elphants from first parade 1924 (
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felix the cat (
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A marching band (
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When it started on Nov. 27, 1924, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade. But then, leave it to a department store to get an early jump on the holiday season. Thursday marks the 84th edition of the popular procession, and some 3.5 million people will line the streets of the city to catch of glimpse of the bands, the balloons and, if he’s not too busy tweeting angry things to Matt Lauer, Kanye West. We checked in with Bob Grippo, author of “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” for a geographical tour of the march’s storied history. This is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s New York.
1 Original 1924 starting point, 145th Street at Convent Avenue
The parade began here before making its way down to 34th Street. In subse-quent years it was shortened, moving the start to 110th Street, and ultimately to 77th Street in 1946, where it still kicks off today.
2 Central Park Zoo, Fifth Avenue at 64th Street
The first parade consisted of some 300 Macy’s employees marching with two dozen animals borrowed from the local zoo, including camels and elephants. The live beasts, however, frightened children, and after three years, they were replaced by balloon animals.
3 American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street
In 1939, the parade was broadcast for the first time by a TV ‘apparatus’ placed atop the museum. The program ran for just an hour and was beamed only throughout New York City, giving — as a contemporary ad promised — “sit-at-homers” a chance to enjoy the event in “cushioned ease.”
4 El vs. Baloons, Eighth Avenue at 53rd Street
The city’s elevated train lines once presented major obstacles to the balloons. Crowds would gather to watch the handlers attempt to squeeze the giant inflatables under the tracks. Canvas was sometimes placed over the streets so as not to damage the balloons as they slid under the el. By 1939, the tracks had been demolished, clearing the way for Goodyear to make bigger balloons.
5 Felix is rescued, Floyd Bennett Field, 50 Aviation Road, Brooklyn
In the parade’s early years, the balloons were released into the air at the parade’s conclusion. Each had a return address stitched into it, and the idea was, the balloon would float off, slowly deflate, then drop to earth, where someone would find it and return it to Macy’s for a $50 or $100 reward.
In 1931, aviator Clarence Chamberlain had just left Bennett Field when he spotted Felix the Cat hovering over Jamaica Bay. In a feat of mid-air heroics, he snagged the balloon with the wing and return the balloon safely to the field.
6 Cat in the Hat goes splat, 72nd Street at Central Park West
In the parade’s biggest tragedy, 43 m.p.h. winds in 1997 blew the Cat in the Hat balloon into a light-post. A piece broke off and hit Kathleen Caronna on the head. She spent a month in a coma. In a strange twist, it was Caronna’s East 72nd Street apartment that Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle flew his plane into in 2006.
7 Early balloon accident, 65th Street at Broadway
In 1933, the five-story Gulliver the Gullible balloon sprang a leak at Lincoln Square and had to be hastily patched. (Balloons are now allowed to leak, for fear that repairs will hold up the parade.) In 1962, rain filled the brim of Donald Duck’s hat, causing the character to tip and dumping 50 gallons of water on chilly spectators.
8 Macy’s, 151 W. 34th St., at Sixth Avenue
Before TV coverage demanded that the parade conclude on the store’s more photogenic Herald Square side, 34th Street was the epicenter. Stars such as Harpo Marx used to climb atop the Macy’s marquee and wave to fans. In 1946, producers of “Miracle on 34th Street” filmed scenes during the actual parade, and Edmund Gwenn, who played Santa in the movie, also served as Kris Kringle for Macy’s — unbeknownst to onlookers at the time. He too climbed atop the marquee.
9 Department of Sanitation, 125 Worth St., between Lafayette and Centre streets
Cleaning up after the parade is a massive effort that begins as soon as the parade ends. Balloons are deflated and returned to a warehouse in Hoboken. Meanwhile, a cleanup crew of some 93 employees, 10 collection trucks, 18 mechanical brooms, 25 hand-brooms and 14 backpack blowers hit the route, collecting an estimated 39 tons of debris.