Good morning on this frigid Friday.
We survived the snow, but now comes the ice, so travel safely and leave yourself extra time. Most mass transit has resumed, but there are some service changes or delays, so check schedules for the subway, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, and NYC Ferry boats before heading out. Flights resumed at La Guardia Airport around 7 p.m. yesterday, and are expected to resume at Kennedy Airport at 7 a.m. today.
The purpose of Radio City Music Hall is in its name: It’s one of the country’s most legendary concert and performance venues.
But have you ever watched a basketball game there?
In honor of the hall’s more than eight decades years at the heart of New York’s cultural scene — it first opened on Dec. 27, 1932 — we revisited what else Radio City Music Hall has been, or, in some cases, what it almost was, before it became what it is today.
Opera House: In the early 1930s, there were talks of turning the parcel of land that would become Radio City Music Hall into the new home of the Metropolitan Opera, said Valerie Paley, the chief historian at the New-York Historical Society.
But after the stock market crashed, John D. Rockefeller Jr., the property’s owner, decided instead to build what would become Rockefeller Center, with a magnificent theater for the people at its heart, according to the hall’s official history.
Movie Theater: Some of the most famous films in history opened at Radio City: the original “King Kong,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Disney’s “The Lion King,” to name a few.
Ms. Paley, a lifelong New Yorker, recalled going to see Mary Poppins, which also premiered there, “a whole bunch of times.”
Sports Arena: The first sporting event to be held at Radio City was a light-heavyweight boxing match that took place on Jan. 15, 2000.
Sports didn’t return to the hall until 2004, when the Liberty, New York’s WNBA team, played six games there while the Republican National Convention took over their home court at Madison Square Garden, according to a story in The Times.
Fans might have missed the stadium, but they at least got their court: The actual court from the Garden was transported to Radio City and put onstage, The Times reported.
Mall? Theme Park? American Stock Exchange?: It seems unthinkable today, but Radio City was almost demolished in 1978, after plummeting attendance threw the hall into debt.
The Rockefellers considered turning the space into a mall or a theme park, the former New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent wrote in his book about the history of Rockefeller Center. A Times article from the time said it might be the new home of the American Stock Exchange.
But New Yorkers rallied to save their beloved hall, and its interior was designated a landmark in March 1978.
Kent Barwick, the chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission at the time, recalled how the city came together. Calls jammed the switchboards at Rockefeller Center. The Rockettes danced on the steps of City Hall.
“Radio City Music Hall is something that people felt belonged to them,” Mr. Barwick said.
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
Let the digging out begin — if we can even muster up the warmth to do it.
Blue skies and sunshine are in store for today and Saturday, but with highs near 15 and lows around 9, it will feel like (gasp!) 5 or 10 below zero with the wind.
A wind chill advisory remains in effect until Saturday morning. H at and gloves are an absolute must.
Sunday will be a touch warmer, but we’re not in the clear just yet; more snow may be on the way Monday evening.
In the News
• The first major snowstorm of the season struck New York City, slowing commutes and shutting down schools. [New York Times]
• Here’s what yesterday’s snowstorm looked like on your neighbors’ Instagram feeds, a nice reminder that while weather can be scary, New York City is always beautiful. [New York Times]
• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed replacing state income tax with a payroll tax as a way to push back against the federal tax plan. Now all that’s left to do is figure out how the plan would actually work. [New York Times]
• The death toll in last week’s Bronx fire rose to 13 after a man who had been critically injured in the blaze was taken off life support. [New York Times]
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art is changing its pay-as-you-wish admission policy for out of state visitors for the first time in over 50 years. [New York Times]
• Each new year, 100 freshly sworn-in New York State judges take a weeklong legal crash course before taking the bench. [New York Times]
• Criminal activity, including prostitution, violence and drug use, occurred more than half of the hotels that the city used to shelter homeless families. [New York Times]
• The two U.S. attorneys who will assume office in Manhattan and Brooklyn next Friday will inherit major cases likely to shape their own legacies. [New York Times]
• A Brooklyn teen was charged with manslaughter and assault after punching a 65-year-old man on the subway platform, resulting in his death. [New York Times]
• Councilman Corey Johnson, a white man, was elected City Council Speaker, raising questions about race and power in the New York City Council. [New York Times]
• Brendan Byrne, the former governor of New Jersey, has died at 93. [New York Times]
• Governor Cuomo announced that he plans to convert a federally owned site along Jamaica Bay that used to house city landfills into a 407-acre state park. [Daily News]
• Strong winds tore the facade off a senior housing center in Rockland County during the snowstorm. [CBS New York]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Parachute Jump to Prexy’s”
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• It’s your last chance to see the “Mummies” exhibition, featuring preserved bodies from ancient Egypt and pre-Columbian Peru, at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side through Sunday. [Times and prices vary]
• The Manhattan Chamber Players perform works by Leos Janáček, Vivian Fung and others in “Amour Cruel Massivemuse” at the Creative Culture Center in the West Village. 7:30 p.m. [$30, includes wine and beer]
• Watch professional bull riders buck the ring at Madison Square Garden. 7:45 p.m., through Sunday [Tickets start at $22]
• “50 First Jokes,” an annual performance at which 50 stand-up comics tell their first new gags of the year, at the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 8 p.m. [$15, tickets here]
• Islanders host Penguins, 7 p.m. (MSG+). Knicks at Heat, 8 p.m. (MSG).
