New York City is part of the New York metropolitan area with a population
of around 21 million.
History of New York City
The area that now constitutes New York City was inhabited by such Native
American tribes as the Manahattoes and Canarsies long before the arrival of
European settlers, as attested to by discoveries of arrowheads and other
artifacts in areas of the city that are not occupied by buildings today,
such as Inwood Hill Park and Riverside Park. European settlement began with
the founding of the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) on
the southern tip of Manhattan in 1626. In 1664, English ships captured the
city without struggle, and it was renamed New York, after the Duke of York.
At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667, in the Treaty of Breda the
Dutch formally signed New York over to the English and received the colony
of Suriname in return.
At the start of the American Revolutionary War, the city was the scene of
important early fighting at the Battle of Brooklyn, suffered a great fire in
which much of it burned, and fell into British control for the remainder of
the war, not to be regained by the Americans until 1783. "Evacuation Day"
was long celebrated in New York.
During the 19th century, the city population boomed by an influx of a vast
number of immigrants. In 1811, the city street grid was expanded to
encompass all of Manhattan with a visionary development proposal called the
Commissioner's Plan. By 1835, New York City overtook Philadelphia as the
largest city in the United States.
During the Civil War, the city's strong commercial ties to the South, as
well as its growing immigrant population, led to a split in sympathy between
the Union and Confederacy, culminating in the Draft Riots of 1863, the worst
civil unrest in American history.
After the war, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New
York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the
United States.
In 1898, New York City took the political form in which it exists to this
day. Prior to 1898, New York City consisted of Manhattan and the Bronx,
which was annexed by the city from southern Westchester County in two
separate actions: the western portion in 1874, and the remaining portion in
1895. In 1898, a new municipal government, originally called Greater New
York, was created by new legislation. It was divided into five boroughs. The
Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx covered the original city and the rest
of New York County. The Borough of Brooklyn consisted of the City of
Brooklyn as well as several municipalities in eastern Kings County. The
Borough of Queens was established in western Queens County, and covered
several small cities and towns, including Long Island City, Astoria and
Flushing. The Borough of Staten Island contained all of Richmond County. All
municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished. A year
later, the area of Queens County not contained within the Borough of Queens
became Nassau County. In 1914, the state legislature created Bronx County,
shrinking New York County so it contained only Manhattan. The five boroughs
are now considered to be generally coterminous with their respective
counties.
In the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for
industry, commerce, and communication. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first
subway company) began operating in 1904. The New York skyline soared in the
1930s with the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
In the decades after World War II, however, the city slid into gradual
decline with the loss of population to the suburbs and the erosion of its
industrial base. Like many US cities, New York suffered severe race riots in
the 1960s, and by the 1970s, the city had gained a reputation for being a
crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city hit bottom and had to
declare bankruptcy.
The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street, and the city reclaimed its role at
the center of the world-wide financial industry. In the 1990s, crime rates
dropped drastically and the outflow of population turned around, as the city
once again became the destination not only of immigrants from around the
world, but of many U.S. citizens seeking to live a cosmopolitan lifestyle
that only New York City can offer. In the late 1990s, the dot com boom
fueled another frenzy of financial speculation that sent the economy soaring.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 also struck at Washington, D.C.,
but New York was the city most affected, because of the attack on the World
Trade Center and the thick, acrid smoke that continued to pour out of its
ruins for a few months following the Twin Towers' firey collapse. However,
cleanup of Ground Zero was completed ahead of schedule, and the city has
since rebounded and pushed forward new plans for the destroyed areas of the
World Trade Center. The Freedom Tower, to be built on the site, is intended
to be the world's highest skyscraper after its scheduled completion in 2008.
New York City government
New York City is governed pursuant to the New York City Charter, as amended.
The charter is enacted and amended by the New York State legislature, and
occasionally through referendum. Though subservient to the State of New York,
the city enjoys a high degree of legislative and executive autonomy. Like
most governmental entities in the United States, the city government is
divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches.
The Five Boroughs
The City of New York is composed of five boroughs, each a county of New York
State:
Manhattan – New York County, population 1,546,856
The Bronx – Bronx County, population 1,354,068
Brooklyn – Kings County, population 2,488,194
Queens – Queens County, population 2,237,815
Staten Island – Richmond County, population 457,383
(Population figures from July 1, 2002 Census estimates — see http://www.census.gov/
for more information).
