Lunch at the Rockefeller: Recreate New York's most recognisable photo 90 years on atop a skyscraper. Photo / Tishman Speyer, RockCenterNYC, X
Lunch at the Rockefeller: Recreate New York's most recognisable photo 90 years on atop a skyscraper. Photo / Tishman Speyer, RockCenterNYC, X
Lunch at the Rockefeller looked a bit different 90 years ago.
A new attraction at New York’s famed 69-storey skyscraper allows visitors to recreate one of the city’s most celebrated photos: Lunch atop a Skyscraper. The image of fearless Depression-era steelworkers taking a break on an iron girder 260m above Fifth Avenue is instantly recognisable. Since appearing in the New York Herald Tribune in 1932, the image has been named one of the most influential of the 20th century.
You, too, can now experience the views of the city while “going smoko” on an iron girder for US$40 ($65) a pop. Lunchbox not included.
The five-minute photo op raises up to seven visitors 3.6m above the observation deck at 30 Rock.
“Visitors will be lifted 12ft above the deck, rotated 180 degrees, and granted an amazing view of Central Park and beyond,” according to the Rockefeller Centre website.
You will, however, get a seatbelt and back support, which is more than the 11 construction workers got.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper: The lunchbreak on top of an iron girder at New York's RCA Building has been named one of the 20th century's most recognisable photos. Photo / Charles C. Ebbets (attributed) New York Herald Tribune, CC
Where were the men in the Lunch atop a Skyscraper photograph?
Despite being one of the most recreated photos of 20th-century America, nobody was exactly sure where it was taken. Or, even which skyscraper the ironworkers were taking their break at. Many people assumed it was the Empire State Building, which became the tallest building in the world on completion in April 1931.
However, the archivists for the RCA Building later discovered the famous photo among a series of publicity shots. The men at lunch were photographed from the 69th floor for the builders in an image attributed to Charles Clyde Ebbets, though many other details are lost to history.
They were also able to track down the identity of some of the men, thanks to a postcard from a pub in County Galway, Ireland. The family of proud ironworkers Matty O’Shaughnessy and Sonny Glynn had sent a copy of the paper home, to Ireland.
“The biggest surprise was that despite the photo’s worldwide appeal, no one had tried to find out who the men or photographer were until us,” said Sean O’Cualain, whose research became a 2012 documentary.
“We were literally starting from scratch, and without the assistance and enthusiasm of Rockefeller’s Centre’s archivist, Christine Roussel.”
Be lifted over 800 feet above the streets of Manhattan on The Beam at Top of the Rock. Pick up your tickets now: https://t.co/41vcGq7AjE
If you’re after the best views in New York City, make a heading for these heights:
Edge, City Climb — Hudson Yards
Opened in 2022, the Hudson Yards’ open observation deck on Manhattan’s west side claims to be the “highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. If that’s not enough, you can climb on up with their harnessed City Climb experience to 365m.
City Climb is a new attraction at 30 Hudson Yards in New York. Photo / AP
One World Observatory
The tallest building in New York, the One World Trade Centre, boasts the highest viewing deck in the city. With regularly changing installations and events, visit their website for more.
If you’ve got a head for heights, the Statue of Liberty Crown is a classic.
Take the Ellis and Liberty Island ferry from Manhattan’s Battery Park or New Jersey’s Liberty Park and scale the Green Giant for the best views back towards the city.
