Portal:New York City

"New York City portal" redirects here. For the interactive art installation in New York City and Dublin, Ireland, see New York–Dublin Portal.

The New York City Portal

New York (NY), often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States. It is located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with its respective county. It is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy.


With an estimated population in July 2024 of 8,478,072, distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the country's second-most populous city. Over 20.1 million people live in New York City's metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, both the largest in the U.S. New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities. The city and its metropolitan area serve as the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. An estimated 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City metropolitan region is home to the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world, approximately 5.9 million as of 2023. (Full article...)

Selected article


  • One Fordham Plaza

    Fordham Plaza, originally known as Fordham Square, is a major commercial and transportation hub in the Fordham and Belmont neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City, New York, United States. It is located on the south side of Fordham Road at Third and Webster Avenues, at the eastern end of the commercial strip along Fordham Road ("Fordham Center") that runs past Grand Concourse and Jerome Avenue to about Grand Avenue, and to the west of the Bronx's Little Italy district on Arthur Avenue in Belmont.

    The plaza is located across from Fordham University's Rose Hill campus, and above the Fordham station of the Metro-North Railroad. The Fordham Plaza name refers specifically to two locations in the area: the office building One Fordham Plaza on the east side of Third Avenue; and the Fordham Plaza Bus Terminal, a bus loop and pedestrian plaza on the west side above the station. It along with the rest of the Fordham Road commercial district constitutes the largest shopping strip in the Bronx, and the third largest in New York City. (Full article...)
  • Big Apple Rappin' (subtitled: The Early Days of Hip-Hop Culture in New York City 1979–1982) is a 2006 compilation album released on Soul Jazz Records. The album is a compilation of the early days of New York hip hop by Johan Kugelberg, who had collected early hip hop material, specifically records flyers and fanzines and other memorabilia with the idea to donate them to an academic institution. The music Kugelberg gathered for the compilation surrounded hip hop music released around the period "Rapper's Delight" became a hit song. The music is predominantly hip hop with a disco backing tracks which Kugelberg described as "the first great records." Along with the music, photography and flyers were compiled from the era, as well as interviews with DJs and rappers such as Grandmaster Caz and Glen Adams.

    Reviews of the album complimented the in-depth research and compiling of the compilation album, with some critics noting the dated or repetitive nature of the music and long length of the individual tracks as drawbacks. Jon Dolan of Spin gave the album a five-star rating and later included it in the magazines best reissues of 2006 list in 2007. Along with Kugelberg's collected records, a copy of the album is included in Cornell University's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. (Full article...)

  • The southern facade of the bank as seen from Amsterdam Avenue and 72nd Street

    The Apple Bank Building, also known as the Central Savings Bank Building and 2100 Broadway, is a bank and residential building at 2100–2114 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Constructed as a branch of the Central Savings Bank, now Apple Bank, from 1926 to 1928, it occupies a trapezoidal city block bounded by 73rd Street to the south, Amsterdam Avenue to the east, 74th Street to the north, and Broadway to the west. The Apple Bank Building was designed by York and Sawyer in the Renaissance Revival and palazzo styles, patterned after an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo.

    The base of the exterior is clad with rusticated stone blocks. Above the first floor, there are double-height arches on all four sides with ornamental ironwork by Samuel Yellin. The fifth and sixth stories are treated like a loggia, with windows separated by pilasters, while the roof is made of Spanish tile. Inside, entrances on 73rd Street, Broadway, and 74th Street lead to ornamental vestibules. The rectangular banking room next to Amsterdam Avenue has sandstone walls, a marble floor, large niches, and a coffered, barrel-vaulted ceiling. A mezzanine overlooks the banking room to the west. The building's basement, formerly a bank vault, serves as a gym. The upper stories contain 29 condominium apartments.

    The Central Savings Bank Building opened on December 8, 1928, as an uptown branch of the bank, which at the time was headquartered in Union Square, Manhattan. The upper floors were originally rented out as offices, while the bank occupied the ground floor. The building's facade was made a New York City designated landmark in 1975, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Central Savings Bank merged with the Harlem Savings Bank (later the Apple Bank for Savings) in 1981, and the building continued to operate as a neighborhood bank branch. The banking room was designated as a New York City landmark in 1993. The upper-story offices were converted into condo apartments from 2004 to 2007. Contrary to other large bank buildings in New York City, the Apple Bank Building still contains a bank branch. (Full article...)

