TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARGUMENT............................................................................................................................................. 2

SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................... 2

THE STORY UNDER THE ‘BIG APPLE’ SKYLINE...........................................................................3

History of New York City................................................................................................................................. 3

Portrait............................................................................................................................................................... 9Description of The Big Apple....................................................................................................................................9Social Life...............................................................................................................................................................11

A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND........................................................................................................ 13

Cultural Life...................................................................................................................................................... 13Entertainment and performing arts.......................................................................................................................14Tourism..................................................................................................................................................................15Media.................................................................................................................................................................... 15Cuisine...................................................................................................................................................................16Accent....................................................................................................................................................................16Sports.................................................................................................................................................................... 17City Sights..............................................................................................................................................................18

Entertainment.................................................................................................................................................. 23Music and Film.......................................................................................................................................................23NYC Nightlife..........................................................................................................................................................24

GLORIOUS HORIZONS....................................................................................................................... 25

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................ 26

Bibliography & Resources...................................................................................................................................27

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Argument

A city of superlatives and mind-blowing contrasts, the ‘City That Never Sleeps’, NYC or the ‘Big Apple’ are just some of the numerous ways New York can be called. The most exciting city in the whole territory of the United States, its unofficial capital of culture and business and the nation’s trendsetter, will represent the subject of my certification paper.

One of the main reasons I chose this topic is the fact that I find New York City the most amazing place I have ever visited. It enchanted me from the moment I landed on JFK airport. The fresh faces of the people, the extravagant culture and also the language instantly grew on me and made me think that this American city represents a whole new world of dreams and opportunities.

I instantly bound to this colorful and vivid city, being stunned not only by the open-mindedness of the people, but also the refreshing air of rebelliousness and freedom. It struck me as a city of choice and luxury, but extremely permissive at the same time, since all you need is a sparkle of courage and sharpness in order to build a brilliant future.

Summary

The first chapter, ‘The Story Under the Big Apple Skyline’ consists of detalied facts regarding the history of the city of New York, followed by a geographical and social description.

The second part tackles different aspects from today’s New York, regarding not only entertainment, but also culture. Apart from the most important city sights and places to visit, it also includes short descriptions of main events and places where you can sit back , relax and enjoy the night.

The last chapter, ‘Glorious Horizons’ presents expectations in New York City’s future, based on its economic and social state in the present.

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The Story Under the ‘Big Apple’ Skyline

History of New York City

The history of New York City begins with the Wappinger, a Lenape people, who were Algonquian speaking Native Americans that inhabited Manhattan prior to the arrival of explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. The founding as "New Amsterdam" by the Dutch in 1624 and the period of English rule and its renaming as "New York City" in 1664 followed. The city was the location for multiple battles of the American Revolutionary War, and served as the capital of the United States until 1790. Modern New York city traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II. Throughout its history, New York City has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influences have made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States, and the world.

Lenape and New Netherland: prehistory – 1663

Prehistory in the area began with the geological formation of the peculiar territory of what is today New York City. Manhattan island may have been inhabited by the Wappinger band of Lenape, the primarily sedentary indigenous Native American people of the area; they ranged the surrounding river valley and assembled seasonal settlements on Manhattan, where they grew maize on communal land and fished the abundant waters. They also maintained their ancestral burial grounds there. They developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, the Lenape were cultivating

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fields of vegetation through the slash and burn technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay. It has been estimated that at the time of European settlement there were approximately 15,000 Lenape total in approximately 80 settlement sites around the region. Lenape in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor, in 1524. He is not thought to have traveled further than the present site of the bridge that bears his name. Henry Hudson later more thoroughly explored and mapped the area.

European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement in Lower Manhattan in 1613 later called New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) in the southern tip of Manhattan in 1625. Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began.

Willem Kieft became director general in 1638, but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present day Jersey City resulted in the death of eighty natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, eleven Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. Holland sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans, and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.

On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival, and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. The colony was granted self-government in 1652 and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city February 2, 1653.

British and revolution: 1664–1783

In 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it "New York" after the Duke of York and Albany. The Dutch briefly regained it in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to the British for what is now Suriname in November 1674. Some area names are still reminisant of the Dutch period, most notably Flushing (Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (Dutch town of Haarlem) and Brooklyn (Dutch town of Breukelen).

