Whether you're a native New Yorker or going for a visit, there is still plenty to learn about the city. From how to read a subway map, to what's on the Museum Mile. New York City is the greatest city in the world. Millions live there and many more visit. We all know about the Statue of Liberty and the Empire States Building and the tragedy of the first World Trade Center. Why does midtown and southern Manhattan have clusters of skyscrapers? What borough held the peace conference on 11 September 1776 that might have ended the Revolution? Where did the first Europeans settle in the city? How could New York City have been named San Antonio or New Paris? How did “Wall Street” get its name? Where was the largest battle of the Revolution fought? What is the history of slavery in New York City, as it once held the greatest number of slaves, second only to Charleston, SC? How did Son of Sam give rise to tabloid journalism in a newspaper Alexander Hamilton founded? What lies under the city in over 10,000 miles of tunnels? These are just a few of the bite-sized morsels served up in this book about the city which makes it so special. I’m sure many native New Yorkers know some of them, but doubtful they know all.

2. New York City is the greatest city in the world.
Millions live there and many more visit. We all know
about the Statue of Liberty and the Empire States
Building and the tragedy of the first World Trade
Center.
I took the subway to high school and would often bike
all over the Bronx and take the subway to Manhattan,
which like Saturday Night Fever, often seemed a
world away. But even growing up there, there was so
much I didn’t know about my own city.
Following are some of what is in the book!
I answer some— for the rest?
Check out the book.

3. Where Did Alexander Hamilton Die?
Yes, he was shot in New Jersey, but who wants
to die there?

4. What’s In There? The Windowless Buildings:
33 Thomas Street.

5. Why New York City Might Have Been Named
New Paris?
The first documented visit to the New York City area by a
European was an Italian, Giovanni da Verrazano, in 1524.
However, he was sailing for the King of France. Which
foreshadows the city’s multicultural flavor.
Verrazano claimed the area for France. If the claim had somehow
stood, just think: New York City could have been New Paris.
No one knows Verrazano’s fate. There is some speculation he was
captured and eaten on a later voyage. It happens.
The Verrazano Bridge is named in his honor, straddling the
entrance to the Upper Bay of New York Harbor.

6. Where Was the First European Settlement In
The City?

7. What is the African Burial Ground?

8. What Was The largest battle of the Revolution?

9. How Has The Shoreline of Manhattan
Changed?

10. What Are Some Tips for Navigating the Subway?
Black dots on the subway map indicate local stops while white ones represent express
stations. If you are at an express station and going a long way, take the express. But make sure
your destination is also an express station or you have the fun experience every rider goes
through at least once of seeing your stop go flashing by.
There are pedestrian tunnels in many stations. These are marked on the map by a black line.
This will save you money and stop you from exiting one line and then entering another by
street level. Most of the time, but not always, in Manhattan, the uptown platform is on the east
side of the street and downtown is on the west. Usually this is labeled at street level on the
entrance sign.
Don’t be embarrassed to look at the map. They are in every car and station. Even native
New Yorkers use them. It’s useful to have a physical subway map if exploring.
When using the map, focus on the numbers and letters, not the color. Lines aren’t referred
to by colors and it can screw you up. For example, the blue line is the A, C and E lines. They
do go different places eventually.
Tthe MTA does have an app that not only has the map but can taunt you with status:
Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.mta.mymta&hl=en_US&gl=US
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mymta/id1297605670

11. Who Was Anne Hutchinson and Where is Split
Rock?

12. What Was Freedomland?

13. Why Is The Viele Map of 1865 Still Important?

14. What Were The First Two Iterations of Madison
Square Garden? Which one had an infamous
murder committed in it?

15. How Do You Navigate Streets and Address
Numbers?
There is a method to the madness of the streets in
Manhattan.
Streets run east-west. Avenues run north-south.
Odd-numbered streets are one-way west and even
numbered are one-way east.
Odd-numbered addresses are on the north side of
the street and even-numbered on the south side.
For avenues running north-south, odd-numbered
are on the west side, while even-numbered are on
the east.
And Avenues are East or West depending on
which side of Fifth Avenue they are on.
And there’s more.
In the book

16. What Was New York City’s Greatest Maritime
Disaster?
The World’s Deadliest Until Titanic.

17. What Is The City’s largest park?
Not the one you think.

18. What Was The City’s Tallest Building From
1913 to 1930? And in the world?

19. What Is The Longest Subway Line?

20. How Did Wall Street Get Its Name?

21. All those and so much more . . . .

24. er series set in New York City in the late 1970s, featuring ex-G
New York City. 1970s.
Jack Reacher meets the Equalizer
http://bobmayer.com/fiction/

26. More Free Information
I constantly update free, downloadable
slideshows like this on my web site for
preparation and survival and other topics.
Use Your Camera on this QR Code

27. New York Times bestselling author, is a graduate of West Point and
former Green Beret. He’s had over 80 books published, including the
#1 bestselling series Green Berets, Time Patrol, Area 51, and Atlantis.
He’s sold over 5 million books. He was born in the Bronx and has
traveled the world. He’s lived on an island off the east coast, an island
off the west coast, in the Rocky Mountains, the Smoky Mountains and
other places, including time in East Asia studying martial arts.
He was an instructor and course developer/writer for years at the
JFK Special Warfare Center and School which trains Green Berets and
also runs the SERE school:
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.
www.bobmayer.com