One of the greatest ever books about New York City celebrates its centennial anniversary, and in celebration of its 100th birthday, as a guide and a pathfinder to New York City, it is perhaps fitting that we explore the potential for a private Gatsby-themed tour.
Millions of people have been influenced by The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s incredible tale of romantic tragedy interweaved in the class struggles of the interwar years and the dark side of the American Dream, and Gatsby parties have become a fixture of many luxury dining halls.
Whilst infamously unsuccessful during Mr Fitzgerald’s lifetime, it has since become known as the Great American Novel, and its story still resonates today even as the echoes of speakeasies, flappers, Prohibition and the Jazz Age fade further into the past.
To get a taste of that luxurious history of old New York, here are some places you must visit.
Oheka Castle
Whilst the story begins in Long Island, the village of West Egg where Jay Gatsby’s luxury estate is based technically does not exist. However, Oheka Castle, one of the buildings which inspired it, does exist and has provided an opulent look at New York State for over a century.
The main inspiration for Mr Gatsby’s home was Beacon Towers, which sadly was demolished and only fleeting ruins remain today.
However, Oheka has not only survived but thrived as the exact type of venue popular with socialites for Gatsby-inspired parties and wedding receptions. A tour of the mansion is also available by request.
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, the mistress of Daisy Buchanan’s husband Tom, lives in a landfill known as the “valley of ashes”. However, if you travel there today you get an entirely different experience that reveals just how much New York has evolved.
At the time, it was the home of waste, ashes and a single yellow-bricked building that was the home and workplace of mechanic George Wilson.
Now known as Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the Valley of Ashes was a set of wetlands deemed to be almost worthless, but were cleaned and drained for the 1939 World’s Fair and later used again in 1964.
It has since become the second-largest park in NYC, filled with remnants of a history and evolution of the area that Mr Fitzgerald could not have conceived and barely lived long enough to see.
Plaza Hotel
Based near Central Park, the Plaza Hotel is a building that is out of time and out of place in a way that fits its central importance to The Great Gatsby perfectly.
It was where the first revelations surrounding the mysterious Mr Gatsby emerged, as well as where the dark secret of his wealth and the artifice of his life story as the bootlegger James Gatz is exposed.
It has become one of New York’s finest landmarks and a location that must be seen when visiting the city. However, its particular significance to fans of The Great Gatsby is impossible to overstate.
Coney Island
Whilst the beautiful classical amusement park of Coney Island is only mentioned once, when Nick turns down an offer by Gatsby to go to Coney Island from West Egg in his luxury car, the bright lights and shimmering amusements are perhaps one of the most iconic sights of the Great Gatsby.
This is because they are the subject of Celestial Eyes, the portrait that served as the iconic cover art for the first edition of the book.
Painted by Francis Cugat, Mr Fitzgerald fell in love with the cover, to the point that he wrote a reference to Coney Island into the book to justify it, with piercing eyes featuring female figures that to this day have been the subject of rampant speculation as to its meaning.
Some have claimed it to be a rather nebulous depiction of Daisy Buchanan, the love of Jay Gatsby’s life, whilst others have claimed it to be a billboard in the Valley of Ashes, a hypothesis helped by early sketches of the cover which depict the desolate landfill.
In either case, Mr Cugat’s incredible depiction of Coney Island at night in its bright exciting beauty has become one of the most evocative covers of any book, capturing so much of the luxury, artifice and abstract mystery of New York.
It would become his only major book cover; Mr Cugat would move on to Hollywood as a Technicolour colour consultant, working on 68 films before dying in 1981 at the age of 88.