By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200.

The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland renamed the settlement New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689-1691, before

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being arrested and executed. The rebellion laid bare class differences and some see it as a sort of precursor of the American Revolution.

The 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press in North America.

After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked about an African-American plot to burn the city, conspiring with some whites. This was mostly a fabrication. Nevertheless, 101 blacks and 4 whites were convicted of arson; 13 blacks were burned alive, 4 whites and 18 blacks were hanged.

In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan.

The Stamp Act and other British measures fermented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin during British military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war, and a haven for Loyalist refugees. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans lost their lives from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.

Federal and early America: 1784–1854

In 1785 the Congress met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation, making it the first national capital of the United States, and the United States Constitution created the current Congress of the United States, first sitting at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat, the United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified, and with the Northwest Ordinance the first steps to expanding the United States took place there.

New York City became the first capital of the newly formed United States on September 13, 1788 under the U.S. Constitutional Convention. On April 30, 1789 the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the honor was transferred to Philadelphia.

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New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior. Immigration resumed after being slowed by wars in Europe, and a new street grid system expanded to encompass all of Manhattan.

The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, and by 1850, the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population. Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department and the public schools, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents.

Tammany and consolidation: 1855–1897

This period started with the 1855 inauguration of Fernando Wood as the first mayor from Tammany Hall, an Irish immigrant-supported Democratic Party political machine that would dominate local politics throughout this period. During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan,and the opening of the Erie Canal, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada in 1825. By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy pressed for a Central Park, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it would become the first landscape park in an American city.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city's strong commercial ties to the South, its growing immigrant population, and anger about conscription led to divided sympathy for both the Union and Confederacy, culminating in the Draft Riots of 1863.] After the Civil War, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.

In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx, though still one county, were established as two separate boroughs and joined together with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge, and several municipalities in eastern Kings County, New York; the Borough of Queens was created from

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western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County in 1899); and The Borough of Staten Island contained all of Richmond County. All municipal (county, town and city) governments contained within the boroughs were abolished. In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx county, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.

Early 20th century: 1898–1945

In June 15, 1904 over 1,000 people, mostly German Immigrants, were killed when the steamship General Slocum caught fire and burned on North Brother Island, in the East River; and on March 25, 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers, which would eventually lead to great advancements in the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.

A series of new transportation links, most notably the New York City Subway, first opened in 1904, helped bind the new city together. The height of European immigration brought social upheaval. Later, in the 1920s, the city saw the influx of African Americans as part of the Great Migration from the American South, and the Harlem Renaissance, part of a larger boom time in the Prohibition era that saw dueling skyscrapers in the skyline.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first New York subway company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station thrived.

New York City's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates ended when World War I disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression ended the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Guilded Age barons. As the city's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls.

In the 1920s, New York City was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the era of Prohibition, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscrapers. For a while, New York City became the

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most populous city in the world, starting in 1925 and overtaking London, which had reigned for a century. The difficult years of the Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.

Despite the effects of the Great Depression, the 1930s saw the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including numerous Art-Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. Both before and after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the rise of the bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.

In 1938 the political designation "ward" was abolished.

Post-World War II: 1946–1977

Returning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom and led to the development of huge housing tracts in eastern Queens.

New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's ascendancy and, in 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan.[24] During the 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses began to fall out of favor as the anti-Urban Renewal views of Jane Jacobs gained popularity. Citizen rebellion killed a plan to construct an expressway through lower Manhattan.

Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and population and industrial decline in the 1960s. Street activists and minority groups like the Black Panthers and Young Lords took matters into their own hands and organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had also gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the twin catastrophes of the New York City blackout of 1977 and the Son of Sam serial murderer's continued slayings. These events were perhaps the impetus to the election of Mayor Ed Koch, who promised to revive the city.

Modern period: 1978–present

The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. The

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city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crimefighting techniques on the part of the NYPD. In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the success of the financial sectors, such as Silicon Alley, during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was also a site of the September 11, 2001 attacks; over 2,000 people were killed by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth.

Portrait

Description of The Big Apple

New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the United Nations Headquarters, it is also an important center for international affairs. The city is often referred to as New York City or the City of New York to distinguish it from the state of New York, of which it is a part.

