New York

File:New York magazine June 8 1970 cover.png June 8, 1970 issue
Editor	Adam Moss
Categories	General interest
Weekly
Publisher	New York Media, LLC
Total circulation (2011)	405,398[1]
First issue	1968
Country	United States
Based in	New York City
Language	English
Website	www.nymag.com
ISSN	0028-7369

New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New Journalism.^{[citation needed]} The magazine has, as a rule, published fewer national and more urban-tabloid stories than its sometime rival,^{[citation needed]} but has also freely veered outside the city's borders, publishing many noteworthy articles on American culture by writers such as Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, Nora Ephron, Kurt Andersen and John Heilemann. In its current incarnation under editor-in-chief Adam Moss, "The nation's best and most-imitated city magazine is often not about the city—at least not in the overcrowded, traffic-clogged, five-boroughs sense," wrote Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, as the magazine has increasingly published political and cultural stories of national significance.^[2] Since its 2004 redesign and relaunch the magazine has won more National Magazine Awards than any other publication. It was one of the first city magazines, and one of the first dual-audience "lifestyle magazines," and its format and style have been emulated by some other American regional city publications.

Its 2009 paid and verified circulation was 408,622, with 95.8% of that coming from subscriptions. Its website, which receives visits from seven million users monthly, has been recognized as among the industry's most innovative and successful.^[3]

History[link]

1960s[link]

New York began life in 1963 as the Sunday-magazine supplement of the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. Edited by Clay Felker, the magazine showcased the work of several talented Tribune contributors, including Tom Wolfe, Barbara Goldsmith, and Jimmy Breslin.^[4] Soon after the Tribune went out of business in 1966–67, Felker and his partner, Milton Glaser, purchased the rights with money loaned to them from Barbara Goldsmith's husband at the time C. Gerald Goldsmith and reincarnated the magazine as a stand-alone glossy. Joining them was managing editor Jack Nessel, Felker's number two at the Herald Tribune. New York's first issue was dated April 8, 1968. Among the by-lines were many familiar names from the magazine's earlier incarnation, including Breslin, Wolfe, and George Goodman, a financial writer who wrote as "Adam Smith".

Within a year, Felker had assembled a team of contributors who would come to define the magazine's voice. Breslin became a regular, as did Gloria Steinem, who wrote the city-politics column, and Gail Sheehy. (Sheehy would eventually marry Felker, in 1984.) Harold Clurman was hired as the theater critic. Judith Crist wrote movie reviews. Alan Rich covered the classical-music scene. Barbara Goldsmith was a Founding Editor of New York magazine and the author of the widely-imitated series, “The Creative Environment,” in which she interviewed such subjects as Marcel Breuer, I. M. Pei, George Balanchine, and Pablo Picasso about their creative process. Gael Greene, writing under the rubric "The Insatiable Critic," reviewed restaurants, cultivating a baroque writing style that leaned heavily on sexual metaphor.^{[citation needed]} Woody Allen contributed a few stories for the magazine in its early years. The magazine's regional focus and innovative illustrations inspired numerous imitators across the country.^[4]

1970s[link]

Wolfe, a regular contributor, to the magazine, wrote a story in 1970 that for many^[specify] defined the magazine (if not the age): "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's". The article described a benefit party for the Black Panthers, held in Leonard Bernstein's apartment, in a collision of high culture and low that paralleled New York magazine's ethos. In 1972, New York also launched Ms. magazine, which began as a special issue.^[4] New West, a sister magazine on New York's model that covered California life, was also published for a few years in the 1970s. Later columnists writing for the magazine included Michael Tomasky (city politics), John Simon (replacing Clurman on theater), David Denby (film), James Atlas, Marilyn Stasio, and John Leonard (books).

Well into the 1970s, Felker continued to broaden the magazine's palette,^[vague] covering Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal closely. In 1976, journalist Nik Cohn contributed a story called "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," about a young man in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood who, once a week, went to a local disco called Odyssey 2001; the story was a sensation and served as the basis for the film Saturday Night Fever. Twenty years later, Cohn admitted (in a story in New York) that he'd done no more than drive by Odyssey's door, and that he'd made the rest up.^{[citation needed]} It was a recurring problem of what Wolfe, in 1972, had labeled "The New Journalism."

