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

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from November 29, 2015
Statue of Justice or Lady Gotham (Batman’s Statue of Liberty)

The Statue of Justice (or Lady Gotham) is a statue similar to New York City’s Statue of Liberty that is located in the fictional Gotham City and appears in the movie Batman Forever (1995), based on the popular Batman comic books. The Statue of Justice, like a traditional justice figure over a courthouse, has a blindfold over her eyes and a sword in one hand.
   
The name “Lady Gotham” had been used infrequently much before the Batman movie. The Lady Gotham Association of Shirt Operators, of the Knights of Labor union, was first cited in print in 1891. The Lady Gotham Classic tennis tournament took place in the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden in 1973.
 
   
Wikipedia: Batman
Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Originally named “the Bat-Man,” the character is also referred to by such epithets as the “Caped Crusader”, the “Dark Knight”, and the “World’s Greatest Detective”.
 
Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, an American billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and owner of Wayne Enterprises. After witnessing the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime. Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, with assistance from various supporting characters, including his butler Alfred, police commissioner Jim Gordon, and vigilante allies such as Robin.
   
Wikipedia: Gotham City
Gotham City (/ˈɡɒθəm/ goth-əm) or Gotham is a fictional American city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman’s place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940). New York Times journalist William Safire described Gotham City as “New York below 14th Street, from SoHo to Greenwich Village, the Bowery, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the sinister areas around the base of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.” Batman artist Neal Adams sees the 1940s mobster history of Chicago as the basis for Gotham, while writer/artist Frank Miller has stated that Metropolis is New York in the daytime and Gotham City is New York at night.
(...)
Statue of Justice is a monument situated offshore of the city. The figure appears to have a blindfold over her eyes and a sword and scale in her outstretched hands.
   
Batman Wikia: Gotham City
Gotham City is the home of Batman. Batman’s place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940).
(...)
The Statue of Justice — Also known as “Lady Gotham,” this is a monument situated off shore of the city and modeled loosely on the Statue of Liberty in New York. It varies in that the figure has a blindfold over her eyes, and a sword and scales in her outstretched hands.
 
Batman Wikia: Statue of Justice
The Statue of Justice is a large statue that overlooks Gotham Harbour and bears significant resemblance to The Statue of Liberty in New York City. The head of the statue is partially damaged by Two-Face when he locks his helicopter on course to collide with it in an attempt to kill Batman. The face of the statue is also depicted on both sides of Two-Face’s Coin.
   
Chronicling America
25 May 1891, The World (New York, NY), “From the World of Labor,” pg. 3, col. 2:
Open meeting of the Lady Gotham Association of Shirt Operators, K. of L. (Knights of Labor—ed.), this evening at Florence Hall, Second avenue and First street.
 
Google Books
October 1896, Scribner’s Magazine, “The New York Working-Girl” by Mary Gay Humphreys, pg. 513, col. 2:
The Bowery is a gay promenade, and there women may walk in its splendor of noonday in the safety that Fifth Avenue does not afford. The theatres are open: there are lectures at Cooper Union, perhaps a “Lady Gotham.”
 
Google Books
A History of the Amalgamated Ladies’ Garment Cutters’ Union, Local 10:
Affiliated with the International Ladies’ Garment Worker’s Union

By James Oneal
New York, NY: Amalgamated Ladies’ Garment Cutters’ Union, Local 10
1927
Pg. 25:
However, the local in June, 1890, gave its attention to the organization of women and in August they were organized as “Lady Gotham.” A minute book and seal were purchased for the women but how many members were gathered into “Lady Gotham” and how long this women’s organization survived is uncertain as the minutes of the Gotham Knife Cutters for the following year are missing.
 
Google Books
Batman Forever:
Movie Storybook

By Vicki Kamida, Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler; andAkiva Goldsman
Racine, WI: Western Pub. Co.
1995
Pg. ?:
He aimed the helicopter at the statue of Lady Gotham. Batman hoisted himself into the chopper, just in time to see Two-Face dive into the dark waters of Gotham Harbor. Seconds later the chopper crashed into Lady Gotham’s face as Batman parachuted to safety.
 
Google Books
The Batman Filmography, 2d ed.
By Mark S. Reinhart
jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
2013
Pg. 162:
Batman and Two-Face fight aboard the helicopter, which is headed straight for the Lady Gotham statue in Gotham Harbor. (Obviously, the statue is Gotham’s version of the Statue of Liberty in New York City!) The helicopter crashes into the statue, but not before both Two-Face and Batman leap to safety.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityArt/Sculpture • Sunday, November 29, 2015 • Permalink


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