Entry from July 05, 2004

SUMMARY: “Why is New York called the Big Apple?”







Above, the header from the 1924 newspaper column of John J. Fitz Gerald. Click to see a portion of the column which includes his use of “Big Apple.” Part of a 1926 column is also available.

“The Big Apple” was the catchphrase of New Yorktrack writer John J. Fitz Gerald in the 1920s. He admitted this twice and it was the name of three of his columns. He picked up the term from African-American ("dusky" he called them) stable hands at the Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans, probably on January 14, 1920.Fitz Gerald’s first New York“Around the Big Apple” column, on February 18, 1924, proudly declared:The “Big Apple” racing circuit had meant “the big time,” the place where the big money was to be won. Horses love apples, and apples were widely regarded as the mythical king of fruit. In contrast, the smaller, poorer tracks were called the “leaky roof circuit” or “bull ring” tracks.“The Big Apple” became the name of a club in Harlem in 1934, and Harlem itself was referred to as “the Apple” at this time. A club in Columbia, South Carolina also took the “Big Apple” name, and it was here that 1937’s short-lived national “Big Apple” dance craze began.“The Big Apple” was revived in the 1970s by Charles Gillett, president of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.The origins of “the Big Apple” were solved in the 1990s by Gerald Cohen and Barry Popik. A “Big Apple Corner” street sign was dedicated in 1997 at West 54th Street and Broadway, where Fitz Gerald last lived.The African-American stablehand who first called New York City “the Big Apple” at the Fair Grounds Race Track in New Orleans has never been honored. Not by New York City. Not by New Orleans. This information is not even on the Fair Grounds web site. The stablehand doesn’t even have a name, mostly because almost no one has helped look for him.The New York track writer who popularized “the Big Apple” in the 1920s is buried in an unmarked grave in Menands, New York. The “Big Apple” plaque that I put on the building at Broadway and West 54th Street in 1996 was quickly removed during renovations and has never been replaced. The historic “Big Apple” columns are nowhere on web.If you search the web looking for an answer about New York City’s nickname, you’ll probably be told that “the Big Apple” comes from whores.It is now the summer of 2004. “Big Apple” sculptures are about to be placed in front of NYC buildings. The Republicans will soon have their convention here. Thanks for reading this. If you want the stablehands honored at last, please write to the mayor. I doubt that he has any knowledge of the information on this site.