The boroughs are coterminous with their respective counties, but the
counties do not have actual county governments. Each borough elects a
Borough President, but under the current city charter, the Borough
President's powers are limited—he or she has a small discretionary budget to
spend on projects within the borough. (The last significant power of the
borough presidents—to appoint a member of the Board of Education —was
abolished, with the board, on June 30, 2002.) Currently, borough presidents
serve as ex officio members of various boards and committees.
Residents of the city often refer to the city itself as "the Five Boroughs,"
reserving the phrase "the City" to refer to Manhattan. Those less familiar
with the city often (incorrectly) think Manhattan is synonymous with New
York City. The boroughs other than Manhattan are also referred to as "the
Outer Boroughs."
Executive
The executive branch of New York City is headed by the Mayor, who is elected
by direct popular vote. The mayor has executive authority over five
divisions of city government as well as several independent government
offices. The divisions, each comprising several city agencies and headed by
an appointed Deputy Mayor, are:
Operations
Economic Development and Rebuilding
Policy
Administration
Legal Affairs
The mayor has broad emergency powers which can be exercised in cases of
emergency weather conditions, natural disaster, riots, civil unrest,
invasion or other emergency. Most recently, Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared
a state of emergency during the 2003 North America blackout.
Legislative
Legislative power in New York City is vested in a unicameral City Council,
which contains 51 members, each representing a district of approximately
157,000 people. Council members are elected every four years, and the leader
of the majority party is called the Speaker. The current Speaker of the City
Council is Gifford Miller, a Democrat. Like most legislative bodies, the
City Council is divided into committees which have oversight of various
functions of the city government. Bills passed by a simple majority are sent
to the mayor, who may sign it into law. If the mayor vetoes the bill, the
Council has 30 days to override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote.
Judicial
Unlike the rest of New York State, New York City does not have typical
county courts. Instead, there is a single Civil Court, with a presence in
each borough and city-wide jurisdiction, and a Criminal Court for each New
York City county which handles lesser criminal offenses and domestic
violence cases, a responsibility shared with the Family Court. Unlike other
counties in New York, judges for Family Courts in New York City are
appointed for ten year terms by the mayor, instead of being elected.
Criminal cases are handled on indictment by the Supreme Court in each New
York City county. The Supreme Court also handles larger civil cases, and
grand juries sit in each county. Thus, unlike other states and the Federal
Government, in New York, the Supreme Court is not the highest court. Appeals
are handled by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest
court in the state is the Court of Appeals.
Crime
New York has had a reputation as a crime-ridden city, partly due to the
hundreds of TV and movie crime dramas set in it. However, in recent years it
has been ranked in the top ten safest large cities in the United States by
City Crime Rankings (9th edition, 2003). In addition, New York has been
growing safer for most of the last decade. The fight against crime has been
aided by COMPSTAT, implemented in 1994 by the New York Police Department to
map crimes, analyze problems and devise solutions. In the past decade,
violent crime has dropped by two-thirds (see New York Crime Statistics (http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/cspdf.html))
and FBI data indicate that the murder rate in 2000 was the lowest since
1967.
New York City's crime rates vary by neighborhood and borough. Staten Island
is the safest borough in the city, Queens and Manhattan are in the middle
range, while Brooklyn and The Bronx have the highest crime rates.
There have been some notorious crime sprees. For example, on July 29, 1976
the "Son of Sam", pulling a gun from a paper bag, killed one person and
seriously wounded another, in the first of a series of attacks that
terrorized the city for the next year.
As soon as the Sicilian Mafia moved to New York in the 1920s, they became
infamous with their hits on businesses that did not pay money to them. They
had also set up smuggling rings and fixed boxing matches. The Mafia
flourished due to a distrust of the police in the Italian-American
communities in New York. The five largest crime families in New York were
the Bonnanos, the Colombos, the Gambinos, the Genovese, and the Luchese. The
assimilation of the Italian-American population is choking the Mafia in New
York, although they still operate.
Geography and climate
New York City comprises Manhattan Island, Staten Island, the western part of
Long Island, part of the North American mainland (the Bronx), and several
small islands in New York Harbor.
