New York City

City of New York, New York

Flag Seal
Nickname: "The Big Apple"
Motto: "'"
Official website: City of New York
Location
[[Image:|250px|250px|Location of City of New York, New York]] Location in the state of New York
Government
Counties (Boroughs)	Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island)
Mayor	Michael Bloomberg (R)
Geographical characteristics
Area
Total	468.9 mi²     1,214.4 km²
Land	309 mi²     800.31 km²
Water	159.88 mi²     414.09 km²
Population
Total (2004)	8,168,338
Metro area	21,923,089
Density	27,228/mi²     10,292/km²
Density	{{{population_density_mi2}}}/mi²
Coordinates	{{{latd}}}°{{{latm}}}′0″ {{{latNS}}} {{{longd}}}°{{{longm}}}′0″ {{{longEW}}}
Elevation	m
Time zone	EST (UTC−5)
Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)

New York City Portal

"NYC" and "New York, New York" redirect here. For other meanings, see NYC (disambiguation) and New York, New York (disambiguation).

New York City, officially the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States and the most densely populated major city in North America.

The city is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture, and is one of the world's four primary global cities (along with London, Paris, and Tokyo) with a nearly unrivaled collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and financial markets. It is also the global headquarters of the United Nations.

Located in the state of New York, New York City has a population of 8.2 million<ref>The U.S. Census Bureau estimated New York City's population at 8,168,338 in 2004.[1]</ref> within an area of 321 square miles (approximately 830 km²)<ref>New York City's total area is 468.9 mi². 159.88 mi² of this is water and 321 mi² is land.[2]</ref>. It is at the heart of the New York Metropolitan Area, which at a population of almost 22 million is among the largest urban areas in the world. The city proper consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island — all except Staten Island contain over a million people and independently would be counted among the largest cities in the United States.

New York City attracts large numbers of immigrants from over 180 countries, as well as people from all over the United States, who come to the city for its culture, energy, cosmopolitanism, and economic opportunity. Currently the city is notable for having the lowest crime rate among major American cities.<ref>Crime in New York City dropped 14% from 2001 to 2004, compared to a national decline of 1.5%. New York City is responsible for 20% of the entire nation’s decline in crime since 2001. Of the 240 cities with a population of 100,000 or more that report data to the FBI, New York City now ranks 222 between Fontana, California and Port St. Lucie, Florida. New York ranks the safest of the 25 largest cities in the United States with the fewest overall crimes on the total crime index.[3]</ref>

Contents 1 History 2 Geography and environment 2.1 Geography 2.2 Climate 2.3 Environmental issues 3 Boroughs and neighborhoods 4 Government 4.1 See also 5 Economy 5.1 See also 6 Demographics 6.1 Crime 7 Culture 7.1 Arts 7.2 Media 7.3 Tourism and recreation 8 Transportation 8.1 Mass transit 8.2 Airports 8.3 See also 9 Buildings and architecture 10 Education and research 10.1 Universities 10.2 Schools 10.3 Libraries 10.4 Medical research 11 Sports 12 Trivia 12.1 Sister cities 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links 15.1 Virtual Tours

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History

Main article: History of New York City

The Castello Plan depicting New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan, 1660.

The region had long been inhabited by the Lenape at the time of its discovery by European Giovanni da Verrazzano. The Dutch established New Amsterdam and New Netherland in 1613, and the colony was granted self-government in 1652 under Peter Stuyvesant, but was conquered by the British in 1664, when it was renamed "New York" after the English city of York. The Dutch briefly regained it in August 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", but ceded it permanently in November 1674.

Under British rule the City of New York continued to develop, and while there was growing sentiment for greater political independence, the area was decidedly split in its loyalties during the New York Campaign, a series of major early battles during the American Revolutionary War. Subsequently, the city was under British occupation until the end of the war, and was the last port British ships evacuated in 1783.

New York City was the capital of the newly-formed United States from 1788 to 1790. In the 19th Century, the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 enabled New York to overtake Boston and Philadelphia in economic importance, and local politics became dominated by a Democratic Party political machine known as Tammany Hall, supported by Irish immigrants. The New York Draft Riots during the American Civil War were suppressed by the Union Army. In later years known as the Gilded Age, the city's upper classes enjoyed great prosperity amid the further growth of a poor immigrant working class, associated with economic and municipal consolidation of what would become the five boroughs in 1898.

Construction of the Empire State Building, 1930

A series of new transportation links, most notably the opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, helped bind together the newly-consolidated city. The height of European immigration brought social upheaval, and the anticapitalist labor union IWW was fiercely repressed. Later, in the 1920s, the city saw the influx of African-Americans as part of the Great Migration from the American South. The Harlem Renaissance blossomed during this period, part of a larger boom in the Prohibition era that saw the city's skyline transformed by construction of dueling skyscrapers. New York overtook London as the most populous city in the world in 1925, ending that city's century-old claim to the title. The city suffered during the Great Depression, which saw the election of reformist mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the end of Tammany Hall's eighty years of political dominance. The city's industries and port facilities, such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, also played a major role in World War II.

