History

10 things you didn’t know about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Photo of the 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree courtesy of Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Tishman Speyer

November 28, 2022

10 things you didn’t know about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

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New York City's annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has been a favorite holiday tradition for New Yorkers and visitors alike since its inception in the early 1930s. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the festive tradition that draws hundreds of thousands of people daily to the area around Fifth Avenue. From the tree's humble beginnings as a place to gather during the Great Depression to its 50,000 sparkling lights and 900-pound Swarovski crystal-covered star topper, here are 10 things you might not know about the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Get the fun facts here
Park Slope’s Lesbian Herstory Archives becomes first official LGBTQ+ landmark in Brooklyn

Street view of the Lesbian Herstory Archives at 484 14th Street in Park Slope; © Google Maps

November 22, 2022

Park Slope’s Lesbian Herstory Archives becomes first official LGBTQ+ landmark in Brooklyn

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A row house in Brooklyn that is home to the country's oldest and largest collection of lesbian-related historic material is New York City's newest landmark. The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on Tuesday voted to designate the Lesbian Herstory Archives building as an individual landmark, the first in Brooklyn designated for its connection to the LGBTQ+ community.
Learn more
A history of the New York City Veterans Day Parade

The 369th Infantry (old 15th National Guard of New York City) was the first New York regiment to parade as veterans of Great War; Photo via National Archives / Wikimedia Commons

November 10, 2022

A history of the New York City Veterans Day Parade

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New York City's Veterans Day Parade, known as "America's Parade," is the perfect way to honor our servicemen and women; it's the country's largest event marking the November 11 holiday. Like most events in New York City, the parade has a history all its own, so 6sqft decided to explore that a bit further as our way of saying thank you to the brave veterans who have fought for our freedom.
Find out the history of the NYC Veteran's Day parade here
15 ways to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in NYC

Photo of the National Museum of the American Indian courtesy of Wikimedia; Photo of AMNH’s Northwest Coast Hall  courses of D. Finnin/AMNH

November 1, 2022

15 ways to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in NYC

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In November, we celebrate Native American Heritage Month as a way to commemorate the cultures, histories, and traditions of indigenous peoples across the country. Although New York became the first state to recognize "American Indian Day" in 1916, it's important to remember that the forceful removal of Native people from their homes is inextricably linked to the history of New York City and the surrounding area. Ahead, find ways to honor Native American Heritage Month, from events at the National Museum of the American Indian to nature-inspired tours through city parks.
Get the list
The history of Hudson Valley’s abandoned Bannerman Castle and how to visit

Photo (cropped) by H.L.I.T via Flickr cc

October 26, 2022

The history of Hudson Valley’s abandoned Bannerman Castle and how to visit

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Have you ever noticed a castle in the middle of the water about 50 miles north of New York City? That’s Bannerman Castle, a long-abandoned arsenal turned adventurer’s hotspot. Stationed on Pollepel Island, the early 20th-century structure sat as an abandoned ruin from the time it caught fire in 1969 until 1992 when a resident from nearby Beacon, NY started the Bannerman Castle Trust and subsequently stabilized the structure and opened the island its famous relic up for tours. Ahead, we uncover the sensational history of Bannerman Caste and fill you in on how you can visit.
Catch up on the Castle
A history of the Village Halloween Parade: Puppets, performers, and NYC pride

Photo via John St John / Flickr

October 12, 2022

A history of the Village Halloween Parade: Puppets, performers, and NYC pride

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The Village Halloween Parade may not be as completely outrageous as it once was, but this annual holiday extravaganza is quintessential Greenwich Village. Though many parade attendees are there to show off their costumes and check out those of others, there's a large number of guests who revel in the nostalgia of a New York tradition that's marched downtown since 1973. But there's a lot more history to the parade than most people may know. For instance, it didn't always go up 6th Avenue, and there's an entire art form behind those supersized puppets.
All the history right here
New exhibition at Grand Central traces 100 years of urban planning and design in NYC

Photos courtesy of Regional Plan Association

October 7, 2022

New exhibition at Grand Central traces 100 years of urban planning and design in NYC