New York has a humid continental climate. The city is adjacent to water, so
temperature changes are not as drastic as those inland. Every winter, it
snows in New York due to its latitude. Because of its key position, New York
had been king in the shipping passenger trade between Europe and the
Americas for quite some time, until the airplane came into wider use across
the Atlantic.
New York winters are typically cold, and sometimes feature snowstorms that
can paralyze the city with over a foot of snow. Springs are mild, averaging
in the 50s (10-15 degrees celsius) in late March to lower 80s (25-30 degrees
celsius) in early June. Summers in New York are hot and humid. It is common
for temperatures to exceed 90 degrees fahrenheit (32 degrees celsius) but
often stay below 100 degrees fahrenheit (40 degrees celsius). Autumns are
comfortable in New York. However, weather is notably unpredictable in New
York, even if not to the degree experienced in some other parts of the world.
Mild, almost snowless winters and chilly summers surprise New Yorkers from
time to time, there have been huge snowstorms as late as the second week in
April, and there can occasionally be large temperature swings from one day
to the next, so travellers are advised to check forecasts and bring several
layers of clothing in late fall and early spring months (e.g., November,
March, April).
Staten Island is hilly and spacious, and is the least populated borough in
New York City. By contrast, space is sparse and valuable on Manhattan; there
is nowhere to build but up, and that is why there are so many tall buildings
in that borough.
The city will be threatened if the current patterns of global warming
continue to raise the sea level.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
1,214.4 km² (468.9 mi²). 785.6 km² (303.3 mi²) of it is land and 428.8 km²
(165.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 35.31% water.
Demographics
The median income for a household in the city is $38,293, and the median
income for a family is $41,887. Males have a median income of $37,435 versus
$32,949 for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,402. 21.2% of
the population and 18.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 30.0% are under the age of 18 and 17.8% are
65 or older.
As of 2000, there are 8,008,278 people, 3,021,588 households, and 1,852,233
families residing in the city. The population density is 10,194.2/km²
(26,402.9/mi²). There are 3,200,912 housing units at an average density of
4,074.6/km² (10,553.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 44.66% White,
26.59% African American, 0.52% Native American, 9.83% Asian, 0.07% Pacific
Islander, 13.42% from other races, and 4.92% from two or more races. 26.98%
of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 3,021,588 households out of which 29.7% have children under the
age of 18 living with them, 37.2% are married couples living together, 19.1%
have a female householder with no husband present, and 38.7% are non-families.
31.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.9% have someone
living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is
2.59 and the average family size is 3.32.
In the city the population is spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18,
10.0% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100
females there are 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 85.9 males.
Economy
New York is a center of many industries in the United States. It was the
early center of the American film industry, until it moved to Los Angeles,
and still has some movie and television production. New York is also a
financial center for the country, containing the New York Stock Exchange,
NASDAQ, American Stock Exchange, New York Mercantile Exchange, and New York
Board of Trade. The New York financial industry is based in Wall Street,
lower Manhattan. New York is also the center of the clothing industry in the
United States. Many fashions come out of New York from different designers.
New York also has a lot of book publishers, which often have New York as the
very first city in publishing. New York also has a large tourism industry.
See below for more details about the tourism industry.
Major corporations based in New York City
Amerada Hess
American Broadcasting Company (owned by Disney)
American Express
American International Group
Avon
Bank of New York
Bankers Trust
Bear Stearns
Bloomberg
Bristol Myers Squibb
CBS (owned by Viacom)
Citigroup
Colgate-Palmolive
Conde Nast
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Dow Jones & Company
Ernst & Young
Estée Lauder
FAO Schwarz
Goldman Sachs
HBO (owned by Time Warner)
Interpublic Group
JetBlue
J.P. Morgan Chase
King World Productions
KPMG
MAD Magazine
Marvel Comics
McGraw-Hill Companies
Mercantile Exchange
Merrill Lynch
Metlife
MTV (owned by Viacom)
Mutual of New York
Nasdaq
National Broadcasting Company (owned by General Electric)
News Corporation
New York Stock Exchange
Paine Webber
Pfizer
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Reuters
Revlon
RJR Nabisco
Simon and Schuster (owned by Viacom)
The New York Times Company
Time Warner
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts
Verizon
Viacom
Altria was based here under its former name Phillip Morris. Altria is still
based here, although some of its major subsidiaries are headquartered
elsewhere (for example, Philip Morris USA is in Richmond, Virginia, and
Kraft Foods has its home in suburban Chicago). Texaco was based here until
it merged with Chevron into San Ramon, California based ChevronTexaco. The
Chrysler Building was funded by famed Detroit car mogul Walter P. Chrysler,
and it later served as the inspiration for the Chrysler New Yorker
automobile. Numerous other companies are based in the New York City
metropolitan area but outside the city limits.
