There’s more to the Big Apple than Lady Liberty and Central Park. Here are some tidbits that even the most diehard New Yorker might not have known.
1. New York City may be a concrete jungle, but there’s more green space than you think. About 29,000 acres—or 14 percent of the city—is parkland.
2. The city also boasts 14 miles of beaches.
3. In case you were wondering, it’s perfectly legal to walk around NYC topless.
4. In the early 19th century, New York’s sanitation system largely consisted of pigs roaming the streets eating trash.
5. Why are NYC’s cabs yellow? Because back in 1907, a car salesman suggested yellow was the easiest color to spot from a distance.
6. New York’s Federal Reserve Bank vault is the world’s largest depository for monetary gold.
7. In 2011, tourists pumped about $31 billion into the city’s economy.
8. In 2003, a man was arrested for trying to recreate the Garden of Eden in his Harlem apartment. He had “collected” a live alligator and a 400-pound tiger.
9. When Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974, he didn’t do it once—he walked between the buildings eight times! During his feat he was 1368 feet above the ground.
10. Manhattan means “island of the hills” in Lenape.