With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. New York is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. (Full article...)
The 86th Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line. Though it was originally planned to be a four-track express station with two island platforms, only the western platform and tracks were ultimately built. Construction on the segment of the line that includes 86th Street started in 1913, and was completed in 1915. The station opened on January 15, 1916, as part of an extension of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line from 59th Street to 86th Street. The station's platforms were lengthened in 1926–1927, and it was renovated in the 1970s and again in the late 2000s. The 86th Street station was renovated between 2018 and 2020, and elevators were added to make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The station, originally part of the city's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the failed attempt to build the West Side Stadium, was first scheduled to open in summer 2012. When London was chosen for the Olympics, the opening date was pushed to December 2013. In 2011, the opening was postponed to June 2014, pending the completion of the escalators and elevators in the station. After a series of delays involving escalator, elevator, and fire and safety systems, the station finally opened on September 13, 2015. The 34th Street station was, at the time of opening, the first completely new station in the New York City Subway system since 1989, as well as the first such station funded by the government of New York City since 1950.
The new construction, part of the city's and the MTA's master plan for the Far West Side, extended the IRT Flushing Line west from Times Square to Eleventh Avenue, then south to 34th Street. Although the West Side Stadium plan was rejected by city and state planning agencies, the 7 Subway Extension plan received approval to move ahead, as New York political leaders wanted to see the warehouse district west of Eighth Avenue and north of 34th Street redeveloped as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment, and subway service was to be an essential part of that effort. The extension also serves the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was expanded in 2008–2014 and is located a block away from the station entrances. (Full article...)
Image 4
"The Pilot"—also known as "The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate", "The First One", and "The One Where It All Began"—is the pilot episode and series premiere of the American television sitcomFriends. The episode premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. It was written by the show's creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and directed by James Burrows. The pilot introduces six twenty-something friends who live and work in New York City: Monica Geller, a single sous chef in her mid 20s who is illegally subletting her grandmother's apartment; Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, a paleontologist whose marriage recently ended after he learned his wife, Carol, is a lesbian; Rachel Green, Monica's spoiled, self-centered, high-school best friend who has just left her fiancé at the altar and is financially cut off by her father; Chandler Bing, Ross's college roommate and best friend who lives across the hall from Monica; Joey Tribbiani, a struggling Italian-American actor and Chandler's roommate; and Phoebe Buffay, a laid-back, hippie-ish masseuse, singer and guitar player.
Crane and Kauffman pitched their original idea to network NBC in 1993. NBC liked it and commissioned a complete script, which was submitted in 1994. Before the script was finished, casting for the six main roles began; 75 actors were seen for each part. The Friends pilot episode was taped on May 4, at Warner Bros.' studios in Burbank, California. After making final edits to the episode, executive producer Kevin Bright submitted it on May 11, two days before NBC was due to announce the schedule. Satisfied with the completed pilot, NBC ordered 12 more episodes for the first season. The episode was watched by approximately 22 million viewers, making it the fifteenth-most-watched television show of the week. Critics compared the show unfavorably to Seinfeld and Ellen, noting the similarities all three series had in depicting friends conversing about their lives. The cast, particularly Schwimmer, were complimented, though there was some concern that the character roles were undeveloped and that the plot for the pilot would not go over well with audiences. (Full article...)
Image 5
Marilyn E. Saviola (July 13, 1945 – November 23, 2019) was an American disability rights activist, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York from 1983 to 1999, and vice president of Independence Care System after 2000. Saviola, a polio survivor from Manhattan, New York, is known nationally within the disability rights movement for her advocacy for people with disabilities and had accepted many awards and honors for her work. (Full article...)
The area was initially occupied by the Canarsee band of Munsee-speaking Lenape until the first European settlement occurred in 1636. Through the late 19th century, Sunset Park was sparsely developed and was considered part of Bay Ridge or South Brooklyn. The arrival of elevated railways and the subway led to Sunset Park's development, with middle-class row houses and industrial buildings being erected in the 1890s through the 1920s. After the decline of the industrial hubs in the 1940s and 1950s, the name "Sunset Park" was given to the region north of 65th Street as part of an urban renewal initiative. Immigrant groups started moving to the neighborhood in the late 20th century due to its relative affordability. By the 21st century, the neighborhood's population is primarily composed of Hispanics and Chinese immigrants along with swaths of predominantly white young urban professionals and the remaining vestiges of Scandinavian, Irish and Italian communities.
Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets was developed as an interchange station between the Fulton Street and Crosstown lines of the Independent Subway System (IND). Construction began around 1929, and it was opened on April 9, 1936. Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets has six tracks and four island platforms, with two platforms and three tracks for each direction of service. The innermost tracks in each direction originally served Crosstown Line trains, while the center tracks were supposed to serve Fulton Street express trains and the outermost tracks were supposed to serve Fulton Street local trains to Court Street. However, Court Street was only served by a shuttle train from Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets, which stopped running in 1946.
Today, all Fulton Street Line trains use the center tracks in each direction, and all Crosstown Line trains use the innermost tracks, while the outermost tracks and platforms are not used for revenue service. Until 1981, the outer platforms were used by special trains to Aqueduct Racetrack, which stopped on the center tracks in each direction. Today, the abandoned tracks and platforms are only used on special occasions, such as for film shoots or moving trains to the New York Transit Museum at the former Court Street station. The mezzanine has also been used for film shoots, most famously for the video of Michael Jackson's single "Bad". (Full article...)
Image 8
Flaco roosting in Central Park
Flaco (March 15, 2010 – February 23, 2024) was a male Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped his long-time enclosure at Central Park Zoo in New York City after someone cut the protective netting in February 2023. Flaco subsequently resided in and around Central Park. His escape attracted significant public and press attention, especially as he was of a species not native to North America. There were concerns for his ability to feed himself after being captive for so long, since he had not needed to fly or hunt, but he was seen successfully catching and eating rats a week after his escape. Attempts to recapture Flaco failed, and a petition circulated advocating that he remain free. Zoo officials ceased attempts to recapture him once it became clear he was eating on a regular basis and his flying skills improved.
Though he was able to hunt, there were lingering concerns about potential dangers in the park, like rodenticide. He remained in Central Park for nine months, eventually wandering to nearby buildings and neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan. In February 2024, one year after his escape, Flaco died after colliding with a building in Manhattan's Upper West Side. (Full article...)
The construction of below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the final component of the skyscraper's spire was installed, making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet (541 m). Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building opened on November 3, 2014; the One World Observatory opened on May 29, 2015.
On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower". The building has 94 stories, with the top floor numbered 104. (Full article...)
Image 10
The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and commonly referred to as the Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a tolledtunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook in Brooklyn with the Battery in Manhattan. The tunnel consists of twin tubes that each carry two traffic lanes under the mouth of the East River. Although it passes just offshore of Governors Island, the tunnel does not provide vehicular access to the island. With a length of 9,117 feet (2,779 m), it is the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America.
Plans for the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel date back to the 1920s. Official plans to build the tunnel were submitted in 1930 but were initially not carried out. The New York City Tunnel Authority, created in 1936, was tasked with constructing the tunnel. After unsuccessful attempts to secure federal funds, New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses proposed a Brooklyn–Battery Bridge. However, the public opposed the bridge plan, and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) rejected the plan several times out of concern that the bridge would impede shipping access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This prompted city officials to reconsider plans for a tunnel. Construction on the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel started on October 28, 1940, but its completion was delayed due to World War II-related material shortages. The tunnel officially opened on May 25, 1950.
In 1651, while serving as director, Stuyvesant purchased the land from the company. He capitulated the colony to the English in 1664 and went to Europe for three years, returning to retire to his farm in 1667. The land was kept in the Stuyvesant family for many generations into the American period, and was the namesake of numerous local sites and institutions. (Full article...)
Image 12
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film directed by Darren Aronofsky from a screenplay by Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz, based on a story by Heinz. The film stars Natalie Portman in the lead role, with Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder in supporting roles. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by the company of New York City Ballet. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina Sayers (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities better embodied by the new rival Lily (Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the role, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.
Aronofsky conceived the premise by connecting his viewings of a production of Swan Lake with an unrealized screenplay about understudies and the notion of being haunted by a double, similar to the folklore surrounding doppelgängers. Aronofsky cites Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Double as another inspiration for the film. The director also considered Black Swan a companion piece to his film The Wrestler (2008), with both films revolving around demanding performances for different kinds of art. He and Portman first discussed the project in 2000, and after a brief attachment to Universal Pictures, Black Swan was produced in New York City in 2009 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Portman and Kunis trained in ballet for several months prior to filming.
The complex comprises three originally separate stations, formerly known as the 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station (Queens Boulevard Line), Long Island City–Court Square station (Crosstown Line), and 45th Road–Court House Square station (Flushing Line). The Flushing Line station was the first to open, in 1916. The Crosstown Line station opened in 1933, followed by the Queens Boulevard Line station in 1939.
