Miss eBid's Guide to the Big Apple

[sucadot]

Wow! Do you often get snow in May, or Is Miss eBid lucky to see it?

[hurryb4itsgone]

I do like snow, but I expect you can have too much of a good thing

One or two snows in the season isn't bad. This season we had over 14 snow storms with very little time between some of them to dig out.

[hurryb4itsgone]

Great pictures!! Glad her stuffing is warm and cozy, as are her friends and her new home!!

Thanks so much! Yes, she does seem to be quite comfortable and cozy here.

[hurryb4itsgone]

Wow! Do you often get snow in May, or Is Miss eBid lucky to see it?

Our last snow on Long Island was in April. Miss eBid is just a bit behind on her travel journal. There are parts of the US that have gotten some freak snow storms in May this year. It has been quite a strange year in terms of the weather here.

[hurryb4itsgone]

I'm on top of the world! The snow has finally melted and the temperatures warmed up enough to venture out and see all New York has to offer.



The Empire State Building is a 103-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 feet (443 m) high. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Center's North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York (although it was no longer the tallest in the US or the world).



The Empire State Building is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. It is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIA's List of America's Favorite Architecture.

More still to come. Feel free to make suggestions of places you think I should see before I leave New York.

love,
Miss eBid

[meebo1]

Miss Ebid, you are braver than I am. I have no head for heights. 2 storeys off the ground is high enough for me

[HerMajesty]

What a view it must be from there! Has she seen the statue of Liberty? Or taken a boat tour around the Island? So much to see and do there....she will never get it all done.

[hurryb4itsgone]

Miss Ebid, you are braver than I am. I have no head for heights. 2 storeys off the ground is high enough for me

me too ... I start breaking out in a cold sweat on the 2nd step of a ladder!

[hurryb4itsgone]

What a view it must be from there! Has she seen the statue of Liberty? Or taken a boat tour around the Island? So much to see and do there....she will never get it all done.

So much to see and so little time! I think we can fit in a boat tour and then she can see the Statue of Liberty from afar. Not sure she is up to walking up all the stairs with her short little legs!

[hurryb4itsgone]

Times Square, the most bustling square of New York is known for its many Broadway theatres, cinemas and electronic billboards. It is one of those places that make New York a city that never sleeps and I was there.



In 1904, the New York Times built the Times Tower on 43rd street just off Broadway to replace its downtown premises. The square in front of the building was called Longacre square, but was soon renamed Times Square. I found this picture of what it looked like here in 1904.



The inauguration of the New York Times' new headquarters at 1 Times Square was celebrated with a fireworks display, starting a New Year's Eve tradition which still continues today. The first famous ball-lowering from the 1 Times Square's rooftop pole was held on New Year's Eve 1907.

At the start of the First World War, Times Square was the center of the Theater District and attracted a large number of visitors. This made the square an ideal place for billboards. In 1917 the first large electric display billboard was installed. Eleven years later, the first running electric sign was lit for the first time, to announce Herbert Hoover's victory in the Presidential elections. The billboards have become such a tourist attraction for the area, that the zoning now requires the buildings to be covered with billboards! Quite a different site now than in 1904.



For those that think this picture looks familiar, it really is déjà vu. It's the puzzle come to life.

In the thirties, the Great Depression led to a sharp decline in theater attendance. Many businesses had to close down, and they were quickly replaced by strip teases and peep shows. The area continued to attract visitors though and after the Second World War, the Theater District was booming again. At the end of the sixties, the area started to go downhill and by the mid-seventies, tourists avoided Times square, which had become a seedy, crime-ridden and drug-infested place.

In the 1980's redevelopment proposals were submitted, with little result. This changed a decade later, when the Walt Disney Company opened a Disney store on Times Square. This attracted more family-friendly businesses to the area, leading to a so-called 'Disneyfication'. The Disney store was fun, but I found Hersey's Times Square and M&M World more to my taste.



The area is now - like most of New York City - a lot safer than in the early nineties and Times Square is once again a magnet for tourists and a center of New York's social scene.

Today Times Square is a constantly buzzing tourist magnet and is one of the most visited places in the world.

TTFN

P.S. Tonight is Manhattanhenge ... I'll let you Google that one.