The Lake, Central Park

          The Central Park Lake, in conjunction with the Ramble, creates an essential part of the "Greensward" design plan created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux when designing the initial features of what would become Central Park. 

        What is now a stunning and picturesque 18-acre lake was once nothing more than a large, untamed swamp. After its excavation in 1857, the Lake was opened for its first winter of ice-skating in 1858. Until 1950, the Lake was used for ice-skating during the winter months and boating in the summer. After 1950, however, the skating rink was officially closed, allowing the Lake's former wildlife inhabitants to take up residence there once more. As such, the Lake is now an excellent location for bird watching, where one can spot swans, ducks, and even the occasional egret or heron.

          The second largest man-made body of water in the Park, the Lake provides wonderful opportunities for viewing its abundant flora and fauna from rowboats, which are available for rent during the spring and summer months at the Loeb Boathouse. Aside from taking a boat, other options for nature sightseeing include taking a Venetian-style gondola ride around the Lake, or simply walking along the shore.

         Like many other Park attractions, the Lake was also restored by the Central Park Conservancy. It was reopened to visitors in 2008. The Lake is a sight not to be missed if you're in the mood for a calming boat ride through bamboo patches, bridges, and natural splendor in the Park.

   

                                                                                 Source: www.centralpark.com/-Jesse M. Wheeler

Roosevelt Island

          Roosevelt Island is a narrow island in New York City's East River. It lies between the island of Manhattan to its west and the borough of Queens to its east, and is part of  the borough of Manhattan. Running from Manhattan's East 46th to East 85th Streets, it is about 2 miles (3.2 km) long, with a maximum width of 800 feet (240 m), and a total area of 147 acres (0.59 km2). Together with Mill Rock, Roosevelt Island constitutes Manhattan's Census Tract 238, which has a land area of 0.279 sq mi (0.72 km2).and had a population of 9,520 in 2000 according to the US Census.The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation estimated its population was about 12,000 in 2007. The island was called Minnehanonck by the Lenape and Varkens Eylandt (Hog Island) by New Netherlanders, and during the colonial era and later as Blackwell's Island. It was known as Welfare Island from 1921 to 1973.

          Roosevelt Island is owned by the city, but was leased to the state of New York's Urban Development Corporation for 99 years in 1969. Most of the residential buildings on Roosevelt Island are rental buildings. There is also a cooperative (Rivercross) and a condominium building (Riverwalk). One rental building (Eastwood) has left New York State's Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, though current residents are still protected. Three other buildings are now working toward privatization, including the cooperative.

Governors Island

          Governors Island is a 172-acre (70 ha) island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile (1 km) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Physically, the island changed greatly during the early 20th century. Using material excavated from the Lexington Avenue subway, the Army Corps of Engineers supervised the deposit of 4,787,000 cubic yards of fill on the south side of Governors Island, adding 103 acres (42 ha) of flat, treeless land by 1912 and bringing the total acreage of the island to 172.

          The Native Americans of the Manhattan region referred to the island as "Paggank", meaning 'nut island', doubtless after the island's plentiful hickory, oak, and chestnut trees the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block called it "Noten Eylant", a translation, and this was borrowed into English as "Nutten Island". The island's current name, made official in 1784, stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.

         On May 24, 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke ground on the new park and public spaces designed by the landscape design firm West 8, along with announcing the opening of the rehabilitated Castle Williams.

         The national historic landmark district, approximately 92 acres (37 ha) of the northern half of the island, is open to the public for several months in the summer and early fall. The circumferential road around the island is also open to the public. The island is accessed by free ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel)

           The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, officially known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, is a toll road in New York City which crosses under the East River at its mouth, connecting the Borough of Brooklyn on Long Island with the Borough of Manhattan. The tunnel nearly passes underneath Governors Island, but does not provide vehicular access to the island. It consists of twin tubes, carrying four traffic lanes, and at 9,117 feet (2,779 m) is the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. It was opened to traffic in 1950. It currently carries the unsigned Interstate 478 (I-478) designation, and formerly carried New York State Route 27A (NY 27A). The tunnel was officially named after former New York Governor Hugh Carey in December 2010.

