New York › Places and landmarks
Rockefeller Center
The Art Deco towers between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, with the golden Prometheus, the skating rink and the Christmas tree.
Photo: Peter K Burian, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
John D. Rockefeller Jr. built this city within the city in the 1930s, in the middle of the Depression: fourteen Art Deco buildings round a sunken plaza, with gardens on the roofs. The tallest, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, rises 259 metres, and from its top deck you look straight at the Empire State Building.
The golden statue of Prometheus lies over the plaza, where a skating rink opens every winter. The workers who built the centre put up the first Christmas tree here in 1931, and since 1933 a giant tree has gone up over the rink every year. Radio City Music Hall, home of the Rockettes, stands on the corner of Sixth Avenue. Visit it in 3D ›
More in New York
Empire State BuildingThe Art Deco tower on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1970.
Times SquareThe crossing of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, under walls of lit screens, at the heart of the Theater District.
Chrysler BuildingThe Art Deco tower on 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, with a crown of steel arches and a needle on top.
Grand Central TerminalThe great railway station on 42nd Street, with its hall under a ceiling of stars and its clock of opal.
New York Public LibraryThe marble library on Fifth Avenue, guarded by the two stone lions Patience and Fortitude.
Bryant ParkThe green lawn behind the Public Library, with its plane trees, its green chairs and in winter its ice rink.
St. Patrick’s CathedralThe Gothic cathedral of white marble on Fifth Avenue, facing Rockefeller Center.
Macy’s Herald SquareOne of the largest department stores in the world, on 34th Street, where the Thanksgiving Day Parade ends.
Statue of LibertyThe copper statue in the harbour, a gift from France, that greeted the ships of the immigrants.
Central ParkThe great park in the middle of Manhattan, four kilometres long, just north of the game’s map.
Yellow cabsThe yellow taxis of New York, which you hail from the kerb with a raised hand.
New York pizzaThe big, thin pizza sold by the slice, to be folded in half and eaten on the street.