[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. It's Membership Drive quiz time. Today, New York City history. If you think you know stuff about the city and its past, call up now to play. 212-433-WNYC. All our lines are open, 212-433-9692. Get two in a row right and you'll win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball hat, and if you're new around here, what is this? Well, we are in our annual fall membership drive. The beginning of this 11:00 AM hour of the show everyday during the drive, we're going to do a low stakes pop quiz. We don't give grades, but yes, we do give prizes.

Again, get two in a row right and you'll win the ever popular Brian Lehrer Show chambray blue baseball cap. Who wants to give it a shot? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. The topic today is New York City history. Tomorrow, because we do our climate story of the week every Tuesday on the show all this year, Tomorrow I'm writing a climate quiz. We'll see if you know your climate. That'll be tomorrow, but for right now, for today, it's the New York city history quiz. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Producer Amina Srna wrote today's quiz on New York City history. As I say, I'm writing the one for tomorrow on climate, but right now it's the history quiz. Who wants to play? There's no cost of admission. Just come on in at 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Looks like George in Franklin Lakes is our first contestant on line one. Hi, George. Thanks for calling up.

George: Hello. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Before it was called the Big Apple, what was New York City's earlier food-related nickname? It was the big something else, food-related.

George: The big waiter?

Brian Lehrer: Waiter. The big waiter. That's pretty funny but wrong. Thank you for trying. The answer to that question-- This was a hard one. We did start with a hard one, I think. If you know it, you know it, but not that many people know it. It was the Big Oyster. We got this from a New York Times article which said the Big Apple was once the Big Oyster. New York Harbor was rich with oysters as far back as when Lenape tribes lived here. The Dutch once called Ellis Island, Little Oyster Island, and Liberty Island, Great Oyster Island. Okay, that was our furthest back in history, which is why we started with that one. Joe in Queens, ready for the next question?

Joe: Ready.

Brian Lehrer: Also really, really way back. Which is the oldest bar in New York City? Which of the following? The Ear Inn, McSorley's Ale House, Fraunces Tavern, or the Bridge Cafe?

Joe: I'm going to say the Bridge Cafe.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry, Joe, thanks for trying. It is Fraunces Tavern. According to Atlas Obscura, Fraunces Tavern was originally opened back in 1762 as the Queen's Head Tavern by Samuel Fraunces, who we read may have been a Black tavern keeper from the Caribbean. Scholars are divided on that, but it immediately became one of the most popular taverns in town and was especially popular with area patriots including George Washington, and it remains a restaurant and a museum today. Our next contestant is Jan in Hicksville. Jan, you're ready?

Jan: Yes, sir.

Brian Lehrer: Staying on the George Washington beat, now that we know where he went to drink. Before the White House was built, America's first president lived in lower Manhattan, roughly where the Two Bridges neighborhood is, between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, which weren't there yet. What was the address or name of the street of the very first presidential residence in the US? If you don't know, I'll give you a very good hint.

Jan: Give me a clue.

Brian Lehrer: This president had a mythological history or let's say a mythologized history with this type of tree that the street is named after, George Washington did. What was the name of the street?

Jan: Hawthorne Street?

Brian Lehrer: Oh, sorry, Jan. It's Cherry Street. No, I cannot lie. I chopped down that cherry tree but thanks for playing. Jackie in Manhattan is our next contestant. Hi, Jackie.

Jackie: Hi, Brian. I'm so happy to talk to you. I love your show. I love you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Moving up in time a little more. New York City is known for its sprawling subway system and we'll have a quiz on just that coming up later in the week, but which came first in the city, above-ground trains or below-ground trains?

Jackie: Above. The first trains in the city were elevated trains that were built as early as the 1860s.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that is absolutely right. The first underground line of the subway opened in 1904. That's generally considered the launch of the subway system, but your timeline is exactly right. It came 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line which later became the IRT 9th Avenue line. Just for some grins, the website nycsubway.org says it was agreed by city officials at the time, 1868, that an elevated line would solve the problem of serious congestion in Manhattan. Can you believe that quote? They had a congestion problem even before there were cars.

Jackie: Back then there were trains running on the street, the street level, so I can understand the optimism.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, and it was horse-drawn carriages and all that stuff clogging up the streets. All right, moving up in time, but staying on the transportation beat for a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. The Brooklyn Bridge, when it was completed in 1884, was the longest suspension bridge in the world and New Yorkers were, well, skeptical, as we can be, that it could hold the weight of all its traffic. In celebration of its opening, there was a parade of two species of animals to show that the bridge could in fact hold a ton of weight, so name either one of those animal species who were the first to cross the Brooklyn Bridge before people?

Jackie: Oh my gosh, this is a great question. I'm going to totally guess and just say elephant.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, the elephant in the room is that it was elephants. Can you name the other one just for fun?

Jackie: No, rhinoceros. I'm trying to think of heavy animals. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: Rhinoceros. I can imagine a rhinoceros walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. The answer was camels.

Jackie: Probably not a good idea. Camels. Okay.

Brian Lehrer: Congratulations, Jackie. Hang on. We're going to take your address and we will send you a WNYC-- a Brian Lehrer show, I should say, baseball cap. Cecilia in Manhattan, you're at WNYC, ready to play?

Cecilia: I'll give it a shot.

Brian Lehrer: True or false, the Empire State Building is so enormous, it has its own zip code?

Cecilia: True.

Brian Lehrer: True. From the Empire State Building social media account, in 1980, the Empire State Building was given its own zip code. This is a bonus question. You win the baseball hat if you get it right, but no penalty if you don't. What's that zip code for the Empire State Building?

Cecilia: That I can't answer.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. It's 10118. I couldn't have answered that either. All right. Let's see. Jason, you have that music clip ready to go? Okay. This year, New York City is celebrating 50 years since the creation of hip-hop, but it wasn't until 1979 that a rap song first appeared on the Billboard Top 40, entering the mainstream. Let's take a listen to a little bit of a hint.

[MUSIC - The Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delight]

Brian Lehrer: Can you name that first hip-hop song to hit the Billboard charts?

Cecilia: No, I listen to a lot of music, but I'm pretty dumb with hip hop.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, okay. It was Rapper's Delight. Cecilia, thank you for playing. Let's see. We have time for one more contestant. Who was next in line? I think it was Ed in Riverdale. Ed, you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Ed: Hi.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, there are five US presidents who were born in New York State, but only one was born in Manhattan. Can you name that president?

Ed: Good question. Process of elimination. The one that's popping in my head is FDR, but I'm not sure he was born in Manhattan. I'll just go with that.

Brian Lehrer: You'll go with who? You're right, he was born in New York State, but not Manhattan. Who are you going to go with?

Ed: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Brian Lehrer: Well, you got the right last name, but no, he was born in Hyde Park. As it turns out, Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York. Millard Fillmore was born in the Finger Lakes area. FDR, as we say, Hyde Park. Donald J. Trump was born in New York City, but that was Jamaica, Queens. Theodore Roosevelt was born in Manhattan. They say it was in a brownstone at 28 East 20th Street. That's our New York City history quiz. Thanks a lot for playing. We gave away one baseball cap anyway. Tomorrow we'll do a climate quiz. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Much more to come.

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