NEW York City’s skyline is the envy of the world, a sight tourists travel from across the globe to see. But in some places, its sidewalks are nearly as interesting, with plaques, art installations, handprints and other markers to commemorate important locations and to get your attention.
The Downtown Alliance, a business improvement district representing Lower Manhattan, has embedded brass lettering commemorating every ticker-tape parade ever held in New York City, beginning with the first one: A fete on Oct. 28, 1886 to dedicate the Statue of Liberty. “Ticker tape” is an inch-wide ribbon of paper on which a “ticker” machine recorded stock quotes. When volumes of it were released into the outside air, it created a mesmerizing swirling effect. The practice of throwing it out of windows broke out quite serendipitously during that first parade, and has been done for the more than 2,000 parades on Lower Broadway since, helping the street became known as the “Canyon of Heroes.” These days, shredded office paper is used instead of ticker tape.
I always thought NYC’s ticker tape parades over the years would make a good idea for a book…there were over 200 of them, and some of the honorees by 2024 are so obscure or unlikely that I was talking up the concept for a book a few years ago, but nobody thought it would sell.
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1/17/24
15 comments
I’ll never forget that scene down in the Mets locker room where they were shaking up bottles
of champagne and blasting each other in the face with them.New York state vintage grapes
of course
The substitution of ticker tape with shredded paper was not the only change. Modern building construction offered another problem…..sealed windows. You can’t throw shredded paper through a solid pane of glass, so they now throw the paper from the roofs of some buildings instead.
At least the sealed windows are a deterrent to jumping stockbrokers when the market slips a little.
I’d love to get my hands on some intact, used ticker tape for art projects but you can’t find the stuff anywhere.
Kevin,
I am surprised that “nobody” thought the book would sell. Given the variety of honorees — from astronauts to the “obscure or unlikely”, as you say — I might have thought that each story, within the broader backdrop, would instead be a very interesting “placeholder” in NYC and American history.
Not to mention, I mean, there are certainly books out there which cover truly “obscure” (if not outright *stupid*) topics, but who knows.
Don’t despair. “where there’s a will, there’s a way:
https://bookspublishingexpert.com/lp-3/?keyword=kids%20book%20publishers&matchtype=p&msclkid=69ce04bcc5491da3fce661158f47a107
Oh, for sure, it’s “doable”; a friend once published one (on baseball umpiring), using Amazon’s platform IIRC. When I asked him what the process was, he laid the steps out as follows: Step #1, write book. Step #2, (whatever “Step 2” was). Step #3 (whatever “Step 3” was), etc. A little more work involved with one of those steps than with the rest…!
I, too, would think such a book would have appeal, at least to folks like us who enjoy taking dives into the obscure past. It would be a fascinating study to know the stories behind people, or groups of people, who were considered important enough, in their day, to warrant such an honor. What did they do? Why was it important at that time? What happened to them? How many of them would fall into the crosshairs of today’s history revisionists?
KB,
You stated it way better than I did. 100% agreed.
You could write it as a novel. How about a detective novel about a serial killer whose victims’ bodies are always found buried under ticker tape during the post-parade clean up? “The Ticker Tape Killer Strikes Again” would be the headlines in all the newspapers.
I wonder if they will place a plaque if the Liberty finally win a championship.
Before I fled NYC, I worked many years downtown. I probably only went to one ticker tape parade – PROBABLY mets but maybe Yankees in the 80’s. I’ve seen the markers many times over the years, and for some bizarre reason, the one I remember is the shah of Iran. (Pahlavi?) Don’t know why. Maybe because I walked that way a lot from the Battery to J&R.
There is just such a book : “Everyone Loves a Parade!” by John and Mark Walter. https://a.co/d/0TZZznr
Hmmm…there sure seems to be! Well, that just saved Kevin a lot of work.
Another book I have to read! Add it to the long list.