New York City Icons: 50 Classic Slices Of The Big Apple (Icons (Globe Pequot))

There are as many New Yorks as there are people in this world . . .A melting pot of old world and new, of soaring skyscrapers and small neighborhood enclaves, of metropolitan chic and hometown pride, New York City is one of the most fascinating and iconic cities in the world. Everyone has their own impression of the Big Apple, but what are the quintessential symbols that help make this great city so fascinating and unique? New York City Icons profiles fifty classic symbols of this extraordinary metropolis, revealing little-known facts, longtime secrets, and historical legends. From the breathtaking heights of the Empire State Building or Brooklyn Bridge to the ubiquitous bagel or yellow taxi cab, here's the backstory on the very things that give this city its character. Did you know that readers of the New York World sent in pennies and nickels to help raise money for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal? Or that a secret vault was rediscovered in the Brooklyn Bridge, filled with Cold War provisions in case of a nuclear attack? Or that before it became a center of black culture the Apollo Theater was owned by two Jewish men? For native New Yorkers and newcomers alike, New York City Icons will be a treasured keepsake of the city that never sleeps.