In 1976, the Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch bought the magazine in a hostile takeover, forcing Felker and Glaser out.^{[citation needed]} A succession of editors followed, including Joe Armstrong and John Berendt.

1980s[link]

In 1980, Murdoch hired Edward Kosner, who had worked at Newsweek. Murdoch also bought Cue, a listings magazine that had covered the city since 1932, and folded it into New York, simultaneously creating a useful going-out guide and eliminating a competitor.^[5] Kosner's magazine tended toward a mix of newsmagazine-style stories, trend pieces, and pure "service" features—long articles on shopping and other consumer subjects—as well as close coverage of the glitzy 1980s New York City scene epitomized by financiers Donald Trump and Saul Steinberg. The magazine was profitable for most of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} The term "the Brat Pack" was coined for a 1985 story in the magazine.^[6]

1990s[link]

Murdoch got out of the magazine business in 1991, selling his holdings to K-III Communications, a partnership controlled by financier Henry Kravis. In January 1992, New York ran the first big magazine story on presidential candidate Bill Clinton, ten months before his election in November.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, budget pressure from K-III frustrated Kosner, and he left for Esquire magazine. After several months' search, during which the magazine was run by managing editor Peter Herbst, K-III hired Kurt Andersen, the co-creator of Spy, a humor monthly of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Andersen quickly replaced several staff members, bringing in many emerging and established writers (including Jim Cramer, Walter Kirn, Tomasky and Jacob Weisberg) and editors (including Michael Hirschorn, Kim France, Dany Levy, and Maer Roshan), and generally making the magazine faster-paced, younger in outlook, and more knowing in tone.^{[citation needed]}

In August 1996, Bill Reilly fired Andersen from his editorship, citing the publication's financial results.^[7] According to Andersen, he was fired for refusing to kill a story about a rivalry between investment bankers Felix Rohatyn and Steven Rattner that had upset Henry Kravis, a member of the firm's ownership group.^[8] His replacement was Caroline Miller, who came from Seventeen, another K-III title.

2000s[link]

In 2002 and 2003, Michael Wolff, the media critic hired by Miller in 1998, won two National Magazine Awards for his column. At the end of 2003, New York was sold again, to financier Bruce Wasserstein, for $55 million.^[9]

Wasserstein replaced Miller with Adam Moss, known for editing the short-lived New York weekly of the late 1980s "7 Days" and the New York Times Magazine.^[10]

In late 2004 the magazine was relaunched, most notably with two new sections: "The Strategist," devoted mostly to utility, and "The Culture Pages," covering the city's arts scene. Moss also rehired Kurt Andersen as a columnist.

Since 2004, the magazine has won seventeen National Magazine Awards,^{[citation needed]} including General Excellence in Print four times and General Excellence in Online twice. During this same period it has been a finalist 48 times in categories that included Profile Writing, Reviews and Criticism, Commentary, Public Service, Magazine Section, Leisure Interests, Personal Service, Single-Topic Issue, Photography, Photojournalism, Photo Portfolio, and Design. In 2007, when the magazine for the first time dominated the awards, much of the coverage the next day noted that The New Yorker took home no awards that night, despite receiving nine nominations, and also noted that New York was the first magazine to win for both its print and Internet editions in the same year.

In 2010, the magazine won National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in both its print circulation class (250,000 – 500,000) and in Digital Media for its website nymag.com, the first time any magazine has won General Excellence across both platforms the same year.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, the magazine won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence: News, Sports and Entertainment Magazines, beating out publications with higher circulation, including People and Time (magazine).^[11]

The February 25, 2008 issue featured a series of nude photographs of Lindsay Lohan. Shot by Bert Stern, the series replicated several poses from Stern's widely reproduced final photos of Marilyn Monroe, shot shortly before the actress's fatal drug overdose. That week, the magazine's website received over 60 million hits and with traffic 2000 percent higher than usual.^{[citation needed]}

The magazine is especially known for its food writing (its restaurant critic Adam Platt won a James Beard Award in 2009, and its Underground Gourmet critics Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld have won two National Magazine Awards); and also for its political coverage, especially John Heilemann's reporting on the 2008 presidential election, which led to his (and Mark Halperin's) best-selling book Game Change, and for coverage of the first two years of the Obama administration; The New Republic praised its "hugely impressive political coverage" during this period.^[12]

The magazine’s current stable of writers includes national political columnist and correspondent John Heilemann, co-author of the best-selling book about the 2008 presidential election Game Change,^[13] Steve Fishman, Jesse Green, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Joe Hagan, Mark Jacobson, Jennifer Senior, Gabriel Sherman, Christopher Smith, and Jonathan Van Meter. Its well-regarded culture critics include David Edelstein (movies), Emily Nussbaum (TV), Jerry Saltz (art), Justin Davidson (classical music and architecture), and Sam Anderson (books), who won the National Book Critics Circle's Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing in 2007.

