Photos: Holden Caulfield’s Manhattan
In “The Catcher in the Rye,” Holden Caulfield returns to New York after being expelled from a Pennsylvania boarding school, but delays going to his family’s home, which is set here on East 71st Street between 5th and Madison avenues. When he does sneak in, it’s to visit his sister Phoebe while his parents are away. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Walking from Grand Central Station to Times Square, shown, Holden hears a small boy signing, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
It’s not quite the Times Square that Holden saw. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden thinks of the lagoon on the south side of Central Park even before returning to New York. “I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.” (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Advertisement
According to a 2001 New York Times piece, the Department of Parks and Recreation gets several letters and phone calls about the ducks each year. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden is fond of the American Museum of Natural History. “The best thing ... in that museum,” he observes, “was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times .... Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Of course, 60 years after Holden’s adventures, the museum has changed. Some of his favorite exhibits have been removed or refurbished. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden Caulfield wouldn’t have run into any skateboarders: The modern retail skateboard didn’t appear until eight years after the novel is set. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Advertisement
In the closing pages of the book, Holden meets Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden at one point stores his bags in a locker at Grand Central Station. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden also spends a night at Grand Central Station. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Holden and Phoebe ride the carousel in Central Park. “I felt so damn happy,” he says. “God, I wish you could have been there.” (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
