May 26th: an NYC walking tour
Posted: May 25, 2013 | 11:16 PM
by Jared Goldstein
1803: The cornerstone is laid for New York's new City
Hall building at between what is now known as Broadway and Park Row. The location is chosen because it's thought it would always be the city's northern-most point. This is America's oldest City Hall and New York's fourth.
1837: Colonel Washington Roebling, Civil Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge born in PA. He died 1926.
1886: Al Jolson, stage and film singer and comedian born. He died October 23rd 1950.
1896: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published. The average price of the 11 initial stocks was 40.94.
1913: The Actors' Equity Association, a union for stage actors, is created when 112 performers adopted their constitution in an era of actors being economically abused. They now have 39,000 members.
1964: Lenny Kravitz, Rock musician, born in Manhattan.
1977: George Willig, 'the Human Fly,' captivated us, climbing up WTC2 for three-and-a-half hours
up the south tower of
the World Trade Center.
Police in a window washing vehicle monitor him.
He was arrested at the top of the 110-story building, like Philip Petit, who tightroped in between the towers three years prior. Petit balances a knife on his nose as Willig signs autographs at a celebratory dinner the next evening at Windows on the World atop WTC North Tower 1. Mayor Beame fined Willig $1.10. A penny per floor.
This is the Opposite of Terrorism.
I remember this feat happening. My Mom needed a crowbar to get me out of the house onto the school bus where this was the talk as well. The Principal announced progress at the 77th floor and when he reached the top.
The World Trade Center Tour, Heroes of the 9/11 Memorial, The World Trade Center 360 Walking Tour, World Trade Center private guided tour.
1998: The Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island, the historic immigrant processing center and, now, National Monument, is mainly in New Jersey, not New York, despite that the island is two-thirds landfill from the development of the NYC Subways.