Two passageways were built to connect the three stations. The first was built in 1990, following the opening of the Citigroup office tower at One Court Square. In December 2001, this passageway came into greater use when G trains started to terminate at Court Square. A second passageway was completed between the Crosstown and Flushing Line stations in 2011. The Flushing and Crosstown Line stations were renamed "Court Square"; these stations became ADA-accessible in 2011 and 2023, respectively. The Queens Boulevard Line station, which is not fully ADA-compliant, was renamed "Court Square–23rd Street". (Full article...)
Fort Clinton was originally known as the West Battery or the Southwest Battery, occupying an artificial island off the shore of Lower Manhattan. Designed by John McComb Jr., with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer, the fort was garrisoned in 1812 but was never used for warfare. In 1824, the New York City government converted Fort Clinton into a 6,000-seat entertainment venue known as Castle Garden, which operated until 1855. Castle Garden then served as an immigrant processing depot for 35 years. When the processing facilities were moved to Ellis Island in 1892, Castle Garden was converted into the first home of the New York Aquarium, which opened in 1896 and continued operating until 1941. The fort was expanded and renovated several times during this period.
In the 1940s, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses proposed demolishing Fort Clinton as part of the construction of the nearby Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel. This led to a prolonged debate over the fort's preservation, as well as the creation of the Castle Clinton National Monument in 1946. The National Park Service took over the fort in 1950. After several unsuccessful attempts to restore the fort, Castle Clinton reopened in 1975 following an extensive renovation. Since 1986, it has served as a visitor center and a departure point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument. (Full article...)
Image 15
Louise Nevelson Plaza following the 2007–2010 redesign
The original site, created to display seven large-scale abstract sculptures commissioned from Nevelson by New York City, opened in 1977 as Legion Memorial Square. Officially inaugurated as Louise Nevelson Plaza in 1978, it marked the city's first public space named after and designed by a living artist. The plaza, while suffering from poor maintenance, remained mostly unchanged for many years. However, following the September 11 attacks in 2001, a security booth was installed, the first deviation from Nevelson's original design.
By 2007, faded sculptures and required sub-surface repairs led to a comprehensive redesign by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Transportation, and the New York City Department of Design and Construction. Reopened in 2010, the updated plaza featured new ground cover, an elevated platform, benches, plantings, and rearranged, restored Nevelson sculptures. Despite criticism from some art historians for altering the original concept, Louise Nevelson's granddaughter Maria Nevelson supported the renovations, citing her grandmother's embrace of the "now" over the past. (Full article...)
Image 16
Big Apple Rappin' (subtitled: The Early Days of Hip-Hop Culture in New York City 1979–1982) is a 2006 compilation album released on Soul Jazz Records. The album is a compilation of the early days of New York hip hop by Johan Kugelberg, who had collected early hip hop material, specifically records flyers and fanzines and other memorabilia with the idea to donate them to an academic institution. The music Kugelberg gathered for the compilation surrounded hip hop music released around the period "Rapper's Delight" became a hit song. The music is predominantly hip hop with a disco backing tracks which Kugelberg described as "the first great records." Along with the music, photography and flyers were compiled from the era, as well as interviews with DJs and rappers such as Grandmaster Caz and Glen Adams.
Reviews of the album complimented the in-depth research and compiling of the compilation album, with some critics noting the dated or repetitive nature of the music and long length of the individual tracks as drawbacks. Jon Dolan of Spin gave the album a five-star rating and later included it in the magazines best reissues of 2006 list in 2007. Along with Kugelberg's collected records, a copy of the album is included in Cornell University's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. (Full article...)
The Norwood–205th Street station (formerly 205th Street station) is the northern terminal station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. Located in Norwood, Bronx, it is served by the D train at all times. Due to changes in the street grid of the neighborhood, the station has exits to East 205th Street and Perry Avenue, as well as to East 206th Street and Bainbridge Avenue.
The station opened in 1904 as one of the northern termini of the original subway line operated by the IRT. With the construction of the Harlem–148th Street station to the north in the 1960s, the 145th Street station was planned to be closed, but due to community opposition, and passengers' protests, the station remained open. Since the 145th Street station is the second-to-last stop on the line, entry is provided only to the southbound platform, although northbound customers are allowed to exit from this station. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and was closed from July to November 2018 for extensive renovations.
