I first traveled to New York City with my parents in 1969, at age seven. It was lots of fun! I have many fond memories of my visit, including Broadway, Times Square, the Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. Since then, I have returned to the Big Apple a dozen or so times.
My father drove into NYC from Cleveland with us in our 1965 Vista Cruiser station wagon. I recall that he was driving quite fast as we first saw the Manhattan skyline. I don’t remember too much else about our first day in the Big Apple, but I remember that we stayed with my Great Aunt Millie and Uncle Fred.
I have fond memories of my first visit to the Empire State Building, then the tallest building in the world. I was amazed that it was 102 stories high. My sister, who was six, commented that the cars and taxis below looked like little toys.
The highlight of the trip for me was watching two live TV game shows, Concentration one day and Jeopardy the next day. I loved watching these shows on TV as a kid, and seeing them live was heaven. Ed McMahon hosted Concentration and Art Fleming hosted Jeopardy.
Another thing I loved in NYC was visiting Times Square. I recall the old billboard with the cartoons made with flashing lights. With my love of numbers as a kid, I was even more fascinated with the digital clock below the cartoon display, which ticked every tenth of a second. I begged my dad to drive by the sign twice!