Communications and media
Newspapers and magazines
AM New York (free daily)
BIGNews (monthly)
New York Daily News (daily)
New York Metro (free daily)
New York Observer (weekly)
New York Post (daily)
New York Press (weekly)
New York Sun (daily)
New York Times (daily)
Newsday (daily)
Staten Island Advance (daily)
Street News (every six weeks)
Time Out NY (weekly)
Village Voice (free weekly)
Neighborhoods of New York
Many big-city neighborhoods have a definable history and character of their
own. (In New York, some avenues and even buildings have their own entry.)
List of Bronx neighborhoods
List of Brooklyn neighborhoods
List of Manhattan neighborhoods
List of Queens neighborhoods
List of Staten Island neighborhoods
People of New York
A resident of New York City is a New Yorker. Residents of Brooklyn sometimes
call themselves Brooklynites and residents of Staten Island, Staten
Islanders. Residents generally refer to New York City (or just Manhattan) as
"New York" or "the city". Ambiguity is resolved by writing "NYS" for the
state and "NYC" for the city.
To some observers, New York has seemed more of an international city than an
"American" city, due to the large influx of immigrants. Among U.S. cities,
only Los Angeles receives more immigrants. Hundreds of languages are spoken
in New York City. In many major cities in the world, immigrants tend to
cluster into enclaves where they can talk and shop and work with people from
their country of origin. In the United States, this is most pronounced in
New York City. Immigrants of Irish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Puerto Rican,
African and Jewish origin all have enclaves within the city, though there
are also various neighborhoods in which people of diverse origins and
cultural backgrounds coexist with greater or lesser degrees of ease. One
measure of New York's diversity is that it has a higher Jewish population
than Jerusalem does, and at the same time, a majority of its population is
non-white. New Yorkers are accustomed to thinking that everyone in the city
is a member of a minority in some sense, but that the more important fact is
that all share an identity as New Yorkers.
Before September 11, 2001, New Yorkers were often stereotyped as rude and
brusque. Since the destruction of the World Trade Center, increased empathy
with New Yorkers has lessened this perception.
The common stereotype of the "New Yorker" is held by many. The city has a
large population and is fast-paced, so New Yorkers are often seen as having
an attitude of superiority as if New Yorkers were not meant to have any time
to spare for anyone else (not even other New Yorkers). According to the
stereotype, they will not hold the door for anyone, and will scoff the
tourist who does. There is tourist mocking (including tourist jokes), due to
the high levels of entertainment they receive from such abuse and tourists'
unfamiliarity with the habits of city life. And supposedly, New Yorkers are
so jaded that things that others would consider drawbacks to life in The
City (crime, prostitution, pollution, noise...) are instead marks of pride,
the very lures that keep them from ever leaving. One former New York couple,
who had left for Los Angeles in 1926, returned on a visit some decades later,
and summarized it thus: "We forgot how to be mean."
Whereas in the much of the rest of the United States, football has surpassed
baseball as the most popular professional sport, in New York baseball
arguably still stirs the most passion and interest. A World Series
championship by either the New York Yankees or the New York Mets is
considered to be worthy of the highest celebration, including a ticker-tape
parade for the victorious team. While for the rest of the East Coast the
rivalry depicted as being the most intense is the one between the Yankees
and the Boston Red Sox, for New Yorkers the rivalry that stirs deep passions
is between the Yankees and the Mets. Outsiders are frequently unaware that
few baseball fans in New York are fans of both teams at once.
