28 Handy Hints From 1964 For Visiting New York City

A 1964 issue of The Westsider Magazine contains a list of hints for visitors to New York.

The World’s Fair held in Queens would attract millions of people from around the globe. What important things would a visitor need to know?

It is interesting to see what tips the editors came up with back then and how many would still apply today. For instance it still holds true that New York City tap water is excellent for drinking.  This was before disposable bottles of water, but many municipal water systems did not have good tasting drinking water. Of course many other hints are obsolete.

One of the things you will notice is that the prefix for all telephone numbers were exchange names that correspond to the numbers on the telephone dial. For example TR9 stands for Trafalgar 9 so the phone number is 879. Fares on city buses and subways were fifteen cents. One price that has actually declined from 1964 is a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. In 1964 the cost was a nickel. In 2020 it’s free.

So here are:

Handy Hints For World’s Fair Visitors

1. Lincoln Center is at Broadway and 65th Street.
2. If you require a Weather report, dial WE 6-1212.
3. Correct Time can be obtained by dialing ME 7-1212.
4. The United Nations is at First Avenue and 42nd Street. .
5. Visitors are cautioned not to cross thoroughfares against the lights. Jaywalking is illegal.
6. Fares on City franchised buses are 15 cents. Buses operate on every important thoroughfare.
7. New York water is equal to any in the world in purity and flavor. Drink faucet water in any hotel.
8. Electric current in the City is 110 volts. In a vast majority of locations alternating current prevails.
9. Do not waste your money on beggars and panhandlers; they get plenty from the City’s Welfare Department.
10. For baggage use ‘redcaps’ or ‘skycaps’ at terminals; do not patronize the itinerant porters outside the terminals.
11. The Port Authority Bus Terminal at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street is the headquarters of all important bus lines.
12. Rockefeller Center takes in the area between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas from 48th to 51st Streets.
13. In case of accident or sudden illness, dial TR 9-1000 (in Manhattan) and a physician will be sent to your address.
14. Most of the passenger steamship piers are on the West Side of Manhattan and extend from The Battery to 57th Street.
15. New York is on Daylight Savings Time (one hour advance) from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.
16. The most inexpensive transportation is the 25-minute, 5-cent ferry ride down the harbor from The Battery to Staten Island.
17. Manhattan north of Fourteenth Street is laid out on a gridiron plan. Avenues run north and south while streets are east and west.
18. Railroad terminals are the Grand Central at Park Avenue and 42nd Street and the Pennsylvania at Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street.
19. Fifth Avenue is the dividing line between the East and West Sides. Building numbers on both sides of Manhattan start at this Avenue.
20. If you are traveling by plane from New York, be sure to reconfirm your reservations seventy-two hours (if possible) before departure.
21. Tipping in hotels and restaurants should be approximately 15 per cent of the bill. Exceptionally good service might warrant a little more.
22. Statue of Liberty boats leave from The Battery; Round-Manhattan sightseeing trips by water leave from Hudson River and West 41st Street.
23. Manhattan may be reached from railroad or air terminals in New Jersey by ferries, buses or the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (PATH).
24. Phoning to any number outside the five boroughs of the City, be sure to dial the area code first. They are listed in the telephone directory.
25. You can send telegrams by dialing ‘WESTERN UNION’ at WO 2-7111, or by asking the telephone operator for Western Union in the case of coin telephones.
26. The 70-story RCA Building is at Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and 49th street. The 102-story Empire State Building is at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street.
27. Transportation to the World’s Fair is available on the Long Island Railroad, subways, buses, taxicabs, ships, helicopters, aquafoils, rental cars and private automobile
28. There are various sightseeing bus trips, among which are the Gray Lines at Tenth Avenue and 42nd Street and the Crossroads Sightseeing Corporation at 1572 Broadway.