New York City has n’t always been bid the Big Apple . ( For that matter , it has n’t always been New York City either . What ’s up , New Amsterdam ? ) But it does seem like a uncanny nickname for a metropolis that ’s not particularly known for its orchards . So where did that cognomen fall from ?
Place Your Bets!
In the 1920s , there was a newsperson for the New York Morning Telegraph who cover cavalry racing , namedJohn Fitz Gerald(sometimes spell out FitzGerald ) , asBarry Popik , Gerald Cohen and others have since note . While there were several famous path in New York City , some of the bestrace horsescame from the New Orleans arena . Fitz Gerald heard unchanging hands referring to the races in New York , and their prestigiousness and prize money , as thebig apple of Equus caballus racing . Fitz Gerald encounter the term apt and started using it regularly in his columns on racing .
Jazz It Up
The terminal figure Big Apple hire off out of doors of horse racing band , withjazz musician – especially those in Harlem – calling the city by the moniker . It had the same signification for musician as it had for gymnastic horse racers : There were a lot of low - time racetracks andjazzclubs all over America that might be the humble apples , but the fame and fortune to be found in New York was the self-aggrandising apple .
In the 1930s , there was aclub in Harlemand a dancing called " The Big Apple " that was perform in a mathematical group . In this YouTube clip from 1937 , The Big Apple terpsichore looks both wearying and extremely fun to do :
As the Worm Turns
By the 1950s , the nickname had mostly petered out . And by the 1970s , few multitude were calling New York City anything but rotten . Crime was eminent , and citizenry were broke . It was scarcely a shiny , bright apple calling to citizenry outside the city to arrive jaw and take a bite .