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In celebration of its centennial, the civic group Regional Plan Association has opened a free public exhibition in Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall. Designed by James Sanders Studio and curated by RPA, The Constant Future: A Century of the Regional Plan explores 100 years of New York City's development from 1922 to the present day. The two-story display will be on view through October 24.
Find out more
10 things you didn’t know about Green-Wood Cemetery

Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim on Flickr

October 6, 2022

10 things you didn’t know about Green-Wood Cemetery

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What do Jean-Michel Basquiat, F.A.O Schwarz, Horace Greeley, Samuel Morse, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Boss Tweed, Peter Cooper, Leonard Bernstein, and Susan Smith McKinney-Steward have in common? All these notable New Yorkers are spending eternity in Brooklyn, specifically Green-Wood Cemetery, the stunning 478-acre "rural cemetery" that’s home to 560,000 “permanent residents” (and about as many truly spectacular mausoleums.) Since the best secrets are the ones you take to the grave, come dig up the dirt on Green-Wood, and read on for 10 things you didn’t know about Brooklyn’s most sensational cemetery.
Take it to the grave!
Julius’, New York City’s oldest gay bar, is one step closer to becoming a city landmark

Julius’ Bar. Streetview © 2021 Google

September 13, 2022

Julius’, New York City’s oldest gay bar, is one step closer to becoming a city landmark

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New York City's oldest gay bar is on its way to becoming an individual landmark. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar Julius' Bar, a Greenwich Village establishment known for its historic 1966 "Sip-In" when members of the Mattachine Society protested the state law that prohibited bars from serving "suspected gay men or lesbians." Considered one of the city's most significant sites related to LGBTQ+ history, Julius' Bar played an instrumental role in advancing the rights of gay New Yorkers.
Learn more
Travel back in time on vintage NYC subway trains this month

Photo courtesy of Ron Yee

September 9, 2022

Travel back in time on vintage NYC subway trains this month

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Here's a rare opportunity to ride on some of New York City's oldest subway trains spanning over a century of the city's transportation history. The New York Transit Museum's Parade of Trains returns this month, offering transit buffs a chance to travel on four historic trains from the museum's collection of vintage fleets. The rides will run continuously from Brooklyn's Brighton Beach B and Q express train platforms from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on September 17 and September 18. Admission is free with subway fare.
See more here
Memorial honoring Black lives lost to acts of racism will open in Central Park

Image courtesy of Si B on Flickr

September 7, 2022

Memorial honoring Black lives lost to acts of racism will open in Central Park

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A new exhibition honoring Black lives lost to racial injustice in the United States will open this month in New York City's historical Seneca Village, once home to a thriving black community that was displaced by the city to make way for Central Park in the 1850s. Presented by the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA), the Say Their Names Memorial Exhibition is a month-long augmented reality experience debuting on Saturday, September 17 at West 85th Street in Central Park.
Find out more
NYC renames Harlem street in honor of tennis star Althea Gibson

Althea Gibson was honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City after she won the 1957 Wimbledon Women’s Singles Championship. Photo via Wikimedia

August 26, 2022

NYC renames Harlem street in honor of tennis star Althea Gibson

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A block in Harlem was renamed on Thursday in honor of tennis star Althea Gibson on what would have been her 95th birthday. Gibson broke the color barrier in tennis, becoming the first Black player to compete in the U.S. National Championships and in the tournament at Wimbledon. The section of West 143rd Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Malcolm X Boulevard will be called "Althea Gibson Way."
See more here
Landmarks launches digital photo archive of NYC landmarks and historic districts

Photo of the scenic landmark Central Park, courtesy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission

August 19, 2022

Landmarks launches digital photo archive of NYC landmarks and historic districts

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The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission on Thursday launched the LPC Designation Photo Collection, a digital photo archive with high-resolution images of designated landmarks and historic districts. Now the public can easily search, explore, and download photos of landmarked properties and neighborhoods without requesting them from the commission first. The service will also be helpful for property owners, architects, and contractors who work on historic properties.
Find out more
New York commits $8M to renovate Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Image of the Schomburg Center via Wiki Commons

