While New York City may be known as a constant battle to get to the top of the mountain, there’s one place where everyone is always on a level—or at least perfectly level—playing field: the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink.
Located in the heart of Manhattan, the approximately 7,000-square-foot chunk of ice has been carved by New Yorkers from all boroughs, tourists from all corners of the globe, and besides them, numerous celebrities, the occasional statesman, and professional athletes alike.
Among those of the upper echelon who often took to the ice in New York City was the Kennedy family – including Jackie O – who performed over the years at The Rink at Rockefeller Center, along with Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant rink , where Robert Kennedy’s family hosted an annual skating party in his memory after his assignment.
The Rink at Rockefeller Center was built in 1936 as a temporary installation, but after its huge popularity it immediately became a permanent fixture.
Another popular place for New Yorkers to skate is in the winter on Central Park’s frozen ponds, which people have been carving out since the park was completed in the late 1800s.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis stands steady on her skates at the Rockefeller Center ice rink in New York City, 1970
Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert Kennedy, passes the Rockefeller ice rink hand in hand with a group of children in 1960
Kerry Kennedy (left), Ethel Kennedy (center), and Courtney Kennedy (right) skate on a Brooklyn ice rink at the Bedford Styvesant Restoration Center during a celebration for the center
The entire Robert Kennedy clan skated on The Rink at Rockefeller Center while he was elected New York Senator just before Christmas in 1964. From left to right: son Michael, 6; daughter Courtney, 8; his wife Ethel; daughter Kathleen, 13; son David, 9; and son Joe, 12; and Robert
Robert Kennedy takes his wife Ethel around The Rink at Rockefeller Center in January 1968. Both are dressed to impress as usual, with Ethel wearing a matching fur coat and hat, leather gloves and white skates.
Ethel Kennedy spins a young girl around the ice at an ice rink in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in 1974, during the family’s annual skating party in memory of Robert, who was killed in 1968
Not quite skating, but close enough: Robert Kennedy Jr. skates with Shaquanna Chriswell, 5, of Brooklyn, NY (left) and her cousin Natania Pilgrim, 8, at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in Brooklyn in December 1989 at the 24th annual RF Kennedy Memorial Skating Festival
A girl falls on the ice and asks her friends for help, but they are more interested in the camera. The trio is skating in Central Park in 1960
View of the Rockefeller Center ice rink crowded with visitors skating during the Christmas season in December 1969. A line of people waiting their turn pours up the stairs to Fifth Avenue. Spectators can also be seen lining the ice rink
A quiet day on The Rink at Rockefeller Center in December 1969. Santa himself is seen helping a girl
Peggy Fleming, 20, chops the ice at the Rockefeller Center rink. Fleming was a three-time world figure skating champion and the only American skater to earn a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics
Skaters carve the melting ice at an ice rink in Center Park late on a hot day in 1961
Skaters flock to the Rockefeller Center rink as the traditional huge Christmas tree is installed
Skaters dressed in all colors on Central Park’s Wollman Rink in 1989
A man stands on his hands as fellow skaters watch at a Brooklyn ice rink in 1923
Four figure skaters show off their gear on the ice in Central Park in 1952
Participants in a 220-meter race take off from an ice rink in Central Park in 1931
A mother, father and daughter join hands as they skate across a frozen pond in Central Park in 1938
A group of girls help each other along an ice rink in Central Park in 1955
A girl spills into the first turn of the intermediate class of the Silver Skates Derby in Central Park, year unknown
Two ice skaters get going during a race through an ice rink in Central Park in 1900, as spectators watch on skates
A group of warmly dressed New Yorkers adjust their skates on a bench next to a frozen pond in Central Park in 1895
A couple work together on the ice at a frozen pond in Central Park in the 1880s, shortly after the park opened
New Yorkers decked out in suits and dresses on the ice in Central Park in January 1981
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