If you happened to have fallen out of bed today and found yourself in the middle of Manhattan and the year just happened to be 1964, this is what you'd be hearing about if you turned on WNBC AM and FM and caught The 6:30 New York News Special.
C.O.R.E. (Congress Of Racial Equality) had scheduled a mass Stall-In for opening Day of The New York World's Fair. Civil Rights demonstrations were going on seemingly everywhere, especially at schools. Mayor Wagner was issuing stern warnings to demonstrators who showed up to ruin the event, pointing out there were three detention centers set up to house over 3,000 arrests. Various Civil Rights leaders in the New York area, although not necessarily condoning the demonstrations weren't condemning them either. Meanwhile, last minute preparations were underway at the site of the World's Fair with some of the exhibits not quite on schedule to open in the morning. There was a subway fire between Times Square and Grand Central Station that reeked havoc with commuters with fears that 42nd Street was in danger of sinking due to fire damage to supports. Oh, and it was going down to 40 with rain predicted and a high on Opening Day in the low 50's.
Okay, you can come back to 2011 now.
And don't forget to drop off the odd penny, nickel or dollar on your way out.
[gordon-donate]
