The Catcher in the Rye: Holden's New York

The story starts at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a boarding school in Pennsylvania. Holden Caulfield has just been expelled for failing every class except English, and he decides to leave early and take a train to New York City. He means to stay away from home until Wednesday. Pencey is invented, but Salinger may have modelled it on Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, where he studied. The pin marks that real school.

Точность места: Pencey is fictional; the pin marks Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which Salinger may have used as the model.

Disillusioned, Holden spends the night at Grand Central Terminal and decides he wants to run away. It is the low point of his trip. The terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue opened in 1913 and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world, so there was plenty of floor for a runaway to wait out the night.

Советы для посещения: Walk through the main concourse at 42nd Street and Park Avenue.

Holden arranges to meet his younger sister Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to say goodbye. She turns up wanting to go with him. Holden refuses, and Phoebe is upset. The museum's main building stands at 1000 Fifth Avenue on Museum Mile, along the eastern edge of Central Park, so the park where the story ends is a short walk away.

Советы для посещения: On Fifth Avenue at the edge of Central Park; check opening hours on the museum's website.

To cheer Phoebe up, Holden takes her to the Central Park Zoo. The zoo is at East 64th Street and Fifth Avenue, in the southeast corner of the park, and in its present form it opened on December 2, 1934. From here the two go on to the carousel.

Советы для посещения: Entrance at East 64th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Holden buys Phoebe a ticket for the carousel. It starts to rain, but the sight of her riding it makes him happy, which is the closing image of his story. The carousel Salinger wrote about burned down in 1950; the one standing today was relocated to Central Park in 1951 and has 57 hand-carved horses. Its old brass ring for riders to grab was not replaced.

Советы для посещения: Near East 65th Street in the southern part of Central Park.