DigiNewYork http://diginewyork.com The New York visitor resource. en-uk © 2006 DigiLondon DigiLondon http://diginewyork.comimg/structure/dny_icon.gif DigiNewYork http://diginewyork.com Rye Playland Amusement Park http://diginewyork.com/location/rye-playland-amusement-park
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the waterfront area of Westchester County, New York along the Long Island Sound was the site of a growing collection of recreational developments, including hotels, resorts, and "amusement areas." Local residents concerned about what a County report described as "unsavory crowds" induced the Westchester County Park Association to purchase two existing theme parks, Rye Beach and Paradise Park, and planned a local-government-sponsored amusement park in their stead.

Frank Darling, a veteran park manager with experience at Coney Island and the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, was hired to design and run the new park, called Playland. Construction commenced in September 1927 and was completed in six months. A design firm was commissioned to decorate the entire park in the Art Deco style.
The park began operation on May 26, 1928. The original design included a boardwalk, ice-skating rinks, a swimming pool, and two beaches, as well as amusement park rides, some of which are still in use.
Built in 1929, the Dragon Coaster serves as the park's mascot and appears in the Playland logo.

The Dragon Coaster is one of roughly 100 wooden roller coasters still in operation in the United States.

Playland was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. There is no charge for admission, but "fun cards" or wristbands must be purchased to go on rides. There is a seven dollar charge for cars in the parking lot. According to its website, "Playland also offers free entertainment and has a great beach, swimming pool, boardwalk and pier on scenic Long Island Sound, lake boating, picnic area, mini golf and indoor ice skating."
It is home to a "Grand Carousel". Playland is also home to one of only three "Derby Racers" still in existence. The Derby Racer is not a carousel for the faint of heart as it rotates at 25 miles per hour - three times the speed of a normal carousel. The horses move back and forth as well as up and down, simulating a true gallop as it races around the track. The other "Derby Racers" are located at Cedar Point, in Sandusky, Ohio; and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in Blackpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Until the beginning of the 2002-2003 NHL season, the New York Rangers hockey team practiced at the Playland ice-skating rink. Ever since the Rangers left, the hockey team from Manhattanville College, located in nearby Purchase, New York, plays its home games at Playland.

]]> Amusement parks http://diginewyork.com/location/rye-playland-amusement-park#c Thu, 10 May 2007 20:14:26 -0500 Heckscher Ballfields http://diginewyork.com/location/heckscher-ballfields
Situated west of the Central Park Carousel with the Ballfields Café to the north, Heckscher Ballfields was named after August Heckscher who was appointed as Parks Commissioner in 1967 and served a six year term.

The Heckscher Ballfields offers players six fields in which to enjoy a game of baseball or softball and allows fans to sit back and watch the games from the bleachers that surround the ballfields.

]]> Sports arenas and stadiums http://diginewyork.com/location/heckscher-ballfields#c Thu, 10 May 2007 18:54:25 -0500 COLORS http://diginewyork.com/location/colors
Founded initially by workers displaced from Windows on the World on September 11th, COLORS is the largest cooperative restaurant in the country and the first in New York City. Its goal is to provide a model for fair labor practices in the restaurant industry while providing a quality dining experience.

COLORS is located at 417 Lafayette Street at Astor Place in the NOHO section of New York City.

COLORS
417 Lafayette St,
New York, NY 10003
p 212.777.8443
f 212.777.3583

]]> Restaurants http://diginewyork.com/location/colors#c Sat, 10 Feb 2007 20:47:39 -0600 Lawrence A. Wien Stadium http://diginewyork.com/location/lawrence-a-wien-stadium
Lawrence A. Wien Stadium is a stadium located in Manhattan, New York. It is primarily used for American football, lacrosse, and track and field events, and is the home field of the Columbia University Lions.

It opened in 1984 and holds 17,100 people.

It is part of Columbia's Baker Field Athletic Complex (not to be confused with the Baker Bowl, formerly located in Philadelphia).

Baker Field is Columbia's outdoor athletic complex. Previously, all outdoor teams had played on South Field, across 116th street from the Low Memorial Library, the field where Lou Gehrig played for the Lions. (It is now partially covered by the Butler Library.) The athletic complex is located just south of the Spuyten Duyvil, the confluence of the Harlem and Hudson rivers, at the northern tip of Manhattan Island. It was purchased for the university by financier George H. Baker for $700,000 in December of 1921. It was dedicated the following April, but it was not until 1923 that the team began playing there. A 32,000-seat wooden stadium was built on the site in 1928; this was in use until 1982, when it was demolished to make room for Wien Stadium.

Wien was opened on September 22, 1984 with a loss to Harvard. The first home win at the stadium came on October 8, 1988, with a win against Princeton. The 10,500-seat southeast (home side) stands were built first; the 6,500-seat northwest stands were opened two years later. The stadium is named for Lawrence A. Wien, class of 1925, a former trustee, philanthropist, lawyer and entrepreneur.

]]> Sports arenas and stadiums http://diginewyork.com/location/lawrence-a-wien-stadium#c Sun, 4 Feb 2007 09:54:10 -0600 South Brother Island http://diginewyork.com/location/south-brother-island
South Brother Island is one of a pair of small islands in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker's Island. The other island, larger and better known, is North Brother Island. As late as the 1960s, it was considered part of Queens County, but is now part of Bronx County. It has long been privately owned.

