"It's a nice place to visit, but..." (1910); Easter Bunny

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   This continues a re-examination of New York terms with NEW YORK TIMES full text searching.

"IT'S A NICE PLACE TO VISIT, BUT..."
   9 June 1910, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 7:
   "New York is a nice place to visit, but you couldn't hold me there with a two-inch rope.  There isn't enough breathing room."
(Said by Captain "Jack" Abernathy.  It now looks like he coined the original phrase.  I'll have a hard time beating 1910.  I had known previously that the phrase was at least popularized during the 1939-1940 World's Fair--ed.)
   29 November 1930, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 23:
   On the program title page he quotes an old saying: "New York is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't live there if you gave me the place," which really has very little to do with the play.
(The famous critic J. Brooks Atkinson, reviewing the comedy THIS IS NEW YORK by Robert E. Sherwood--ed.)

LIKE GRAND CENTRAL STATION
   2 March 1934, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 18:
   Hotel corridors are like Grand Central Station in the rush hour.

RUSH HOUR
   6 June 1886, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 2:
   The conductors and drivers who handled them were all union men, who said that they had been ordered to take a few cars out during the rush hours if the company desired.

HOW DO YOU GET TO CARNEGIE HALL?
   26 March 1961, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. BR6:
   A partial answer to the unfunny situation may be found in the ancient wheeze about the confused traveler who asks a cab driver, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" and is wearily told, "Practice, practice."
(The first cite, but obviously older--ed.)

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EASTER BUNNY (continued)

   "Easter Bunny" appears in the NEW YORK TIMES 7 April 1903, pg. 4, then next on 11 April 1905, pg. 4.
   "KILLED OVER EASTER BUNNY" is a bizarre story from 13 April 1930, pg. 2, but it gives us the first chocolate Easter bunny: "The Routz boy, according to the police, disputed the Christeen boy's ownership of the chocolate bunny."
   I knew chocolate was bad for kids!