New York

[ALR]

I have to write a short story set in New York in 1927. I'd be very grateful for any information, no matter how trivial about, shops, streets, areas etc.

Thanks

[steph_goodrum]

There was a fascinating programme about the history of New York from 1600's the other day on one of the Travel Channels, I learnt quite a lot from it, the 2nd part is still to be shown (I'm assuming it will be some time this week - I think it was Wed last week. which may cover the more recent history and the time you are looking at.

[ALR]

Oooh thank you.

Hubby's been to NY but I haven't, and he didn't like the place so I'd rather source information from other points.

I'll look out for the programme. Do you know what time? I have a spanish class on Wednesday but I can set the video.

Thanks

ALR

[Val]

Try Tourist information New York in your search engine it will probably give you loads of links to information on New York, though I am not a computer wizz, thought!! 1927 was that not when all the imigrants were going to the States and did they not go through "Ellis island", that is trying to remember school history and that was a long while ago.

Val

Due to the nature of my old job I have been to NY over 1000 times however that was in the 1990's[msnwink]

American Cultural History 1920 -1929

FACTS about this decade.
106,521,537 people in the United States
2,132,000 unemployed, Unemployment 5.2%
Life expectancy: Male 53.6, Female 54.6
343.000 in military (down from 1,172,601 in 1919)
Average annual earnings $1236; Teacher's salary $970
Dow Jones High 100 Low 67
Illiteracy rate reached a new low of 6% of the population.
Gangland crime included murder, swindles, racketeering
It took 13 days to reach California from New York There were 387,000 miles of paved road.

1927...20-21 May. Charles Lindbergh flies The Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris, traveling 3600 miles in 33 and a half hours.
Catholic presidential candidate Alfred Smith of New York answers questions about whether his loyalty to the Vatican would supersede his loyalty to the U. S. by saying, "I recognize no power in the institution of my Church to interfere with the operations of the Constitution of the United States or the enforcement of the law of the land."
Refusing a nomination for reelection in what will become a famous statement, Calvin Coolidge says, "I do not choose to run."
23 August. Still protesting their innocence, Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after judicial appeals are exhausted.
October. The Jazz Singer, starring Broadway star Al Jolson, debuts as the "first" talking picture, and its success spells the beginning of the end for silent movies.


The1920s were Broadway's busiest years, with as many as fifty new musicals opening in a single season. Record numbers of people forked over up to $3.50 a seat. It was also a decade of extraordinary artistic development in the musical theatre.

. . . the 1920s as a whole saw the the form so refine and transform itself that, by the decade's finish, the "Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo" chorus line, the Bubble Dances, the nineteenth-century comedy, and the unmotivated star shot would be virtually extinct, unknown to the better writers and unpopular even with second raters.
- Ethan Mordden, Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920s (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), p. 4.

In 1924, ASCAP won a long battle to give American composers creative control over their scores. As unauthorized interpolations by other composers became a thing of the past, the musical began to grow in ways that no one could have envisioned. In Lorenz Hart: A Poet On Broadway (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 70), Frederick Nolan suggests that the "golden age" of the American musical began in September 1925, when four hits opened within a space of four days .


Hope these facts help??

[emm]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Val
Try Tourist information New York in your search engine it will probably give you loads of links to information on New York, though I am not a computer wizz, thought!! 1927 was that not when all the imigrants were going to the States and did they not go through "Ellis island", that is trying to remember school history and that was a long while ago.

Val
[/quote]

Ellis Island was no longer used for immigrants after 1924 I believe, but in 1927 there would still be many people in New York who had fairly recently passed through Ellis Island, or were still coming to terms with the fact that some members of their family were not admitted to to the US and had to go back home.

[Twiglet]

I'm just reading Bridge to Holy Cross by Paullina Simons, and one of the characters is a nurse on Ellis Island, during that time, and its really fascinating!

[Sharon G]

Interesting reading Julie.

[ALR]

Wow! Thanks, that's fantastic.

Thanks for all your help[msnsmile]