New York emerged from World War II as the unquestioned leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's emergence as the world's dominant economic power, the United Nations headquarters (built in Manhattan in 1952) emphasizing its political influence, and the rise of Abstract Expressionism displacing Paris as center of the art world. The growth of post-war suburbs saw a slow decline in the city's population. Later, changes in industry and commerce, suburban flight, and rising crime rates pushed New York into a social and economic crisis in the 1970s.

Lower Manhattan's skyline with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center (1973 – 2001).

The 1980s was a period of modest boom and bust, followed by a major boom in the 1990s. Racial tensions calmed in latter years; a dramatic fall in crime rates, improvements in quality of life and a major reinvigoration of immigration and growth renewed the city, and New York's population passed eight million for the first time in its history. In the late 1990s, the city benefited disproportionately from the success of the financial services industry during the dot com boom, one of the factors supporting a decade of booming residential and commercial real estate values.

The city was the site of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history on September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Among those who died were workers in the buildings, passengers and crew on two commercial airplanes, and hundreds of firemen, policemen, and rescue workers who responded to the disaster. The city's economy was substantially hurt but has since recovered. The Freedom Tower, intended to be exactly 1,776 feet tall (a number symbolic of the year the Declaration of Independence was written), is to be built on the site and is slated for construction between 2006 and 2010.

See also: September 11, 2001 attacks

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Geography and environment

Main article: Geography and environment of New York City

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Geography

• 40°42′51″N, 74°0′23″W

New York City waterways: 1. Hudson River, 2. East River, 3. Long Island Sound, 4. Newark Bay, 5. Upper New York Bay, 6. Lower New York Bay, 7. Jamaica Bay, 8. Atlantic Ocean

New York City is located at the center of the BosWash megalopolis, 218 miles (350 km) driving distance from Boston and 220 miles (353 km) from Washington, D.C.. The city's total area is 468.9 square miles (1,214.4 km²), of which 35.31% is water. The city is situated on the three major islands of Manhattan, Staten Island, and western Long Island. The Bronx is the only borough that is part of the mainland United States.

New York City's significance as a trading city results from the superb natural harbor formed by Upper New York Bay, which is surrounded by Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the coast of New Jersey. It is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island in Lower New York Bay.

The Hudson River flows from the Hudson Valley into New York Bay, becoming a tidal estuary that separates the Bronx and Manhattan from New Jersey. The East River, actually a tidal strait, stretches from the Long Island Sound to New York Bay, separating the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River, another tidal strait between the East and Hudson Rivers, separates Manhattan from the Bronx.

The city's land has been altered considerably by human intervention, with substantial land reclamation along the waterfronts since Dutch colonial times. Reclamation is most notable in Lower Manhattan with modern developments like Battery Park City. Much of the natural variations in topography have been evened out, particularly in Manhattan. One possible meaning for "Manhattan" is "island of hills"; in fact, the island was quite hilly before European settlement.

See also: Geography of New York Harbor

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Climate

New York has a humid continental climate, though being adjacent to water it experiences less temperature fluctuation than inland areas. New York winters are typically cold, but milder than inland Eastern and Midwestern cities at similar latitude such as Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Temperatures below 0 °F (-18 °C) occur once per decade on average, but daytime low temperatures in the 10s and 20s °F (-12 to -2 °C) are common at the height of winter. Springs are typically mild, with high temperatures averaging in the 50s °F (10 to 15 °C) in late March to the lower 80s °F (25 to 30 °C) in early June. Summers in New York are hot and humid, with temperatures commonly exceeding 90 °F (32 °C), though high temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) are somewhat rare. Autumns are comfortable with sunshine and average temperatures in the 50s °F (10 to 15 °C).

Because of its location along the Atlantic Ocean, New York City is prone to huge winter storms called nor'easters. These storms bring wind, rain, coastal flooding, and in the heart of winter, huge snowfalls. Most of New York's biggest snowfalls are a result of these. Each winter, New York City receives about one or two major snowfalls, usually averaging between 8 and 12 inches (20-30 cm) per storm. The all-time record snowfall in New York's Central Park was during the Blizzard of 2006 on February 11-12, 2006 when 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) of snow fell in Manhattan. These storms are rare and hit about once a decade. On average, the city receives about 30 inches (76.2 cm) of snow each winter.

Also, due to its location on the east coast, New York City can be prone to tropical cyclones, although they are rare and usually much less strong than ones that hit further south in Florida, North Carolina or along the US Gulf Coast. Hurricanes and tropical storms, if they do hit, usually strike in late summer and early fall.

