during the Great Depression. Discuss how entertainment can lift people’s spirits during challenging times and brainstorm other activities that could boost morale in your community.
Using the unique architecture of New York City as inspiration, design your own skyscraper. Consider factors like functionality, aesthetics, and resilience. Present your design to the class, explaining your choices and how your building would fit into the New York City skyline.
Explore the history of salsa music and dance in the Bronx. Learn some basic salsa steps and create a short dance routine with a partner. Perform your routine for the class and discuss how salsa reflects the cultural influences of Puerto Rican and Cuban communities in New York City.
Plan a virtual journey on the New York City subway system. Choose a starting point and a destination, and map out the subway lines you would take. Research interesting facts about the stations and neighborhoods along your route, and share your findings with the class.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hey there, I’m Mike Rugnetta. Welcome to the salon! This is a Mental Floss video. Did you know that one in 38 people living in the United States currently reside in New York City? I am one of them! That’s just the first of many facts about New York City that I’m going to share with you today.
While on the subject of U.S. citizens, let’s talk about Ellis Island. Between 1925 and 1954, more than half of the people who immigrated to the U.S. came through there, which is an estimated 2.3 million people. Former Mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, supposedly designated a man named Abraham Hurwitz as the official magician of the city in the 1930s. This was during the Great Depression, and LaGuardia was hoping to boost morale. For the next 18 years, Hurwitz performed around the city and even taught magic classes in parks.
The oldest building still standing in New York City is Wyckoff Farm, built in 1652 in Brooklyn. It was a functioning house for many years before becoming an official city landmark in 1965. Another interesting New York City building is the windowless skyscraper on the east side of Manhattan. It’s 29 stories tall and 550 feet high, but it has no windows. 33 Thomas Street was built in 1974 and is believed to be able to survive nuclear blasts. Nowadays, AT&T owns it, and it looks remarkably like a supervillain hideout.
The Guggenheim, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is another unique building. When it opened in the late 1950s, 21 artists signed a petition against it, believing that their paintings wouldn’t be hung level because of the building’s round design. It was Washington Irving who nicknamed New York City “Gotham,” a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon term meaning “goat pen,” which is quite an accurate nickname.
Wall Street was named after a specific wall. Back in the 17th century, New York was known as New Amsterdam, and citizens built a 12-foot tall wall to shield themselves from pirate attacks and other threats. The Mambo has roots in other countries, but Puerto Ricans and Cubans living in the Bronx are credited with the creation and popularity of its progeny, salsa dancing and music, which emerged after World War II. The Bronx is sometimes still called the borough of salsa.
Moving to a different borough, Queens is home to a neighborhood known as Astoria, named after millionaire John Jacob Astor in the early 19th century. Steven A. Halsey founded a community in Queens and named a neighborhood Astoria, even though Astor never visited. He did donate $500 to a women’s seminary located there.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have John D. Rockefeller Jr., who leased the area that would become Rockefeller Center from Columbia University in 1928. The year after his lease began, the stock market crashed, and he realized he had to finance the entire project himself. He kept his 27-year lease and spent a hundred million dollars developing the area.
Jumping forward to 2014, it was announced that Ruth Finley would no longer be organizing the New York Fashion Calendar, including Fashion Week. While it might not sound like big news, she had been doing that job since the very first Fashion Week in 1944. In 1899, Henry Bliss was getting off a trolley on West 47th Street and was fatally hit by a taxi, making him the first pedestrian death by car in the U.S.
While we’re on the topic of driving, there’s a fire hydrant on Forsyth Street in Manhattan that earns the city the most revenue from parking tickets every year. Drivers spend about $33,000 after parking in front of this particular hydrant. Speaking of parking tickets, as of 2006, it was estimated that UPS trucks receive about 15,000 parking tickets every month in New York City. Maybe drivers should just take the subway instead!
By the way, if you feel like taking all of the subway lines, it will take you about 24 hours. In 1993, a 16-year-old named Kiran Thomas spent about three hours operating a train before he got caught. But the true hero of the subway system is Pizza Rat!
Interestingly, the ratio of runners to volunteers for the New York City Marathon is about 5 to 1. Marathon runners cross five separate bridges, but they don’t cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which has a fascinating history. People were really wary of it when it was built in the late 19th century, so to prove that it was safe, noted circus owner P.T. Barnum had 21 elephants walk across the bridge. More recently, in 2006, workers found a bomb shelter under the Brooklyn Bridge labeled for use only after an enemy attack. It contained 350 packets of crackers, plus water and blankets. It’s now for rent on Craigslist for $3,500 a month as a charming one-bedroom loft-style apartment with amenities close to transportation.