     Construction began on October 28, 1940 by the New York City Tunnel Authority, with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A large part of Little Syria, a mostly Christian Syrian/Lebanese neighborhood centered around Washington Street, was razed to create the entrance ramps for the tunnel. The shops and residents of Little Syria later moved to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.The tunnel was designed by Ole Singstad and partially completed when World War II brought a halt to construction. After the War, the Triborough Bridge Authority was merged with the Tunnel Authority, allowing the new Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) to take over the project. TBTA Chairman Robert Moses directed the tunnel be finished with a different method for finishing the tunnel walls. This resulted in leaking and, according to Robert Caro, the TBTA fixed the leaks by using a design almost identical to Singstad's original.The tunnel opened to traffic on May 25, 1950.

Harlem

         Harlem is a large neighborhood within the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.

         Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan—often referred to as Uptown by locals—and stretches from the East River west to the Hudson River between 155 Street, where it meets Washington Heights, to a ragged border along the south.

        Central Harlem—Manhattan Community Board No. 10—is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east,

Central Park on the south, Morningside Park, Saint Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues on the west and the Harlem River on the north. A chain of three large linear parks; Morningside, St. Nicholas and Jackie Robinson are situated on steeply rising banks and form most of the district's western boundary. On the east, Fifth Avenue and Marcus Garvey Park, also known as Mount Morris Park, separate this area from East Harlem.

        The West Harlem neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights comprise Manhattan Community Board No. 9. The area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway (110th Street) on the South; 155th Street on the North; Manhattan/Morningside Ave/St.Nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecome Avenues on the East; and the Hudson River on the west.

        East Harlem, within Manhattan Community Board 11, is bounded by East 96th Street on the south, East 142nd Street on the north, Fifth Avenue on the west and the Harlem River on the east.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

        The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (sometimes abbreviated by locals as JKO) – originally and sometimes still known as the Central Park Reservoir – is a decommissioned reservoir in Central Park in the borough of Manhattan.

The Reservoir covers 106 acres (43 ha) and holds over 1,000,000,000 US gallons (3,800,000 m3) of water.Though no longer used to distribute New York City's water supply, it provides water for the Pooland the Harlem Meer. It is a popular place of  interest; there is a 1.58-mile (2.54 km)jogging track around it and it is also encircled by the park's bridle trail.

The Reservoir was built between 1858 and 1862, to the design for Central Park of  Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,who designed its two pumphouses of Manhattan schist with granite facings. It was never a collecting reservoir. It was used to receive water from the Croton Aqueduct and distribute it to Manhattan.

After 131 years of service, it was decommissioned in 1993, after it was deemed obsolete because of a new main under 79th Street that connected with the Third Water Tunnel and because of growing concerns that it could become contaminated.It was renamed in honor of  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994 to commemorate her contributions to the city, because she enjoyed jogging in the area,which lay beneath the windows of her Fifth Avenue apartment.

Lincoln Tunnel

       The Lincoln Tunnel is a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, New York City, in the USA. An integral conduit within the New York Metropolitan Area, it was designed by Ole Singstad and named after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. It is one of two automobile tunnels built under the river, the other being the Holland Tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel carries a daily average of approximately 108,000 motor vehicles. The tunnel was originally to be named the Midtown Vehicular Tunnel, but the planners eventually decided that the new tunnel deserved a name that was of similar importance to that of the George Washington Bridge, and named it after Abraham Lincoln.

     Designed by Ole Singstad, the tunnel was funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration. Construction began on the first tube in March 1934.It opened to traffic on December 22, 1937, charging $0.50 per passenger car, equal to $8.73 today.  The cost of construction was $85,000,000, equal to $1,483,271,144 today. 

