FIVE BOROUGHS4 MIN
The Consolidation of 1898
How Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island became one city on January 1, 1898, and what the merger changed.
UNDERGROUND4 MIN
The Subway Opens, 1904
The IRT opened on October 27, 1904 with a nickel fare; how three systems became one in 1940 and how the map came to be.
THE CROSSING4 MIN
The Brooklyn Bridge, 1883
The Roeblings, the caissons, the opening day of May 24, 1883, and what the first East River bridge did to Brooklyn.
THE HARBOR5 MIN
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
The gift from France, Bartholdi and Eiffel, Emma Lazarus, and the immigration station that processed about 12 million people from 1892 to 1954.
THE TERMINAL4 MIN
Grand Central Terminal, 1913
Electrification, air rights, the painted sky on the concourse ceiling, and the 1978 Supreme Court case that kept Grand Central standing.
THE PARK5 MIN
Central Park and the Greensward Plan
Olmsted and Vaux's 1858 plan, the village it displaced, Bethesda Terrace, Belvedere Castle and the Conservancy that rebuilt the park.
1465 MIN
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911
The fire of March 25, 1911 killed 146 garment workers in the Asch Building and drove the laws that remade the American workplace.
UPTOWN5 MIN
The Harlem Renaissance and the Apollo
The Great Migration made Harlem, the writers and musicians of the 1920s made it famous, and Amateur Night at the Apollo has run since 1934.
THE BRONX4 MIN
The Birth of Hip Hop, 1973
A back to school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc, and the four elements that grew from the Bronx.
THE BOARDWALK5 MIN
Coney Island
Steeplechase, Luna Park and Dreamland, the Wonder Wheel of 1920, the boardwalk of 1923, the Cyclone of 1927 and Nathan's nickel hot dog.
LIGHTS OUT4 MIN
The Blackout of July 13, 1977
What happened when New York lost power on July 13, 1977, the looting and fires that followed, and how the 1965 and 2003 blackouts differed.
CHRISTOPHER STREET4 MIN
Stonewall, June 28, 1969
The Stonewall Inn, the police raid of June 28, 1969, the nights that followed, the first march in 1970, and the National Monument of 2016.
OPEN LATE4 MIN
The Bodega and the Corner Store
Where the word bodega came from, the Puerto Rican, Dominican and Yemeni owners who built the corner store, the cat, and why nobody agrees how many there are.
THE HARBOR4 MIN
The Staten Island Ferry and the Harbor
The ferry's route, the fare that went from a nickel to free in 1997, the Verrazzano bridge, and what the harbor was to the city.
SKYLINE5 MIN
The Race to the Sky, 1930 to 1931
The Woolworth Building, the 1916 zoning law, the Chrysler Building's secret spire, and the Empire State Building's 13 month climb to the top of the world.
MIDNIGHT4 MIN
Times Square and the Ball Drop
Longacre Square, the New York Times tower of 1904, the first ball on December 31, 1907, the decline, and the remake of the 1990s.
THE COUNT4 MIN
Counting New York
The decennial census from 1790 to 2020, the 2020 figure of 8,804,190, what the count decides, the undercount, and how an art census differs.
THE CITY FIGHT5 MIN
Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the Lower Manhattan Expressway fight, the Cross Bronx Expressway, and what each of them built.
BEFORE 16645 MIN
Before the City: Lenape, Mannahatta, New Amsterdam
The Lenape and Mannahatta, what the 1626 purchase documents actually say, New Amsterdam from 1624 to 1664, and the wall that named Wall Street.
WEST SIDE5 MIN
The High Line and the Rewilded City
The West Side freight line, Friends of the High Line, the park's opening on June 9, 2009, Hudson Yards and the Vessel, and Little Island in 2021.