Located on a large natural harbor on the Atlantic coast of the Northeastern United States, the city consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. The city's 2008 estimated population exceeds 8.3 million, and with a land area of 305 square miles (790 km2), New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States. The New York metropolitan area's population is also the nation's largest, estimated at 19.1 million people over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km2). Furthermore, the Combined Statistical Area containing the greater New York metropolitan area contained 22.2 million people as of 2009 Census estimates, also the largest in the United States.

Many districts and landmarks in the city have become well known to outsiders. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Times Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a premier global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies.

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The original Manhattan Chinatown attracts throngs of tourists to its bustling sidewalks and retail establishments. World-class research universities such as Columbia University and New York University also reside in New York City.

New York City consists of five boroughs (each one is, in fact, a ‘big city’ in itself) with their own unique culture and traditions.

Manhattan - It is located between the Hudson and East Rivers. It is the most famous island, with maximum interest for the tourists and unique neighborhoods.

Brooklyn - It is located across the East River at south east of Manhattan.

Queens - It is a U-shaped county located to east of Manhattan, across the East River and north, east and south of Brooklyn. It consists of two international airports, the New York Mets professional baseball team, the United States Open Tennis Center, the famous Flushing Meadows – Corona Park, site of two World’s Fairs, the country’s second largest Chinatown and much more.

The Bronx - It is located to the North of Manhattan Island. This part of NY is well connected to the U.S. continent.

Staten Island - It is located within New York harbor, across the narrow Kill Van Kull from New Jersey. It is situated at the south of Manhattan.

Climate in New York is of humid subtropical type that varies from season to season. Spring and autumn seasons vary from snowy to hot and humid and can also be cold, cool or rainy. Summer season in New York is warm and humid. Hurricanes and tropical storms are pretty rare, but there is a slight possibility for them to strike.

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Social Life

New York City takes pride in its population of no less than 8,3 million inhabitants. Consequently, it is officially the most populous city in the United States. The city’s ethnic flavor has been nuanced by decades of immigrations. As a result, nowadays, only 60% of the citizens are native Americans. The rest belong to a wide list of nations from all over the world: Hispanics, Asians, Italians, Irish, German, Russian, Polish etc.

The following list contains some famous people born in New York City:

NAME DOMAIN

HUMPHREY BOGART Actor

MICHAEL JORDAN Former basketball player

MILLARD FILMORE Former US president

ROSIE O’DONNEL Comedian

MARIAH CAREY Singer

VINCE LOMBARDI American football coach

TUPAC SHAKUR Former rapper

HERMAN MELVILLE Author

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Former US president

AALIYAH Singer, actress, model

TOM CRUISE Actor

MEL GIBSON Actor, director

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FUN FACTS ABOUT NEW YORK

New York became the 11th state on July 26th, 1788 and was originally called New Amsterdam. Before the final name change, it was variously known as Not New Jersey, Whaddyalookinat, and Hookerland.

New York City's most famous landmark, the Statue of Liberty, is constructed out of copper and eventually turned green due to pollution from coal burning factories. If you scraped off the corrosion, you'd find that the statue was actually pink.

Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York, was orginally founded as a women's college in 1861. Its motto is "Where women go to feel smart between evenings of drunken table dancing".

Dairy farming is New York's #1 agricultural activity. The state's 18,000 dairy farms have a milk-producing capacity nearly that of Dolly Parton.

In 1807, the world's first steamboat, the Clermont, made its maiden voyage between New York City and Albany. It was during this trip that the phrase "are we there, yet?" was first coined.

The state tree of New York is the billboard

New York City has 722 miles of subway track. Most of it heavily stained with wino vomit.

"Wizard of Oz" author L. Frank Baum was born in Chittenago, New York. His famous tale was loosely based on the lives of Al and Tipper Gore, as most great American stories are.

The New York Post - founded in 1803 by Alexander Hamilton - is America's oldest continually-published newspaper. Its first headline was "Jefferson Has No Exit Strategy For Barbary Coast Pirate Quagmire".

John Babcock of New York City invented the stationary rowing machine in 1869.

The first railroad in America ran the 11 miles between Albany and Schenectady, NY. The slow, primitive train ride carried only a few passengers.

