Central to this stretch of Fifth is a complex of buildings that, more than any other in the city, succeeds in being utterly self-contained and at the same time in complete agreement with its surroundings. Built between 1932 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, son of the oil magnate, the Rockefeller Center is one of the finest pieces of urban planning anywhere: office space with cafés, a theater, underground concourses and rooftop gardens work together with an intelligence and grace rare in any building then or now. It's a combination that shows every other city-center shopping mall the way, leaving you thinking that Cyril Connolly's snide description – "that sinister Stonehenge of Economic Man" – was way off the mark.
You're lured into the Center from Fifth Avenue down the gentle slope of the Channel Gardens (whimsically named because they divide La Maison Fran?aise and the British Empire Building) to the GE Building (formerly the RCA Building, but renamed when General Electric took it over a few years ago), focus of the Center. Rising 850 feet, its monumental lines match the scale of Manhattan itself, though softened by symmetrical setbacks to prevent an overpowering expanse of wall. At its foot the Lower Plaza holds a sunken restaurant in the summer months, linked visually to the downward flow of the building by Paul Manship's sparkling Prometheus; in winter it becomes an ice rink, giving skaters a chance to show off their skills to passing shoppers. More ponderously, a panel on the eastern side relates John D. Rockefeller's priggish credo in gold and black.
Inside, the GE Building is no less impressive. In the lobby José Maria Sert's murals, American Progress and Time, are faded but eagerly in tune with the 1930s Deco ambience – presumably more so than the original paintings by Diego Rivera, which were removed by John D.'s son Nelson when the artist refused to scrap a panel glorifying Lenin. A leaflet available from the lobby desk details a self-guided tour of the Center, and while you can't reach the building's summit, a cocktail in The Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor gives you one of Manhattan's best skyscraper views, especially at night, when helicopters hang like fireflies over the Financial District, and Central Park glitters to the north.
Among the many offices in the GE Building are the NBC Studios, and it's possible to tour these (one-hour tours leave regularly, daily 9.15am–5pm, reservations from the desk in the GE foyer first; $10; arrive as early as possible since tours fill fast; 664-4000). For an early-morning TV thrill, gawk in at NBC's Today Show, which broadcasts live from 7am to 9am weekday mornings from glass-enclosed studios in the new NBC News Building on the southwest corner of 49th and Rockefeller Plaza. The TV studios here also hand out free tickets for TV show recordings, which can be a great way of seeing the best and tacky worst of the nation's television.
