David Opatoshu
David Opatoshu was an American film and television actor. He was born in New York City, where he was educated, his father was the Yiddish writer Joseph Opatoshu. His career in television lasted through the 1980s. In the fall of 1953, he played a theatrical agent representing Ezio Pinza's title character in the NBC situation comedy Bonino. Other costars were Mary Wickes, Chet Allen, Van Dyke Parks; the series focused upon an Italian American opera singer trying to rear his six children after having been widowed. In 1963 he co-starred with James Doohan in an episode of The Twilight Zone, titled "Valley of the Shadow", he guest-starred in the 1964 The Outer Limits episode "A Feasibility Study". N. C. L. E. Called "The Alexander the Greater Affair". In 1967 he played Anan 7 in the original Star Trek series episode "A Taste of Armageddon", in the 1969 season 3 Ironside episode "L'Chayim", in Mannix, in the episode "A Pittance of Faith", as Mr. Lardelli, in the same year. Opatoshu played in a 1970 episode of Daniel Boone as "Tamenund", an aged Pequot Indian bent on revenge for his tribe's near-extinction.
In the "No Way to Treat a Relative" episode of the 1973 situation comedy Needles and Pins, the Kojak episode "Both Sides of the Law", the 1977 The Bionic Woman episode "Doomsday is Tomorrow", the 1981 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Time of the Hawk", the 1981 miniseries Masada. In 1986 he played an Iranian ambassador in the TV thriller Under Siege, about Islamic terrorist attacks in the United States. On October 30, 1989, Opatashu guest-starred as the Tenctonese ex-slave "Paul Revere", in the episode "Night of the Screams", of the television series Alien Nation. In 1991 he won an Emmy Award for his guest appearance in the episode "A Prayer for the Goldsteins" of the ABC series Gabriel's Fire, his first film, The Light Ahead, directed by Henry Felt and Edgar G. Ulmer, is notable for being in Yiddish. Opatoshu appeared as the homicide detective, Sgt. Ben Miller, in the film noir, The Naked City produced by Mark Hellinger. In 1958, he played a supporting character in The Brothers Karamazov with soon-to-be Star Trek co-star William Shatner.
He portrayed Herr Jacobi, one of the people who help Paul Newman and Julie Andrews escape from East Germany in Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 film Torn Curtain. He played the father of Benny Rampell in 1963's "The Cardinal" un credited, he played the Irgun leader in Otto Preminger's 1960 film Exodus. In 1967, Opatoshu played Morris Kolowitz, the father of the main character David, in Carl Reiner's directorial debut Enter Laughing. In the 1977 film, Raid on Entebbe, he played the part of Menachem Begin, a film based on the actual Operation Entebbe and the freeing of hostages at Entebbe Airport in Entebbe, Uganda on July 4, 1976, he had played Begin's fictional counterpart in Exodus. He appeared on Broadway in Silk Stockings in 1956, The Wall in 1960, Bravo Giovanni in 1962, others. David Opatoshu wrote the screenplay for the film Romance of a Horsethief, based on a novel by his father, Joseph Opatoshu. David Opatoshu was survived by his wife, Lillian Weinberg, a psychiatric social worker, whom he married on June 10, 1941.
They had a son, Danny. Lillian died on May 13, 2000. David Opatoshu on IMDb David Opatoshu at AllMovie David Opatoshu at the Internet Broadway Database David Opatoshu at Find a Grave
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds of at least 35 mph and lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or more. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and stretch to hundreds or thousands of kilometres. In the United States, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a severe snow storm characterized by strong winds causing blowing snow that results in low visibilities; the difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind, not the amount of snow. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that are greater than or equal to 56 km/h with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 m or 0.25 mi or less and must last for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or more. While severe cold and large amounts of drifting snow may accompany blizzards, they are not required.
