Rockefeller Center Tree

Went into NYC to see the Christmas show at Radio City. Afterward went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center...

Now thats a tree!

Very nice. I'm glad they went for traditional Christmas colors for the lights this year. They've gone off on tangents in the past, e.g., pastels.

When I was a kid, in the 1950s, I remember the lights being plastic boxes, or globes, of various colors, maybe 8 inches wide. I suppose they were hollow, with regular incandescent bulbs inside. Hard to believe that was only about 25 years after the tradition started, in 1931.

my wife is up there at the moment as well with some of her friends.

As a native Brooklynite, I remember the magic of New York at this time of year back in the 1950s and 1960s.  It was the huge Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center with the ice skaters beneath the tree, it was the Christmas movie at Radio City Music Hall with the accompanying Rockettes stage show, it was the incredible department store window decorations, especially Macy’s.

It was also a time when tough New Yorkers could show their warmth and good cheer.  At one time, in my late teens, I was working in a downtown Brooklyn department store.  The De Kalb Avenue subway station there was a huge transfer point for people heading home from Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn and people were always jostling and pushing just to get on their proper train, much less get a seat.  One time, a few days before Christmas, I was on the station heading home and the station was even more crowded than usual due to the addition of holiday shoppers.  De Kalb Avenue is an “island” station, that is, there are tracks on either side of the platform with express trains coming in on one side and local trains on the other.  Should both a local and express pull in at the same time it was mayhem with people on the platform trying to get onto one of the two trains and people on the trains switching from local to express and vice versa.  Sure enough, on this evening that was about to happen.  However, the man who announced the next arriving train said, “Coming in on track 1 is the Brighton local making all stops to Coney Island.  Coming in on track 3 is the Brighton express making express stops only to Brighton Beach.”. Ordinarily, that would have been the end of the announcement.  On this occasion, though, the man added, in a droll voice, “Good luck.”. All of a sudden, everyone on the platform broke out laughing and I watched as people waited while others stepped off the trains, men motioned for ladies to go on first, and everyone was smiling.  Sometimes, the holiday spirit comes from the least likely places.

Amen brother

As a native Brooklynite, I remember the magic of New York at this time of year back in the 1950s and 1960s.  It was the huge Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center with the ice skaters beneath the tree, it was the Christmas movie at Radio City Music Hall with the accompanying Rockettes stage show, it was the incredible department store window decorations, especially Macy’s.

It was also a time when tough New Yorkers could show their warmth and good cheer.  At one time, in my late teens, I was working in a downtown Brooklyn department store.  The De Kalb Avenue subway station there was a huge transfer point for people heading home from Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn and people were always jostling and pushing just to get on their proper train, much less get a seat.  One time, a few days before Christmas, I was on the station heading home and the station was even more crowded than usual due to the addition of holiday shoppers.  De Kalb Avenue is an “island” station, that is, there are tracks on either side of the platform with express trains coming in on one side and local trains on the other.  Should both a local and express pull in at the same time it was mayhem with people on the platform trying to get onto one of the two trains and people on the trains switching from local to express and vice versa.  Sure enough, on this evening that was about to happen.  However, the man who announced the next arriving train said, “Coming in on track 1 is the Brighton local making all stops to Coney Island.  Coming in on track 3 is the Brighton express making express stops only to Brighton Beach.”. Ordinarily, that would have been the end of the announcement.  On this occasion, though, the man added, in a droll voice, “Good luck.”. All of a sudden, everyone on the platform broke out laughing and I watched as people waited while others stepped off the trains, men motioned for ladies to go on first, and everyone was smiling.  Sometimes, the holiday spirit comes from the least likely places.

Freddy thats a great story, it made me think of that WWI story where after months of trench fighting on Christmas eve the troops in the opposing front line trenches emerged and joined their enemies in the no man's land between the trenches to share well wishes and sing Christmas carols. Naturally they went back to killing each other the next day. So it goes.