Starting on Friday the Statue of Liberty will be closed to the public for a year for some much needed interior work, but that doesn't mean that the curious won't be able to catch a view from the top of Liberty Island (which will remain open during the construction). As part of the statue's 125th anniversary celebration on Friday five 24/7 webcams will be going live from atop Lady Liberty's torch—a place which has been inaccessible to the public since 1916. more ›

Overwhelmed by her endless throngs of visitors, Lady Liberty is indeed closing down this fall for renovations, right on schedule with the announcement made last year. more ›

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes He tells you to kill your son on a mountaintop, other times He commands you to send an army to take out the guy in Iraq who tried to kill your dad. Yesterday God was busy over in Jersey, where He sent an unidentified man on a mission to swim to Liberty Island. Unfortunately, the federal gov'ment stepped in once again to thwart The Almighty's sovereign will. more ›

Everyone knows that jetskis are toys, which is why even people who cannot swim seem compelled to buy them. A couple had to be rescued from the NewYork Harbor yesterday after their jetski began taking water near Liberty Island. A first responder told The Post that "[The wife] was very scared. The guy was trying to be cool about it, but he was panicking." Yeah we'd be panicking if our bodies touched that water too. more ›

Bereft over his son's death in a killed on Friday night boating incident, Varqhese Puthuvamkunnath held his son's wedding invitation and told the Daily News, "Give this to the man who killed my son!" more ›

Just after 6:15 p.m. last night, one person was killed and others were injured when two recreational boats collided in the Upper New York Bay near Liberty Island. According to NBC New York, "Officials said a 30-foot boat, with a family of five on board, 'T-boned' a 20-foot boat with three people in it, splitting it in half." The man who died had been on the smaller boat; the other two men injured were also on the smaller boat. more ›

Nearly a year after the Department of Interior reopened access to the Statue of Liberty's Crown, we finally made our ascent to the crown last month. While you can visit Liberty Island on a whim, visitors to the Crown and the pedestal must have tickets in advance. Right now, the earliest date available (including weekdays) is August 29th. Tickets include a ferry ride, access to the pedestal and museum. If you're up for it, the ticket also includes a ferry trip to Ellis Island. more ›

The National Park Service announced that starting in June they'll allow evening visits to tour the grounds and dine on Liberty Island, at least through mid-August. The decision was spurred by a successful two-day experiment last September, which they described as "once in a lifetime" (here are our photos). Though the statue won't be open for visitors, it's probably best not to climb those stairs after dark anyway! more ›

Thursday and Friday nights, the National Park Service offered a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty at twilight as part of National Parks Week NYC. It was the first time in history that both attractions were open at night. more ›

Later this month some special twilight tours will be running to Ellis and Liberty Islands (on the 24th and 25th, respectively). They're being touted as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity, so here's your heads up! "For the first time in the history of Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, both attractions will be open on select nights during National Park Week to the general public for tours. This historic undertaking will offer guests not only the tour, but also a first glimpse of Ken Burns' major new documentary on the history of National Parks of the United States." Park Rangers will also be available for a Q&A and dinner (which includes one beverage) is part of the $29 price. This will sell out soon, so get movin'. Just don't accidentally get locked inside Lady Liberty overnight, like these two girls did in 1904! more ›

WNBC is reporting someone fell at Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is located: "Park Service officials said the worker fell about 20 feet from a cooling tower and into a pit on Liberty Island." The worker was put on a stretcher and lifted from the pit into a helicopter, which will fly the victim to a hospital in NJ. more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Hostages(!) on Geranium and Kissena Blvds. in Queens, a pedestrian struck at Stillwell and Mermaid Aves. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on Columbus Ave. and 72nd St. in Manhattan. Knicks coach Isiah Thomas says that the stress of lawsuits are no distraction. He can keep doing what he's doing regardless of legal problems. A boat full of gadget-minded men. There was a stop-off at Liberty Island; and slide... more ›

Yesterday, the odd news about the NYPD's arrest of three men involved with an egg-shaped submarine near the Queen Mary 2, off the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, revealed that a Brooklyn artist was behind the whole benign operation. Police Commissioner called artist Duke Riley's stunt "marine mischief," adding that the "creative craft of three adventuresome individuals" did "not pose any terrorist threat." more ›