New York City was the first capital of the United States. George Washington took his oath of office there in 1789, beginning the city's long and cherished tradition of gullibly trusting lying politicians.

Every November, New York City's Empire State Building plays host to the Boy Scouts' annual Urban Camp-out, allowing scouts to earn the elusive Drunk Rolling and Crack Procurement merit badges.

During the war of 1812, meatpacker Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, stamped "U.S. Beef" on the products he sent to the troops. This was popularly interpreted as - and began the legend of - Uncle Sam.

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Actor Humphrey Bogart was born in New York City in 1899. Little known fact - in the movie "Casablanca", he never said "Play it again, Sam." What he actually said was "AOL sends spam", one of the most prescient lines in cinematic history.

Jell-O was invented in Rochester, New York in 1897.

Marshmallows were also invented in Rochester. They stopped being manufactured there in 1984 after the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man destroyed the city.

Gennaro Lombardi opened America's first pizzeria in New York City in 1895. Slices of the original pie are still being sold there today, or at least that's what it tastes like.

Locals don't complain about it, though, since New Yorkers wouldn't know good pizza if it jumped up and stuffed their noses full of pepperoni.

On July 28th, 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building

Camera inventor George Eastman was born in Waterville, NY in 1854. His device was second only to the creation of the internet in revolutionizing the pornography industry.

New York was the first state to require license plates on automobiles, which featured the motto, "Get out of my way, jackass!"

New York City is world-famous for its cultural diversity. While walking even a single block, a tourist can expect to be cursed at in over 40 different languages.

A New York State of Mind

Cultural Life

"Culture just seems to be in the air, like part of the weather", the writer Tom Wolfe has said of New York City.

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Numerous major American cultural movements began in the city, such as the Harlem Renaissance, which established the African-American literary canon in the United States.

The city was a center of jazz in the 1940s, abstract expressionism in the 1950s and the birthplace of hip hop in the 1970s. The city's punk and hardcore scenes were influential in the 1970s and 1980s, and the city has long had a flourishing scene for Jewish American literature.

Prominent indie rock bands coming out of New York in recent years include The Strokes, Interpol, The Bravery, Scissor Sisters, and They Might Be Giants.

The city prominently excels in its spheres of art, cuisine, dance, music, opera, theater, independent film, fashion, museums, and literature. The city is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art; abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting; and hip hop, punk, salsa, disco, freestyle, and Tin Pan Alley in music. New York City is also widely celebrated in popular lore, featured frequently as the setting for books, movies, and television programs.

Entertainment and performing arts

The city is also prominent in the American film industry. Manhatta (1920), an early avant-garde film, was filmed in the city.

Today, New York City is the second largest center for the film industry in the United States. The city has more than 2,000 arts and cultural organizations and more than 500 art galleries of all sizes.

he city government funds the arts with a larger annual budget than the National Endowment for the Arts. Wealthy industrialists in the 19th century built a network of major cultural institutions, such as the famed Carnegie Hall and Metropolitan Museum of Art, that would become internationally established. The advent of electric lighting led to elaborate theater productions, and in the 1880s New York City theaters on Broadway and along 42nd Street began featuring a new stage form that became known as the Broadway musical.

Strongly influenced by the city's immigrants, productions such as those of Harrigan and Hart, George M. Cohan and others used song in narratives that often reflected themes of hope and ambition. Today these productions are a staple of the New York theater scene.

The city's 39 largest theaters (with more than 500 seats) are collectively known as "Broadway," after the major thoroughfare

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that crosses the Times Square theater district.] This area is sometimes referred to as The Main Stem, The Great White Way or The Realto.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is home to 12 influential arts organizations, making it the largest performing arts complex in the United States.

Tourism

Tourism is vital to New York City, with about 47 million foreign and American tourists visiting each year. Major destinations include the Empire State Building; Ellis Island; Broadway theater productions; museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art; greenspaces such as Central Park and Washington Square Park; Rockefeller Center; Times Square; the Bronx Zoo; the New York Botanical Garden; luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues; and events such as the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the St. Patrick's Day parade, the Tribeca Film Festival, and free performances in Central Park at Summerstage. Additionally, the Statue of Liberty is a leading tourist attraction and one of the most recognizable icons of the United States.

Many of the city's ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are prime shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans up and down the East Coast.