  • New York Savings Bank in 2019

    The New York Savings Bank Building is a former bank building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Constructed for the defunct New York Savings Bank from 1896 to 1898, it occupies an L-shaped site on 81 Eighth Avenue, at the northwestern corner with 14th Street. The New York Savings Bank Building was designed by Robert Henderson Robertson, with later additions by George H. Provot and Halsey, McCormack & Helmer. The building's facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    The building's basement contains a granite water table, while the rest of the facade is clad with Vermont marble. The main entrance is through a portico on Eighth Avenue with Corinthian columns and a triangular pediment. The 14th Street facade is wider than the Eighth Avenue facade and is divided asymmetrically into three sections; the center section is topped by a pediment. Most of the building is topped by a gable roof with copper cladding, although the building also contains a dome with clerestory windows. The main feature of the interior is a triple-height banking room with a vaulted, coffered ceiling; the dome is recessed within the center of the ceiling.

    The New York Savings Bank was founded in 1854 and relocated to Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in 1857. The current building was constructed in two stages, allowing the bank to continue doing business without interruption; the building was finished by 1898. As the New York Savings Bank continued to expand, Provot redesigned the main facade on Eighth Avenue in 1930. Halsey, McCormack & Helmer designed a northward annex that opened in 1942 and was demolished in 1972. Following mergers in the late 20th century, the building became a branch of the New York Bank for Savings, then the Buffalo Savings Bank, which moved out of the building in 1987. After standing vacant for several years, the building reopened in 1994 as a branch of Central Carpet. The building was a Balducci's food market from 2005 to 2009 and had become a CVS Pharmacy by the 2010s. (Full article...)

  • The Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State is a courthouse in the Flatiron District of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The courthouse is used by the First Department of the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division. The original three-story building, at the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 25th Street, was designed by James Brown Lord in the Renaissance Revival style and was finished in 1899. A six-story annex to the north, on Madison Avenue, was designed by Rogers & Butler and completed in 1955.

    The facade of both the original building and its annex is made almost entirely out of marble. The courthouse's exterior was originally decorated with 21 sculptures from 16 separate artists; one of the sculptures was removed in 1955. The main entrance is through a double-height colonnade on 25th Street with a decorative pediment; there is also a smaller colonnade on Madison Avenue. The far northern end of the annex's facade contains a Holocaust Memorial by Harriet Feigenbaum, and the sculpture NOW by Shahzia Sikander is mounted atop the building. Inside the courthouse, ten artists created murals for the main hall and the courtroom. The interiors are decorated with elements such as marble walls, woodwork, and paneled and coffered ceilings; the courtroom also has stained-glass windows and a stained-glass ceiling dome. The remainder of the building contains various offices, judges' chambers, and other rooms.

    The Appellate Division Courthouse was proposed in the late 1890s to accommodate the Appellate Division's First Department, which had been housed in rented quarters since its founding. Construction took place between 1896 and 1899, with a formal opening on January 2, 1900. Following unsuccessful attempts to relocate the court in the 1930s and 1940s, the northern annex was built between 1952 and 1955, and the original courthouse was also renovated. The structure was again renovated in the 1980s and in the 2000s. Throughout the courthouse's existence, its architecture has received largely positive commentary. The Appellate Division Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its facade and interior are both New York City designated landmarks. (Full article...)

  • The Andrew Carnegie Mansion is a historic house and a museum building at 2 East 91st Street, along the east side of Fifth Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The three-and-a-half story, brick and stone mansion was designed by Babb, Cook & Willard in the Georgian Revival style. Completed in 1902 for the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, his wife Louise, and their only child Margaret, it served as the family's residence until 1946. Since 1976, the house has been occupied by the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution. The mansion is internally connected to two townhouses at 9 East 90th Street (which became part of the building in the 1920s) and 11 East 90th Street, both of which are part of the Cooper-Hewitt.

    The mansion occupies the northern portion of a 1.2-acre (0.49 ha) site, providing space for a garden to the south and west. Although the mansion has a mostly symmetrical design, there is a service wing and a metal-and-glass conservatory protruding off the eastern facade. The mansion was built with numerous mechanical features, including dedicated heating and cooling systems, a steel superstructure, and elevators. It contains at least 64 rooms across three basements and four above-ground stories, including the attic. The first-floor rooms include a stair hall, the conservatory, a picture gallery, a library, and various other family rooms. On the upper floors were the Carnegies' bedrooms, guest bedrooms, and staff quarters. These rooms have been modified over the years; since 1976, the interiors have hosted the museum's exhibition spaces and research facilities.