After September 11th, the attitudes of New Yorkers have both changed and
stayed the same. Pride in the city and their way of life have increased for
many, though others show signs of paranoia. "Mets Suck!" was still
graffitied on a scaffold near "Ground Zero." Cabbies still drive recklessly,
though some civilian drivers are more polite than previously.
New York has an intense rivalry with the city of Boston, Massachusetts. This
is perhaps the most infamous city rivalry in the United States, especially
in the minds of Bostonians.
Tourism and recreation
Tourism is a very large business, with hundreds of famous buildings, sites,
and monuments in New York City. Many people visit the Radio City Music Hall,
the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis
Island, and several other famous New York City landmarks. The World Trade
Center was a famous tourist destination before September 11, 2001, and since
that day, Ground Zero has become a very important place for visitors to see.
The most famous FAO Schwarz is located in Manhattan. It is so popular that
long lines to enter are seen as one approaches the building.
Coney Island, in the south of Brooklyn, has New York's roller coasters and
amusement parks.
South Street Seaport, on the south east tip of Manhattan, has naval museums,
shopping and Argentine Tango dancing every Sunday in the summer.
On the west side, NYC has the Intrepid Museum, an air-craft carrier
converted to a sea and air museum.
The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York on November
27, 1924. Since then this has been an annual event drawing tens of thousands
of spectators and in later years millions of television viewers.
Many people characterize the tourist-filled Manhattan as "New York". New
York is actually more diverse than that, including Bronx, Brooklyn Staten
Island and Queens boroughs even if they have shorter buildings than
Manhattan does.
A common saying about con artists is to say that they are selling "pieces of
the Brooklyn Bridge."
See also New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, List of New York
City parks, New York City cuisine.
Sports teams and stadiums
Unlike most major cities, the New York City metropolitan area has two teams
in most major league sports.
New York Giants, National Football League, Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands
Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey
New York Islanders, National Hockey League, Nassau Veterans Memorial
Coliseum in Uniondale, New York
New York Jets, National Football League, Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands
Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey
New York Knicks, National Basketball Association, Madison Square Garden
New York Mets, Major League Baseball, Shea Stadium (1964-)
New York Rangers, National Hockey League, Madison Square Garden
New York Yankees, Major League Baseball, Yankee Stadium (1923-)
New York Dragons, Arena Football League, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
in Uniondale, New York
MetroStars, Major League Soccer, Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports
Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey
The New Jersey Nets (NBA) and the New Jersey Devils (NHL) are based in the
Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Ebbets Field (torn down in 1960) was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers (now
the Los Angeles Dodgers) from 1913 until 1957.
The Polo Grounds in northern Harlem (torn down in 1964) was the home of the
New York Giants of Major League Baseball (now the San Francisco Giants) from
1911 to 1957. It was the first home of the New York Mets, in 1962 and 1963.
It stood just across the river from the Bronx's Yankee Stadium.
In 2004, the New Jersey Nets was sold to Bruce Ratner, who announced plans
to move it to Brooklyn and build a new state of the art arena. The New York
Jets also hope to move to the West Side of Manhattan and build a retractable
roof football stadium in 2008 once their lease at Giants Stadium expires.
Both of these construction proposals have stirred considerable opposition.
New York City is home to two minor league baseball teams. Both play in the
short-season Class A New York-Penn League, and each is an affiliate of one
of the city's major-league teams. The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Mets
affiliate, and the Staten Island Yankees are (obviously) affiliated with the
Yankees.
New York City is a finalist to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, with plans to
build many new sporting venues if chosen. The proposed Jets stadium on the
West Side would also be used for the Olympic track and field events, but the
uncertainty as to whether that stadium will be built is a weakness in the
New York City bid.
Museums and cultural institutions
American Museum of Natural History
Brooklyn Museum
Carnegie Hall
Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
Historic Richmond Town
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Metropolitan Museum of Art – commonly called "The Met"
The Cloisters – medieval art collection
Museum of the City of New York [1] (http://www.mcny.org/) – founded in 1923
to present the history of New York City and its people.
