67. New York City – The Big Apple

Apples don’t grow
in New York City,
so that’s not why
it is called
the Big Apple.
There are many legends
about how the city
that never sleeps
got its name.
One story says
that a famous
brothel owner
named Eve
gave the city
its name.
Another version of history
claims
the name has its roots
in show business
with performers
calling New York
the “Big Apple”
since it was
the best place
to get noticed.
There is one legend
that says the city
got its name
because of
the large number of unemployed
selling apples
on the streets
of New York City
during the Great Depression.

The term more likely
has its roots
in horse racing
from the 1920’s.
Prizes were called “apples”
and a newspaper reporter
when writing about races
often would call
the big prize
the big apple.
In fact,
the “big apple” soon
was used to mean
any big city.
In the late 1920s
through the 1940s,
“The Big Apple”
was not just a nickname
for New York,
it was also the name of
a song, a dance,
and a place to dance
and sing.
New York City
was the heart of
the jazz music scene
in the 1930’s
and 1940s.
In Harlem,
uptown Manhattan,
there was a club
called “The Big Apple”.
There was also
a 1938 short film
of the same name
featuring black jazz
musicians and dancers.

In the 1970s,
the city tourism agency
began using the term
the “Big Apple”
on purpose.
There is even
a street corner
in Manhattan
called “Big Apple Corner”.
One New York City
baseball team,
the New York Mets,
have a big red apple
that pops out
whenever the Mets
hit a home run
in their stadium Citifield.
While the origins
of the “Big Apple” nickname
are unclear,
it seems to be
here to stay.