Broadway (a street, especially in the theater district) was the “Big Apple” to syndicated newspaper columnists Walter Winchell (1897-1972) and O. O. McIntyre (1884-1938). Winchell’s column was called “Your Broadway and Mine” or just “On Broadway.” McIntyre’s column was called “New York Day by Day.” Expressions such as “on the Big Apple” (on Broadway), “along the Big Apple” (along Broadway) and “corner of the Big Apple” (corner of Broadway) were used.
     
“Broadway is the Big Apple, the Main Stem, the goal of all ambition, the pot of gold at the end of a drab and somewhat colorless rainbow” from “The Real Broadway” by Walter Winchell was printed in The Bookman in December 1927.
 
“To its fortunate wayfarers it (Broadway—ed.) is the Main Stem of the Universe - the Big Apple and the goal of earthly travels” from “New York Day by Day” by O. O. McIntyre was printed in the Sacramento (CA) Bee on December 19, 1928.
 
   
Wikipedia: Broadway (Manhattan)
Broadway (/ˈbrɔːdweɪ/) is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from New York City to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the Westchester County municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow.
(...)
Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry, and is used as a metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway.
 
December 1927, The Bookman, “The Real Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 378, col. 2:
Like any other “community”, Broadway for most of its denizens is a place to make a living and to get ahead in life by the methods best suited to the talents God gave them. To the lonely and aspiring hoofer, the fannie-falling comedian, the ukulele player with the special technique and the singer with something peculiar about his voice, trouping one-night stands in the southern swamps and western prairies, Broadway is the Big Apple, the Main Stem, the goal of all ambition, the pot of gold at the end of a drab and somewhat colorless rainbow. To those who have fought and struggled their way to Broadway and have played for a brief while before its glittering lights and to Broadway’s applause,—and have lost, or slipped out of, popular favor—it is a tragedy of hopes. It is a place where actresses and chorus girls, good actors and ham actors, talented people and untalented people are out of work for long stretches at a time, where poverty stalks in tarnished tinsel, and where competition is perhaps crueller and more cut-throat in its methods than in any other place in the world.
 
Newspapers.com
19 December 1928, Sacramento (CA) Bee, “New York Day By Day” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 30, col. 8:
NEW YORK, Dec. 18. - No other human beings are quite so self-centered as the denizens of Broadway. It lives, moves and has its headaches between Columbus Circle and Herald Square. To its fortunate wayfarers it is the Main Stem of the Universe - the Big Apple and the goal of earthly travels.
   
Newspapers.com
13 July 1929, Pittsburgh (PA) Sun-Telegraph, “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 4, col. 4:
THE BROADWAY WAY
PROFESSIONALS and others along The Big Apple will go to any extreme to stick a knife in the other fellow’s side.
 
Newspapers.com
6 November 1931, The State Journal (Lansing, MI), “New York Day by Day” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 6, col. 7:
And spins the most hilarious yarns along the Big Apple.
 
Newspapers.com
2 December 1932, The Herald-News (Passaic, NJ), “New York Day by Day” by O. O. McIntyre, pg. 8, col. 7:
To thousands along the big apple, he is Jimmy Cunningham, ...
 
Newspapers.com
22 September 1933, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 12, col. 6:
Another kid, also stuck on The Big Apple, without even tomorrow’s meal fare, was offered the coin to go back to Kansas City—if she would go there.
 
Newspapers.com
28 March 1934, Chattanooga (TN) News, O. O. McIntyre column, pg. 4, col. 8:
On nights out, McGraw was, in his day, one of the liveliest spenders on the Big Apple.
 
Newspapers.com
2 January 1935, Courier-Post (Camden, NJ), “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 12, col. 5:
New York Street Scene: Broadway and 47th facing south: The bluecoats, a regiment of them, helping against the throngs…It was hoped that the cops would be able to direct south-bound revelers on one side of the Big Apple and north-bound horn-tootlers on the other.
 
Newspapers.com
26 April 1941, Evansville (IN) Courier, “Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 6, col. 6:
NEW YORK HEARTBEAT
The Big Parade:  George S. Kaufman, the playwright, studying the scene at 45th Street and The Big Apple.
 
Newspapers.com
29 June 1942, Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, UT), Walter Winchell column, pg. 5, col. 6:
Sallies In Our Alley: Raymond Scott insists he actually overheard it at the corner of 43rd and The Big Apple.
 
Newspapers.com
15 June 1951, Minneapolis (MN) Morning Tribune, pg. 4, col. 1:
WALTER WINCHELL
Celebrities Along
The Big Apple
   
Newspapers.com
8 June 1961, Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer, Walter Winchell column, pg. 5, col. 3:
Judy Holliday and beau Gerry Mulligan with Peter Lawford on the 52nd St. corner of the Big Apple discussing Jazz and the State of the World at 5 a.m.
 
Newspapers.com
21 March 1968, Lebanon (PA) Daily News, Walter Winchell column, pg. 23, col. 2:
THAWTS WHILE THAWTING…
The huge sign at 42nd Street between The Big Apple and 8th Avenue makes some veteran Brodayfarers wince.