Big Apple Corner (Manhattan)
Present name:None
Location:Southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway.
Honoree: John J. Fitz Gerald (1893-1963), who lived nearby, was a turf writer for the Morning Telegraph. He was the first to popularize "The Big Apple" as a nickname for New York. In the 1920s, on assignment in New Orleans, he heard the term used by black stablehands and adopted it for his horseracing column. It was also the name of a popular dance in the 1930s but faded from public consciousness after World War II. As a nickname for New York, it was revived in the 1970s by Charles Gillett of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau, now known as NYC & Company.
LL:1997/7