History
Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out until Labor Day
While the Statue of Liberty is on track to reopen her crown to the public on the Fourth of July, tickets to climb up her steps are already all-but sold out through the Labor Day weekend.
Tickets first went on sale June 13 and demand was so high that the website and telephone lines were difficult to access. (The website has been slow again this morning.)
 Only 30 people per hour will be allowed to take the stairs to the crown under escort from a National Park Service ranger.
It’s important to note that currently the plan is to keep the crown open for two years only. After that, it will close again for a project to make the interior safer to visitors and hopefully allow more people to visit each day.
The crown has been closed since Sept. 11, 2001, mainly for fire safety reasons, the National Park Service has long said. The torch has been closed to the public since 1916, when Liberty’s arm was damaged by a massive rail yard explosion in nearby New Jersey. There are no plans to ever reopen the torch to the public.
You can also follow the the Statue of Liberty on Twitter (it’s an official NPS account;) or flickr; or take an eTour.
What you need to know to get tickets to the Statue of Liberty’s crown:
Crown tickets can be reserved up to a year in advance through Statue Cruises, the only company licensed to ferry the public to Liberty and Ellis islands. The $3 crown fee will be on top of the regular ferry ticket, currently priced at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 877- LADY-TIX (877-523-9849) between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Eastern time.
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July 2, 2009 9:49 AM Comments (0)
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Wright's 1909 Statue of Liberty flights celebrated
Officials from the Wright Family Foundation and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum were in New York on Wednesday to mark an upcoming centennial of flying history that started on Governors Island.
 On September 29, 1909 Wilbur Wright made the first long over-water flight in America as he took off from Governors Island and twice circled the Statue of Liberty, said Tom Crouch, the senior curator for aeronautics at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Just in case, a red canoe was strapped to the bottom of the plane.
The headline of The Globe newspaper pegged the elevation of the flight at 150 feet, dipping to a mere 25 feet above Castle Williams on Governors Island.
A few days later, Wright made a longer flight up the Hudson as part of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, marking the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s initial navigation of the waterway (and the first steam navigation of the river by Robert Fulton in 1807.)
Wright’s second flight, on Oct. 4, 1909, started at Governors Island, moved on to the Statue of Liberty and then extended all the way up to Grant’s Tomb. The 20-mile round-trip flight took 33 minutes, and was witnessed by a million people lining the shores, according to newspaper accounts. The river was packed with 1,600 ships that had come for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Crouch said.
As New York City is once again celebrating Hudson’s 1609 “discovery,” a September 12 air show is in the works for Governors Island, said Amanda Wright Lane, a great grand niece of Orville and Wilbur Wright. That air show may include a re-creation of a 1909 Wright flight.
Wilbur already has his name on a monument on Governors Island, celebrating the “early birds” of military aviation.
The plaque on the front states: “This bronze propeller was cast directly from one of the Wright brothers’ wooden propellers. Two were used to propel the first United States military aeroplane, a 1909 Wright. The original was loaned to the Early Birds, by the Smithsonian Institution, National Air Museum - Paul E. Garber, head curator.”
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June 25, 2009 9:31 AM Comments (2)
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Titanic, Lucy exhibitions open in Times Square today
The all-new Discovery Times Square Exposition opens today with two big exhibitions: “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” and “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia.”
Unfortunately the tickets are sold separately, making it one of the most expensive museum-type experiences in New York. The price of an adult ticket to the two exhibitions: $47.63. (That includes the service fee if you book in advance by phone.)
Located on 44th Street in the former press room of the New York Times, the reconfigured 60,000 square-foot space will feature temporary exhibitions, along with space for dining and gift shops. (On Tuesday, workers were busy hanging “I (heart) Lucy” T-shirts.)
The Lucy exhibition features the bones of the 3.2-million year old hominid found in Ethopia in 1974, as well as the 47 million year old fossil known as Ida (Plate B) or Darwinius masilae. The exhibition also covers the history and culture of Ethiopia.
See the Post for pictures of the Titanic exhibition, which features pieces from the shipwreck including uncorked Champagne bottles.
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June 24, 2009 7:23 AM Comments (0)
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Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out through Aug. 11
 Ticketing lines have remained fairly jammed since Statue of Liberty crown tickets went on sale Saturday, with the first month’s worth of access already sold out.