Media

New York is a center for the television, advertising, music, newspaper and book publishing industries and is also the largest media market in North America (followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto).

Some of the city's media conglomerates include Time Warner, the Thomson Reuters Corporation, the News Corporation, the Hearst Corporation, and Viacom. Seven of the world's top eight global advertising agency networks have their headquarters in New York. The New York Times has won more Pulitzer Prizes for journalism than any other news publication.

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Four "major labels" dominate recorded music —

Sony Music Entertainment

Universal Music Group

Warner Music Group and EMI — each of which consists of many smaller companies and labels serving different regions and markets. Three of the "Big Four" record labels headquarters are in the New York City.

One-third of all American independent films are produced in New York.

More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city and the book-publishing industry employs about 25,000 people.

Two of the three national daily newspapers in the United States are New York papers:

The Wall Street Journal The New York Times

Cuisine

New York's food culture, influenced by the city's immigrants and large number of dining patrons, is diverse.

Eastern European and Italian immigrants have made the city famous for bagels, cheesecake, and New York-style pizza. Some 4,000 mobile food vendors licensed by the city, many immigrant-owned, have made Middle Eastern foods such as falafels and kebabs standbys of modern New York street food, although hot dogs and pretzels are still the main street fare.

The city is also home to many of the finest haute cuisine restaurants in the United States. New York City's variety of world cuisines is also varied.

Examples could include:

Italian French, Spanish

German, Russian, English

Greek, Moroccan,

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Chinese, Indian, Japanese cuisines, and the diverse indigenous sort.

Accent

The New York City area has a distinctive regional speech pattern called the New York dialect, alternatively known as Brooklynese or New Yorkese. It is generally considered one of the most recognizable accents within American English. The classic version of this dialect is centered on middle and working class people of European American descent, and the influx of non-European immigrants in recent decades has led to changes in this distinctive dialect. The traditional New York area accent is non-rhotic, so that the sound [ɹ] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant; hence the pronunciation of the city name as "New Yawk." There is no [ɹ] in words like park [pɔːk] (with vowel raised due to the low-back chain shift), butter [bʌɾə], or here [hiə]. In another feature called the low back chain shift, the [ɔ] vowel sound of words like talk, law, cross, and coffee and the often homophonous [ɔr] in core and more are tensed and usually raised more than in General American.

In the most old-fashioned and extreme versions of the New York dialect, the vowel sounds of words like "girl" and of words like "oil" become a diphthong [ɜɪ]. This is often misperceived by speakers of other accents as a reversal of the er and oy sounds, so that girl is pronounced "goil" and oil is pronounced "erl"; this leads to the caricature of New Yorkers saying things like "Joizey" (Jersey), "Toidy-Toid Street" (33rd St.) and "terlet" (toilet). The character Archie Bunker from the 1970s sitcom All in the Family was a good example of a speaker who had this feature. This speech pattern is no longer prevalent.

Sports

New York City has teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues.

There have been fourteen World Series championship series between New York City teams, in matchups called Subway Series. New York is one of only five metro areas (Chicago, Washington-Baltimore, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area being the others) to have two baseball teams. The city's two current Major League Baseball teams are the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, who

compete in six games every regular season. The Yankees have enjoyed 27 championships, while the Mets have won the World Series on two occasions. The city also was once home to the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers). Both

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teams moved to California in 1958. There are also two minor league baseball teams in the city, the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones.

City Sights

Tourism is vital to the city of New York, with about 47 million foreign and American tourists visiting each year this enchanting and interesting place. It comprises a multitude of attractions, ranging from art, music, dance, sightseeing to pubs, clubs and restaurants with exquisite food. It is famous for its world class concerts, theaters and works of art. The major attraction of the city is the Statue of Liberty, which has become its icon. Other major visiting points here in New York are Empire State Building and Ellis Island. The legend says that when British immigrants tried to escape from Europe and were headed to the United States, the first thing they saw from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean was the reassuring image of this statue.

