New
York Almanac ->
October
New York City in October
Greenwich Village Halloween Parade
This Month:
....Average monthly temperature in October : 59° ...
check out the Columbus
Day Parade marching up Fifth Avenue
this month, a hearty mix of nation and Italian-American
pride since 1792, when New Yorkers celebrated the 300th
anniversary of his landing in the New World. ...
...and
don't miss one of the nation's most spooktacular scarefests
at the Greenwich
Village Halloween Parade kicking off on Spring Street
at Sixth Avenue to 23rd Street ...
October 1
...New Yorker Harry Allen introduces America to taxi meters
this day in 1907.
The innovation is inspired when Allen is charged an arbitrary
(and very exorbitant) $5 by the driver of a horse-drawn
hansom cab for a trip from 44th Street to 58th Street.
Charging customers a flat rate by the mile, his first shiny
red fleet is later painted bright yellow when Allen discovers
the color is more easily seen at a distance ...
October 4
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October 2
...New York Yankee Roger Maris hits his 61st home run in
the last game of the season this day in 1961, breaking Babe
Ruth's 154 game record set in 1927...
October 3
... with no acknowledgment of either balloons or Macy's,
it is proclaimed throughout the land that the people of
the United States observe "a day of public thanksgiving
and prayer" on Thursday, the 26th of November "...given
under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October
A.D. 1789. Signed - G. Washington" ...
October 4
...described by one reviewer as a "tasty tomado",
Mae West shakes up the Shubert Theatre with the opening
of "Sometime" this night in 1918 in which she
sings and dances naughty renditions of "Everybody Shimmies
Now" and "What Do You Have to Do to Get It..."
October 5
... this morning sees the celebration of the first service
at the new gothic-spired Riverside
Church in 1930. On the neighborhood cusp of Morningside
and Harlem, Riverside is 100 feet wide and covers two city
blocks....
October 6
.. Al Jolsen stars in The
Jazz Singer, the first full-length musical talkie which
opens this day in 1927 at the Warner Theatre. It's a major
hit ...
October 7
... West 106th Street, (where he owned a mansion) is renamed
Duke Ellington
Boulevard this day in 1977 for the jazz legend responsible
for "Mood Indigo" and "I Ain't Got Nothin'
But the Blues"....
October 13
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October 8
...New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen pitches the only
perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 against
the Brooklyn Dodgers this day in 1956....
October 9
...a record 11.17 inches of rain fall on New York City this
day in 1903...
October 10
... the cornerstone dedication for Museum
of Jewish Heritage at the Battery is finally underway
this day in 1996 after almost a decade of on-again, off-again
planning. The building's striking hexagonal shape is meant
to symbolize the six-pointed Star of David, as well as the
six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust ...
October 11
... a self-described "ugly duckling" as a child,
but later to become the most revered women of her generation,
Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt is born on 56 West 37th Street this day in
1884....
October 12
... the sad details of the life and untimely demise of colonial
governor Danvers
Osborn are being lapped up by New Yorkers this day in
1753 when it is learned that he has hung himself "upon
the garden fence" of a friend's residence after months
of despondency over his wife's death...
October 13
...A local advertisement screams..."its body and limbs
are covered with a skin so hard and impervious that he fears
neither the claws of the tiger nor the proboscis of the
elephant." New Yorkers are the first to see a live
rhino when the beast makes its U.S. debut at an exhibit
at Peale's Museum on Broadway this day in 1826...
October 14
...beginning her working career as a secretary in Astoria,
Queens, an untrained hopeful by the name of Ethel
Merman blows the lid off Broadway singing I Got
Rhythm in the Gershwin hit "Girl Crazy"
this night in 1930....
October 18
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October 15
... having never finished higher than 9th place in any of
their first seven seasons, "The
Miracle Mets" win the World Series this day in
1969. ...
October 16
...Jewish gangster Little
Augie is gunned down on the Lower East Side today in
1927 by a rival gang hoping to take over his rackets. Bodyguard
Legs Diamond is also shot in the attack, but survives...
October 17
...The greatest single loss of firefighters before September
11, 2001 occurs this day in 1966 when twelve firemen are
lost in a fire on 23rd Street...
October 18
... a Henri Matisse painting "Le Bateau" is exhibited
at the Museum of Modern Art this day in 1961. Seen by an
estimated 100,000 visitors, it takes 47 days before anyone
notices - that the painting is hanging upside down...
October 19
....young unknown actor Marlon
Brando makes his Broadway debut in "I Remember
Mama" at the Music Box Theatre this night in 1944...
October 19
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October 20
...in a fit of patriotic fervor, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia
renames Sixth Avenue as
"Avenue of the Americas" this day in 1945. (For
years, the name refuses to stick and even today many New
Yorkers still refer to it as Sixth...)
October 21
..described by many New Yorkers as a giant cupcake, Guggenheim
Museum designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright opens
this day in 1959 ....
October 22
...the first
Xerox copy is dated "10-22-38 Astoria" this
day in 1938...
October 23
...during a trip to the urinal, New York gangster Dutch
Schultz is gunned down at the Palace Chophouse in Newark,
N.J. this night in 1935. He later staggers out to the main
dining room because he does not want to be remembered for
dying in a men's washroom. He gets his wish and expires
the next day at Newark City Hospital ...
October 24
... with the longest span in the world at 3,500 feet, the
George
Washington Bridge connects Fort Lee, New Jersey with
Upper Manhattan when it is dedicated this day in 1931 ...
October 25
...the Averill Chemical Paint Company of New York City is
awarded this day in 1870 the first U.S. trademark, depicting
an eagle holding a pot of paint in its beak...
October 26
... in the first "Subway Series" since 1956, the
New York Yankees defeat the New York Mets 4 games to 1 this
day in 2000....
October 27
...the sign "R.H. Macy & Company" proclaims
the opening fo the original Macy's department store on 14th
Street and Sixth Avenue today in 1858...
October 28
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October 28
... the 152-foot high gift from France to the U.S., shipped
across the Atlantic in 214 crates broken into 350 individual
separate pieces, is dedicated this day in 1886 as the Statue
of Liberty is formally accepted by President Grover
Cleveland on behalf of the American people...
October 29
...many people miss or ignore the opening credits of War
of the Worlds when it airs live tonight from New York
City, and sends thousands into a panic believing that aliens
have actually invaded Manhattan...
October 30
...Ford
to City: Drop Dead "Vows He'll Veto Any Bailout"
this day in 1975...
October 31
...magician and New Yorker Harry
Houdini dies in Detroit from appendicitis this Halloween
day in 1926 when his body is shipped to New York. There,
a crowd of more than 2,000 New Yorkers line the streets
to pay their respects ...
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November
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