       Starting on December 1, 2013, the cash tolls going from New Jersey to New York are $13 for both of cars and motorcycles; there is no toll for passenger vehicles going from New York

to New Jersey. E-ZPass users are charged $9.00 for cars and $8.00 for motorcycles during off-peak hours (outside of 6–10 a.m. and 4–8 p.m. on the weekdays; and outside of 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on the weekends) and $11.00 for cars and $10.00 for motorcycles during peak hours (6–10 a.m. and 4–8 p.m. on the weekdays; and 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on the weekends)..

Tubes
 
            Opening year                                Length  
south tube: 1957 south tube: 2,440 m (8,006 ft)
            center tube: 1937 center tube: 2,504 m (8,216 ft)
            north tube: 1945 north tube: 2,281 m (7,482 ft)

Coney Island

     Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York City.

Coney Island is the westernmost part of the barrier islands of Long Island, about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide. Formerly it was an island, separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, which was partially tidal mudflats, but it has since been developed into a peninsula. There were plans early in the 20th centuryto dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned, and the center of the creek was filled in for construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II.

The western and eastern ends are now peninsulas.

     Coney Island is well known as the site of amusement parks and a seaside resort. The attractions reached their peak during the first half of the 20th century, declining in popularity after World War II and years of neglect. In recent years, the area has seen the opening of MCU Park and has become home to the minor league baseball team the Brooklyn Cyclones.

     The residential neighborhood of the same name is a community of 60,000 people in thewestern part of the peninsula, with Sea Gate to its west, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, and Gravesend to the north.

Battery Park

     Battery Park is a 10 hectare public park located at the Battery, the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City, facing New York Harbor. The Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years to protect the settlement behind them. At the north end of the park is Castle Clinton, the often re-purposed last remnant of the defensive works that inspired the name of the park.

     Pier A, formerly a fireboat station; and Hope Garden, a memorial to AIDS victims. At the other end is Battery Gardens restaurant, next to the United States Coast Guard Battery Building. Along the waterfront, Statue Cruises offers ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The park is also the site of the East Coast Memorial which commemorates U.S. servicemen who died in coastal waters of the western Atlantic Oceanduring World War II, and several other memorials.

LaGuardia Airport

     LaGuardia Airport is an airport in the northern part of the New York City borough of Queens. The airport is on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst.

     The New York City metropolitan area's JFK International, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International airports combine to create the largest airport system in the United States.The airport is a domestic hub for Delta Air Lines and a focus city for American Airlines and regional affiliate American Eagle.

     The airport was originally named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport after aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss then renamed North Beach Airport,The official name after New York City's takeover and reconstruction was New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field, then in 1953 named solely "LaGuardia Airport" for Fiorello La Guardia, the mayor of New York when the airport was built.

Manhattan Bridge

     The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City,connecting Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn.It was the last of the three suspension bridges built across the lower East River, following the Brooklyn and the Williamsburg bridges. The bridge was opened to traffic on December 31, 1909 and was designed by Leon Moisseiff,who later designed the infamous original Tacoma Narrows Bridge that opened and collapsed in 1940. It has four vehicle lanes on the upper level. The lower level has three lanes, four subway tracks, a walkway and a bikeway. The upper level, originally used for streetcars, has two lanes in each direction, and the lower level is one-way and has threelanes in peak direction. It once 

carried New York State Route 27 and later was planned tocarry Interstate 478. No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use the Manhattan Bridge.

Construction started          October 1, 1901
Opened to traffic               December 31, 1909
Length of main span          1,470 ft.
Total length of bridge
including approaches         6,855 ft.
Location                           Connects Flatbush Avenue in Downtown
                                        Brooklyn with Canal Street in Chinatown

Flatiron Building

     The Flatiron Building is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, New York City and is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper. Upon completion in 1902, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city.The building sits on a triangular island-block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street, with 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. 

     As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.The building anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City.

