Some NYC facts

Besides pics and vids, we also dug up some interesting facts about the Big Apple:

(1) The name "Big Apple" originates from the racing track in New York were jockeys would get apples to give to their horses after the races. The best winners got the best choice of apples. Thus, the term "apple" was invented to mean a prize or compliment. Later, during the 1920s, New York become popular among musicians around the world because the clubs paid more for their gigs as other cities. They integrated the word "apple" in their slang, meaning that it was going well with someone as they got a chance to get many apples. The term " big" was added because NYC was the place to the get the best apples. People would use the expression for quite some time to denote someone who did well in life (e.g. that suit is the " big apple");
(2) The current estimated value for a sale of Central Park is about US$ 529 billion! So even Bill Gates can never turn this place into his private backyard;
(3) In Manhattan (the most expensive of New York's 5 boroughs), a 1-bedroom rental apartment would cost approximately $3000 a month! Furthermore, if you would like to buy an appartment, say, at Park Avenue, a one-room would currently set you back US$1.26 million. For every additional room you want, you pay the same amount (e.g. 10 rooms equals $12.6 million!);
(4) Did you know that most of the buildings at Time Square are empty? Nobody lives there. Instead, investors bought most of the buildings and rent out the front of the building to advertisers. The average turnover per sign, per year is about US$3.6 million. But there also have been reports that one company paid out a US$20 million dividend to its investors in a single year. So.... if you want your face to be up there, save and sign up, because room will only be available again in 2012;
(5) Finally, because the rents in NYC are so ridiculously high, 1 in 7 people get financial support by the city. This counts from the lowest incomes to those of US$175.000. Why do the latter need subsidies? The city argues that also the richer people need an incentive to stay. It's a crazy world...