New York has been widely recognized for its design under Moss, with back-to-back design wins at the National Magazine Awards and Magazine of the Year wins from the Society of Publication Designers (SPD) in 2006 and 2007. The 2008 Eliot Spitzer “Brain” cover was named Cover of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and Advertising Age and 2009's “Bernie Madoff, Monster” was named Best News & Business Cover by ASME. Design director Chris Dixon and photography director Jody Quon were named “Design Team of the Year” by Adweek in 2008.

In 2009, after Bruce Wasserstein's death, the magazine's ownership passed to his family. Many obituaries noted Wasserstein's revival of the magazine. "While previous owners had required constant features in the magazine about the best place to get a croissant or a beret," wrote David Carr of The New York Times, "it was clear that Wasserstein wanted a publication that was the best place to learn about the complicated apparatus that is modern New York. In enabling as much, Mr. Wasserstein recaptured the original intent of the magazine's founder, Clay Felker."^[14]

2010s[link]

On March 1, 2011 it was announced that Frank Rich would leave The New York Times to become an essayist and editor-at-large for New York. Rich began his relationship with the magazine starting in June 2011.^[15]

Puzzles and competitions[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

New York magazine was once known for its competitions and unique crossword puzzles. For the first year of the magazine's existence, the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim contributed an extremely complex cryptic crossword to every third issue. In the style of British crosswords (as they are sometimes called), the cryptic crosswords feature clues that include a straight definition and a wordplay definition. Richard Maltby, Jr. took over thereafter. Since 1980, the magazine has also run an American-style crossword. For the first 30 years the puzzle was always by Maura B. Jacobson, but beginning in the summer of 2010, Cathy Allis Millhauser's byline began appearing in alternate weeks, and the magazine announced her as permanent co-constructor in September 2010. The cryptic crosswords were eventually dropped.

In the remaining two weeks out of every three, Sondheim's friend Mary Ann Madden edited^[16] an extremely popular witty literary competition calling for readers to send in humorous poetry or other bits of wordplay on a theme that changed with each installment. (A typical entry, in a competition calling for humorous epitaphs, supplied this one for Geronimo: "Requiescat in Apache.") Altogether, Madden ran 973 installments of the competition, retiring in 2000. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of entries were received each week, and winners included the likes of David Mamet, Herb Sargent, and Dan Greenburg. David Halberstam once claimed that he had submitted entries 137 times without winning. Sondheim, Woody Allen, and Nora Ephron were fans.

The Competition's demise, when Madden retired, was greatly lamented among its fans. In August 2000, the magazine published a letter from an Irish contestant, John O'Byrne, who wrote: "How I'll miss the fractured definitions, awful puns, conversation stoppers, one-letter misprints, ludicrous proverbs, openings of bad novels, near misses, et al. (what a nice guy Al is!)." Many entrants have since migrated to The Washington Post's similar "Style Invitational" feature. Three volumes of Competition winners were published, titled Thank You for the Giant Sea Tortoise, Son of Giant Sea Tortoise, and Maybe He's Dead: And Other Hilarious Results of New York Magazine Competitions.

Digital expansion and blogs[link]

In 2006, New York magazine’s Website, nymag.com, underwent a year-long relaunch, transforming the site from a magazine companion to an up-to-the-minute news and service destination. In 2008 parent company New York Media purchased the online restaurant and menu resource MenuPages, which serves eight markets across the U.S., as a complement to its own online restaurant listings and to gain a foothold in seven additional cities.^[17] As of July 2010, digital revenue accounted for fully one third of company advertising revenue.^[3]

New York magazine has a variety of online blogs including The Cut,^[18] Daily Intel,^[19] Grub Street,^[20] The Sports Section,^[21] and Vulture.^[22]

"The Cut" features current fashion happenings and is a popular destination for fashion bloggers looking for reliable and recent fashion news. Grub Street, covering food and restaurants, was expanded in 2009 to five additional cities served by nymag.com sister site MenuPages.com.^[23]

David Carr noted in an August 2010 column, “In a way, New York magazine is fast becoming a digital enterprise with a magazine attached.”^[24]

The New York magazine Blogs are also very popular for their commenters. They have even appeared in the blog posts.

