May 4, 2025

5 Offbeat Facts About New York City

Springtime in NYC with quirky facts, and a heartfelt farewell to a mentor!

Hello, readers! 

Thank you for bearing with me through some technical difficulties. Hey, it’s not spring without a few new bugs, right? 

By the way, thank you to everyone who has reached out to check in on my folks. It’s a period of adjustment, but they are stable and getting out a bit more now that it’s warmed up a bit. 

I’m writing to you from a desk in a super glamorous corner of my kitchen next to the fire escape, with my chair wedged against the side of my refrigerator. In the chilly months, if I’m not listening to streaming music, I tend to settle with the hum of my fridge as a tonal background accent. But this past week the leaves on the trees in my backyard declared it safe to spring out, and I can hear birdsong from the open window. 

Loud pigeon mating calls are warbling somewhere near my air conditioner near the front of the house, too. If toy wagons had an engine, this is what it would sound like as it was trying to rev up. Luckily they only seem to go at it in the late morning. 

Anyway, I’ve been putting on my research hat for a little side work these past couple of weeks, and I happened to learn some facts about my hometown of New York City that were new to me. I’ll share them here.

1. There was an annual “Miss Subway” pageant from 1941 to 1976 that celebrated the diversity of New York City women. Its 1959 winner was Ellen Hart Sturm, owner of Ellen’s Stardust Diner! It was one of the first integrated pageants in the U.S., with its first Black Miss Subway, Brooklyn College student and dentist nurse-receptionist Thelma Porter, crowned in 1948. The winner received the title of Miss Subway along with a “transit tiara” and sash—and other little trinkets, like a token charm bracelet—and their photo and short bio was on display throughout the subway system. Ellen Hart still apparently holds reunions. 
   

   

2. It’s ant season in Brooklyn! The rude intruders show up every year for a week or two, and they seem to be getting more audacious. Are they evolving? Here is what I found out: 

• There is a relatively new species that’s been identified in the city, which Smithsonian Magazine says is “fondly” (really? That’s your word?) called the ManhattAnt. They are into vertical climbing. 

• They’re stealthy and they bite. I thought those welts that suddenly appeared on my legs at night were stress hives (it happens—fun!), but nope. They’re ant bites. At least it has been confirmed it’s not bed bugs. Luckily they have already moved on. (Supposedly to New Jersey.) 

2. The Empire State Building turned 94 this week! It was officially dedicated by President Herbert Hoover on May 1, 1931, when…

3. …he pressed a button from the White House that “turned on” the building’s lights. I know! 

(Luckily that’s not a thing. It was strictly performative. There is no actual magic button that turns on ESB’s lights from Pennsylvania Ave, DC.) 

(I find this to be a very reassuring detail.) 

4. The soft pretzel has been a New York City street food since the 1820s! It’s a tradition brought over from New Amsterdam Dutch immigrants. I looked this up the other night after I tasted the excellent M&H Distillery Elements Lightly Peated whisky at a tasting of the portfolio at Travel Bar. I thought it tasted like pushcart pretzels (pleasantly yeasty, salty, softly charred). I was lamenting that pretzel push carts are increasingly rare. 
   

Have a fun NYC fact I didn’t cover that you’re proud of knowing? Please leave a comment! 

Other stuff

My former boss at Astor Wines & Spirits is retiring! This week I bid farewell to former store manager/staff dad Bill Kenny, who is leaving the city for a move to Florida with his family. (He says the chosen location may be temporary, but he definitely wants out of dodge for good.) 

I owe so much to him. Back in the early 2000s he took a massive chance on me and groomed me to become the store’s first assistant spirits buyer. He basically threw me into the deep end of the NYC spirits and cocktail industry at a pivotal cultural moment when American whiskey and craft spirits were on the rise, cocktail culture was trending again, obscure spirits (like Crème de Violette) were imported for the first time since Prohibition, and in 2007, absinthe was legal again in the states for the first time in nearly a century (funny story: at the time, bartender Jim Meehan was on “absinthe watch” for PDT and kept checking in with me to see when we could legally put it on shelves). 

I’ll never forget that moment in 2006 when Bill took me into his office to taste a new single malt private barrel selection for the store. I told him I tasted grapes. He raised an eyebrow then showed me the bottle: a Benromach red wine cask finish. I was hired! I am deeply grateful to Bill and wish him the best of luck in his new life. Even though he’s headed to Florida, he reassures me he’s still catching post punk band gigs at destination venues. 

And finally

Apparently most of you aren’t fans of private clubs! According to the survey from the last post, 35% of you said you weren’t currently a member, while the rest were split nearly evenly between “no” and “[quoting Groucho Marx] It’s just an expensive way to pretend you’re important.” 

I want to hear from you! Do you have a question for me? A subject you’d like me to delve into for a future newsletter? Stuff you just want to get off your chest? General comments? Suggestions? 

If you have a spicy comment for the public (you know, for the sake of engagement), you can leave a comment on the web version. Otherwise, feel free to simply reply to this email. 

Ta till then!