    Carnegie purchased land on the Upper East Side in 1898 and hired Babb, Cook & Willard following an architectural design competition, The Carnegies moved into the mansion on December 12, 1902, spending their time between there and Skibo Castle in Scotland. Carnegie lived in his New York City mansion until his death in 1919, and Louise continued to live there until her own death in 1946. In the early 1920s, the mansion was connected with 9 East 90th Street, where Margaret lived from 1920 to 1948. Following a renovation, the Columbia University School of Social Work occupied the house from 1949 to 1971. The Carnegie Corporation gave the house and property to the Smithsonian in 1972, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum opened there in 1976 following renovations by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. The house underwent further renovations in the late 1990s and the early 2010s. (Full article...)

  • Daguerreotype of Washington Irving
    (modern copy by Mathew Brady,
    original by John Plumbe)

    Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors. Irving served as the American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s.

    Irving was born and raised in Manhattan to a merchant family. He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. He temporarily moved to England for the family business in 1815, where he achieved fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. which was serialized from 1819 to 1820. He continued to publish regularly throughout his life, and he completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death at age 76 in Tarrytown, New York.

    Irving was one of the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and he encouraged other American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. He was also admired by some British writers, including Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, Francis Jeffrey, and Walter Scott. He advocated for writing as a legitimate profession and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement. (Full article...)

  • Seen in April 2021

    3 East 57th Street, originally the L. P. Hollander Company Building, is a nine-story commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. It is along the northern side of 57th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue. 3 East 57th Street, constructed from 1929 to 1930, was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in an early Art Deco style.

    3 East 57th Street's facade was originally divided vertically into three sections: a two-story base, a six-story shaft, and an attic. While the base has been heavily modified, the remainder of the facade retains its original design, with silver metal spandrels, gray limestone mullions, and a black granite frame. The interior of the building was designed by Jock D. Peters and Elaine Lemaire as a store for the L. P. Hollander Company, a clothing retailer. When completed, the building received an award of architectural merit from the Fifth Avenue Association.

    In late 1929, the L. P. Hollander Company decided to build a store on the site, which then was owned by the Stuyvesant family. The store opened in September 1930 but was occupied by the Hollander Company for less than two years. Afterward, the store was occupied by a succession of other tenants, including a Stouffer's restaurant in the 1940s and 1950s, while the upper stories were used as offices. The interior has been remodeled several times over the years by its subsequent tenants. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 3 East 57th Street as an official landmark in 2003, the same year a Yves Saint Laurent store started operating in the building. (Full article...)
  • "Can't Hold Us Down" is a song recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera and rapper Lil' Kim for the former's fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). It was released by RCA Records on July 8, 2003, as the fourth single from the album. The track was written and produced by Scott Storch, with additional songwriting by Aguilera and Matt Morris. An R&B and hip hop song with a dancehall outro, "Can't Hold Us Down" criticizes gender-related double standards.

    "Can't Hold Us Down" received mixed reviews from music critics upon its release, although it was widely praised in retrospective commentary. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 2004 ceremony, but lost to "Whenever I Say Your Name" by Sting and Mary J. Blige. The single peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and charted within the top ten of record charts of several countries including Australia, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The song was included on the setlists of Aguilera's four major concert tours: Justified & Stripped Tour (2003), the Stripped Tour (2003), Back to Basics Tour (2006–08) and the Liberation Tour (2018).

    A music video for "Can't Hold Us Down" was directed by David LaChapelle, inspired by the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1980s. The single has been widely recognized as a feminist anthem. (Full article...)

  • The bar's exterior in 2024

    Rise Bar, or simply Rise, is a gay bar in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 2015, it is a small establishment surrounded by a number of larger LGBTQ nightlife venues. The bar is most popular among gay men and some women. It features pop music and hosts weekly entertainment including drag shows, open-mic nights and karaoke. Though Rise's owners invested in soundproofing before it opened, noise concerns from nearby residents initially led the local community board and state liquor authority to require the venue to close at an earlier hour than its competitors. Following a contentious series of applications to modify Rise's operating schedule and liquor license, this requirement was overturned for weekend nights. The establishment has received praise for its welcoming, diverse atmosphere. (Full article...)

  • 1540 Broadway, formerly the Bertelsmann Building, is a 44-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the building was developed by Broadway State Partners, a joint venture between Bruce Eichner and VMS Development. 1540 Broadway occupies a site bounded by Broadway to the west, 45th Street to the south, and 46th Street to the north. It was originally named for its anchor tenant, German media company Bertelsmann. The building is divided into two ownership units: HSBC and Edge Funds Advisors own the office stories, while Vornado Realty Trust owns retail space at the base.