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Environmental issues

New York's high population density and growing need for resources present challenges to protecting its environment. Air pollution, while not as severe as in cities like Los Angeles or Beijing, remains a problem. The city's air has high levels of ozone and particulates, and residents in some neighborhoods have very high rates of asthma. Some parts of the city are also at risk if current global warming patterns continue and sea levels rise. The city has taken steps to enhance its efficiency and restrain demands on environmental resources.

New York's unique density facilitates the highest rate of mass transit use in the United States. New York is one of the most energy efficient cities in the country as a result. Gasoline consumption in the city is at the rate the national average was in the 1920s.<ref>Jervey, Ben. "The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City." See Metro New York article:[4]</ref> Since the 1990s the city has been a national leader in municipal environmental policy. The city government is required to purchase only the most energy efficient cars, air-conditioners and copy machines. New York has the largest hybrid bus fleet in the country, and some of the first hybrid taxis. City planners concerned about future electricity demand have introduced experimental underwater turbines in the East River to take advantage of tidal currents.

The city is also a leader in energy-efficient green office buildings, like Hearst Tower and 7 World Trade Center, which recycles rainwater and uses it in toilets and for irrigation, and uses computer-controlled heating and lighting.

New York's water supply is fed by a vast watershed in the Catskill Mountains. Because the watershed is in one of the largest protected wilderness areas in the United States, the natural water filtration process remains intact. As a result, New York is one of the few cities in the United States with drinking water pure enough not to require processing by water treatment plants; only chlorination is necessary to ensure its purity at the tap.<ref>"Maintaining Water Quality that Satisfies Customers: New York City Watershed Agricultural Program." New York City Department Of Environmental Protection 20 Nov 1998.[5]</ref>

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Boroughs and neighborhoods

See also: Neighborhood rebranding in New York City

The five boroughs: 1: Manhattan, 2: Brooklyn,
3: Queens, 4: Bronx, 5: Staten Island

New York City is comprised of The Five Boroughs. Throughout the boroughs there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods in the city, many with a definable history and character all their own.

• Manhattan (New York County, pop. 1,564,798) is the business center of the city, and the most superlatively urban. It is the most densely populated, and the home of most of the city's skyscrapers.

See also: List of Manhattan neighborhoods

• The Bronx (Bronx County, pop. 1,363,198) is known as the purported birthplace of hip hop culture, as well as the home of the New York Yankees. Excluding its minor islands, the Bronx is the only borough of the city that is on the mainland of the United States.

See also: List of Bronx neighborhoods

• Brooklyn (Kings County, pop. 2,472,523) is the most populous borough, with a strong native identity. It ranges from a modern business district downtown to large historic residential neighborhoods in the central and south-eastern areas. It also has a long beachfront and Coney Island, famous as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country.

See also: List of Brooklyn neighborhoods

• Queens (Queens County, pop. 2,225,486) is the most diverse county in the U.S., with more immigrants than anywhere else in the nation. It is geographically the largest borough, and home to Shea Stadium and the New York Mets; two of the region's three major airports; Flushing Meadows Corona Park, site of the 1939 and 1964 World Fairs; and Arthur Ashe Stadium, host of the annual U.S. Open.

See also: List of Queens neighborhoods

• Staten Island (Richmond County, pop. 459,737) is quiet and the most suburban in character of the five boroughs, but has gradually become more integrated with the rest of the city since the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in 1964, an event that caused controversy and even an attempt at secession.

See also: List of Staten Island neighborhoods

Government

Main article: Government of New York City

Since its consolidation in 1898, New York City has been a metropolitan municipality with a "strong" mayor-council form of government. The mayor and councilors are elected to four-year terms. The New York City Council is a unicameral body consisting of 51 Council members whose districts are defined by geographic population boundaries. Each councilor represents approximately 157,000 people. The mayor and councilors are subject to eight year term limits. The most recent election was held in 2005.

The city has historically elected Democratic mayoral candidates. The current and previous mayor, however, are pro-choice, liberal Republicans considerably to the left of their national counterparts. Councilors are elected under specific issues and are usually well-known.

The Democratic Party holds the majority of public offices. Party platforms are centered on affordable housing, education and economic development. The city's political demographics are liberal and Democratic. Labor politics are important. Housing and economic development are the most controversial topics, with an ongoing debate over the proposed Brooklyn Nets Arena. 87% of registered voters in the city are Democrats. This is in contrast to New York state, which is less liberal.

The city has a strong imbalance of payments with the national and state governments. New York City receives 83 cents in services for every $1 it sends to Washington in taxes (or annually sends $11.4 billion more to Washington than it receives back). The city also sends an additional $11 billion more each year to the state of New York than it receives back.<ref>"A Fair Share of State Budget: Does Albany Play Fair with NYC?" New York City Finance Division 11 Mar 2005.[6]</ref>

Because the state of New York consistently votes Democratic in national elections, many observers argue that New York City is insignificant in presidential contests. New York City, however, is the most important source of political fundraising in the United States. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top zip code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and Al Gore.

