Stride Stories

Running tour · Manhattan

Midtown Icons

1.6 mi run

1.6miles
15min run
6stories

Open in Stride Stories

How it works. Press start and go. As you reach each place, a narrator tells its story, timed to your pace. Your music drops down while a story plays and comes back after. Tours download to your phone and play without a connection.

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The stories on this route

  1. Chrysler Building

    Look up at the top of the tower and its spire. The spire was a secret. Meanwhile, 40 Wall Street was racing to be the world's tallest skyscraper. Its builder, H. Craig Severance, thought this building would stop at 925 feet. So he added a 50-foot flagpole, to reach 927.

  2. Grand Central Terminal

    Look up at the 42nd Street front: the big clock, with Mercury, Hercules and Minerva above it. At its unveiling, that group was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.

  3. New York Public Library

    Look at the two lions on the steps. Patience is on the left, Fortitude on the right. They're Tennessee marble, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers from a design by Edward Clark Potter.

  4. Bryant Park

    Look across the big lawn, ringed by green movable chairs. This ground has had a few lives.

  5. Times Square

    Look up at One Times Square, the narrow tower wrapped in screens, with a flagpole on its roof.

  6. Rockefeller Center

    Look down the Channel Gardens to the sunken plaza, the golden Prometheus, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza rising behind it.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source

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