TIMES SQUARE. Midtown West

Times Square has undoubtedly evolved into something much different than it used to be years ago. It stretches from the 42nd to 47th Street and it represents the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. This amazing neon spectacle is not only the major area of business and commerce, but also an

overcrowded place, making up the western part of the commercial site of Midtown Manhattan. It is often called ‘The Crossroads of the World’ or “The Great White Way” and due to its spectacular and animated digital advertisements it has become a major symbol of the city. Formerly named Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after the New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly built Times Building, which is now called One Times Square and is the site of the annual ball drop on New Years Eve.

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One of the most important attractions is the ‘Madame Tussaud’ Wax Museum of Times Square, which features some surprisingly realistic wax figures, from Shakira and Kate Winslet to Marilyn Monroe and Benjamin.

The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty (French: Statue de la Liberté), officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World (French: la Liberté éclairant le monde), dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution. It represents a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch in her raised right hand and a tabula ansata, where the date of the Declaration of Independence JULY IV MDCCLXXVI is inscribed, in her left arm. Standing on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans traveling by ship. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue and obtained a U.S. patent for its structure. Maurice Koechlin—chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower—engineered the internal structure. The pedestal was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction, and for the adoption of the repoussé technique, where a malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side.

The statue is made of a sheathing of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf (originally made of copper and later altered to hold glass panes). It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft (46 m) tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft (93 m) tall.

Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States. [11]

For many years it was one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants and visitors after ocean voyages from around the world.

The statue is the central part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, administered by the National Park Service. The National Monument also includes Ellis Island.

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Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York, The Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for more than forty years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972. Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City and New

York State.

The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.

The Empire State Building is the third tallest skyscraper in the Americas (after the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and Trump International Hotel and Tower both in Chicago), and the 15th tallest in the world. It is also the fourth tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. The Empire State building is currently undergoing a $120 million renovation in an effort to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure.

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States.

Brooklyn Bridge connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

At the time of its completion, Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world.

The construction work on Brooklyn Bridge started on January 3, 1870 and took as many as 13 years to complete.

Brooklyn Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883. On that day, 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed the bridge.

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At the time of its construction, Brooklyn Bridge was the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The cost of construction of Brooklyn Bridge came to somewhere around $15.5 million.

It is said that during the construction of Brooklyn Bridge, as many as 27 people died, including the one who designed it.

Since the 1980s, Brooklyn Bridge is being floodlit at night, mainly to emphasize its architectural features.

Presently, Brooklyn Bridge has six lanes for motor vehicles and a separate walkway, along the centerline, for pedestrians and bicycles.

Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA. The section of Fifth Avenue between 34th Street and 59th Street is one of the premier shopping streets in the world. Fifth Avenue serves as a symbol of wealthy New York and is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive streets in the world. The "most expensive street in the world" moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the mid-1990s, the shopping district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world.

Fifth Avenue originates at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and runs northwards through the heart of Midtown, along the eastern side of Central Park, where it forms the boundary of the Upper East Side and through Harlem, where it terminates at the Harlem River at 142nd Street. Traffic crosses the river on the Madison Avenue Bridge. Fifth Avenue serves as the dividing line for house numbering in Manhattan. It separates, for example, East Fifty-ninth Street from West Fifty-ninth Street. From this zero point for street addresses, numbers increase in both directions as one moves away from Fifth Avenue, with 1 West Fifty-ninth Street on the corner at Fifth Avenue, and 300 West Fifty-ninth Street located three blocks to the west of it.

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Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York (plus one theatre in Lincoln Center) in Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Broadway Theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $943.3 million worth of tickets in the 2008-2009 season, compared to $937 million in the 2007-2008 season.

Wall Street

Wall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonym) for the "influential financial interests" of the American financial industry, which is centered in the New York City area.

Several major U.S. stock and other exchanges remain headquartered on Wall Street and in the Financial District, including the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYMEX, and NYBOT.

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Entertainment

Music and Film

New York is the first American city to fill a central gap in music history, having a very important and diverse musical background. It has been a thriving home for jazz, rock and blues for a very long time. Moreover, it represents the place where hip hop and crunk were born.

People from all over the world come to experience jazz in New York at any of the city’s many celebrated clubs. From garage bands at holes-in-the-wall with no cover charge to the world’s greatest musicians in the glitzy stage of Jazz at Lincoln Center, you can find something for every taste every night of the week in New York.