The current mayor is Michael Bloomberg, a Republican (and former Democrat) elected in 2001 and re-elected four years later with 59% of the vote. He is known for taking control of the city's education system from the state, rezoning and economic development, fiscal management, and banning smoking in bars and restaurants. He is also known for his strong support of strict gun control laws, abortion rights, and aggressive public health policy.

See also

• Mayor of New York City
• New York City Council
• New York City Civil Court
• New York City Criminal Court

Economy

Main article: Economy of New York City

New York City is a major center for business and commerce and is one of the four world cities (along with London, Paris, and Tokyo) that controls world finance. The financial, insurance, and real estate industries form the basis of its economy. The city is the most important center for mass media, journalism and publishing in the United States and is also the preeminent arts center in the country. New York's film industry is the nation’s second largest after Hollywood. Medical research, technology, and fashion are also important sectors.

The city's stock exchanges are among the most important in the world. The New York Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume, while NASDAQ is the world's largest by number of listings. Many international corporations are headquartered in the city, including more Fortune 500 companies than anywhere else. New York is unique among American cities for its large number of foreign corporations. One out of every ten private sector jobs in the city is with a foreign company. Often this makes the perspective of New York’s business community internationalist and at odds with Washington’s foreign policy, trade policy, and visa policy.<ref>"Keeping the Economy Growing." Gotham Gazette 23 Jan 2006.[7]</ref>

Specialized manufacturing accounts for a large but declining share of employment. Garments, chemicals, metal products, processed foods, and furniture are some of the principal manufacturers. New York’s fine natural harbor has meant international shipping has always been a major part of the city’s economy, but in recent decades most cargo shipping has moved from the Brooklyn waterfront across the harbor to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey. Some cargo shipping remains. Brooklyn handles the majority of cocoa bean imports to the United States.

“Creative” industries, like design, new media, and architecture account for a growing share of employment. With the increasing commercial role of the city’s many medical laboratories and research centers, science and research is another strong growth sector. Jobs in the sector grew 4.9% in 2004 - 2005. High-tech industries like software development, gaming design, and Internet services are also growing; New York is the leading international internet gateway in the United States, with 430 Gbps of international internet capacity terminates, because of its position at the terminus of the transatlantic fiber optic trunkline. By comparison, the number two U.S. hub, Washington/Baltimore, has 158 Gbps of internet terminates.<ref>"Telecommunications and Economic Development in New York City: A Plan for Action." New York City Economic Development Corporation Mar 2005.[8]</ref>

New York City has an estimated gross metropolitan product of nearly $500 billion within the city limits, larger than the GDP of Switzerland ($377 billion) and nearly equaling that of Russia ($582 billion). If it were a nation the city would have the 17th largest economy in the world, and at $59,000 per person, New York would have the second highest per capita GDP after Luxembourg.<ref>Gross Metro Product was estimated at $489 billion in 2003, up from $470 billion in 2002. This figure counts activity only within the city limits. Including the northern New Jersey and Long Island, NY suburbs puts the 2004 GMP at $901.3 billion, greater than the GDPs of India, South Korea, and Australia.[9] and [10]</ref> New York is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other place in the United States.

See also

• List of major corporations based in New York City
• New York Stock Exchange
• NASDAQ

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of New York City

As of the census^GR2 of 2004, there are 8,168,338 people (up from 7.3 million in 1990), 3,021,588 households, and 1,852,233 families residing in the city. This amounts to about 40% of New York state's population and a similar percentage of the New York City metropolitan population.

Recently, New York City has had large numbers of foreign immigrants arriving, many long-standing residents leaving, an increase in the gap between the rich and the poor, and a rise in the black middle class. In some areas of the city there is rapid growth fueled by immigrants and their children. Some areas are undergoing racial and ethnic transition; others are gentrifying.

The two most notable demographic features of the city are its density and diversity. By American standards, the city has an extremely high population density of 26,402.9/mi², about 10,000 more people per square mile than the next densest city, San Francisco. Manhattan's population density is 66,940.1/mi². New York is also uniquely diverse. 36% of its population is foreign born, a larger percentage than in any other major city in the United States except Los Angeles. Whereas in that city the majority of immigrants are from Mexico, in New York no single country of origin dominates. Only the four largest, the Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, and Russia represent groups larger than five percent. In 2000, the city was 44.7% white, 26.6% black, and 9.8% Asian, while people of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) were 27% of the population.

A typically diverse group of New Yorkers on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

New York City's estimated daytime population is the largest in the United States at more than 8.5 million persons. In absolute terms the increase of more than half a million people over the nighttime population is larger than anywhere else. However, as a percentage of the city's total population, the 7% increase puts New York mid-pack among cities with more than a million residents. This is because a disproportionately high number of people both work and live in the city compared with the national average.