Books[link]

During Adam Moss’s tenure New York has published three books: New York Look Book: A Gallery of Street Fashion (New York: Melcher Media, 2007),^[25] New York Stories: Landmark Writing From Four Decades of New York Magazine,^[26] and My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City (As Remembered by Actors, Artists, Athletes, Chefs, Comedians, Filmmakers, Mayors, Models, Moguls, Porn Stars, Rockers, Writers, and Others) (New York: Ecco/HarperCollins, 2010).^[27]

Television[link]

Michael Hirschorn’s Ish Entertainment is currently developing a TV series for Bravo inspired by the magazine’s popular weekly Approval Matrix feature. The series will have pop culture pundits debating where various items belong on the highbrow/lowbrow and brilliant/despicable axes of the Matrix, which has appeared in the magazine since November 2004.^[28]

New York’s art critic Jerry Saltz is a judge on Bravo’s fine art reality competition series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.^[29] Additionally, Grub Street Senior Editor Alan Sytsma appeared as a guest on judge on three episodes of the third season of Top Chef: Masters (season 3).

See also[link]

	New York City portal
	Media portal

• Media of New York City
• New York Magazine's Cultural Awards of 2006

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• 40th Anniversary

State of New York
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior (Latin)[1] Ever upward
Demonym	New Yorker
Capital	Albany
Largest city	New York City
Largest metro area	New York City Metropolitan Area
Area	Ranked 27th in the U.S.
- Total	54,556[2] sq mi (141,300 km2)
- Width	285 miles (455 km)
- Length	330 miles (530 km)
- % water	13.5
- Latitude	40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N
- Longitude	71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W
Population	Ranked 3rd in the U.S.
- Total	19,465,197 (2011 est)[3]
- Density	412/sq mi  (159/km2) Ranked 7th in the U.S.
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Marcy[4][5][6] 5,343 ft (1628.57 m)
- Mean	1,000 ft  (300 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[5][6] sea level
Admission to Union	July 26, 1788 (11th)
Governor	Andrew Cuomo (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Robert Duffy (D)
Legislature	New York Legislature
- Upper house	State Senate
- Lower house	State Assembly
U.S. Senators	Charles Schumer (D) Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
U.S. House delegation	21 Democrats, 8 Republicans (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	NY US-NY
Website	www.ny.gov

New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] ( listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.

New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.

New York was inhabited by various tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian speaking Native American tribes at the time Dutch settlers moved into the region in the early 17th century. In 1609, the region was first claimed by Henry Hudson for the Dutch. Fort Nassau was built near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614. The Dutch soon also settled New Amsterdam and parts of the Hudson River Valley, establishing the colony of New Netherland. The British took over the colony by annexation in 1664.

The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were roughly similar to those of the present-day state. About one third of all the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. The state constitution was enacted in 1777. New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.

History[link]

17th century[link]

Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage marked the beginning of the European involvement with that area. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year. After his return word of his findings quickly spread and Dutch merchants began to explore the coast in search for profitable fur trade. During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the trade of pelts from the Lenape, Iroquois and other indigenous peoples expanded into the colony of New Netherland. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau (1614, near present-day Albany); Fort Orange (1624, on the Hudson River just south of the current city of Albany and created to replace Fort Nassau), developing into settlement Beverwijck (1647), and into what became Albany; Fort Amsterdam (1625, to develop into the town New Amsterdam which is present-day New York City); and Esopus, (1653, now Kingston). The success of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (1630), which surrounded Albany and lasted until the mid 19th century, was also a key factor in the early success of the colony. The English captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. The city of New York was recaptured by the Dutch once again in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674) and renamed New Orange, but returned to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster a year later.^[7]

American Revolution[link]

New York in 1777

The Sons of Liberty were organized in New York City during the 1760s, largely in response to the oppressive Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament in 1765. The Stamp Act Congress met in the city on October 19 of that year: a gathering of representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies that set the stage for the Continental Congress to follow. The Stamp Act Congress resulted in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which was the first written expression by representatives of the Americans of many of the rights and complaints later expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence, including the right to representative government.

