Editing Empire State Building (section)

==== Tenants and tourism ====
At the beginning of 1931, Fifth Avenue was experiencing high demand for storefront space, with only 12 of 224 stores being unoccupied. The Empire State Building, along with 500 Fifth Avenue and [[608 Fifth Avenue]], were expected to add a combined 11 stores.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 8, 1931 |title=Few Shops Vacant on Fifth Avenue; Survey Discloses Only Twelve Stores Available in the Business Blocks |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/08/archives/few-shops-vacant-on-fifth-avenue-survey-discloses-only-twelve.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315174142/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/02/08/archives/few-shops-vacant-on-fifth-avenue-survey-discloses-only-twelve.html |archive-date=March 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dailey |first=John A. |date=February 8, 1931 |title=Fifth Avenue Still Leading Shopping Center: Few Stores Are Available North of Forty-Second St., Recent Survey Indicates $3,750 Foot Top Rental Shoe Healers Predominate, There Being 28 Such Shops |page=E1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1114167981}} }}</ref> The office space was less successful, as the Empire State Building's opening had coincided with the [[Great Depression in the United States]].<ref name="Young Young 2007 p. 144" /> In the first year, only 23&nbsp;percent of the available space was rented,{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=48}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=273}} as compared to the early 1920s, where the average building would be 52&nbsp;percent occupied upon opening and 90&nbsp;percent occupied within five years.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=271}} The lack of renters led New Yorkers to deride the building as the "Empty State Building"<ref name="Young Young 2007 p. 144" /><ref>See: {{Unbulleted list citebundle
| {{harvnb|ps=.|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}}
| {{harvnb|ps=.|Willis|1995|p=90}}
| {{harvnb|ps=.|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=48}}
| {{cite book |last=Schleier |first=Merrill |title=The skyscraper in American art, 1890–1931 |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-306-80385-2 |page=120 |oclc=20671553}}
| {{cite news |last=Smith |first=Adam |date=August 18, 2008 |title=A Renters' Market in London |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=July 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419214305/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |archive-date=April 19, 2010}} }}</ref> or "Smith's Folly".{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}}

The earliest tenants in the Empire State Building were large companies, banks, and garment industries.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1981|p=17}} [[Jack Brod]], one of the building's longest resident tenants,<ref name="Winters 1994">{{cite news |last=Winters |first=Patricia |date=July 17, 1994 |title=To Oldest Tenant, Empire State A Jewel |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/07/17/to-oldest-tenant-empire-state-a-jewel/ |access-date=October 31, 2017 |via=Chicago Tribune |archive-date=September 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921101224/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/07/17/to-oldest-tenant-empire-state-a-jewel/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Ramirez 1996">{{cite web |last=Ramirez |first=Anthony |date=June 30, 1996 |title=Neighborhood Report: Midtown; A Fixture at the Empire State |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/nyregion/neighborhood-report-midtown-a-fixture-at-the-empire-state.html |access-date=October 31, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107062115/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/nyregion/neighborhood-report-midtown-a-fixture-at-the-empire-state.html |url-status=live }}</ref> co-established the Empire Diamond Corporation with his father in the building in mid-1931<ref name="Martin 2008">{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=January 13, 2008 |title=Jack Brod, Early Tenant of Skyscraper, Dies at 98 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13brod.html |access-date=October 31, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205171028/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13brod.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and rented space in the building until he died in 2008.<ref name="Martin 2008" /> Brod recalled that there were only about 20 tenants at the time of opening, including him,<ref name="Ramirez 1996" /> and that Al Smith was the only real tenant in the space above his seventh-floor offices.<ref name="Winters 1994" /> Generally, during the early 1930s, it was rare for more than a single office space to be rented in the building, despite Smith's and Raskob's aggressive marketing efforts in the newspapers and to anyone they knew.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=273–274, 276, 279–280}} The building's lights were continuously left on, even in the unrented spaces, to give the impression of occupancy. This was exacerbated by competition from [[Rockefeller Center]]{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=48}} as well as from buildings on [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]], which, when combined with the Empire State Building, resulted in surplus of office space in a slow market during the 1930s.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=311}}

Aggressive marketing efforts served to reinforce the Empire State Building's status as the world's tallest.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=286–289}} The observatory was advertised in local newspapers as well as on railroad tickets.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=290–291}} The building became a popular tourist attraction, with one million people each paying one dollar to ride elevators to the observation decks in 1931.{{sfn|Jackson|2010|p=1326}} In its first year of operation, the observation deck made approximately $2&nbsp;million in revenue, as much as its owners made in rent that year.{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=48}}<ref name="Young Young 2007 p. 144" /> By 1936, the observation deck was crowded on a daily basis, with food and drink available for purchase at the top,{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=291}} and by 1944 the building had received its five-millionth visitor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 9, 1944 |title=British Flier, On Wedding Trip, Gets Bond As 5,000,000th Empire State Tower Visitor |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/09/88609404.pdf |access-date=October 24, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> In 1931, [[NBC]] took up tenancy, leasing space on the 85th floor for radio broadcasts.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=294–295}}<ref name="Haskett 1967" /> From the outset the building was in debt, losing $1&nbsp;million per year by 1935. Real estate developer [[Seymour Durst]] recalled that the building was so underused in 1936 that there was no elevator service above the 45th floor, as the building above the 41st floor was empty except for the NBC offices and the Raskob/Du Pont offices on the 81st floor.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=295}}