Jacob Ruppert, a brewery magnate and early owner of the New York Yankees, had a summer house on the island early in the twentieth century, but no one has lived on the island since then and there are no structures there today. It is currently owned by Hampton Scows, Incorporated (34 DORCHESTER RD, ROCKVILLE Centre NY 11570-2022) a Long Island company that dutifully pays property taxes every year but has no plans to develop the seven-acre island. It purchased the island in 1975 for the sum of ten dollars.
The island's dense brush supports a major nesting colony of several species of birds, notably Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and Double-crested Cormorant.
One of the hardest geocaches in the New York area, if not the entire U.S., can be found on the island. It was profiled on ABC World News Tonight on July 6, 2001.
Together, the two Brother Islands, North and South, have a land area of 81,423 square meters, or 20.12 acres.

]]> Islands http://diginewyork.com/location/south-brother-island#c Sun, 4 Feb 2007 09:39:14 -0600 North Brother Island http://diginewyork.com/location/north-brother-island
North Brother Island is an island in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker's Island. Its companion, South Brother Island, is a short distance away. The island was uninhabited until 1885, when Riverside Hospital moved there from the island now known as Roosevelt Island.

The institution was founded in the 1850s as the Smallpox Hospital to treat and isolate victims of that disease. Its mission eventually expanded to other quarantinable diseases. Typhoid Mary was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938. The hospital closed shortly thereafter.
After World War II, the island housed war veterans who were students at local colleges, and their families. Once the nationwide housing shortage abated the island was abandoned again. In the 1950s a center opened to treat adolescent drug users. The facility claimed to be the first to offer treatment, rehabilitation, and education facilities to young drug offenders. By the early 1960s widespread staff corruption and patient recidivism forced the facility to close.

The island is currently abandoned and off-limits to the public. A dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings, but supports one of the area's largest nesting colonies of Black-crowned Night Heron.
The island was also the site of the wreck of the General Slocum which burned on June 15, 1904. Over 1,000 people died either from the fire onboard the ship or from drowning before the ship was beached on the island's shores.
Together, the two Brother Islands, North and South, have a land area of 81,423 square meters, or 20.12 acres.

]]> Islands http://diginewyork.com/location/north-brother-island#c Sun, 4 Feb 2007 09:35:35 -0600 Queens Zoo http://diginewyork.com/location/queens-zoo
The Queens Zoo is a 5 acre zoo located in the New York City borough of Queens.
The zoo is operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Queens Zoo opened in 1968 as the Flushing Meadows Zoo as it is located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The zoo is home mostly to animals native to North America.
The Queens Zoo is the only one of the four zoos in New York City to exhibit Spectacled Bears. The zoo was constructed on the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair, and the zoo's aviary is a geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller and used during the 1964 Fair.


]]> Zoos and Aquariums http://diginewyork.com/location/queens-zoo#c Sun, 4 Feb 2007 08:42:03 -0600 USTA National Tennis Center http://diginewyork.com/location/usta-national-tennis-center
The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens and has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played every year in August and September.

According to the United States Tennis Association, the center is the largest public tennis facility in the world with 22 courts inside the facility and 11 more in the adjoining park. All 33 courts have used the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface since the facility was built in 1978.

Located across from Shea Stadium in Queens, the tennis center is open for play 11 months out of the year (closed during inclement weather and in August/September due to the US Open), barring tournaments the USTA holds (such as junior and wood-racket competitions). Anyone with the proper shoes and a racquet can play on the same courts as their heroes, for as little as $16 (US) per hour.

On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as tennis greats such as Martina Navratilova, Venus Williams, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors looked on. It is the largest and most prestigious sports facility in the world to be named after a woman.

]]> Sports arenas and stadiums http://diginewyork.com/location/usta-national-tennis-center#c Sun, 28 Jan 2007 09:28:56 -0600 Queens Botanical Gardens http://diginewyork.com/location/queens-botanical-gardens
The Queens Botanical Garden began as part of the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens. After the fair, the garden expanded to take up a larger portion of Flushing Meadows Park. When work was begun on construction of the 1964 World's Fair, the garden was moved to a site across the street from Flushing Meadows Park.

The Queens Botanical Garden now consists of 39 acres (158,000 m˛) of rose, bee, herb, and perennial gardens. It is open to the public.

]]> Parks and open spaces http://diginewyork.com/location/queens-botanical-gardens#c Sat, 27 Jan 2007 14:48:31 -0600 New Fulton Fish Market http://diginewyork.com/location/new-fulton-fish-market
The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and produce. In November of 2005, the Fish Market relocated to a new facility in Hunts Point from its historic location near the Brooklyn Bridge along the East River waterfront at and above Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

During much of its 188-year tenure at the original site, the Fulton Fish Market was the most important wholesale East Coast fish market in the United States of America. Opening in 1822, it was the destination of fishing boats from across the Atlantic Ocean. By the 1950s, most of the Market's fish were trucked in rather than offloaded from the docks. The wholesalers at the Market then sold it to restaurateurs and retailers who purchased fresh fish of every imaginable variety. It was possible for fish to be rushed from fishing ports in New England to wholesale buyers at the Fulton Fish Market, who might then resell it to retail markets and restaurants in the very same towns where the catch originated.

Prices at the Fulton Fish Market were tracked and reported by the U.S. Government.

In its original location, it was one of the last, and most significant, of the great wholesale food markets of New York. It survived major fires in 1835, 1845, 1918, and 1995, and the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

]]> Shopping http://diginewyork.com/location/new-fulton-fish-market#c Sat, 27 Jan 2007 14:34:55 -0600