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the Siege of Boston in 1775.

New York endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.^[8] The New York state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at Kingston, New York on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution drafted by John Jay was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. On July 30, 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared—and the largest battle of the entire war—was fought in New York at the Battle of Long Island (a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn) in August 1776. British victory made New York City their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the center of attention for General George Washington's intelligence network.

The notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay saw more American combatants die of intentional neglect than were killed in combat in every battle of the war, combined.

The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, influencing France to ally with the revolutionaries.

In an attempt to retain their sovereignty and remain an independent nation positioned between the new United States and British North America, four of the Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British; only the Oneidas and their dependents the Tuscaroras allied themselves to the Americans.^[9] The Sullivan Expedition of 1778 and 1779 destroyed nearly 50 Iroquois villages and adjacent croplands, forcing many refugees to British-held Niagara.^[10] As allies of the British, the Iroquois were resettled in Canada after the war. In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States. Because New York made treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases are the subject of modern-day claims by the individual tribes. More than 5 million acres (20,000 km²) of former Iroquois territory was put up for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in upstate New York.^[11] As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies—their troops in New York City—departed in 1783, which was long afterwards celebrated as Evacuation Day.^[12]

Following heated debate, which included the publication of the now quintessential constitutional interpretation—the Federalist Papers—as a series of installments in New York City newspapers, New York was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.^[13]

19th century[link]

The creation of the Erie Canal led to rapid industrialization in New York.

Transportation in western New York was difficult before canals were built in the early part of the 19th century. The Hudson and Mohawk Rivers could be navigated only as far as Central New York. While the St. Lawrence River could be navigated to Lake Ontario, the way westward to the other Great Lakes was blocked by Niagara Falls, and so the only route to western New York was over land.

Governor DeWitt Clinton strongly advocated building a canal to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and thus all the Great Lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal was finished in 1825. It was considered an engineering marvel. Packet boats traveled up and down the canal with sightseers and visitors on board.^[14] The canal opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement. It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper. It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City. Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York.

Ellis Island[link]

Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island

Ellis Island in 1905

Ellis Island was the main facility for immigrants, entering the United States in the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. It was opened when the federal government took over the responsibility for processing immigrants, prior to that it was the responsibility of the states. It replaced the prior New York State immigration center located at Castle Clinton, a War of 1812 era fort located in what is today Battery Park, through which at least 8 million immigrants such as Harry Houdini, passed through from 1855–1890.^[15]

Ellis Island operated as an immigration center from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954. It is owned by the Federal government and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. It is situated in New York Harbor, between two states and cities, Jersey City, New Jersey and New York City, New York.

More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, between 1892 and 1954. After 1924, when the National Origins Act was passed, the only immigrants to pass through there were displaced persons or war refugees.^[16] Today, over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to the immigrants, who first arrived in America through Castle Clinton and Ellis Island, before dispersing to points all over the country. Ellis Island was the subject of a border dispute between New York State and New Jersey. The issue was settled in 1998 by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that the original 3.3 acre island was New York State territory and that the balance of the 27.5 acres (11 ha) added after 1834 by landfill was in New Jersey.

Statue of Liberty[link]

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi, was a gift from France to the United States to mark the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a "sister" republic, across the sea, served as a focus for the republican cause against other politicians. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.

Liberty Island closed on September 11, 2001; the island reopened in December, the monument reopened on August 3, 2004, but the statue remained closed until the summer of 2009. The National Park Service claims that the statue is not shut because of a terrorist threat, but principally because of a long list of fire regulation contraventions, including inadequate evacuation procedures. The museum and ten-story pedestal are open for visitors, but are only accessible if visitors have a "Monument Access Pass", which is a reservation that visitors must make in advance of their visit and pick up before boarding the ferry. There are a maximum of 3000 passes available each day, with a total of 15,000 visitors to the island daily. The interior of the statue remains closed, although a glass ceiling in the pedestal allows for views of Gustave Eiffel's iron framework of Lady Liberty.