The 145th Street station contains two side platforms and two tracks. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Lenox Avenue's intersection with 145th Street and are not connected to each other within fare control. (Full article...)
Low is arranged in the shape of a Greek cross. Three sets of stairs on the library's south side lead to a colonnade with a frieze describing its founding. The steps contain Daniel Chester French's sculpture Alma Mater, a university symbol. The library is four stories tall, excluding a ground-level basement. The building's raised first floor has an entrance vestibule, as well as an ambulatory around an octagonal rotunda, which leads to offices on the outer walls. The rotunda contains a sky-blue plaster dome and four Vermont granite columns on each of its four sides. The library's stacks could store one-and-a-half million volumes; the east wing hosted the Avery Architectural Library and the north wing hosted Columbia's law library.
The library was built as part of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus, which was developed in the 1890s according to a master plan by McKim. When Low Library was completed, it was poorly suited for library use, becoming overcrowded from the early 20th century. Low's central location, however, made it a focal point of the university's campus. Following the completion of the much larger Butler Library in 1934, the Low Memorial Library was converted to administrative offices. (Full article...)
The building's eight-story base partially wraps around its 48-story main shaft; both sections are surrounded by a plaza with white-and-gray serpentine pavement and water fountains. The facade consists of glass panels between limestone columns. The lobby contains serpentine floors; white-marble and stainless-steel walls; reddish-burgundy glass ceilings; and artwork by Josef Albers, Fritz Glarner, and Francis Brennan. The ground floor also includes storefronts and originally also housed La Fonda del Sol, a Latin American-themed restaurant. Each of the upper floors measures 28,000 sq ft (2,600 m2) and consists of a column-free space around a mechanical core. The 48th floor originally contained the Hemisphere Club, a members-only restaurant during the day.
After Time Inc. expressed its intention to move from 1 Rockefeller Plaza in the 1950s, Rockefeller Center's owners proposed a skyscraper at 1271 Avenue of the Americas to accommodate Time Inc. Construction started in May 1957; the building was topped out during November 1958; and occupants began moving into their offices in late 1959. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the lobby as a city landmark in 2002. Time Inc. vacated 1271 Avenue of the Americas in 2015, and the building was subsequently renovated between 2015 and 2019. (Full article...)
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (/ˈsɒndhaɪm/; March22, 1930 – November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborators Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics were tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.
Named after the Dutch town of Breukelen in the Netherlands, Brooklyn shares a border with the borough of Queens. It has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan, across the East River, and is connected to Staten Island by way of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. With a land area of 69.38 square miles (179.7 km2) and a water area of 27.48 square miles (71.2 km2), Kings County is the state of New York's fourth-smallest county by land area and third smallest by total area. (Full article...)
The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, and a flatter eastern section. East and west street names are divided by Jerome Avenue. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County (modern-day Manhattan) in 1914. About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old and is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city. These open spaces are primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan. (Full article...)
Staten Island (/ˈstætən/STAT-ən) is the southernmost borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southern most point of New York. The borough is separated from the adjacent state of New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 495,747 in the 2020 Census, Staten Island is the least populated New York City borough but the third largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km2); it is also the least densely populated and most suburban borough in the city.
A home to the Lenape indigenous people, the island was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century. It was one of the 12 original counties of New York state. Staten Island was consolidated with New York City in 1898. It was formerly known as the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when its name was changed to Borough of Staten Island. Staten Island has sometimes been called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government. It has also been referred to as the "borough of parks" due to its 12,300 acres of protected parkland and over 170 parks. (Full article...)
With a population of 2,405,464 as of the 2020 census, Queens is the second-most populous county in New York state, behind Kings County (Brooklyn), and is therefore also the second-most populous of the five New York City boroughs. If Queens were its own city, it would be the fourth most-populous in the U.S. after New York City itself, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Queens is the fourth-most densely populated borough in New York City and the fourth-most densely populated U.S. county. It is highly diverse as about 47% of its residents are foreign-born. (Full article...)
Image 5The Sunday magazine of the New York World appealed to immigrants with this April 29, 1906 cover page celebrating their arrival at Ellis Island. (from History of New York City (1898–1945))
Image 8Anderson Avenue garbage strike. A common scene throughout New York City in 1968 during a sanitation workers strike (from History of New York City (1946–1977))
... that Lucy Feagin founded the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York City, where talent scouts for radio, screen, and stage were always present to watch her senior students' plays?
For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's New York City-related articles, see the following related WikiProjects:
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk·contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject New York City}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.