The call center has been taking around 1,500 calls per day, a spokesperson for Statue Cruises told NewYorkology. And that’s in addition to orders placed through the online ticketing site.
On July 4, the crown will reopen to the public for the first time since Sept. 10, 2001. Due to fire safety issues (which were debated even before the terror attacks,) only 30 people an hour will be allowed up the narrow double-helix stairwell to the statue’s crown.
Tickets for the crown are already sold out through August 11.
If you go, an early-morning trip is the best way to avoid the lines and reduce the risk the statue will be closed for excessive heat (when the outside temperature reaches 90.)
Crown tickets can be reserved up to a year in advance through Statue Cruises, the only company licensed to ferry the public to Liberty and Ellis islands. The $3 crown fee will be on top of the regular ferry ticket, currently priced at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. The Statue of Liberty ticketing call center (877-523-9849) is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eastern time.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
June 17, 2009 9:22 AM Comments (0)
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Statue of Liberty crown tickets now on sale
See updated story: Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out until Labor Day
Tickets for the Statue of Liberty’s crown went on sale at 10 a.m. this morning, but most callers were greeted by busy signals an an occasional “All circuits are busy now. Please try your call later.”
The ticketing website for Statue Cruises has also been unavailable for much of the morning.
The crown will officially open July 4, with about 30 people an hour allowed to climb the stairs up.
Crown tickets can be reserved up to a year in advance through Statue Cruises, the only company licensed to ferry the public to Liberty and Ellis islands. The $3 crown fee will be on top of the regular ferry ticket, currently priced at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 877- LADY-TIX (877-523-9849.)
Updates: Two of NewYorkology’s Twitter contacts said they’ve secured crown tickets, both through the website. Two more said they got tickets, one by phone, the other online.
Update: Once you reach the website, it provides an excellent explanation of your options. Note that the ticketing process requires you to list the names of every person you’re buying tickets for. Also be aware that the statue’s interior will close during extreme heat, so your best bet in summer months is to reserve a ticket as early in the morning as possible.
Here are screenshots of the Statue Cruises ticketing pages from this morning:
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June 13, 2009 9:53 AM Comments (2)
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Spectacular High Line park opens on elevated railway
The High Line today unofficially opened half a day early, debuting an elevated space that will undoubtedly turn into Manhattan’s new favorite thing.
In the first hours it was open, people were lounging about, splashing bare feet in the water installation under benches facing the Hudson, taking lunch on the amphitheater steps that now make 10th Avenue look like a stage, and there was even a picture-perfect couple dressed for a wedding.
Already, there is something passionately New York about it. The brilliantly designed space embraces the city’s juxtapositions — it is old and new, for rich and poor, crass and quiet, public yet intimate. Quick-and-dirty condos appear to grow from the same grass as the Empire State Building. Frank Gehry’s modern IAC Building appears as half a bookend to a billboard often plastered with high-fashion models in various stages of faux-orgasm.
The High Line itself was built in the 1930s to move the big freight trains off the West Side streets. Abandoned since the 1980s, the rail line was threatened with demolition until the Friends of the High Line was founded with the crazy idea to turn it into a park.
The High Line will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. For now, only one phase is open (up to 20th Street,) and you can enter at Gansevoort and Washington streets, map.
The High Line also opens with a major, though temporary art installation by Spencer Finch in association with Creative Time. “The River That Flows Both Ways,” is 700 individual panels of glass — in hues of blues, purples and greys — fitted into the original High Line window panes that allowed light into the bay of the Nabisco building. Finch plays with parallels between the rail line, where trains ran north and south — and the Hudson, which is not actually a river, but an estuary, and flows “both ways” during each day.
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June 8, 2009 4:13 PM Comments (2)
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Historical ships arrive for NY400's River Day
There are big NY400 events planned this weekend as a flotilla of heritage ships will retrace Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage up the river that now bears his name.
 Events got started this evening — under very grey skies — with the Half Moon’s passing of the Statue of Liberty, a mustering of boats in front of Ellis Island and a blessing of the fleet.
Brighter skies Saturday will see the 9 a.m. start of flotilla at Statue of Liberty, and later parade past Harlem, the Cloisters, Yonkers and the Hudson River Museum.
Ships scheduled to take part include the Onrust, Clearwater, and the Mystic Whaler.