• Alternate-side parking is suspended for snow removal.
• Weekend travel hassles: Check subway disruptions and a list of street closings.
The Weekend
Saturday
• Still pondering what to do with your holiday tree? You can “treecycle” it at drop-off locations across the five boroughs as part of MulchFest, which continues through Sunday. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. [Free]
• Families can meet suffragists who won the vote in New York in 1917 and learn about their battle for the ballot, during “Living History: Votes for Women!” at the New-York Historical Society on the Upper West Side. Noon, through Sunday. [Prices vary]
• Children can celebrate La Befana, one of Italy’s oldest holiday traditions, with family-friendly activities at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. 2 p.m. [$5 children; $10 adults]
• Ring in 2018 with artists and change makers during an evening of performance, film, storytelling and scholarship, part of “Target First Saturdays” at the Brooklyn Museum. 5 to 11 p.m. [Free]
• Nets host Celtics, 6 p.m. (YES). Rangers at Coyotes, 8 p.m. (MSG).
Sunday
• Escape the cold in the Butterfly Conservatory, home to hundreds of butterflies, at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. [Prices vary]
• Children can sing and dance to the music of Disney and Pixar during a family-friendly concert at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. 11:30 a.m. [$12]
• Join art historians and curators for “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman,” where you’ll explore the influences behind his major works, at the Met on the Upper East Side. 2 p.m. [$25 suggested admission]
• Close the weekend out with laughs at “As You Will: Shakespearean Improv,” a comedy show spinning off the bard’s writing, at the Peoples Improv Theater in Flatiron. 7 p.m. [$8]
• Islanders vs. Devils, 1 p.m. (MSG). Knicks at Mavericks, 7 p.m. (MSG). Rangers at Golden Knights, 9:30 p.m. (MSG+).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
And Finally...
The rescue of Radio City in 1978 wasn’t just a victory for New Yorkers who wanted to see a movie, show or the Rockettes on that storied stage.
It was also a major victory for preservationists and historians.
Radio City was the first big test for whether the city could landmark the interiors, in addition to the exteriors, of buildings, said Kate Wood, a preservationist and co-author of a book on New York’s interior landmarks.
Legally, the answer was clear: The 1965 New York City Landmarks Law was amended in 1973 to include interiors.
But until Radio City, the landmarks commission had never applied the law to the inside of a commercial building without the owner’s cooperation, Ms. Wood said.
Radio City was different. Rockefeller Center’s owners were determined to tear down the hall. When the city tried to landmark it, they sued.
“They brought out the big legal gun,” Ms. Wood said. “It could’ve overturned the entire landmarks law and the ability to protect any interiors.”
When the landmarks commission prevailed, Ms. Wood said, it reaffirmed the group’s mission.
“To me it’s that moment of realization that the value of these spaces is not just in dollars,” she said. “It’s what they mean to New Yorkers and the spirit of New York.”
Ms. Wood said Radio City’s interior is the city’s most extensive interior landmark, protecting everything from the auditorium to the grand staircase to the bathrooms.
“To me, it’s worth buying a ticket for a show or going on a tour of Radio City just to go into the bathrooms,” she said. “They’re bathrooms like you’ve never seen before.”
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