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Dive brief:
- Rockefeller Center launched a new attraction Friday for adventurous visitors to recreate the building’s most iconic photo atop its observation deck. “The Beam” lifts and spins tourists 12 feet above the deck, which is 70 stories high.
- The ride emulates the experience of the 11 steelworkers who posed for the iconic “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” photo in 1932.
- Image from CBS News programs brave riders outshining modern New York City with Central Park in the background. Riders receive a digital photo included with their ticket.
Diving knowledge:
“Lunch on top of a skyscraper” originally appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on October 2, 1932, according to a 2016 interview with Rockefeller Center archivist Christine Roussel.
Charles Ebbets is credited with taking the photo, although two other photographers—Thomas Kelley and William Leftwich—also took it, as they scaled the precarious network of steel girders to document the project.
Widely believed to be a publicity stunt, the image captured the exact sentiment intended.
For many construction professionals, the image of steelworkers evokes pride as it captures the spirit of hard work in the trades. However, many say that a modern lens makes the image cringe-inducing.
“It’s one of those things emotionally, you’re grateful and, and you honor and respect the photograph, but just like a security professional, you look at it and say, ‘Whoa, let me call the number.’ of the things that are wrong with it,” Greg Sizemore, vice president of workforce development, safety, health and environment at Associated Builders and Contractors, said of the photo in May.
Some the teams recreated the photoalbeit with upgrades such as brightly colored PPE and smartphones replacing cloth caps and cigarettes.
The Rockefeller Center website says celebration of the “fearless steps” of the workers it costs visitors between $40 and $55, depending on the timed entry.