Moving on to another New York City landmark, the Empire State Building. If you get married on the 86th floor on Valentine’s Day, you get free admission to the observatory every year on the holiday. There’s just one catch: you have to go to the Empire State Building. The building opened in 1931, and its first exterior cleaning commenced in 1962. It took a 30-man team six months to complete the cleaning.
If you prefer L.A. to New York because of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, maybe it’s time to rethink that. There’s a similar area outside of Theater 80 in the East Village where a few celebrities have put their handprints in cement, including Joan Rivers, Dom DeLuise, and Joan Crawford. Speaking of theaters, the first known one in New York City was actually on Nassau Street, not Broadway. Shakespeare plays were performed there in 1750. It was our old friend P.T. Barnum who first brought the entertainment industry to Broadway. Nowadays, of the 40 currently operating Broadway theaters, only five are on the actual street of Broadway. Everything else on Broadway is a souvenir shop or a TGI Fridays.
While you’re looking for those five theaters and checking my math, make sure to glance at the Times Square billboards, which cost companies a whopping $1.1 million to $4 million per year. That’s not a bad deal when you think about how much 30 seconds of a Super Bowl commercial costs, which is about the same.
If you enjoy the claustrophobic experience of being in a Times Square crowd, you probably really love Grand Central Terminal. The famous train station celebrated its centennial in 2013, and to celebrate, some shops priced items as if it were 1913. People paid 10 cents for French fries, 19 cents per individual shrimp, and 10 cents for a shoeshine, and so on.
In Staten Island, there is a tugboat graveyard with about 200 ships decomposing there in 1990. There are much fewer now, but it’s still a cool place to check out that’s a little less touristy than all the other attractions. Staten Island in general is pretty nice, with parkland, a good ferry ride, and great pizza. Highly recommend it!
If this video has motivated you to buy land in Manhattan, maybe you should look into buying some air instead. Many developers have actually bought air rights all over the city, which means they’re buying future development rights for the floating futuristic mega city above Manhattan.
Okay, let’s finish up with some New York City misconceptions. It’s not true that the Flatiron Building was named for its appearance; that was already a nickname for the location when it was built, around Broadway, Fifth Avenue, 22nd, and 23rd streets. Another misconception is that one in four or five Americans can trace their roots back to Brooklyn. This one is complicated and a little hard to prove. The legend has been around for decades, but we can’t really know for sure how many of us came from Brooklyn. Experts now say it might be one in seven, but we should probably just let this legend expire.
Finally, I return to the salon to tell you that it is a misconception that Central Park is the biggest park in New York City. It’s smaller than Pelham Bay Park, Greenbelt, Van Cortlandt Park, and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, making it the fifth largest park in New York City.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss video, which is made with the help of these very nice people. Leave your favorite New York City landmark or pizza place in the comments. I think mine are Walter DeMaria’s Broken Kilometer in Soho and Anna Maria Pizza in Williamsburg. Reach out if you come to visit, and of course, don’t forget to be awesome!
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
New York City – A major city in the United States, known for its significant impact on commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. – New York City is often called “The Big Apple” and is famous for landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Central Park.
Ellis Island – An island in New York Harbor that served as the primary immigration station for the United States from 1892 to 1954. – Millions of immigrants passed through Ellis Island in hopes of starting a new life in America.
Immigration – The action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. – The history of the United States is deeply influenced by waves of immigration from all over the world.
Great Depression – A severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. – The Great Depression led to widespread unemployment and poverty across the globe.
Architecture – The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. – The architecture of ancient Rome, with its grand arches and aqueducts, continues to inspire modern builders.
Wall Street – A street in New York City that is home to the New York Stock Exchange and is considered the financial center of the United States. – Wall Street is often used as a symbol for the entire American financial industry.
Salsa – A lively, spicy dance music of Latin American origin, or the dance performed to it. – Salsa music and dance have become popular worldwide, originating from the vibrant cultures of the Caribbean.
Marathon – A long-distance running race, traditionally 26.2 miles, inspired by the ancient Greek soldier Pheidippides who ran from Marathon to Athens. – The New York City Marathon is one of the largest and most famous marathons in the world.
Broadway – A street in New York City famous for its theaters and the production of live theatrical performances. – Seeing a show on Broadway is a must-do experience for many visitors to New York City.
Staten Island – One of the five boroughs of New York City, known for its suburban character and the Staten Island Ferry. – The Staten Island Ferry offers stunning views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.