Museum of Modern Art – MoMA, currently displaying work at a temporary
location called MoMA QNS in Astoria, Queens while the location on 53rd
Street in Manhattan is under construction
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art
Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences
Transportation
Unlike most of America's car-oriented urban areas, public transportation is
the common mode of travel for the majority of New York City residents. High
parking fees, alternate side of the street parking rules and traffic jams
discourage driving, and the New York Subway—fast, efficient, but not always
clean—provides the best alternative. There are also numerous bus routes in
all five boroughs, and walking is often favored by locals as a practical and
pleasant transportation method for trips of two or so miles or less. People
living in the suburbs in eastern Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, and upstate New York either drive or use the city's
far-reaching commuter railroad system to travel to the city.
High tollway fees on bridges and underground tunnels help raise revenue and
discourage too many commuters from using the crossings. New Yorkers who live
in the city tend to take taxis, buses, subways, and elevated trains. Ferries
are also taken between Manhattan and New Jersey, as well as other parts of
New York City.
Mass transit
New York City boasts the most extensive network of public transportation in
the United States. Responsibility for providing public transportation falls
to a variety of government agencies and private corporations.
Amtrak provides long-distance commuter rail connections via Penn Station to
New England, upstate New York, Washington, DC and the midwest. For trips of
less than 500 miles, Amtrak is often cheaper and easier than air travel,
though not as fast.
New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) provides extensive commuter rail service
from many parts of Northern and Central New Jersey to Hoboken Terminal in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. Here is a breakup of the
New Jersey Transit network.
New Jersey Transit also provides an extensive network of bus routes
radiating in and out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The Northeast Corridor Line provides electric rail service between
Pennsylvania Station and Trenton. At Trenton, riders can connect to SEPTA
and Amtrak.
The North Jersey Coast Line provides electric rail service between
Pennsylvania Station and Long Branch. Diesel service is provided between
Long Branch and Bay Head or Hoboken and Bay Head.
The Raritan Valley Line provides diesel rail service between Raritan and
Newark Penn Station.
The Pascack Valley Line provides diesel rail service between Spring Valley,
NY and Hoboken.
The Bergen, Main and Port Jervis Lines provides diesel rail service between
Port Jervis, NY and Hoboken. NJ Transit has a partnership with Metro North
Railroad in which they provide the vacilities necessary for stations within
the state of New York.
The Montclair-Boonton Line provides electric rail service between
Hacketsttown and Hoboken or Pennsylvania Station. Trains declared MidTOWN
DIRECT are the ones that will terminate at Pennsylvania Station.
The Morris and Essex Lines provide electric rail service between
Hackettstown and Hoboken or Pennsylvania Station and also between Gladstone
and Hoboken or Pennsylvania Station. Trains declared MidTOWN DIRECT are the
ones that will terminate at Pennsylvania Station.
The Secaucus Transfer Station allows passengers on the Port Jervis, Pascack
Valley, Bergen and Main Lines to make a swift connection on selective
Pennsylvania Station bound trains for an easier commute into New York City.
At Pennsylvania Station in New York, connections are available to Amtrak,
the Long Island Railroad, and the New York City Subway system.
At New Jersey Transit's Hoboken Terminal, transfers can be made to PATH
trains between Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, and Midtown Manhattan; to
Manhattan-bound ferry service; and to NJ TRANSIT's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
System. At Newark Penn Station, connections to Amtrak, PATH and NJ TRANSIT's
Newark City Subway are available. PATH can be used to connect with NJ
TRANSIT's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System.
A person traveling on selective New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor Line
or North Jersey Coast Line, and Amtrak trains can access Newark Liberty
International Airport by getting off at the Newark Liberty International
Airport Rail Station. From here, the AirTrain Monorail links the station
with the airport's terminals and parking garages. It is a 20 minute ride
from Pennsylvania Station and the first airport in the New York Metropolitan
Area to have such a station/link on a mainline railway.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA is a New York State
public benefit corporation tasked with providing mass transit in the New
York City metropolitan area through its various subsidiary agencies.
MTA Metro-North Railroad provides commuter service from The Bronx,
Westchester County and southern Connecticut into Grand Central Terminal.
Three main lines terminate in Poughkeepsie, Wassaic, and New Haven. The
lattermost line has connecting branches to New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury
in Connecticut. In partnership with New Jersey Transit, it also provides
commuter services into Hoboken, New Jersey from Port Jervis and Spring
Valley.