The 31st Annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks extravaganza is just around the corner. This is the largest display in America and takes a year to plan. This year's show will stretch wider than usual in a "high definition" format, choreographed to the New York Pops (simulcast on 1010 WINS, TV broadcast on NBC). The Daily News has an interview with Gary Souza, fireworks designer for the event; he says, "We have a new orange that’s really awesome. It’s a golden-red color. We also have this silvery pixie dust that bursts into pink and chartreuse. And look for the aqua jellyfish during the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' song." more ›

After reviewing a number of bids, the National Park Service ended Circle Line's contract to provide ferry service between lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The new ferry service provider will be Hornblower Yachts of California, which offers service between San Francisco and Alcatraz. Hornblower: Taking you to Liberty and lock-up. more ›

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(No matter what your mode of conveyance, we hope your Memorial Day Weekend is an excellent one and that you ride or drive safely. We will be here, offering fresh content throughout the weekend.) more ›

The Statue of Liberty celebrated her 120th birthday yesterday with the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But can you imagine living on Liberty Island? The NY Times has a feature on the Hill family who has been selling souvenirs and food for the past 75 years. Bradford Hill operates the business today (it makes $15 million a year), in the footsteps of his grandparents Aaron and Evelyn and his father James who was actually born on Liberty Island and lived there until he was eight. From the NY Times:

Some of the residents of the barracks on Bedloe’s Island commuted across the harbor to work on Governors Island. If they needed medical care, they rode boats to Brooklyn, Jim Hill recalled in a recent interview near his home on the Upper East Side. more ›

So, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the first Son of Sam killings and today is another sad day in local history (*cough* Jersey *cough*). On July 31, 1916 Black Tom island, which was next to Liberty Island, literally blew up and off the map (what was left of the island is now part of the mainland in Liberty State Park). The island was a major munitions depot. And by major we mean "2,000 tons of munitions parked in freight cars and pierside barges." After midnight small fires started on some of the piers and then began to grow. Around 2:08 a.m. the munitions started to explode. more ›

Oooh: In order to appease the downtown Brooklyn community, Bruce Ratner and the Nets arena development team are proposing to use waterless urinals in order to reduce the water and sewage outflow from the proposed arena. Yes, waterless urinals - crazy stuff! Ratner's group may also build holding tanks for days when the sewage system is overwhelmed (we know there must be buildings that have these, but, still, ew when we think about it), even though the city says the current sewer system can handle extra from an arena, but these ideas are not acceptable to the Friends and Resident of Greater Gowanus, which says, "The current infrastructure lets sewage into the canal even under dry conditions. Even before Ratner's project was on the table this has been an issue down here." Ew, and is this why there was a seal in the water? [For some other problems with coverage of the Nets arena development, check out this Curbed summary.] more ›

While there are some infants in Gothamist's midst, there are times when we seriously doubt our ability to raise a child. These times are usually when we hear about how expensive college educations are becoming, anything related to an Amber alert, or when we read things like this New York magazine article about an innocent posting about a found hat that went horribly, horribly wrong. The place: An email forum of Park Slope parents. The found object: A colorful, some might say "wacky" hat which someone described as a "boy's hat." And that's when the floodgates opened:

Wondering how such a categorization would feel to a spiky-hat-wearing girl, Lisa wrote, “It’s innocent little comments like this that I find the most hurtful.” A third member responded soon after, saying such political correctness drove her “up the wall,” and a heated discussion ensued. Lisa’s supporters questioned their opponents’ commitment to “the free interchange of ideas and questions”—said one, “I have found in life that when the subject matter is difficult, there is always someone who wants to stifle the conversation”—while an opposing faction expressed facetious dismay that the original poster, who had described the hat as likely belonging to “an older child,” was not more considerate toward “younger children who happen to have large heads.”

National Public Radio has a great interview with Mike Moffitt, who lived on Liberty Island for ten years while his dad was head ranger there:

"People would ask 'What part of the city are you from?' I'd say, 'Staten Island.' I got so tired of explaining Liberty Island. And 99 percent of the people would not ask one more question..." more ›

The Daily News also reports that Mayor Bloomberg donated $100,000 out of his billionaire pockets to the fund to reopen the Statue of Liberty - great - but then noted some of his other donations: $6 million to the Education Department's Leadership Academy to help train city principals and $5 million to bring the Republican National Convention the NY. Of course, the ideal timing for the Bush White House is for the Statue of Liberty to open in time for the convention, but Secretary Norton was vague about timing. more ›

With the city council approving a measure to bring twenty new public bathrooms to the city, Newsday looks at the places that need public bathrooms: more ›