Median family income in New York was $44,131 in 2003. The unemployment rate in March of 2005 was 5.2%, identical to the nationwide rate. The median age is 34, a year younger than the figure nationally. Nearly 30% of New York City households have children under 18.

New Yorkers belong to a diverse range of ethnic groups. 11.5% are African-American, 9.8% Puerto Rican, 8.7% Italian, 5.3% Irish, 5.1% Dominican, 4.5% Chinese, 2.1% Asian Indian, 1.8% Filipino and 1.6% Korean. Many of these minority populations have defined certain neighborhoods; examples in Manhattan are Chinatown, Harlem, Little Italy, and Spanish Harlem. The Irish have also had a notable presence in the city, and according to a 2006 genetic survey by Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, about one in 50 New Yorkers of European origin carry a distinctive genetic signature on their Y chromosomes inherited from Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the fifth century A.D.<ref>"If Irish Claim Nobility, Science May Approve." The New York Times 18 Jan. 2006.[11]</ref> Additionally, New York City is home to the nation's largest community of American Jews, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, with an estimate of just under one million in 2002. The city is the worldwide headquarters of the Hasidic Lubavitch movement and the Bobover and Satmar branches of Hasidism.

Crime

Main article: Crime in New York City

Since 1991, New York City has seen a continuous fifteen-year trend of decreasing crime and is now the safest large city in the United States. While this trend is said to be due in part to the NYPD's innovative strategies implemented in the 1990s, including CompStat, economist Steven Levitt and others have pointed instead to broader socio-economic trends. Along with decreasing crime rates, gentrification has caused many neighborhoods, once rife with crime and drug dealing, to become thriving and safe neighborhoods. Overall, New York City had a rate of 2,800 crimes per 100,000 people in 2004, compared with 8,959.7 in Dallas, 7,903.7 in Detroit, and 7,402.3 in Phoenix.

Culture

Main article: Culture of New York City

Street musicians in Central Park.

The people of New York City, New Yorkers, share a unique culture rooted in centuries of immigration and city life. There is considerable diversity in this local culture, varying by ethnic group, social class, and neighborhood.

To some observers, New York, with its large immigrant population, is more a quintessentially cosmopolitan, global city than something specifically "American". But to others, the city's very openness to newcomers makes it an archetypal city in a "nation of immigrants". Among American cities only Los Angeles receives more immigrants, but immigration to New York is far more diverse; the city government maintains translators in 180 languages. The term "melting pot" was first coined to describe Manhattan’s densely populated Lower East Side.

Everyday life for New Yorkers is often compared to that of urban Western Europeans. The 'car culture' that dominates most of the United States is displaced by New York’s overwhelming use of public transit. Many New Yorkers live in compact rental apartments, not sprawling suburbs. The city’s food culture, influenced by its immigrants and vast number of dining patrons, is incredibly diverse. Jewish and Italian immigrants made New York famous for bagels and pizza. Numerous delicatessens serve authentic Eastern European and Jewish cuisine, towering corned beef and pastrami sandwiches being a local favorite. More recent arrivals have made falafels and kebabs standbys of contemporary New York street food.

There are many stereotypes about "The City That Never Sleeps." The American idiom "in a New York minute" means "immediately." The "sophisticated New Yorker" often defines American notions of urbanity.

Arts

New York City’s density and size, multicultural history, and wealth of arts institutions makes it the cultural capital of the United States and a global crossroads for music, film, theater, dance and visual art. Among the nation’s most important art collections are those held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. The first and largest performing arts complex in the United States is Lincoln Center. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has a larger annual budget than the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tom Wolfe wrote of New York that "Culture just seems to be in the air, like part of the weather." Important cultural movements have long been part of the city’s history. The Harlem Renaissance established the African-American literary canon in the United States. The New York School of painters, which developed abstract expressionism in the post-World War II period, became the first truly original school of painting in America. African-American jazz greats likes Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne found refuge in mixed communities in Queens in the segregated America of the 1940s. American modern dance developed in New York during that same time. New York was a hub for the counterculture of the 1960s. Its downtown music scene established punk rock in the United States in the 1970s. In the Bronx, meanwhile, hip-hop was emerging and would go on to take the world by storm by the 1990s. While the big-budget mainstream film industry consolidated in Hollywood, New York became the capital of American independent cinema.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a vast assemblage of historic art, while the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim and Whitney Museum of American Art house important collections of 20th century art. There are an additional 2,000 arts and cultural non-profits and 500 art galleries of all sizes.<ref>"Creative New York". Center for an Urban Future Dec. 2005. [12]</ref> The city’s performing arts venues are equally numerous and varied. These include the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, actually a complex of buildings housing 12 separate companies, among them Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Ballet. Carnegie Hall is a smaller but prestigious venue. The Brooklyn Academy of Music is known for its cutting edge programming. Downtown clubs such as CBGB and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe are the city's destinations for rock, blues, jazz, mixed media and experimental theater.