Blizzards can bring whiteout conditions, can paralyze regions for days at a time where snowfall is unusual or rare. A severe blizzard has winds over 72 km/h, near zero visibility, temperatures of −12 °C or lower. In Antarctica, blizzards are associated with winds spilling over the edge of the ice plateau at an average velocity of 160 km/h. Ground blizzard refers to a weather condition where loose snow or ice on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds; the primary difference between a ground blizzard as opposed to a regular blizzard is that in a ground blizzard no precipitation is produced at the time, but rather all the precipitation is present in the form of snow or ice at the surface. The Australia Bureau of Meteorology describes a blizzard as, "Violent and cold wind, laden with snow, some part, at least, of, raised from snow covered ground." The Oxford English Dictionary concludes the term blizzard is onomatopoeic, derived from the same sense as blow, blast and bluster. It achieved its modern definition by 1859.
The term became common in the press during the harsh winter of 1880–81. In the United States, storm systems powerful enough to cause blizzards form when the jet stream dips far to the south, allowing cold, dry polar air from the north to clash with warm, humid air moving up from the south; when cold, moist air from the Pacific Ocean moves eastward to the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, warmer, moist air moves north from the Gulf of Mexico, all, needed is a movement of cold polar air moving south to form potential blizzard conditions that may extend from the Texas Panhandle to the Great Lakes and Midwest. A blizzard may be formed when a cold front and warm front mix together and a blizzard forms at the border line. Another storm system occurs when a cold core low over the Hudson Bay area in Canada is displaced southward over southeastern Canada, the Great Lakes, New England; when the moving cold front collides with warmer air coming north from the Gulf of Mexico, strong surface winds, significant cold air advection, extensive wintry precipitation occur.
Low pressure systems moving out of the Rocky Mountains onto the Great Plains, a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie and grassland, can cause thunderstorms and rain to the south and heavy snows and strong winds to the north. With few trees or other obstructions to reduce wind and blowing, this part of the country is vulnerable to blizzards with low temperatures and whiteout conditions. In a true whiteout there is no visible horizon. People can become lost in their own front yards, when the door is only 3 m away, they would have to feel their way back. Motorists have to stop their cars as the road is impossible to see. A nor'easter is a macro-scale storm that occurs off Atlantic Canada coastlines, it gets its name from the direction. The usage of the term in North America comes from the wind associated with many different types of storms some of which can form in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of which form as far south as the Gulf of Mexico; the term is most used in the coastal areas of New England and Atlantic Canada.
This type of storm has characteristics similar to a hurricane. More it describes a low-pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the coast and whose leading winds in the left-forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. High storm waves may cause coastal flooding and beach erosion. Notable nor'easters include The Great Blizzard of 1888, one of the worst blizzards in U. S. history. It dropped 100–130 cm of snow and had sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour that produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet. Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their houses for up to a week, it killed 400 people in New York. The 1972 Iran Blizzard, which caused 4,000 reported deaths, was the deadliest blizzard in recorded history. Dropping as much as 26 feet of snow, it covered 200 villages. After a snowfall lasting nearly a week, an area the size of Wisconsin was buried in snow; the winter of 1880–1881 is considered the most severe winter known in parts of the United States. Many children—and their parents—learned of "The Snow Winter" through the children's book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in which the author tells of her family's efforts to survive.
The snow arrived in October 1880 and blizzard followed bli
Model (person)
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products, or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Modelling is considered to be different from other types of public performance, such as acting or dancing. Although the difference between modelling and performing is not always clear, appearing in a film or a play is not considered to be "modelling". Types of modelling include: fashion, fitness, fine art, body-part and commercial print models. Models are featured in a variety of media formats including: books, films, newspapers and television. Fashion models are sometimes featured in films. Celebrities, including actors, sports personalities and reality TV stars take modelling contracts in addition to their regular work. Modelling as a profession was first established in 1853 by Charles Frederick Worth, the "father of haute couture", when he asked his wife, Marie Vernet Worth, to model the clothes he designed.