     As an icon of New York City, the Flatiron Building is a popular spot for tourist photographs, but it is also a functioning office building which is currently the headquarters of publishing companies

Holland Tunnel

     The Clifford Milburn Holland Tunnel (more commonly known as the Holland Tunnel) is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland of the United States.

     Begun in 1920 and completed in 1927, the tunnel is named after Clifford Milburn Holland (1883–1924), Chief Engineer on the project, who died before it was completed. Tunnel designer Ole Singstad finished Holland's work. The tunnel is one of the earliest examples of a mechanically ventilated design.

    The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes, each providing two lanes in a 20-foot (6 m) roadway width and 12.5 feet (3.8 m) of headroom. The north tube is 8,558 feet (2,608 m) from end to end, while the south tube is slightly shorter at 8,371 feet (2,551 m). Both tubes are situated in the bedrock beneath the river, with the lowest point of the roadway approximately 93 feet (28 m) below mean high water.

Times Square

       Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square – iconified as "The Crossroads of the World", "The Center of the Universe", and the "The Great White Way"– is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district,one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections,and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building – now called One Times Square – site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve.

       Times Square is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square,and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the Waterford Crystal ball being lowered on a pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year.

Rockefeller Center

     Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m2) between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

      The GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC. At 850 feet (259 m) tall, the 70-story building is the 10th tallest building in New York City and the 33rd tallest in the United States. Some of the building's nicknames include The Slab and 30 Rock. The latter is derived from its address which is at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

      The building was completed in 1933 as part of the Rockefeller Center. 

Chrysler Building

     The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. At 1,046 feet (319 m),the structure was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. It is still the tallest brick building in the world, albeit with an internal steel skeleton.
The Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of  Walter P.Chrysler.When the ground breaking occurred on September 19, 1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper.Despite a frantic pace (the building was built at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.

     After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the 1,200-foot (365.8 m) Bank of America Tower, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, The New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height.Both buildings were then pushed into 4th position, when the under construction One World Trade Center surpassed their height.

Wall Street

Wall Street is the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. It is the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies.Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City is one of the world's principal financial centers.

Ellis Island

    Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1924. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. A 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found most of the island to be part of New Jersey. The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island. The island has been closed to the public since Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. 

   Ellis Island is located in Jersey City, New Jersey and is situated in the Upper New York Bay east of Liberty State Park and north of Liberty Island.The island has a land area of 27.5 acres (11.1 ha), most of which was created through land reclamation.The original portion of the island is 3.3 acres (1.3 ha) and is an exclave of New York City, while reclaimed areas are part of Jersey City. The entire island has been owned and administered by the U.S. federal government since 1808. It is currently operated by the National Park Service.

Statue of Liberty

     The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. Sculptor Frederic Bartholdi was inspired by the sheer scale of the Suez Canal and a massive lighthouse that drew boats inward. Bartholdi designed the statue to resemble the Roman goddess of Liberty, in majestic, flowing robes. The statue's stern face was modeled after Bartholdi's mother who he was close with.

     The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island, south of Ellis Island. Both islands were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800. As agreed in an 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey that set the state border at the bay's midpoint, the original islands remain New York territory despite their location on the New Jersey side of the state line.

John F. Kennedy International Airport

     The John F. Kennedy International Airport or better known as the JFK Airport opened it's gates to the public in 1948. Dedicated as New York International Airport in 1948, the airport was more commonly known as Idlewild Airport until 1963, when it was renamed after John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. To date, it is considered as one of the most occupied airports worldwide. Almost 30 million individuals fly in and out of the airport on an annual basis.
     The Airport is located in the borough of Queens owned by the City of New York and leased to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Lower Manhattan. In 2011 it was the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North America. It is also the leading freight gateway to the country by value of shipments. In 2011, the airport handled 47,809,910 passengers, making it the 17th busiest airport in the world and sixth busiest in the United States in terms of passenger traffic.