New York is also the center of American theater. Broadway theatre, referring to performances in one of New York’s 39 large-scale theaters with more than 500 seats, is often considered along with London's West End to be the highest professional form of theater in the English language. Off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions are often more experimental and are staged in the city's many smaller theater houses.

Media

Main article: Media of New York City

New York is the nation’s number-one media market with 7% of the country’s television-viewing households. Three of the Big Four music recording companies have their headquarters in the city. One-third of all independent films are produced in New York City. More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city. The book publishing industry alone employs 13,000 people. For these reasons, New York is often called "the media capital of the world."

New York's use of mass transit gives the city a large newspaper readership base.

The city is home to four of the ten largest newspapers in the nation. These include The New York Times (circulation 1.1 million), the New York Daily News (circulation 730,000), and the New York Post (circulation 650,000), founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton. The Wall Street Journal (circulation 2.1 million) is the city's business paper.<ref>"Editor & Publisher International Year Book 2004." Found at infoplease.com.[13]</ref> El Diario La Prensa (circulation 265,000) is New York's largest Spanish-language daily and the oldest in the nation. The city also has a large ethnic press with newspapers in over twenty languages.

Radio broadcasting in the city is equally varied. WQHT, also known as Hot 97, claims to be the nation's premier hip-hop station. WNYC is the most listened-to public radio station in the United States. Shock jock Howard Stern and conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh are based in the city. WBAI in Manhattan, with news and information programming, is one of the flagship stations of the leftist Pacifica Radio network.

The three traditional major television networks, ABC, CBS and NBC all have their headquarters and studios in New York. The city is also a national center of entertainment television. The hit television shows Sex and the City and The Sopranos were produced at Silvercup Studios in Queens. MTV broadcasts programming from its sound stage overlooking Times Square, several blocks away from the theater where CBS tapes The Late Show with David Letterman. BET is headquartered on 57th Street. The Daily Show is produced by Comedy Central on 54th Street. Over a thousand people are involved with producing the various Law & Order television series. The City of New York also has an official television station run by the NYC Media Group. WNET, New York's flagship public television station, is a primary national provider of PBS programming. The oldest public access channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, a well-regarded channel with eclectic local programming ranging from a jazz hour to discussion of labor issues to foreign language and religious programming.

Tourism and recreation

Some 39 million foreign and American tourists visit New York each year. According to some estimates, as many as one in four Americans can trace their roots to Brooklyn. Many visitors investigate their genealogy at historic immigration sites such as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Other tourist destinations include the Empire State Building, for many years the world's tallest building after its construction in 1931, Radio City Music Hall, home of The Rockettes, a variety of Broadway shows, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, housed on a World War II aircraft carrier, high-end shopping districts around Fifth Avenue, and city landmarks such as Central Park.

The Farmers Market at Union Square, held four days each week.

28,000 acres (113 km²) of parkland and 14 miles (22 km) of public beaches in the city provide recreational space. Prospect Park in Brooklyn, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, has a 90 acre (360,000 m²) meadow thought to be the largest meadow in any U.S. park. Flushing Meadows Park in Queens is the city's third largest park and hosted the World's Fair in 1939 and 1964. Historically, some of the most visited waterfront was around the Coney Island boardwalk. The area was an immigrant and working class resort with amusement parks and ocean atmosphere. It went into decline in the 1970s, although the beach has always remained popular in the summer and Russian immigrants have begun revitalizing area businesses. The popular Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team now plays there. Fishing, swimming and rowing are increasingly popular as the water quality of the city's waterways improve. Several canoe and kayak clubs offer nighttime circumnavigations of Manhattan and tours of the East River.

Shopping is popular with many visitors. Fifth Avenue is a famous luxury shopping corridor. Macy's, the nation's largest department store, and the surrounding area of Herald Square is a major destination for more moderately-priced goods. Greenwich Village is home to hundreds of independent music and book stores, while the East Village has many purveyors of rare and hard-to-find items. Union Square is known for its large farmer's market. The diamond district around 47th Street is one of the three primary centers of the global diamond industry (along with Antwerp, Belgium and South Africa), as well as the premiere center for jewelry shopping in the city, and SoHo, formerly the center of the New York art scene, is now known for high-end clothing boutiques. The art galleries are now concentrated in Chelsea. There are also large shopping districts in Downtown Brooklyn and along Queens Boulevard in Queens. Many of the city's ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans up and down the East Coast, who seek out stores such as Aji Ichiban, the sleek Hong Kong chain, sari shops, and indigenous food markets.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in New York City

The Brooklyn Bridge, the world's first steel wire suspension bridge.

The future transit hub at the World Trade Center site, to be completed in 2009.