The term "house model" was coined to describe this type of work. This became common practice for Parisian fashion houses. There were no standard physical measurement requirements for a model, most designers would use women of varying sizes to demonstrate variety in their designs. With the development of fashion photography, the modelling profession expanded to photo modelling. Models remained anonymous, poorly paid, until the late 1950s. One of the first well-known models was Lisa Fonssagrives, popular in the 1930s. Fonssagrives appeared on over 200 Vogue covers, her name recognition led to the importance of Vogue in shaping the careers of fashion models. In 1946, Ford Models was established by Gerard Ford in New York. One of the most popular models during the 1940s was Jinx Falkenburg, paid $25 per hour, a large sum at the time. During the 1940s and 1950s, Wilhelmina Cooper, Jean Patchett, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Evelyn Tripp, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Lisa Fonssagrives dominated fashion. Dorothea Church was among the first black models in the industry to gain recognition in Paris.
However, these models were unknown outside the fashion community. Compared to today's models, the models of the 1950s were more voluptuous. Wilhelmina Cooper's measurements were 38"-24"-36" whereas Chanel Iman's measurements are 32"-23"-33". In the 1960s, the modelling world began to establish modelling agencies. Throughout Europe, secretarial services acted as models' agents charging them weekly rates for their messages and bookings. For the most part, models were responsible for their own billing. In Germany, agents were not allowed to work for a percentage of a person's earnings, so referred to themselves as secretaries. With the exception of a few models travelling to Paris or New York, travelling was unheard of for a model. Most models only worked in one market due to different labor laws governing modelling in various countries. In the 1960s, Italy was in dire need of models. Italian agencies would coerce models to return to Italy without work visas by withholding their pay, they would pay their models in cash, which models would have to hide from customs agents.
It was not uncommon for models staying in hotels such as La Louisiana in Paris or the Arena in Milan to have their hotel rooms raided by the police looking for their work visas. It was rumoured; this led many agencies to form worldwide chains. By the late 1960s, London was considered the best market in Europe due to its more organised and innovative approach to modelling, it was during this period. Models such as Jean Shrimpton, Tania Mallet, Celia Hammond, Penelope Tree, dominated the London fashion scene and were well paid, unlike their predecessors. Twiggy became The Face of'66 at the age of 16. At this time, model agencies were not as restrictive about the models they represented, although it was uncommon for them to sign shorter models. Twiggy, who stood at 5 feet 6 inches with a 32" bust and had a boy's haircut, is credited with changing model ideals. At that time, she earned £ 80 an hour. In 1967, seven of the top model agents in London formed the Association of London Model Agents; the formation of this association changed the fashion industry.
With a more professional attitude towards modelling, models were still expected to have their hair and makeup done before they arrived at a shoot. Meanwhile, agencies took responsibility for a model's promotional materials and branding; that same year, former top fashion model Wilhelmina Cooper opened up her own fashion agency with her husband called Wilhelmina Models. By 1968, FM Agency and Models 1 were established and represented models in a similar way that agencies do today. By the late 1960s, models were making better wages. One of the innovators, Ford Models, was the first agency to advance models money they were owed and would allow teen models, who did not live locally, to reside in their house, a precursor to model housing; the innovations of the 1960s flowed into the 1970s fashion scene. As a result of model industry associations and standards, model agencies b
Louis Nye
Louis Nye was an American comedic actor. He was an entertainer to the troops during World War II and is best known for his work on countless television and radio programs, he was born Louis Neistat in Hartford, son of Joseph Neistat and Jennie Sherman. His sister Rose Neistat was born in 1917. Although Nye, who pronounced his given name as Louie claimed he was born in 1922, he is listed as age six in the 1920 Hartford County, Federal Census. Nye's parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews from the Russian Empire, they emigrated to the United States in 1906, became naturalized citizens in 1911. His father owned a small grocery store. Louis Nye attended Weaver High School. "My marks were so low," he explained, ``. So I went down to WTIC Radio and got on a show." Nye decided to go to New York City. He recalled "I still think of myself as an actor. In the radio days, I was busy playing rotten Nazis, rich uncles and emotional juveniles -- the whole span -- and the only time I tried to be funny was at parties."