Here are some significant singers from New York:

In the early days of American film industry, The Big Apple was the epicentre of filmmaking. Nowadays, even though it is not as well-developed as Hollywood from this point of view, its billions of dollars in revenue make filming an important part of the city’s economy, placing New York the second largest center of film industry in the United States. A series of blockbusters were filmed here, such as ‘The Godfather’ 1 & 2, ‘Scarface’, ‘When Harry Met Sally’, ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ and ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’.

New York also prides with its famous New York Film Academy (NYFA), which is honoured to have prepared and guided the steps of celebrities such as: Steven Spielberg, Al Pacino, Jodie

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Foster, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Downie Jr., Jamie Foxx, Roger Donaldson and others. It is considered the most interactive film school in the world by many of today’s top filmmakers.

NYC Nightlife

As the song says, New York is the ‘city that never sleeps’. Even though it mainly has expensive bars and clubs, it still remains the ‘dream of an insomniac’. No other city rivals The Big Apple in terms of performing arts. From the incredible range of theaters, operas, dance and symphony, to live rock and jazz music, the biggest problem will be choosing among the many temptations.

Whether it’s live jazz, rock, comedy or cabaret, sweating on a dance floor or sipping a martini while lounging on a plush couch, New York has a multitude of choices to make your stay worthwhile. Looking for a place to sit and have a cocktail should never be a problem, since there are 3 or 4 bars on every block. There is also a variety of bars, ranging from elegant and formal to jazz, junkie and rock and roll.

Jazz clubs: Birdland, Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Lenox Lounge, Smoke, St. Nick’s Pub, The Village Vanguard, Oak Room Supper Club

Rock and roll offerings: Arlene Grocery, Bowery Ballroom, Irving Plaza, Mercury Lounge

Blues bars: B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, The Knitting Factory, S.O.B., Tonic Expensive and elegant: 40/40 Club (owned by hip-hop singer Jay-Z), Bemelman’s Bar,

Cielo, MO bar Comedy bars: Carolines on Broadway, Comedy Cellar, Dangerfield’s, Gotham Comedy

Club Dance clubs: Avalon, Cain

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Glorious Horizons

How will the new New York look like in a couple of years from now on? It is very possible that the city will easily expand to a population of 9 or 10 million, due to its rapid development in all aspects, especially the high rate of immigration. Politicians, bureaucrats, architects and engineers will soon start to calculate how to fit another million people into the landscape. The population’s growth comes along with all sorts of necessities, such as offices, factories, hotels or schools, let alone groceries stores and restaurants. There should also be more buses, subways and trains, in order to facilitate the traffic and transportation of the whole

population.

All of these improvements will easily be made because The Big Apple’s economy is flourishing and it is not hard to guess that a population ‘boom’ is very likely to appear in the near future.

With approximately 10 million inhabitants and 1,300 square kilometres, the New York City of tomorrow will probably become the new capital of the United States. Nowadays its influence outweighs that of Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington D.C., the capital itself, and I see that as an indirect way of leading the country’s economy. I dare say New York is the informal capital of the US, while Washington D.C. is the formal one.

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Conclusion

To sum up, apart from being one of the most visited and populous cities in the United States, New York City has exponentially grown both economically and socially in the past years. Moreover, it is a vital place in the history of music and film industry, having a strong influence over the European culture.

In my opinion, New York seems to pull in the best and the brightest from the American culture. The diversity, resilience, depth and spirit that characterise the city have been intensely chronicled in the news, movies and books that it is almost a cliché. Even though constant changes may be an obvious feature of the ‘Big Apple’ because of the numerous trends that come and go, the city respects the old-fashioned standards; there are places and things that have remained the same, and those are the essential ‘ingredients’ that give New York its consistency. Even though it is permanently changing, busy to set new rules in all aspects of everyday life, its core remains the same.

The city of New York has become a real symbol, almost a trademark of the United States, being very popular among people from all over the world.

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Bibliography & Resources

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

2. ‘New York City Guide’ by Brian Silverman

3. http://www.joke-archives.com/youmaybe/youlifeinnycif.html

4. ‘New York City Travel Guide’ by Content Writer Services

5. http://www.southwestblend.com/New_York/New-York-famous-people.htm

6. ‘The Best Things to Do in New York City: 1001 Ideas’ by Caitlin Leffel and Jacob Lehman

Annexes