A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at west 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at west 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

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Entry from July 11, 2004
First “Big Apple” explanation: February 18, 1924
I found the first John J. Fitz Gerald "Big Apple" explanation. An apple graphic is featured in the column head; the Woolworth Buidling--then the world's tallest, and the Municipal Building can be seen on the apple's New York skyline. This text is famous to the few who know it, but it is almost nowhere on the web. From the New York Morning Telegraph, "AROUND THE BIG APPLE" with John J. Fitz Gerald, February 18, 1924:


The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York.

----

Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the "cooling rings" of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.

"Where y'all goin' from here?" queried one.

"From here we're headin' for The Big Apple," proudly replied the other.

"Well, you'd better fatten up them skinners or all you'll get from the apple will be the core," was the quick rejoinder.
Posted by Barry Popik
1920s: John J. Fitz Gerald and the N.Y. Morning Telegraph • (0) Comments • Sunday, July 11, 2004 • Permalink


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