Geography[link]

New York terrain.

Map of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

New York covers 54,556 square miles (141,300 km²) and ranks as the 27th largest state by size.^[2] The Great Appalachian Valley dominates eastern New York, while Lake Champlain is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes the Hudson River flowing southward to the Atlantic Ocean. The rugged Adirondack Mountains, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the valley.

Most of the southern part of the state is on the Allegheny Plateau, which rises from the southeast to the Catskill Mountains. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.^[17]

New York's borders touch (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River); the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada; Lake Champlain; three New England states (Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut); the Atlantic Ocean, and two Mid-Atlantic States, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition, Rhode Island shares a water border with New York. New York is the only state that touches both the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, and is the second-largest of the original Thirteen Colonies.

In contrast with New York City's urban atmosphere, the vast majority of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is the largest state park in the United States. It is larger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Olympic National Parks combined.^[18] New York established the first state park in the United States at Niagara Falls in 1885. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction.

The Hudson River begins at Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu and then the St. Lawrence Rivers. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island; Staten Island; and Long Island, which contains Brooklyn and Queens on its western end.

Upstate and downstate are often used informally to distinguish New York City or its greater metropolitan area from the rest of New York State. The placement of a boundary between the two is a matter of great contention.^[19] Unofficial and loosely defined regions of Upstate New York include the Southern Tier, which often includes the counties along the border with Pennsylvania,^[20] and the North Country, which can mean anything from the strip along the Canadian border to everything north of the Mohawk River.^[21]

Climate[link]

Lake-effect snow is a major contributor to snowfall totals in western New York.

In general, New York has a humid continental climate, though under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate.^[22] Weather in New York is heavily influenced by two continental air masses: a warm, humid one from the southwest and a cold, dry one from the northwest.

The winters are long and cold in the Plateau Divisions of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of −13 °F (−25 °C) or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and 5 °F (−15 °C) or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands (Southern Plateau). The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills and higher elevations of the Southern Plateau.

The New York City/Long Island area and lower portions of the Hudson Valley have rather warm summers by comparison, with some periods of high, uncomfortable humidity. The remainder of New York State enjoys pleasantly warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions. Summer daytime temperatures usually range from the upper 70s to mid 80s °F (25 to 30 °C), over much of the state.

New York ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of greenhouse gases generated per person. This relative efficiency is primarily due to the state's higher rate of mass transit use.^[23]

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various New York Cities^[24]

(Fahrenheit)

City		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Albany	max min	31 13	34 16	44 25	57 36	70 46	78 55	82 60	80 58	71 50	60 39	48 31	36 20
Binghamton	max min	28 15	31 17	41 25	53 35	66 46	73 54	78 59	76 57	68 50	57 40	44 31	33 21
Buffalo	max min	31 18	33 19	42 26	54 36	66 48	75 57	80 62	78 60	70 53	59 43	47 34	36 24
Lake Placid	max min	27 5	32 8	40 16	54 29	66 39	74 48	78 53	76 51	69 44	56 34	44 25	32 12
Long Beach	max min	39 23	40 24	48 31	58 40	69 49	77 60	83 66	82 64	75 57	64 45	54 36	44 28
New York City	max min	38 26	41 28	50 35	61 44	71 54	79 63	84 69	82 68	75 60	64 50	53 41	43 32
Rochester	max min	31 17	33 17	43 25	55 35	68 46	77 55	81 60	79 59	71 51	60 41	47 33	36 23
Syracuse	max min	31 14	34 16	43 24	56 35	68 46	77 55	82 60	80 59	71 51	60 40	47 32	36 21

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various New York Cities

(Celsius)