August 18, 2022

New York commits $8M to renovate Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

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Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced the state will commit $8 million for upgrades to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The investment will go toward the refurbishment of the building's facade, replacement of the roof and windows, and the installation of much-needed safety and energy-efficient features. The state's announcement comes during Harlem Week, a weeklong celebration of the neighborhood's history and culture.
Find out more
The history behind NYC’s water towers

Photo of water towers on East 57th Street via Wikimedia

August 17, 2022

The history behind NYC’s water towers

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For over 100 years, water towers have been a seamless part of New York City’s skyline. So seamless, in fact, they often go unnoticed, usually overshadowed by their glassy supertall neighbors. While these wooden relics look like a thing of the past, the same water pumping structure is still built today, originating from just three family-run companies, two of which have been operating for nearly this entire century-long history. With up to 17,000 water tanks scattered throughout NYC, 6sqft decided to explore these icons, from their history and construction to modern projects that are bringing the structures into the mainstream.
Everything you need to know
The Giglio Feast: History, fun facts, and what to expect at this year’s celebration in Brooklyn

Photo by Howard Brier on Flickr

July 6, 2022

The Giglio Feast: History, fun facts, and what to expect at this year’s celebration in Brooklyn

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Revelers will once again gather in Williamsburg this week for a festival full of food, dancing, and live music. The Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Paolino di Nola Feast is based on a tradition that got its start in Italy over 1,000 years ago, with its centerpiece a four-ton 72-foot tower. As part of the neighborhood’s nearly two-week feast, the tall, ornately decorated structure, known as the “Giglio,” is carried through the streets by over 100 men. The Giglio Feast, which runs through July 16, has been held in Williamsburg every July since 1903, nearly two decades before the better-known Feast of San Gennaro was celebrated in Manhattan's Little Italy. Ahead, learn about the roots of the unique festival, how it’s evolved over the last century, and what to expect this year.
More here
New photo exhibit shows New York City children playing on car-free streets in the summer of ’68

Photo credit: Katrina Thomas. NYC Parks Photo Archive 

July 5, 2022

New photo exhibit shows New York City children playing on car-free streets in the summer of ’68

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The city's Parks Department opened a new photography exhibition at Central Park's Arsenal Gallery that displays more than 40 archived photographs from the department's collection. Called "Streets In Play: Katrina Thomas, NYC Summer 1968," the exhibit features images taken by the late photographer Katrina Thomas, who in 1968 was hired by NYC Mayor John Lindsay and tasked with capturing the city's summer initiative, "Playstreets," in which residential blocks were closed to vehicles and instead equipped for recreational activity.
Take a look
First LGBTQ+ National Park Service visitor center to open at NYC’s Stonewall Inn

Photo by Another Believer on Wikimedia

June 24, 2022

First LGBTQ+ National Park Service visitor center to open at NYC’s Stonewall Inn

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The National Park Service's first LGBTQ+ visitor center will open at Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn, organizers announced this week. Pride Live, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, officially broke ground on the future 3,700-square-foot Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC), expected to open in 2024. Located at 51 Christopher Street, the center will sit directly next to the historic Stonewall Inn and provide a space to learn about the Stonewall Rebellion in its original location.
Find out more
New map highlights NYC landmarks related to LGBTQ+ history

Image courtesy of the National Parks Conservation Association on Flickr

June 20, 2022

New map highlights NYC landmarks related to LGBTQ+ history

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In celebration of Pride Month, the Landmarks Preservation Commission last week released an interactive story map that highlights important landmarks in New York City known for their significance within the LGBTQ+ community's cultural and civil rights movement. The project highlights seven individual landmarks throughout the city, including James Baldwin's Upper West Side apartment and the Stonewall Inn, one of the most important sites associated with LGBTQ+ history in the United States. The story map focuses solely on individual landmarks designated primarily for their LGBTQ+ significance, not just sites that have ties to individuals and groups.
See more here
10 places with ties to New York City’s maritime history
May 18, 2022

