NYC to Officially Adopt "Gotham City" Title?

Even though New York City has around 98 monikers, did you know that there is no official city nickname?

The Village Voice reports that one Queens Councilman, Hiram Monserrate, is ready for that to change. Monserrate wants us to officially stake claim on the "Gotham City" title, and is pushing the City Council to designate it as our chief nickname (preferably before The Dark Knight is released this summer). He says, “I see that as a marketing tool, ‘Come visit the real Gotham City,’ taking advantage of this movie which will be one of those gate-breaking, record-selling movies like it always is.”

While the Gotham we know from Batman is corrupt and gritty, Monserrate says, “When we talk about Gotham we talk about tremendous, tremendous nightlife, restaurants, lounges, clubs and cafes, frappuccinos...". Pretty sure Batman was never spotted sipping a Starbucks frappuccino (though perhaps Bruce Wayne could be imagined in such a scenario).

Barry Popik points out that Harlem's 1934 "Big Apple" night club's iconic sign was never landmarked, and instead destroyed in 2006 in order to put up a Popeye's fast food restaurant. Yet Monserrate says our Gotham City is all about "the rich architecture," something that Batman's Gotham was inspired by; hopefully there will be some left by the time we get the official title.

Pictured: Map of Gotham City that hangs behind Jim Gordon's desk in Batman: The Long Halloween #3 (Jan, 1997). Art by Tim Sale.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on March 25, 2008 1:43 PM

Comments [rss]

mr.marvle

The Joker Here Im Gonna Be Rising Up To Corupt Gotham City Very Soon In The Mean Time Joker Minions Do My Biding Rob A Bank Or SomeThing So That They Could Rename That Asylum In Mahattan Arkham Asylum If You Want Gotham City To Come To Life You Must Act Now There Are Real Life Superheros Out There So All We Need Are Real Life Supervillains

Guest

"Excuse me while I go have sex with a woman to de-nerdify myself..."

Sometimes my girlfriend says the same thing. Weird.

rodmur

Big Onion should be Walla Walla, Washington for obvious reasons.

Squard

Sorry to break the news, but according to DC Comics, Gotham City is in NJ

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Gothamlicencesmall.jpg

pete

Why does that map look like Washington DC or London? :-/

REALITY CHECK

The current City Council desperately needs something better to do.

MFer

Originally--before Washington Irving--Gotham meant a city of fools. So nice of him to bestow NYC that nickname. But in fact the real story is that Gotham meant a city of people pretending to be fools. So I guess order is restored in the world.

blablanyc

We're the Big Apple. Why do we need to be named Gotham City? Gotham City sounds too nerdy and comic bookish. Besides, it's fun to say "I've got your Big Apple right here."

Rocknrope

Metropolis is supposed to be the big city near Smallville, Kansas. In the Golden Age of comics, that meant Chicago and Gotham City was meant to be New York. The DC universe has now changed to include all four cities, two real and two imagined.

Excuse me while I go have sex with a woman to de-nerdify myself after reading that post.

TKaisen

Is it really in the city's best interest to pay a licensing fee to DC Comics to use Gotham City in print ads?

latb

why not just "The City" a la The Tick?

EricGewiz

Um..Big Apple anyone?

cdpnyc

Alright - let's not forget that NYC was named Gotham by Washington Irving wayyyyy before Batman was on the scene (1807?)...

Dude69

What about "Hipsterville" "Anti-LA" "Four Boroughs and a Landfill" "Sharptonland"

SleepyM

I believe it was Frank Miller who claimed that Metropolis was NYC during the day and Gotham was NYC at night.

A lot of Batman Begins was filmed in Chicago but most of the city scenes were shot on a set. It's amazing how they built the set, if you can you really should check out the making of on the DVD.

drewo

C'mon, where's the capitalist spirit? Surely the city can sell the nicknaming rights - with funds, of course, to be wisely used on our mass transportation system. Each year we can have a new moniker, courtesy of the highest bidder.

Disneytown, anyone?

dr zippy

How much did DC/Warner Brothers pay Monserrate to introduce the bill?

JRod5417

"Don't these Councilmen have other things to do?"

I'm guessing No.

Guest

"Heck, why not 'Metropolis'? ;-)"

WARNING! Comic book geek alert!

Metropolis is supposed to be the big city near Smallville, Kansas. In the Golden Age of comics, that meant Chicago and Gotham City was meant to be New York. The DC universe has now changed to include all four cities, two real and two imagined.

Dirk

Don't these Councilmen have other things to do?

Gregoire

What, are we officially over 'the city that never sleeps'?

no

Technically:

Manhattan below 14th Street: Gotham

Manhattan above 14th Street : Metropolis

..or so claimed Siegel, Shuster and Kane.

bxbrian

I think we should just name it Poop City.

Brouhaha

Heck, why not 'Metropolis'? ;-)

P.S. Bruce Wayne would never drink anything other than espresso. Frappucino? Ha!

ARealGothamite

Uh- someone should check to see if DC/Warner Bros owns the "Gotham City" trademark first.

Calling NYC "Gotham" is public domain, Im sure, but is "Gotham City"?

Probably public as well, but you'd hope that people would check these things out before announcing it.

matty

What I meant to say was that the entire movie was shot in Chicago and shows many Chicago landmarks which you probably wouldn't find in New York.