New York City is home to the most complex and extensive transportation network in the United States, with its more than 12,000 iconic yellow cabs, landmark bridges, 112,000 daily bicyclists, vast subway system, the nation's busiest public ferry and bus station, immense airports, pioneering underwater vehicular tunnels, largest shipping port on the East Coast and even an aerial commuter tramway. While nearly 90% of Americans drive to their jobs, about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York and its suburbs.<ref>Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation [14] and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [15]</ref> Data from the 2000 U.S. Census reveals that New York City is the only locality in the United States where more than half of all households do not own a car (the figure is even higher in Manhattan, over 75%; nationally, the rate is 8%).<ref>Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation.[16]</ref> New York's uniquely high rate of public transit use and its pedestrian-friendly character makes it one of the most energy efficient cities in the country.

Mass transit

Main article: Mass transit in New York City

New York's public transit system, which moves 2.4 billion people each year, is the largest in North America. The New York City Subway is the largest subway system in the world when measured by track mileage (656 miles of mainline track) and the world's fifth largest when measured by annual ridership (1.4 billion passenger trips in 2004).<ref>Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[17]</ref> Life in the city is so dependent on the subway that New York is home to two of only three 24 hour subway systems in the entire world. New York City's public bus fleet, the largest in North America, supplements the subway. A vast commuter rail network, also the largest in North America with well over 250 stations and 20 rail lines serving more than 150 million commuters annually, connects the suburbs in the tri-state region to the city.<ref>Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[18]</ref> The commuter rail system converges at the two busiest rail stations in the United States, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, both in Manhattan.

Airports

Three major airports serve New York City and its surrounding suburbs: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA), both in Queens, and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in nearby Newark, New Jersey. About 100 million travelers used these New York-area airports in 2005 as the metropolitan region surpassed Chicago to become the busiest air gateway in the nation. JFK and Newark's outbound international travel accounted for nearly a quarter of all U.S. travelers who went overseas in 2004.<ref>Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation.[19]</ref> JFK is the largest international air freight gateway in the nation by value of shipments.<ref>Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation.[20]</ref> Both JFK and Newark have rail connections to Manhattan.

See also

• New York City Subway
• Port Authority Trans-Hudson
• Long Island Rail Road

Buildings and architecture

Main article: Buildings and architecture of New York City

Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005.
Full panoramic photo

New York City contains many notable buildings from a variety of architectural styles including French Second Empire (The Kings County Savings Bank Building), gothic (the Woolworth Building), Art Deco (the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building), modernist (the Seagram Building and Lever House), and post-modern (the AT&T Building). The Conde Nast Building is one of the most important examples of green design in skyscrapers in the United States.

The skyline of New York is the most recognizable in the world. Boasting the world's largest collection of residential and commercial high-rises, New York actually has three separately recognizable skylines: Midtown Manhattan, Lower Manhattan, and Downtown Brooklyn. Many "name brand" architects, such as Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, and Renzo Piano, are currently working on major projects that will reshape much of the city's skyline in the coming years. The Freedom Tower, to be built on the site of the former World Trade Center, is slated to be the tallest building in the United States when it is completed in 2009.

Education and research

Main article: Education in New York City

New York is a global center for research and education, particularly in medicine and the life sciences. New York has the most post-graduate life sciences degrees awarded annually in the United States, 40,000 licensed physicians and 127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions. The city receives the second-highest amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health among all U.S. cities.

Universities

The City University of New York (CUNY), with over 400,000 students the third-largest university system in the United States, has been called "the poor man's Harvard" because of its low tuition and record of graduating the highest number of Nobel Laureates of any public university in the world. Much of its student body, which represent 145 countries, is comprised of new immigrants to New York City. CUNY has campuses in all of the five boroughs.

The Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village is the unofficial symbol of New York University.

Columbia University is an Ivy League university in upper Manhattan. It was established in 1754 as King's College and is the fifth oldest chartered institution of higher education in the United States. During these early years, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, and Robert Livingston studied at Columbia.

New York University (NYU) is a major research university in lower Manhattan. Founded in 1831 by a group of prominent New Yorkers, NYU has become the largest private, not-for-profit university in the United States with a total enrollment of 39,408. The University comprises 14 schools, colleges, and divisions, which occupy six major centers across Manhattan.

Fordham University, which has campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx, was the first Catholic university in the northeast. Yeshiva University is a competitive university in the Bronx with a strong rabbinical school. The New School, whose graduate faculty was founded by scholars exiled by totalitarian regimes in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, is known for its progressive intellectual tradition.

In addition to many more universities, New York City is home to several of the nation's top schools of art and design, including Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Parsons School of Design.

Schools

The Bronx High School of Science has the largest number of Nobel Laureates among its graduates of any high school in the world.

