Why is New York called the Big Apple ?

Ths Big Apple is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sports writer for the New York Morning Telegraph.By the 1960s, "the Big Apple" was known only as an old name for New York Its popularity since the 1970s is due to a promotional campaign by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau. Now, NYC & Company, the official marketing and tourism organization for New York City).

John J.Fitz Gerald's (a New York horse racing track writer) first New York Morning Telegraph "Around the Big Apple" column, on February 18, 1924, proudly declared: (in reference to horse racing)

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.

The "Big Apple" racing circuit had meant "the big time," the place where the big money was to be won. Horses love apples, and apples were widely regarded as the mythical king of fruit. In contrast, the smaller, poorer tracks were called the "leaky roof circuit" or "bull ring" tracks.

By the 1930s and '40s, "Big Apple" was mainly associated with the world of jazz. "The Big Apple" became the name of a club in Harlem in 1934, and Harlem itself was referred to as "the Apple" at this time. A club in Columbia, South Carolina also took the "Big Apple" name, and it was here that 1937's short-lived national "Big Apple" dance craze began. (see video below)




By the late 1920s, New York writers other than Fitz Gerald were starting to use "Big Apple" and were using it outside of a horse-racing context.[12] "The Big Apple" was a popular song[13] and dance[14] in the 1930s. Walter Winchell and other writers continued to use the name in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1997 ,Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani signed legislation designating the southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway, the corner on which John J. Fitz Gerald resided from 1934 to 1963, as "Big Apple Corner."



Since 1980, the New York Mets' baseball stadium has featured a top hat that a "Big Apple" rises from when a Mets player hits a home run.