New York Times Marks 50 Years of Metropolitan Diary With Celebrity Entries
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28
New York Times Marks 50 Years of Metropolitan Diary With Celebrity Entries
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28
Summary
The New York Times is marking the 50th anniversary of Metropolitan Diary, its reader-submitted column of distinctly New York moments, with a retrospective and new celebrity contributions.
Founded in 1976 by editor Arthur Gelb, the feature invited residents to send in brief encounters and observations from across the city’s five boroughs.
The anniversary look-back highlights how the column evolved from references to phone books and subway tokens to MetroCards, Starbucks and modern celebrity sightings.
Across decades of poems, confessions, overheard gossip and short scenes, the column has served as a time capsule of everyday New York life beyond major headlines.