They should arrive in Tarrytown and Nyack before the day is done.
June 5, 2009 6:39 PM Comments (0)
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Discovery Times Square Expo to open with Titanic, Lucy
 (Update: The Discovery Times Square Exposition is now open and exhibitions are priced separately - so a ticket to both is close to $50.)
Discovery Times Square Exposition will open June 24 in the former New York Times building with a pair of blockbuster exhibitions on the Titanic and the 3.2 million-year-old hominid fossil known as Lucy.
“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will likely open next year, with more artifacts than have been displayed on its tour thus far, including its 2007 exhibition at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute.
The Discovery Times Square Exposition site will open on on 44th Street in a 60,000 square-foot space that formerly housed the New York Times’ printing presses, organizers said Thursday. It will hold two major gallery halls, learning centers, a special event space, a cafe, and a store.
Admission to the initial exhibitions — “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” and “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia,” — will be priced at $19.50 for adults, $18.50 for seniors and $17.50 for children.
Discovery Times Square Exposition will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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June 5, 2009 8:30 AM Comments (0)
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Governors Island's old jail with Lady Liberty views
A New York Times column today about the up-in-the-air fate of Guantanamo detainees toys with the notion of moving them to Governors Island in the middle of New York Harbor.
 What the story neglects to mention is that the island is already home to a well-used jail: Castle Williams.
Built from 1807 to 1811, no shot was ever fired in anger from the fortification, however it later housed Civil War prisoners who were no doubt angry - as well as sick, due to the unsanitary conditions there.
“It was not a very pretty place,” a National Park Service ranger said during a Governors Island tour on Friday. Thirty to 60 prisoners — only enlisted men were housed in Castle Williams — were kept in each cell, with no sanitation, no running water.
Castle Williams was a military prison up until 1963, just before the U.S. Army left Governors Island. When the Coast Guard moved in, it was used as youth community center and later a landscape shop.
During the NPS tours — which are free on Wednesdays and Thursdays — you can look into one of the cells, but you can’t yet go inside. The recent batch of stimulus funds in the U.S. Economic Recovery Plan includes about $5 million to stabilize the building, Mindi Rambo, an NPS assistant public affairs officer, told NewYorkology.
Eventually the cells will open to the public and exhibits will be placed inside, if all goes as planned. That is, unless the Guantanamo detainees become the inhabitants of the round, red fortification.
More pictures after the jump.
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June 2, 2009 11:09 AM Comments (0)
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Governors Island opens for 2009 with polo, free bikes
Governors Island today opens for the 2009 season, with a family festival, bike rentals, a new picnic area facing the Statue of Liberty and a polo match featuring Prince Harry of England.
The short ferry ride to the island from Lower Manhattan remain free this year.
This summer’s special events include Dorothy Parker Society’s 11th annual Parkerfest and Roaring Twenties Jazz Age Lawn Party and the FIGMENT Festival and the Folks on the Island music festival. Free Bike Fridays also returns this year, with twice as many bikes. The Governors Island Water Taxi Beach is scheduled to open in time for the 4th of July weekend.
The Water Taxi Beach will be built on the north side of Governors Island, facing Lower Manhattan. Currently a parking lot, it’s located next to the main ferry landing in spot that last year hosted one of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls. (Like at the Brooklyn Bridge, trees here were damaged by the salty waterfall, but are expected to recover, an NPS official said.)
On Friday, NewYorkology got a preview tour of the island with rangers from the National Park Service, which operates the historic portion of the island.
Starting today, Governors Island is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, the rangers lead free tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but on those days you’re not allowed to roam the island, except as part of the 1.5-mile ranger tour.
Fridays through Sundays, when the full island is open, rangers will be at some locations to explain the history of the old fortifications. You can also pick up a free do-it-yourself walking tour brochure at the ferry terminal in Manhattan.
Castle Williams, the round, red fortification easily seen from the Staten Island Ferry, was built from 1807 to 1811 and is considered the first purely American-designed fort, as most earlier ones on U.S. soil used a starred-French design. Its soft, red sandstone came from Newark.
Castle Williams is also a new recipient of about $5 million of stimulus funds in the U.S. Economic Recovery Plan, Mindi Rambo, an NPS assistant public affairs officer, told NewYorkology.
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May 30, 2009 6:59 AM Comments (0)
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