MTA Long Island Railroad provides extensive commuter service to most of Long
Island, with destinations in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk via two trunk lines
and six subsidiary branches.
Staten Island Rapid Transit provides north-south commuter service the entire
length of Staten Island.
MTA New York City Transit provides extensive fixed-fare subway and bus
service throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The subway system is
one of the largest in the world, with over 720 miles of track and more than
400 stations.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey provides PATH trains connecting
Manhattan to New Jersey, as well as AirTrain service to two major airports.
The Port Authority also owns and operates the three major airports in the
New York City area (see below.) Regional bus service to New Jersey, upstate
New York, Canada and the midwest travels from the Port Authority Bus
Terminal near Times Square and the smaller George Washington Bridge Bus
Terminal.
Airports
The three local airports are JFK International Airport in Jamaica, Newark
Liberty International in Newark, New Jersey, and La Guardia Airport in
Flushing. Most New Yorkers fly domestic flights out of La Guardia, while
many flying domestically into Newark and JFK are not from the New York area.
Although Newark was the first airport in the area, and the closest to
Manhattan, it is in New Jersey.
North: White Plains, Newburgh
West: Paterson, Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Newark Liberty
International Airport
New York City, JFK International Airport, La Guardia Airport
East: Islip
Ferries
Many private ferries are run by NY Waterway, which provides several lines
across the Hudson River, New York Water Taxi, with lines connecting Brooklyn
and Manhattan, and other operators. There is also the free Staten Island
Ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island, operated by the New York City
Department of Transportation.
Taxis
Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City
Taxi & Limousine Commission. There are two kinds of taxis: "medallion
taxis," which are the familiar yellow taxis, and "car services," which may
only be radio- or computer-dispatched to pick up customers who have called
for a taxi. Yellow cabs patrol most of Manhattan and may be hailed with a
raised hand and taken--depending on the driver--anywhere within the five
boroughs and parts of New Jersey. As of May 2004, fares begin at $2.50
($3.00 after 8 pm, and $3.50 during peak, weekday hours). Prices go up based
on time elapsed and distance traveled.
Events
1853 – Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations (1853)
1898 – Consolidation of what are now the five boroughs into Greater New York
1909 – Hudson-Fulton Celebration (1909)
1939 – 1939 New York World's Fair exhibits included: The World of Tomorrow,
Futurama, Trylon, Perisphere
1964 – 1964/1965 New York World's Fair
1965 – Northeast Blackout of 1965
1973 – The World Trade Center's Twin Towers become the tallest buildings in
the world
1977 – Blackout of 1977
2001 – September 11 Terrorist Attack
2003 – Northeastern U.S.-Canada Blackout
Timeline of New York City crimes and disasters
List of ticker-tape parades in New York City
Plays and musicals set in New York
Little Shop of Horrors
Rent (1996)
West Side Story (1957)
Guys and Dolls
Avenue Q (2003)
Books set in New York
Banana Fish (manga series)
Colleges and universities in New York
Berkeley College
City University of New York (many campuses)
Baruch College
Borough of Manhattan Community College
Brooklyn College
Bronx Community College
City College of New York
CUNY Graduate Center
CUNY Law School
College of Staten Island
Hostos Community College
Hunter College
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Kingsborough Community College
LaGuardia Community College
Lehman College
Medgar Evers College
New York City College of Technology
Queens College
Queensborough Community College
Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education
York College
College of Mt. St. Vincent
Columbia University
Barnard College
Columbia College in the City of New York
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
Cooper Union
Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY)
Fordham University
Health Science Center Brooklyn (State University of New York Downstate
Medical Center)
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Juilliard School
Long Island University
Manhattan College
Manhattan School of Music
Marymount Manhattan College
New School University (formerly the New School for Social Research)
Eugene Lang College
Parsons School of Design
New York Law School
New York University
Pace University
Polytechnic University of New York
Pratt Institute
Rockefeller University
Saint John's University
School of Visual Arts
State University of New York Maritime College
State University of New York State College of Optometry
Touro College
Union Theological Seminary
Wagner College
Yeshiva University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Sister cities
New York has ten sister cities: Beijing, Budapest, Cairo, Jerusalem,
Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Rome, Santo Domingo, and Tokyo
