Destination City - by Robert Pigott

About the Book

Destination City presents the surprising stories of historical figures who are not usually associated with New York City but spent key parts of their lives there.

Book Synopsis

Leon Trotsky was living in The Bronx with his common-law wife and two children when the Russian Revolution broke out. President Woodrow Wilson and his successor, Warren G. Harding, had little in common--except both came to New York City to indulge in extramarital affairs. Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart were roommates for two years in the 1930s, sharing a Manhattan apartment dubbed "Casa Gangrene." Simone de Beauvoir smoked her first joint at the Plaza Hotel in 1947. While living in Brighton Beach, Woody Guthrie wrote a song about his bigoted landlord, "Old Man Trump"--Donald's father. The thirteen-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald was a menace to his Bronx neighbors, once firing a BB gun at their windows. Greta Garbo had a fear of dentists' offices and found a practitioner who would examine her at a bench on Central Park West. Barack Obama spent his first night in Manhattan "curled up in an alley-way" on West 109th Street.

Telling these tales and many others, Destination City presents the surprising stories of historical figures who are not usually associated with New York City but spent key parts of their lives there. Vignettes recount incidents in the lives of hundreds of notable people--writers, artists, actors, scientists, activists, politicians, revolutionaries, and more. Some were greeted with ticker-tape parades; others came to the city penniless. Some fell in love with the city; others despised it. But all were marked in some way by their time in New York. Robert Pigott's writing captures the fabric of a bygone city, bringing to life the colorful world these figures inhabited. Charming and wry, this book is for all readers interested in an unconventional angle on New York City past and present.

Review Quotes

Destination City won me over with its very first entry. Unexpected nuggets abound for the reader interested in the surprising history of New York City. Pigott has mined nearly 28,000 volumes in the biography section of the New York Society Library, so it is not surprising that his subjects represent a sprawling roster of characters: poets, outlaws, pilots, politicians, actors, revolutionaries, assassins, soldiers, singers, potentates, artists, and even a pirate. They are testament to New York's gravitational pull for all those seeking diversity, opportunity, and culture.--Michael Miscione, former Manhattan borough historian

Destination City is not about New York's residents, but about people like Charles Dickens, Desmond Tutu, Dwight Eisenhower, James Dean, Sojourner Truth, Gertrude Stein, Bat Masterson, Abraham Lincoln, and a hundred others who just passed through the metropolis and recorded their observations. Robert Pigott has done a superb job of summarizing their Gotham encounters and reminding us of the magic and mystery of what is still the greatest city in the world.--Kenneth T. Jackson, editor in chief of The Encyclopedia of New York City

Brisk, entertaining, and full of surprises, Destination City showcases the New York experiences of historical figures who aren't typically associated with Gotham--yet spent enough time there to be shaped by the city in some way. Their well-researched, lively stories will resonate with city natives as well as newcomers and transplants.--Esther Crain, author of The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910

E. B. White said no one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky. In Destination City, Robert Pigott captivatingly reminds readers that an amazing cast of characters had to be lucky to visit the world's greatest city too!--Sam Roberts, author of A History of New York in 101 Objects

The New York that exists today has been created primarily by people who have lived here, some for their entire lives. But even brief visits to New York by some people have had an influence on the city, and in turn, the city has influenced them. Robert Pigott has compiled a collection of these people (and potted biographies of them) that is as broad as one might hope for. Here is a smorgasbord of interesting notables, the collection of whom is held together by the variety of their personalities and the lively readability of their descriptions. The text is factual and informative, but most of all it is entertaining. And in its totality, it provides a feel for the movers and shakers of the world who have spent at least some time in New York City.--Andrew Alpern, author of The Dakota: A History of the World's Best-Known Apartment Building

About the Author

Robert Pigott is the general counsel of a New York City nonprofit that develops affordable housing. He is a former section chief and bureau chief of the New York Attorney General's Charities Bureau as well as the author of New York's Legal Landmarks, a lawyer's historical guidebook to the city. A lifelong New Yorker, Pigott lives in Manhattan.