Nye served in the United States Army during World War II, because he earned laughs by mimicking other soldiers, he was assigned to run the recreation hall. Following his discharge, he began working in live television, he appeared in several plays on Broadway, made many appearances on television variety shows such as The Jack Benny Program, The Jimmy Durante Show, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and The Victor Borge Show. He earned his greatest fame as a regular on The Steve Allen Show, performing with Allen, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Pat Harrington Jr. Dayton Allen, Gabriel Dell and Bill Dana, he played urbane and fey bon vivants. When production moved to Los Angeles, Nye became a character actor in Hollywood. Nye was cast as a guest star including Make Room for Daddy. Nye played dentist Delbert Gray on several episodes of The Ann Sothern Show from 1960 to 1961, the romantic interest of Olive Smith, played by Ann Tyrrell. Nye played Sonny Drysdale, the spoiled rich stepson of Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies during the 1962 season.
He did six episodes, received more mail than from anything else he had done on television, but the character was dropped. It was rumored that someone in the CBS network, or a sponsor, thought Sonny was too "sissified". However, Nye revived the character during the 1966 season. Nye was a member of the cast of the Pins, playing Harry Karp; the sitcom, which starred Norman Fell, ran for 14 episodes in the autumn of 1973. Nye recorded a few comedy LPs, doing a variety of characterizations, he never had the opportunity to reach his potential in movies. Many of his character roles were little more than cameos, he performed with Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, Dean Martin, Walter Matthau, Robert Mitchum, Jack Webb and Joanne Woodward, others. Nye appeared on the lecture circuit, in concerts and in nightclubs, did voice work in animation, such as Inspector Gadget with Don Adams. Nye never retired, he completed a 24-city tour of the country for Columbia Artists, ending the tour with a two-week stint at the Sahara in Las Vegas.
At age 92, he continued to work, appearing in his recurring role of Jeff Greene's father on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2000 to 2005. Nye lived in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife, pianist-songwriter Anita Leonard, who wrote the standard, "A Sunday Kind of Love." Married since the late 1940s, they had a son, artist Peter Nye. Nye was the great uncle of filmmakers Casey Neistat and Van Neistat and stuntman Dean Neistat. Louis Nye died of lung cancer, his body was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in California. Louis Nye on IMDb Louis Nye at the Internet Broadway Database Louis Nye at Find a Grave
Harold Gould
Harold Vernon Gould was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom Rhoda and Miles Webber on the sitcom The Golden Girls. A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Gould acted in film and television for nearly 50 years, appearing in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, over 100 stage plays, he was known for playing elegant, well-dressed men, he played Jewish characters and grandfather-type figures on television and in film. Gould was born to a Jewish family in New York, he was the son of Louis Goldstein, a postal worker, Lillian, a homemaker who did part-time work for the state health department. Gould was valedictorian of his high school class, he enrolled at Albany Teachers College upon graduation, studied to become a social studies or English teacher. After two years in college, Gould enlisted in the United States Army, during World War II, saw combat in France in a mortar battalion, he developed trench foot, was sent to England to recover. After convalescence, Gould served in a rail transport unit in France.
After the war, Gould returned to Albany Teachers College to study drama, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947. He performed in summer stock theatre on Cape Cod decided to enroll at Cornell University to study drama and speech. Gould earned a master of arts degree in 1948 and a Ph. D. in theatre in 1953 from Cornell, met his future wife, Lea Vernon. Upon graduation, Gould accepted a position at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, where he spent three years teaching and doing stage work, he made his professional theatre debut in 1955 as Thomas Jefferson in The Common Glory in Williamsburg. In 1956, Gould was offered a professorship in the drama department at the University of California, which he accepted, he taught there until 1960, when he decided to try professional acting himself. He had difficulty finding acting jobs at first, had to take work as a security guard and as a part-time acting teacher at UCLA. Gould was not credited for his work, he found more work and gained roles in The Yellow Canary, a Rod Serling movie with Pat Boone, Jack Klugman, Barbara Eden.
