
NYC has many nicknames…”Gotham,” “The City That Never Sleeps,” “Home” (for LOTS of people), and of course “The Big Apple.”
But why is the city called this? It actually has nothing to do with the sweet red fruit.
The Origins of “The Big Apple”
NYC’s beloved nickname “The Big Apple” dates all the way back to the 1920s and originates from the context of horse racing. Back then, this was one of the country’s most popular sports, and the highly coveted prizes were known colloquially as “big apples” that all riders wanted to win.
With plenty of these highly sought after “big apple” race courses existing in New York City, it stuck… thanks also to the help of famous sportswriter New York Morning Telegraph sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald.
In many of his columns, he called the NYC’s horse racing circuit “the big apples” of competitive horse racing in the United States, a term he overheard from African-American stablehands when on assignment in New Orleans. He even called his column “Around The Big Apple” he loved the phrase so much.

“The Big Apple” 🤝 Jazz Era
Once the “big apple” phrase become synonymous with prestige and coveted success in the sports world, it quickly entered the jazz industry in the 1930s. New York City became the jazz capital of the world during this, gaining the image from around the country as the ultimate destination for jazz musicians.
Harlem especially became one of the most highly coveted places to play for jazz fame, offering many of the best venues in the country with the best jazz artists performing.
The “Big Apple” nickname fed into the glitzy opportunity the bright-light city could offer musicians, with one jazz club called “Big Apple” opening at the northwest corner of West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in 1934 and Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra releasing a 1937 song called “The Big Apple.”
“The Big Apple” Revival in the 1970s
After many years of fizzing out a bit, the “Big Apple” nickname returned with a boom in the ’70s in the form of a tourism campaign.
Led by Charles Gillett, president of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau, the campaign leaned into the glorified “Big Apple” nickname yet again with hopes of returning the cheerful symbolism of the moniker from year’s past.
In comparison with the previous decade’s decline economically and culturally in NYC, this promotional boost of the nickname (which even led to pins, t-shirts, and other merchandise) soon saw apples everywhere and the city received a boost in self-image. One famous aspect of the campaign is that New Yorkers and visitors were urged to “take a bite out of the Big Apple.”