Gothamist: Happy 73rd Birthday, Empire State Building

Phoebe

Tue, 25 May 2004 15:20:54 -0500

This is veary good information I had to do a report on the empire state building and this helped alot thankyou so much! It was a great report I got an A- Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou! Smiles and laughs! Phoebe

ldg

Sun, 02 May 2004 16:02:57 -0500

where's the batman info? wasn't it here earlier?

Hoofin

Sun, 02 May 2004 15:00:23 -0500

The little-known facts: built in something like 18 months, during the Great Depression (that was a period of an extraordinarily bad economy in the early-mid 20th century, that makes today's tough times look like one cracked egg in the dozen.) the building took ridiculously long to lease out, so much so that it was known as the "Empty State Building" until the 1950's. They were going to name it the "Alfred E. Smith Building" after the governor of New York, but he declined the honor (class guy who started out at the Fulton Fish Market). As a result, everyone has heard of the Empire State Building, but virtually no one knows who Al Smith is. (The guy on the cover of Mad magazine, right?)

Random Penseur

Sun, 02 May 2004 12:51:45 -0500

As part of the ever shrinking landscape of historical New York, it may interest some people to know that the architects were not sure how their proposed design would like, aesthetically, so they built a model building which incorporated the design elements so they could show the owners. That little, miniature Empire State was on the corner of 41st and Madison and was torn down a couple of years ago for the new CIBC building. Still, a model Empire State was a cool thing to have and I wish it were still here.

neil

Sun, 02 May 2004 01:43:48 -0500

I just want them to reopen the second observation deck on the 102nd floor that was used in Sleepless and many other films. They claim they closed it because of the limited amount of area, but still why tease us with films that take place there when the general public can't even access it. http://www.esbnyc.com/modules/SE_faq_frame.cfm?section=red&faq=1 they sadly don't show much history about the building even when you are in the general queue line. it's really a shame, especially when your stuck for over an hour looking at some shoddly painted walls.

Simon

Sat, 01 May 2004 23:55:26 -0500

FUCK the empire state building

Hoofin

Sat, 01 May 2004 23:40:20 -0500

I am not sure owners of tall New York buildings do a lot to attract attention these days . . .

tien

Sat, 01 May 2004 23:16:32 -0500

how is it possible that there was no publicity about this at the actual building when we went?