10 places with ties to New York City’s maritime history

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Next week is Fleet Week, and soon New York will be awash in sailors. If you're moved by all the festivities and want to get in on the maritime merriment, there are sites exploring New York's links to the sea throughout all five boroughs. From barges to schooners to yachts to dry docks, here are 10 sites where you can celebrate New York's seafaring spirit.
Check them all out
AMNH’s revamped Northwest Coast Hall features exhibits curated by Indigenous communities

All images © D. Finnin/AMNH

May 16, 2022

AMNH’s revamped Northwest Coast Hall features exhibits curated by Indigenous communities

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Five years and a $19 million renovation later, the American Museum of Natural History's oldest gallery reopened to the public last week. Developed alongside curators from Native Nations of the Northwest Coast, the new 10,200 square-foot Northwest Coast Hall showcases the history of the Pacific Northwest with a focus on the "scholarship and material culture of the Northwest Coast communities," according to a press release. The gallery contains more than 1,000 artifacts including a 63-foot-long canoe, the largest Pacific Northwest dugout canoe existing today, and a diverse collection of art, from monumental carvings up to 17 feet tall to contemporary works of art from Native artists.
Details here
From NYC’s first gated community to Woody Guthrie: A history of Sea Gate

Photo via Flickr cc 

May 4, 2022

From NYC’s first gated community to Woody Guthrie: A history of Sea Gate

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What do Woody Guthrie, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Frank Schubert (the nation’s last civilian lighthouse keeper) have in common? They all lived in Sea Gate, a private community at the westernmost tip of Coney Island. Sea Gate began as a 19th-century playground for the rich, turned into a hotbed of Yiddish literature and Socialist labor activism in the 1930s, and sported at least one commune in the early ‘70s. Today, Sea Gate is home to about 8,000 residents who enjoy private beaches and expansive views of the Verrazano Bridge. If you want to “get in the Gate,” as the locals say, but aren’t ready to relocate west of the Wonder Wheel, you can snag a summer membership at the Brooklyn Beach Club, where even non-residents can while away the hours under a cabana. Or, you can read on for the history of a Coney Island beach town you’ve probably never visited.
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NYC’s oldest gay bar honored with historic plaque

All images courtesy of the Village Preservation

April 25, 2022

NYC’s oldest gay bar honored with historic plaque

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The site of a monumental event in the LGBTQ community's fight against anti-gay discrimination was honored last week with a historic plaque. The Village Preservation and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project on Thursday unveiled the plaque at Julius' Bar at 159 West 10th Street. The bar was the site of the first "Sip-In," an act of defiance in which members of gay rights groups entered the bar and asked to be served drinks while announcing they were homosexuals, going against the discriminatory regulations of the New York State Liquor Authority which at the time prohibited bars from serving gay or lesbian patrons.
See more here
The history of New York City’s original rooftop bars

Casino Roof Garden, 1899 via NYPL Digital Collections

April 20, 2022

The history of New York City’s original rooftop bars

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How many summer evenings have you spent at a rooftop bar? While the rooftop bar was indeed born and bred in New York City, it’s nothing new. Even before New York was a city of skyscrapers, denizens of Gotham liked to take their experiences to vertical extremes. And when it comes to partying, New Yorkers have been conquering new heights, drink in hand, since 1883. That year, impresario Rudolf Aronson debuted a roof garden on the top of his newly built Casino Theater on 39th Street and Broadway. The rooftop garden was soon a Gilded Age phenomenon, mixing vaudeville and vice, pleasure and performance, for well-heeled Bon-Vivants who liked to spend their summers high above the sweltering streets.
Get the scoop
NYC celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted’s bicentennial birthday with a month of parks programs

All images courtesy of Daniel Avila / NYC Parks

April 8, 2022

NYC celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted’s bicentennial birthday with a month of parks programs

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Throughout April, the city's parks will celebrate the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect whose visionary work on Central Park, Prospect Park, and many other public parks helped influence the future of urban green space design. The Parks Department will be teaching New Yorkers about Olmsted's influence on urban design with an exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery, tours led by the Urban Park Rangers, and much more.
See more here
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