Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Again, this drive we're doing a 10-question quiz each day to have a little fun and break things up a little bit. Around eleven o' clock every day it's been a different theme to test your knowledge. Get two in a row right. Today, you'll be able to choose between the two T-shirts that were having a little bake off between the 1960s-themed Peace, Love and Brian Lehrer tie-dye T-shirt or the 1930s-themed WNYC vintage van T-shirt. Today's theme is New York area landmarks. Our lines are full, but as people finish up, you can try to get in at 212-433-WNYC. For today's 10 question quiz, we'll start with Brian in Battery Park City. Hi, Brian. Ready to play?

Brian: I think so.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. This summer, question one, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, celebrating the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That line was one of the inspirations for the French sculptor who proposed giving the US a Statue of Liberty in 1865. Declaration of Independence was one of the inspirations for the Statue of Liberty gift. What was the other major inspiration in 1865? I've got a hint if you need it.

Brian: The hint would be open.

Brian Lehrer: Just simply that I said the proposal was first made in the year 1865. Think about that time and what might have inspired a Statue of Liberty right then.

Brian: The Civil War.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. The abolition of slavery as symbolized by the broken shackle and the chains at the Statue's feet once it got made. Question two for one of the shirts, what two city parks host a grand army plaza at their entrance? I'll have a clue for you for this one too if you need it. Two big city parks each have a grand army plaza at one of the entrances. Do you know which two?

Brian: Union Square perhaps?

Brian Lehrer: Not Union Square, I'll give you a hint. You'd probably think of these as the two most prominent parks in the city then.

Brian: Then Central and Prospect.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, that is right. They each have grand army plazas. Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed both parks, designed both entrances. They were both named primarily to honor Union soldiers from the Civil War. Brian, now comes your moment of choosing. Would you like the 1960s Peace, Love and Brian Lehr tie-dye theme T-shirt or the 1930s WNYC vintage van T-shirt?

Brian: I think the Brian Lehrer piece, and anecdotally, it was Gustave Eiffel who designed the interior structure of the Statue of Liberty.

Brian Lehrer: The interior. Oh, thank you very much. Adding a name to that question. Brian, hang on. We'll take your address off the air and send you that shirt. Let's go next to Jakub in Brooklyn. Hi, Jakub. Ready to play? Oh, it would help if I clicked on his line. Jakub, my error. Do we have you now?

Jakub: Oh, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Hi. Okay, question three. The author Washington Irving is buried in a cemetery bearing the name of this village in Westchester that he made famous with a short story that he called a "Legend" about the place. It also explains why the village is a big tourism draw around Halloween. Do you know the name of the village? I'll give you a hint if you need one.

Jakub: Yes, the hint would help.

Brian Lehrer: The hint is I said he wrote a legend about this place. Does that jog your memory of anything? The legend of somewhere?

Jakub: No, unfortunately not.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, sorry.

Jakub: Thank you very much, Brian. Take care.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for trying. Thank you very much. Try again. It's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The town of Sleepy Hollow incorporated as North Tarrytown originally, but they changed it in 1996 to reflect its Dutch roots and that particular literary claim to fame. All right, let's go next to-- Oh look. [chuckles] We have a caller from Sleepy Hollow. Nora, if that had come up, would you have known it? If you had come up to answer that question, would you have known it?

Nora: Yes, I moved here just after Halloween. Also, there's an Ichabod Street. [chuckles] You can't escape. The ambulances, the fire trucks all have a picture of Ichabod fleeing the Headless Horseman. It's everywhere. They're very proud of it.

Brian Lehrer: By the luck of the draw, you get a Long Island landmark question.

Nora: Oh, no.

Brian Lehrer: Question four. The water tower at Jones Beach State park, also referred to as "The Pencil" or "the Needle," is not just a landmark. It's a functioning bit of engineering that supplies the park with fresh water. Who was the force behind the creation of Jones Beach State Park? I'll give you a hint if you need it.

Nora: I think I can do it without the hint. I think it's Robert Moses.

Brian Lehrer: It was the power broker Robert Moses in the role he had for a while as Long Island State Parks Commissioner. He had sand dredged to raise the park and then beach grass planted to keep the sand from blowing away. They say the water tower is modeled after the bell tower of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Something I did not know when I went swimming in the water at Jones Beach. All right, question five, for one of the shirts. Speaking of Robert Moses, he's also behind the famous Unisphere sculpture in Queens. That big stainless steel globe in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Do you know the occasion for the construction of the Unisphere?

Nora: I think it was the World's Fair that my mother took me to when I was six, me and my brother and sister. I think it was the 64 World's Fair.

Brian Lehrer: That would be absolutely right.

Nora: Yay.

Brian Lehrer: 1964/'65 World's Fair. According to the New York City Parks Department website, the Unisphere celebrated both the dawn of the space age and the fair's broader theme of peace through understanding. With that as a prompt, do you want the Peace, Love, and Brian Leonard T-shirt, 1960s themed, or the 1930s-themed vintage van T-shirt?