Gould worked in television in the 1960s and early 1970s, including roles in Dennis the Menace, Dr. Kildare, The Twilight Zone, The Donna Reed Show, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, I Dream Of Jeannie, The F. B. I; the Big Valley, Cannon. Get Smart and Mission: Impossible. Gould originated the role of Marlo Thomas's father Lou in the 1965 pilot for That Girl, but the series role went to Lew Parker, he appeared in He & She, two short-lived television series. Gould acted in a pilot broadcast as a 1972 episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and the Happy Days" as Howard Cunningham, the frustrated father of a young man named Richie Cunningham; when ABC turned that episode into a series called Happy Days, Gould was tabbed to reprise the Howard Cunningham role. However, when production was delayed, he went abroad to perform in a play. Midway through the play's run, after learning Happy Days was ready to begin shooting, he decided to honor his commitment to the stage production and passed on the part, which led to Tom Bosley being cast as the family patriarch.
Gould would state that a requirement to shave his beard was a factor in his declining the role. Gould had worked in television and film for fifteen years before his career took off with his portrayal of Kid Twist in The Sting. In 1972, Gould was cast as Martin Morgenstern, the father of Mary's best friend Rhoda, in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, he reprised the role the following year and was hired as a regular when Rhoda became a spin-off in 1974. Gould appeared in the short-lived 1977 series The Feather and Father Gang, starring as Harry Danton, a smooth-talking ex-con man, with Stefanie Powers as Toni "Feather" Danton, his daughter and a hard-working, successful lawyer; the show was canceled after 13 episodes, Gould returned to Rhoda for the remainder of its run. Gould appeared in the miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors. In the 1980 NBC miniseries The Scarlett O'Hara War, he portrayed Louis B. Mayer and gained an Emmy nomination, he appeared as Chad Lowe's grandfather in Spencer, played a Jewish widower wooing the Christian Katharine Hepburn in Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry.
Other roles included a married man having an affair with another member of his Yiddish-speaking club in an episode of the PBS series The Sunset Years, as the owner of a deli grooming two African-American men to inherit his business in Singer & Sons. Gould received Emmy nominations for his roles in Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry and Moviola. Gould played the steadfast suitor of Rose Nylund on the NBC series The Golden Girls, he portrayed the father of a villain called The Prank
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming is a retired American film/television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films in the 1940s and 1950s, became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because she photographed so well in Technicolor. Fleming was born as Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, to Harold Cheverton Louis, a nonprofessional insurance salesman, Effie Graham, who had appeared opposite Al Jolson at New York's Winter Garden Theater, in the musical Dancing Around, from 1914 to 1915. Fleming's maternal grandfather was John C. Graham, an actor, theater owner, newspaper editor in Utah, she began working as a film actress while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1941. She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson who changed her name to "Rhonda Fleming"."It's so weird," Fleming said later. "He stopped me crossing the street. It kinda scared me a little bit -- I was only 16 or 17, he signed me to a seven-year contract without a screen test.
It was a Cinderella story, but those could happen in those days."She was nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because her fair complexion and flaming red hair photographed exceptionally well in Technicolor. Fleming had bit parts in In Old Oklahoma, Since You Went Away for David O. Selznick, When Strangers Marry. Wilson went to work for David Selznick, she received her first substantial role in the thriller Spellbound, produced by Selznick and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. "Hitch told me I was going to play a nymphomaniac," Fleming said later. "I remember rushing home to look it up in the dictionary and being quite shocked."The film was popular and Selznick gave her another good role in a thriller, The Spiral Staircase, directed by Robert Siodmak. Selznick lent her out to appear in supporting parts in the Randolph Scott Western Abilene Town at United Artists, the film noir classic Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum, at RKO. Fleming's first leading role came in Adventure Island, a low-budget action film made for Pine-Thomas Productions at Paramount in the two-color Cinecolor process and co-starring fellow Selznick contractee Rory Calhoun.
Fleming auditioned for a part Deanna Durbin turned down, the female lead in a Bing Crosby movie at Paramount, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a musical loosely based on the story by Mark Twain. Fleming exhibited her singing ability, dueting with Crosby on "Once and For Always" and soloing with "When Is Sometime". Crosby and she recorded the songs for a three-disc, 78 rpm Decca album, conducted by Victor Young, who wrote the film's orchestral score; the movie was Fleming's first Technicolor film. She played another leading role opposite a comedian, in this case Bob Hope for The Great Lover, it was a big hit and Fleming was established. "After that I wasn't fortunate enough to get good directors," said Fleming. "I made the mistake of doing lesser films for good money. I was hot - they all wanted me - but I didn't have the guidance or background to judge for myself."She was John Payne's love interest in The Eagle and the Hawk, a Western. In February 1949, Selznick had sold his contract players to Warner Bros.
