West 10th Street & Hudson

I had dinner with some former co-workers from my old job yesterday. We stopped over at a friend's rooftop apartment in the West Village for drinks before heading out to dinner and this was the view from the top.

This view faces northeast towards midtown. The street on the left is West 10th and the one on the top is Hudson Street. In the top left corner, you can see the Empire State Building, which is located on 34th Street and Lexington Avenue.

So have you ever had a rooftop party?

West Side Vista

This photo showing the west side of midtown Manhattan was taken from the waterfront of Weehawken in New Jersey. The river in the middle is the Hudson River that separates New York State from New Jersey. You can also see the ferry that runs from Weehawken, NJ to Pier 39 in Manhattan.

So when was the last time you were on a ferry?

Empire State Building

I was at Koreatown (on 32nd Street and 5th Avenue) for dinner earlier last week and this was what I saw as I looked up above me. The triangular shapes on the upper right and lower left corners are store front awnings. The structure on the upper left corner is the building behind me. And right in the middle is the most celebrated building in New York City, if not the country.

I have a confession -- I have lived in NYC for almost 10 years and I have never been inside the Empire State Building.

Do tell us something that people won't have guessed about you.

Rival Peaks

The Empire State Building (on the right) and the Chrysler Building (left) have been competing stepsisters ever since they were conceived in the late 1920s during a period construction boom in New York City.

The Chrysler Building designed by architect, William Van Alen broke ground on September 19, 1928 and was expected to be the tallest skyscraper in the world, surpassing the then record holder, 40 Wall Street, which was under construction at the time. Not to be outdone, architect H. Craig Severence secretly added an additional 2 feet (0.6 meter) onto the 40 Wall Street structure but William Van Alen also secretly constructed a 125-foot (58.4 meters) spire from inside the Chrysler Building. In the mist of all this competition, the developers for the Empire State Building jumped into the fray by announcing the construction of an even taller skyscaper.

40 Wall Street (927 feet/283 meters/72 floors) was finally completed in 1930 and claimed the record for the tallest skyscaper in the world from the Woolworth Building (792 feet/241 meters/55 floors) for only a couple of months before the Chrysler Building (1,046 feet/319 meters/77 floors) opened in May 1930. The Empire State Building (1,250 feet/381 meters/102 floors) took over the record a year later in May 1931.

Which of the two buildings do you prefer?