Nora: Well, no offense to present company, but I've been craving the vintage van T-shirt since they announced it. I did donate earlier to Thrive, but I don't donate enough to have gotten it that way, so I'm thrilled to have won.

Brian Lehrer: Well, I'm glad you got it this way, Nora. Hang on. We'll take your mailing address off the air. Let's go next to Danielle in Astoria. Hi, Danielle. Ready to play?

Danielle: Hi. Yes, I'm ready to play.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. Question six on New York area landmarks. The Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park featuring Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was dedicated in 2020, almost doubling the number of individual real women honored with statues in city parks. Those three almost doubled the number. Here's the question. Can you name any one, just one of the four women who had statues in the city before 2020?

Danielle: Wow. Do you have a hint for this one?

Brian Lehrer: Let's see. Hint could be one famous first lady. Not Hillary Clinton.

Danielle: Roosevelt.

Brian Lehrer: Eleanor Roosevelt is right. We'll give you that. That's at Riverside Park and 72nd Street. Also, Gertrude Stein has a statue in Bryant park, Harriet Tubman, 123rd Street and St Nicholas Avenue, and Joan of Arc. There's a Joan of Arc statue. All right, so for one of the shirts, question seven. 1520 Sedgwick Ave in Morris Heights, the Bronx, is a significant cultural landmark in the history of both the Bronx and the city as a whole, and really the whole world in a certain respect. Do you know what happened there at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on a late summer night in 1973?

Danielle: I actually don't think I do.

Brian Lehrer: It was a first in music history. I'll give you that as a hint. You want to take a shot?

Danielle: I might have to phone a friend for that.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] No, we don't have time for that. All right, Danielle. Sorry. Well, it was what is known as the debut of hip-hop. Many of you know, although its roots go back farther, it's become accepted that DJ Kool Herc deejayed a back-to-school party in the rec room of 1520 Sedgwick on August 11, 1973, and debuted hip-hop using two turntables to prolong the instrumental breaks of the music. I think it was that two turntables hookup that was the invention that got that labeled, that innovation. All right, let's go next to Robin up in Tuxedo, New York. Hi, Robin. You're on WNYC. Ready to play?

Robin: I am.

Brian Lehrer: Question eight. We have some famous lighthouses in the area. The little red lighthouse along the Hudson under the George Washington Bridge. Had a famous children's book written about it. Which one is the oldest operating lighthouse in the whole United States? This one's multiple choice. The Montauk Point Lighthouse, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, or the Fire Island Lighthouse. One of those three is the oldest in the country.

Robin: That's a tricky question. I'm just going to totally guess because I don't know. Sandy Hook.

Brian Lehrer: Sandy Hook happens to be right. Operating in Jersey since 1764. Funny enough, it's now 1.5 miles from the water due to shifts in the shoreline, and it was designated a national historic landmark in 1964. All right, question nine, for one of the shirts. A great place to meet is at the information booth in Grand Central Terminal with the big clock perched on top. How many faces does the clock have? How many?

Robin: How many faces?

Brian Lehrer: You have to remember to turn them all forward on Saturday night. How many faces, yes. How many clock faces?

Robin: Okay, again, this is a guess. Four.

Brian Lehrer: Four is right.

Robin: Is it really? Oh, my God.

Brian Lehrer: Did you just guess because one on each side. Because that's the answer.

Robin: Yes, I was trying to think. Yes, I almost guessed five, but go with the first instinct.

Brian Lehrer: Not a pentagon. It's called an opal clock because it's made with opal glass. At some point, it was reported that the clock faces were made of actual opal, which actually is not true. That would have made the clock worth tens of millions of dollars. Of course, it's invaluable to everyone trying to meet up with friends in the terminal. Which of those vintage T-shirts would you like?

Robin: I just upped my sustaining member amount so that I could get the Peace, Love and Brian Lehrer, so let's go with the 1930s one.

Brian Lehrer: Awesome. You'll wind up with both shirts today. Hang on. We'll take your mailing address off the air. We've got one question left. Susan, in Westchester, you get the luxury of only needing to answer one in a row and you'll be able to get your choice of shirts. Hi, Susan. Ready to play?

Susan: Yes, Brian, thank you. I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: All right. This one may be hard. Conference House is a local landmark that got its name from a conference held there in 1776 to try and negotiate an end to the Revolutionary War. Needless to say that failed. Participants included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Admiral Howe. The question is, in what borough is Conference House located?

Susan: This is a guess. I knew all the questions before, [laughs] but I'm going to say Manhattan.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry. The answer is Staten Island. Conference House is near the southernmost tip, right across the water from Perth Amboy down there and now owned by the New York Parks Department. I think we did wind up with the hardest question as question 10, but thanks for giving it a shot. Glad we gave away some shirts. Listeners, thanks for playing today's 10 question quiz. More Brian Lehrer Show to come.

Copyright © 2026 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.