    1540 Broadway consists of a low base, as well as a tower section measuring 733 ft (223 m) to its spire. An outwardly projecting "prow" extends from the western side of the building. The facade is designed with large signs at the base, with a main office entrance on 45th Street. The upper stories contain a facade of blue and green glass with vertical aluminum mullions. There is a public passageway and about 150,000 ft2 (14,000 m2) of retail space at the base; the retail space was originally supposed to be part of a five-story shopping mall that was never opened. The basement formerly contained a four-screen movie theater, while the upper stories contain 860,000 ft2 (80,000 m2) of offices.

    Broadway State Partners had developed 1540 Broadway on the site of Loew's State Theatre and several other buildings. Helmut Jahn initially proposed a mixed-use office, hotel, and commercial building on the site, though Childs subsequently drew up plans for an office building with retail at its base. Work started in 1988 and the building was completed in 1990, but it was completely empty for the next three years. Bertelsmann bought the building out of bankruptcy in 1992 and moved its headquarters there, opening several retail stores in the late 1990s. The Paramount Group bought the building in 2004, reselling the offices two years later to Equity Office Properties and the stores to Vornado. The offices were subsequently resold to Harry B. Macklowe in 2007, Deutsche Bank in 2008, and CBRE Group in 2009; HSBC and Edge acquired the offices in a two-part sale in 2010 and 2011. (Full article...)

  • Former entrance to the Liberty Theatre in 2021

    The Liberty Theatre is a former Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1904, the theater was designed by Herts & Tallant and built for Klaw and Erlanger, the partnership of theatrical producers Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger. The theater has been used as an event venue since 2011 and is part of an entertainment and retail complex developed by Forest City Ratner. The theater is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street. Brookfield Asset Management, which acquired Forest City in 2018, subleases the venue from New 42nd Street.

    The Liberty Theatre consists of an auditorium facing 41st Street and a lobby facing 42nd Street. The facade on 42nd Street is largely hidden but was designed in the neoclassical style, similar to the neighboring New Amsterdam Theatre, designed by the same architects. The lobby from 42nd Street led to the auditorium in the rear, as well as men's and women's lounges in the basement. The auditorium, designed in the Art Nouveau style, contains two balconies cantilevered above ground-level orchestra seating. The theater has a steel frame and was designed with advanced mechanical systems for its time. The original design included depictions of the Liberty Bell and bald eagles, which have since been removed.

    The Liberty opened on October 10, 1904, and in its early years hosted several hit productions, which largely consisted of comedies, dramas, or musicals. D. W. Griffith briefly screened movies at the theater in the 1910s. After Klaw and Erlanger ended their partnership in 1919, Erlanger continued to operate the theater until 1931; the Liberty was leased the next year to Max Rudnick, who presented movies and vaudeville. The Liberty hosted its last legitimate show in 1933, and the Brandt family took over the venue, operating it as a movie theater until the 1980s. The city and state governments of New York acquired the theater as part of the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project in 1990. Forest City Ratner developed an entertainment and retail complex on the site in the 1990s, but the Liberty Theatre remained largely abandoned until the early 21st century, when it became a restaurant space and event venue. (Full article...)

  • An R68 D train arriving at the station

    The Norwood–205th Street station (signed as 205th Street station) is the northern terminal station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. Located in Norwood, Bronx, it is served by the D train at all times. Due to changes in the street grid of the neighborhood, the station has exits to East 205th Street and Perry Avenue, as well as to East 206th Street and Bainbridge Avenue.

    This station was constructed as part of the Independent Subway System, and opened in 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse Line. This station was not intended to be the terminus of the Concourse Line or the D train; the tracks were supposed to have been extended east past Bronx Park and the IRT White Plains Road Line along Burke Avenue to serve the northeast section of the Bronx. But, with the city's acquisition of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway and subsequent conversion into the IRT Dyre Avenue Line, such an extension was deemed unnecessary. In the early 1950s, vacant land above the east end of the station was given to the New York Public Library and to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. (Full article...)

  • De Niro at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival

    Robert Anthony De Niro (/də ˈnɪəroʊ/ də NEER-roh, Italian: [de ˈniːro]; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for eight BAFTA Awards and four Emmy Awards. He was honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2025.