The New York City public school system, the New York City Department of Education, is the largest in the United States. More than one million students are taught in 1,200 separate schools. Many schools struggle with the problems typical of urban American school districts, while others are exceptional. Stuyvesant High School is one of the best public high schools in the United States; Hunter College High School sends the highest percentage of its graduates to Ivy League schools of any public school in the United States, while the Bronx High School of Science boasts the largest number of Nobel Laureates among its graduates of any high school in the world. The city has a number of other unique schools, including the Harvey Milk High School, the only public high school in the United States for gay, lesbian, and transgendered students.

There are about 1,000 additional privately-run secular and religious schools in New York. These include some of the most prestigious private schools in the United States, such as The Dalton School, The Brearley School, and Horace Mann School. The Archdiocese of New York of the Diocese of Brooklyn run an extensive network of important Catholic schools.

Libraries

New York City has three public library systems. The New York Public Library comprises simultaneously a set of scholarly research collections and a network of community libraries and is the busiest public library system in the world. The largest of its four research centers is the Library for the Humanities, which ranks in importance with the Library of Congress, the British Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It has 39 million items in its collection, among them the first five folios of Shakespeare's plays, ancient Torah scrolls, and Alexander Hamilton's handwritten draft of the United States Constitution.

The Brooklyn Public Library is the fourth-largest library system in the country, with an extensive foreign language collection in 70 different languages, from Arabic to Creole to Vietnamese. Offerings are tailored by library branches to the neighborhoods they serve.

The Queens Borough Public Library serves the city's most diverse borough with a full range of services and programs for adults and children. Lectures, performances and special events are presented by neighborhood branches. Internet access is available at every branch location.

Medical research

New York is a leader in biotech, pharma, informatics, medical equipment and clinical programs. The city has 15 nationally leading academic medical research institutions and medical centers. These include Rockefeller University, Beth Israel Medical Center, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Weill Cornell, Mount Sinai Medical Center (where Jonas Salk, developer of the vaccine for polio, was an intern), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the medical schools of New York University. In the Bronx, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a major academic center. Brooklyn also hosts one of the country's leading urban medical centers, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, an academic medical research institution and the oldest hospital-based medical school in the United States. Professor Raymond Vahan Damadian, a pioneer in magnetic resonance imaging research, was part of the faculty from 1967 to 1977 and built the first MRI machine, the Indomnitable, there. More than 50 bioscience companies and two biotech incubators are located in the city, with as many as 30 companies spun out of local research institutions each year.

Sports

Main article: Sports in New York City

New York's most popular sport is baseball. The city has two Major League teams, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Rivalry between the two teams is fierce. There have been 14 World Series championship series between the Yankees and their National League rivals; the Mets (once), and with the two teams that departed for California — the New York Giants (7 times) and Brooklyn Dodgers (6 times); such matchups are called Subway Series. Baseball is also a closely followed sport in New York's large Dominican community, where the many Major League players from the Dominican Republic have devoted fans.

The home of the New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium.

Basketball is also popular. The first national college-level basketball championship, the National Invitation Tournament, was held in New York in 1938. The New York Knicks are the city's National Basketball Association team.

The New York metro region is the only area in the United States with more than one team in each the four major sports, with nine such franchises. The U.S. Tennis Open is held annually in Queens.

Immigrants have always influenced sports in New York. Stickball, a street version of baseball, first became popular in the city's Italian and Irish neighborhoods. The popularity of cricket and soccer are growing with immigration from British Commonwealth countries. The first children's Junior Cricket League in the United States opened in Brooklyn in 2004, bringing the number of cricket leagues in the city to seven.

Trivia

Statue of Liberty

• With over 8 million residents, New York City has a larger population than 39 U.S. states. It has more than twice the population of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the country, and more than 27 times the population of Buffalo, the second largest city in New York State.
• Approximately two out of five New York State residents live in New York City.
• More than a third of the actors in the United States are based in New York.<ref>"Creative New York." Center for an Urban Future Dec. 2005.[21]</ref>
• The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is so long – 4,260 feet – that the towers are a few inches out of parallel to accommodate the curvature of the earth.
• Central Park is nearly twice as big as the world's second-smallest country, Monaco.
• Interstate 278 is the only highway to go through all five boroughs of New York.

Sister cities

New York has ten sister cities.<ref>New York City website. Sister City Program.[22]</ref> Parentheses indicate the year the relationships were formed.

References

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Further reading

• The Encyclopedia of New York City, (ed. by) Kenneth T. Jackson, 1995
• Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, 1998
• New York, Anthony Burgess, 1976
• Here is New York, E. B. White, 1949
• The Colossus of New York: A City in 13 Parts, Colson Whitehead, 2003

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

New York City

• NYC.gov - official website for the city
• 纽约市.cn - PRC's Official website for the city
• New York City Wiki
• NYWiki MediaWiki New York City MediaWiki for the city.
• Travel guide to New York City from Wikitravel

Virtual Tours

• Virtual NYC Tour - A virtual tour of New York City
• A9.com - New York
• NYC Events, Videos, Photos and More - New Yorkled Magazine
• air visit of all the borough of New York in photographs

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