Radio City

To be perfectly honest, I was going to name this post “Never Blog on Tuesdays” in reference to my blip of a post this week (missed it? click here).  As my adventuresome blog enters its second year of existence I am learning (it would seem very slowly…) the in’s and out’s of when to post and when not to…Sundays good! Tuesdays? Bad!  But, in my defense, this week I was caught off guard while channel surfing.  Last Tuesday saw the official lighting of the Rockefeller Center tree and so I made the leap and posted a photo that is soon to reside on my living room wall – one of the famous art deco doorways just behind the freshly lit tree.  Today, I’m posting another shot from the Rockefeller Center.  This time it is of the Radio City Music Hall.

On the evening I took the shot above, I had just spent the whole day at a Web 2.0 conference having my mind expanded and contorted with fresh new ideas and needed to stretch my legs as well as my mind.  I headed out to find The Rockefeller Center and the highly touted “Top of the Rock” or 30 Rock, in hopes of getting some snaps of the city before sunset. The Top of the Rock didn’t disappoint (I will write about this fab location in another post later this month).  I soon learned just how huge the Rockefeller Center is. As a New York newbie, I had no idea that The Radio City Music Hall was part of this awesome architectural ode to Art Deco (try saying that 3 times fast. 🙂

The Radio City Music Hall, the world’s largest indoor theatre, was opened in 1933 as part of the Rockefeller Center complex built by John D. Rockefeller Jr.  As I’ve written in earlier posts, New York was deeply touched by the stock market crash of 1929.  The crash left Rockefeller Jr. with a $91 million dollar, 24 year lease on his hands for his new complex.  Never one for pessimism, he partnered with the Radio Corporation of America (a.k.a. RCA) to build what is now called The Radio City Music Hall on 6th Avenue.  Like all buildings part of Rockefeller’s complex, it was designed to “reflect the highest ideals of architecture and design and stand as a symbol of optimism and hope.”  Soon dubbed “the people’s palace” the early years of the hall witnessed a mixture of movies and live theatre.  Original screenings included King Kong, White Christmas, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and To Kill a Mockingbird to name a few.  Now it is home to live concerts as well as the famous Rockette’s. On the evening I took the photo above a whipper snapper rapper named Drake was performing.  I was glad to hear that another Canadian was in the neighbourhood that night!

To learn more about the rich history of The Radio City Music Hall, visit their website here.  If you haven’t done so already and wish to see more snaps from my NY Adventure, please visit my website here.

Have a great rest of your weekend!