Fleming was lent to RKO to play a femme fatale opposite Dick Powell in a film noir. Back at Paramount, she played the title role in a Western with Glenn Ford, The Redhead and the Cowboy. In 1950, she ended her association with Selznick after eight years, though her current contract with him had another five years to run. Fleming signed a three-picture deal with Paramount. Pine-Thomas used her as Ronald Reagan's leading lady in a Western, The Last Outpost, John Payne's leading lady in the adventure film Crosswinds, Reagan again in Hong Kong, she sang on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour during the same live telecast that featured Errol Flynn, on September 30, 1951, from the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Fleming was top billed for Sam Katzman's The Golden Hawk with Sterling Hayden was reunited with Reagan for Tropic Zone at Pine-Thomas. In 1953, Fleming portrayed Cleopatra in Katzman's Serpent of the Nile for Columbia; that same year, she did a Western with Charlton Heston at Paramount, Pony Express, two films shot in 3-D, Inferno with Robert Ryan at Fox and the musical Those Redheads From Seattle with Gene Barry, for Pine-Thomas.
The following year, she starred with Fernando Lamas in Jivaro, her third 3-D release, at Pine-Thomas. She went to Universal for Yankee Pasha with Jeff Chandler. Fleming went to Italy to play Seriramis in Queen of Babylon. Much of the outdoor location work for Fleming's appearance in the 1955 Western Tennessee's Partner, in which she played Duchess opposite John Payne as Tennessee and Ronald Reagan as Cowpoke, was filmed at the storied Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, known as the most filmed outdoor location in the history of film and television, she was filmed riding a horse over the movie ranch's rocky terrain, one of those rocks, a distinctive monolithic sandstone feature behind which Fleming, as Duchess, hid during an action sequence became known as Rhonda Fleming Rock. The rock remains in place today and is part of a section of the former movie ranch known as "Garden of the Gods", preserved as public parkland. Fleming was reunited with Payne and fellow redhead Arlene Dahl in a noir at Slightly Scarlet.
She did other thrillers that year: The Killer Is Loose with Joseph Cotten, Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps, co-starring Dana Andrews, at RKO. Fleming was top billed in an adventure movie for Warwick Films, Odongo (1
New York City
The City of New York called either New York City or New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles, New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural and media capital of the world, exerts a significant impact upon commerce, research, education, tourism, art and sports; the city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of, a separate county of the State of New York. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898; the city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. New York City is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the United States, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. In 2017, the New York metropolitan area produced a gross metropolitan product of US$1.73 trillion. If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world. New York is home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world. New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan.
The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, it has been the country's largest city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U. S. by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is an international symbol of the U. S. and its ideals of liberty and peace. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, environmental sustainability, as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity. Many districts and landmarks in New York City are well known, with the city having three of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013 and receiving a record 62.8 million tourists in 2017. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world. Times Square, iconic as the world's "heart" and its "Crossroads", is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, a major center of the world's entertainment industry.
The names of many of the city's landmarks and parks are known around the world. Manhattan's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world. New York is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system worldwide, with 472 rail stations. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top universities in the world. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, the city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. In 1664, the city was named in honor of the Duke of York.
James's older brother, King Charles II, had appointed the Duke proprietor of the former territory of New Netherland, including the city of New Amsterdam, which England had seized from the Dutch. During the Wisconsinan glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth; the erosive forward movement of the ice contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. In the precolonial era, the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquian Native Americans, including the Lenape, whose homeland, known as Lenapehoking, included Staten Island; the first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown. He named it Nouvelle Angoulême. A Spanish expedition led by captain Estêvão Gomes, a Portuguese sailing for Emperor Charles V, arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of the Hudson River, which he named Río de San Antonio.
The Padrón Rea
