Empire State Building
Good afternoon! I just left the World Trade Center and walked through Rockefeller Park. Now I’m heading to The Empire State Building to visit their museum and observatory.
Welcome to the Empire State Building. This was the original location of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. In 1928 it was sold, demolished, and plans for the Empire State Building began.
I’m wearing a Saints shirt. A guy walks up and says “Welcome to the home of the Giants!” I say “We’re in New Jersey?”
This entrance and visitor welcome center opened in 2018.
I believe the 102nd floor observatory also opened in 2018. This is the reason I didn’t consider City Pass. It only had the 86th floor option.
All of these displays on the first level can be viewed without purchasing a ticket if you just want to walk through here.
This is a pretty nice model of the Empire State Building. It would make a nice photo op even for someone who isn’t going up to the observatory. Up these steps is where you purchase tickets.
This is my ticket I bought at the kiosk.
Once you purchase your ticket you go through a museum.
This was my favorite display. The construction workers on the screens are actually moving, talking, and working on building the Empire State Building.
There are places to sit and have your picture taken if you want to do that.
They started building the Empire State Building in 1930 and finished it in 1 year and 45 days. This shows the opening of the building in 1931.
This is a model of the 1931 version of the Empire State Building. You may notice the antenna is not on the top of the building yet. That 60-ton antenna was added in 1950.
This section shows all of the movies the Empire State Building has been in. I know it mostly from Sleepless in Seattle.
This is a very cool display. Another good photo op is in that corner if you want it.
This is the elevator up to 80th floor. I like the uniforms they wear here.
Here is the video from the elevator ride up.
This is the 80th floor of the Empire State Building.
You can get a pretty good view of lower Manhattan from here.
This is looking east. The Chrysler building is mostly obstructed from here.
We are now heading up to the 86th floor.
This is the area I remember from movies like Sleepless in Seattle.
I love an outdoor observatory.
They still have the old viewing machines you can use.
The 102nd floor I’m going to is that little circle with windows up top.
This is the Macy’s from the Thanksgiving Day parade and from Miracle on 34th Street.
We have a much better view of the Chrysler building up here than we did on the 80th floor.
The building with the gold roof in the lower right hand corner is the New York Life Building. The roof tiles are dipped in 22 karat gold.
They have this spot for a photo op in one of the corners up here.
I’m back inside. I’m going to head up to the 102nd floor.
You definitely feel exclusive going up to the 102nd floor. A lot of people who didn’t have a ticket for it were trying to get on the elevator and getting turned away. There were a lot of City Pass people. The elevator guy told me you can pay for an upgrade with your City Pass to get to the 102nd floor.
The 102nd floor of the Empire State Building is the best way to see the all of New York City in the shortest amount of time. It is a small circular area with glass windows all around it. If you want to move from one side of the city to the other, you just walk across to the other side. In most observatories you have to walk around the entire building.
This is the distance from one side to the other.
Rockefeller Center, where I did Top of the Rock, is right in the center here. Central Park is behind it.
On the way down they send you through this section of the 80th floor for picture purchases.
Back down on the ground floor they have a gift shop on the way out.
I grabbed a water from the hot dog guy outside. Next I’m heading to The Edge at Hudson Yards.