    De Niro studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in the crime drama The Godfather Part II (1974), becoming the first male to win for an Italian-language performance. Six years later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the biopic drama Raging Bull (1980). He was further Oscar-nominated for his performances in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Awakenings (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), while also earning a nomination for Best Picture for producing The Irishman (2019).

    De Niro is known for his dramatic roles in Mean Streets (1973), 1900 (1976), The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Brazil (1985), The Mission (1986), Angel Heart (1987), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), This Boy's Life (1993), Heat (1995), Casino (1995), Jackie Brown (1997), Ronin (1998), and Joker (2019), as well as his comedic roles in Midnight Run (1988), Wag the Dog (1997), Analyze This (1999), the Meet the Parents films (2000–present), and The Intern (2015). He directed and acted in both the crime drama A Bronx Tale (1993) and the spy film The Good Shepherd (2006). On television, he portrayed Bernie Madoff in the HBO film The Wizard of Lies (2017). (Full article...)

  • The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and operated by the New York City Transit Authority Department of Subways. SIR's only line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing local service between St. George and Tottenville, along the east side of Staten Island. There is no direct rail link between the SIR and the New York City Subway system, but SIR riders do receive a free transfer to New York City Transit bus and subway lines and the line is included on official New York City Subway maps. Commuters on the railway typically use the Staten Island Ferry to reach Manhattan. The line is accessible from within the Ferry Terminal, and most of its trains are timed to connect with the ferry. In 2024, the system had a ridership of 4,743,000, or about 18,100 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2025.

    The railroad was incorporated in 1851 and was completed to Tottenville on June 2, 1860, as the Staten Island Rail Road. It was reorganized into the Staten Island Railway Company in 1873. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was operated successively by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and then the Pennsylvania Railroad. Under these companies' control, the SIR formerly operated two other branches for passenger trains: the North Shore Branch from 1886 to 1953 and the South Beach Branch from 1888 to 1953. Operation of the Tottenville line was turned over to SIRTOA in 1971, and the line was purchased by the city of New York. The MTA rebranded the Staten Island Rapid Transit as the MTA Staten Island Railway in 1994.

    The line has a route bullet similar to subway routes: the letters SIR in a blue circle. The line is one of the few 24/7 mass-transit rail systems in the United States. Although the railway was originally considered a standard rail line, the existing line is severed from the national rail system, and only a small portion of the former North Shore Branch still sees freight use. The passenger operations are regulated as a rapid transit system and exempt from some regulations. The line uses R211S subway cars. (Full article...)

  • The northern (left) and western (right) facades of the Custom House in 2021

    The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style, it was erected from 1902 to 1907 by the government of the United States as a headquarters for the Port of New York's duty collection operations. The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center museum, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and the New York regional offices of the National Archives. The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is listed on both the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a National Historic Landmark. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, listed on the NRHP.

    The Custom House is a seven-story steel-framed structure with a stone facade and elaborate interiors. The exterior is decorated with nautical motifs and sculptures by twelve artists. The second through fourth stories contain colonnades with Corinthian columns. The main entrance consists of a grand staircase flanked by Four Continents, a set of four statues by Daniel Chester French. The second-story entrance vestibule leads to a transverse lobby, a rotunda, and offices. The rotunda includes a skylight and ceiling murals by Reginald Marsh. The George Gustav Heye Center, a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian, operates on the ground and second stories, while the upper stories contain U.S. government offices.

    The building was proposed in 1889 as a replacement for the previous New York Custom House at 55 Wall Street. Because of various disagreements, the Bowling Green Custom House was not approved until 1899; Gilbert was selected as architect following a competition. The building opened in 1907, and the murals in the rotunda were added in 1938 during a Works Progress Administration project. The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974, and it remained vacant for over a decade until renovations in the late 1980s. The Custom House was renamed in 1990 to commemorate Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury. The Heye Center opened in 1994. (Full article...)
  • Aileen Hernandez (née Clarke; May 23, 1926 – February 13, 2017) was an African-American union organizer, civil rights activist, and women's rights activist. She served as the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) between 1970 and 1971, and was the first woman to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

    Hernandez attended Howard University, where her interest in civil rights was cemented in an incident where she was told that she had to hail a "black" taxi. After graduating with honors, she became a labor union organizer before helping found NOW. As its second president, she helped organize the Women's Strike for Equality and testified in front of a congressional subcommittee on the Equal Rights Amendment, but she left the organization out of frustration with what she saw as its racial inequities. Hernandez would go on to co-found several organizations that focused on African-American women, along with teaching at several universities in California. She died in 2017 at the age of 90. (Full article...)

