Where-To-Go Wednesday - Historic Tour of Macy's Herald Square

What: Historic Tour of Macy's Herald Square

Where: 151 W. 34th St.
            New York, NY

Who: Teens and Up
 

Me - The Historic Tour of Macy's Herald Square was enjoyable. We walked around Macy's and learned about the history of Macy's. It was fascinating. We learned a lot of interesting facts. They used to sell animals at Macy's. Also, Scrabble got popular because they started selling it at Macy's. They had a lot of plaques. One was  a tribute to their employees who died in World War I. Another was tribute to those that died in World War II. There was also a tribute to their former owners who died on the Titanic. They have a level 1 and 1/2 between the first and second floor. It reminds me of platform 9 3/4 in Harry Potter. They have the giant piano that was in the movie Big. It used to be in FAO Schwartz but now that FAO Schwartz is out of business, it is currently located at Macy's. It was fun to walk around on it and play music. I learned to play piano in school, but I didn't play a real song on it though. All in all, the tour was fun.
 
 
Mom - The original Macy's was started by Rowland Hussey (RH) Macy in 1858. In 1902, it moved to its present location at Herald Square. Although, we don't really shop at Macy's now, when I was a child we used to shop there, and it was interesting to learn about some of the fascinating history of this famous store. Macy's, which prides itself on being the largest store in the world, was the first store to be called a department store. The term was coined by Mr. Macy himself. It was also the first store to sell ready made clothes and not just items for making clothes.  At one time, you could even buy houses and cars at Macy's. If you want to know more about Macy's history, you should definitely take this tour. We visited several commemorative plaques on our tour include a tribute to the late owners, Ida and Isador Strauss who perished on the Titanic. There is also a Memorial Entrance on 34th Street dedicated to them. Another plaque is dedicated to employees that worked for Macy's for over 50 years. All of their names are on the plaque. There were quite a few names on the plaque but none of them were really recent. These days people move so often from job to job whether they are forced to or just by personal choice that it is hard to believe there was ever a time when people stayed in a job for 50 years. These plaques along with the original wooden escalators, which are currently in the process of being restored, help Macy's keep a link to its past while still continuing to remain current enough to keep up with today's world.  One of the more modern touches at the store is the giant selfie wall where you can take a pictures of yourself in front of Macy's famous fireworks or Thanksgiving parade or Macy's itself among other things.  Whether you are interested in shopping history, New York history or Macy's history, you will definitely enjoy a Historic Tour of Macy's Herald Square.
 

For more information or to book a tour visit www.viator.com/tours/New-York-City/Historic-Tour-of-Macys-Herald-Square.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.