City		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Albany	max min	−1 −11	1 −9	7 −4	14 2	21 8	26 13	28 16	27 14	22 10	16 4	9 −1	2 −7
Binghamton	max min	−2 −9	−1 −8	5 −4	12 2	19 8	23 12	26 15	24 14	20 10	14 4	7 −1	1 −6
Buffalo	max min	−1 −8	1 −7	6 −3	12 2	19 9	24 14	27 17	26 16	21 12	15 6	8 1	2 −4
Lake Placid	max min	−3 −15	0 −13	4 −9	12 −2	19 4	23 9	26 12	24 11	21 7	13 1	7 −4	0 −11
Long Beach	max min	4 −5	4 −4	9 −1	14 4	21 9	25 16	28 19	28 18	24 14	18 7	12 2	7 −2
New York City	max min	3 −3	5 −2	10 2	16 7	22 12	26 17	29 21	28 20	24 16	18 10	12 5	6 0
Rochester	max min	−1 −8	1 −8	6 −4	13 2	20 8	25 13	27 16	26 15	22 11	16 5	8 1	2 −5
Syracuse	max min	−1 −10	1 −9	6 −4	13 2	20 8	25 13	28 16	27 15	22 11	16 4	8 0	2 −6
Converted from Fahrenheit data (above)

State parks[link]

Two major parks in the state are the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park.

New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Adirondack Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United States, was established in 1892 and given state constitutional protection to remain "forever wild" in 1894. The thinking that led to the creation of the Park first appeared in George Perkins Marsh's Man and Nature, published in 1864. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to desertification; referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."

The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885,^[25] which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of land,^[25] the park is a habitat for bobcats, minks and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.

The Montauk Point State Park boasts the 1797 Montauk Lighthouse, commissioned under President George Washington, which is a major tourist attraction on the easternmost tip of Long Island. Hither Hills park offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sport fishermen.

Counties[link]

Map of the counties in New York

New York is divided into 62 counties:

Regions[link]

New York State is divided into eleven regions by the Department of Economic Development:^[26]

Regions of New York as defined by the New York State Department of Economic Development

Chautaugua–Allegheny Niagara Frontier Finger Lakes Thousand Islands Central Region (formerly Central-Leatherstocking) Adirondack Mountains Catskill Mountains Hudson Valley Capital District New York City Long Island

New York State is sometimes divided into eight major regions:^[27]

North Country Western New York Central New York Capital District Southern Tier Hudson Valley New York City Long Island

New York State is divided into ten regions by the Department of Economic Development:^[28]

Western New York (counties: Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany) Finger Lakes (counties: Orleans, Genesse, Wyoming, Monroe, Livingston, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, and Seneca) Central New York (counties: Cortland, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego, and Madison) Southern Tier (counties: Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, Chenango, and Broome) North Country New York (counties: St. Lawrence, Lewis, Jefferson, Hamilton, Essex, Clinton, and Franklin) Capital District (counties: Albany, Columbia, Greene, Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Rennselaer) Mohawk Valley (counties: Oneida, Herkimer, Fulton, Montogomery, Otsego, and Schoharie) Hudson Valley (counties: Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester) New York City (counties: New York, Bronx, Queens, Kings, and Richmond) Long Island (counties: Nassau and Suffolk)

Cities[link]

There are 62 cities in New York. The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which comprises five counties (boroughs): the Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), and Richmond (Staten Island). New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population.

The following are the ten largest cities in New York:^[29]

New York City (8,175,133) Buffalo (261,310) Rochester (210,565) Yonkers (195,976) Syracuse (145,170) Albany (97,856) New Rochelle (77,062) Mount Vernon (67,292) Schenectady (66,135) Utica (62,235)

The location of these cities within the state stays remarkably true to the major transportation and trade routes in the early 19th century, primarily the Erie Canal and railroads paralleling it. Today, Interstate 90 acts as a modern counterpart to commercial water routes.

Grouped by metropolitan statistical area,^[30] the following are the twelve largest population centers in the state are:

New York City (18,897,109 in NY/NJ/PA, 12,368,525 in NY) Buffalo-Niagara Falls (1,135,509) Rochester (1,054,323) Albany and the Capital District (870,716) Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley (670,301) Syracuse (662,577) Utica-Rome (299,397) Binghamton (251,725) Kingston (182,493) Glens Falls (128,923) Ithaca (101,564) Elmira (88,830)

The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, located just west of the Town of Vernon in Oneida County. Albany is the state capital, and the Town of Hempstead is the civil township with the largest population. If it were a city, it would be the second largest in the state with over 700,000 residents.

The southern tip of New York State—New York City, its suburbs including Long Island, the southern portion of the Hudson Valley, and most of northern New Jersey—can be considered to form the central core of the Northeast megalopolis", a super-city stretching from the northern suburbs of Boston south to the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C..

Demographics[link]