  • Seen from Broadway and 42nd Street

    1501 Broadway, also known as the Paramount Building, is a 33-story office building on Times Square between West 43rd and 44th Streets in the Theater District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Rapp and Rapp, it was erected from 1925 to 1927 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures. The building is designed in the Art Deco and Beaux-Arts styles. The office wing on Times Square contains numerous setbacks as mandated by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, while the rear wing housed the Paramount Theatre from 1926 to 1967.

    The facade is mostly designed with brick walls, though the first five stories are ornamented with limestone piers. The main entrance is on 43rd Street. There is also a five-story arch on Broadway, facing Times Square, which leads to a Hard Rock Cafe; it is an imitation of the former Paramount Theatre entrance. Atop the building is a four-faced clock, with two large faces and two small faces, as well as an illuminated globe that could display the time. The ground floor historically had an ornate lobby leading to the theater, which had 3,664 seats over four levels. The modern building contains office space in both the original office wing and the theater wing.

    Paramount predecessor Famous Players–Lasky proposed the theater in 1922, but Rapp and Rapp had revised the plans to include an office tower by 1924. The theater opened on November 19, 1926, though the offices did not open until the following year. The clock and globe on the roof were blacked out during World War II. A group led by David Rosenthal converted the theater to offices in 1967 and removed the grand arch on the facade, which was part of the theater's original entrance. The Paramount Building's facade became a New York City designated landmark in 1988. The arch, clock, and globe were restored starting in the late 1990s, and the main entrance was relocated in another renovation in the 2010s. (Full article...)

  • Downtown platform

    The 145th Street station is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 145th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, it is served by the 3 train at all times. Built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the 145th Street station contains two side platforms that can only fit six and a half train cars, unlike almost all other IRT stations, which are able to fit full-length ten-car trains.

    The station opened in 1904 as one of the northern termini of the original subway line operated by the IRT. With the construction of the Harlem–148th Street station to the north in the 1960s, the 145th Street station was planned to be closed, but due to community opposition and passengers' protests, the station remained open. Since the 145th Street station is the second-to-last stop on the line, entry is provided only to the southbound platform, although northbound customers are allowed to exit from this station. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and was closed from July to November 2018 for extensive renovations.

    The 145th Street station contains two side platforms and two tracks. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Lenox Avenue's intersection with 145th Street and are not connected to each other within fare control. (Full article...)

  • Agron in 2017

    Dianna Elise Agron (/ˈeɪ.ɡrɒn/ AY-gron; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Her work spans screen and stage, and her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and nomination for a Brit Award. Agron began acting in small theater productions in her youth, before making her screen debut in 2006. After early attention with recurring television roles, she had her breakthrough with her starring role as Quinn Fabray in the Fox musical comedy drama series Glee (2009–2015).

    After her breakthrough success in Glee, Agron began working more in film, first starring in the popular young adult adaptation I Am Number Four (2011) as Sarah Hart before taking on films aimed at more diverse audiences, including the 2013 mob-comedy The Family and 2015's Bare. She has also directed several short films and music videos and, in 2017, began performing as a singer at the Café Carlyle in New York City, while continuing to star in films including Novitiate and Hollow in the Land in 2017, Shiva Baby in 2020, and As They Made Us in 2022. She acted in and directed part of the 2019 anthology feature film Berlin, I Love You, and returned to television as the lead in the Netflix fantasy drama series The Chosen One (2023).

    Agron is Jewish and has spoken of how her religion relates to her career. She has also been involved with significant charity work, particularly in support of LGBTQ+ rights and human rights. Labeled a fashion icon, Agron's old Hollywood fashion style and appearance has garnered media attention. (Full article...)

Selected biography -

Daguerreotype of Washington Irving
(modern copy by Mathew Brady,
original by John Plumbe)

Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors. Irving served as the American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s.

Irving was born and raised in Manhattan to a merchant family. He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. He temporarily moved to England for the family business in 1815, where he achieved fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. which was serialized from 1819 to 1820. He continued to publish regularly throughout his life, and he completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death at age 76 in Tarrytown, New York. (Full article...)

The five boroughs

In the news

2 December 2025 –
Colombian authorities detain 17 children and nine adults belonging to the fundamentalist Jewish cult Lev Tahor, citing concerns about the safety of the children in the group. Five of the children had American and Guatemalan passports, and all 26 members were flown to New York to await investigations into their welfare. (AP)

Updated: 0:05, 22 December 2025

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Updated: 1:05, 22 December 2025

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