New high or mild thrill? Recreating Lunch atop a Skyscraper
The Guardian Weekly|December 15, 2023
Looked at in a certain way, one of history's most famous photographs is rather dull. It's a bunch of men, sitting in a line. Some are holding lunchboxes, one is lighting a cigarette, another is holding a glass bottle. No one is planking or pulling a funny face.
Adam Gabbatt
New high or mild thrill? Recreating Lunch atop a Skyscraper

But, the remarkable thing about Lunch atop a Skyscraper, which has inspired a new ride above the Rockefeller Center, is the men are sitting on a metal construction beam about 260 meters above the streets of New York City without safety equipment.

It's that death-defying aspect that the Rockefeller Center's new ridecum-photo opportunity, Top of the Rock: The Beam, is hoping to re-create.

Billed as the area's "premier new attraction", the Beam allows people to sit on a big metal beam and be raised into the air so that it looks a bit like the scene in Lunch atop a Skyscraper.



The thing is, there is no soaring 260 metres above NYC. The Beam, on the outdoor deck of 30 Rockefeller's 69th floor, is raised by a hydraulic pump to 3.5 meters above the deck. It doesn't make for an exhilarating ride unless you're afraid of heights.

I am afraid of heights.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 15, 2023 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 15, 2023 من The Guardian Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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