Liberty City

=Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto)= From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, searchThe Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City features a more striking resemblance to New York City.Liberty City is a fictional city in Rockstar Games' video games series Grand Theft Auto, based primarily on several major cities including New York City. There have been different incarnations of the city that have appeared in various generations of the series.

The Grand Theft Auto rendition is portrayed as a city geographically similar to New York City, composed of two large islands. The Grand Theft Auto III rendition (also featured in Grand Theft Auto Advance, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and briefly in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) is portrayed as a more generic metropolitan city that is loosely based on New York City, but consists of elements of other American cities.[1] The Grand Theft Auto IV (also featured in The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars) rendition is portrayed as a caricature of New York City, with Liberty City's landmarks and geography based heavily on New York City's. Liberty City's four boroughs, as well as the adjacent state of Alderney correspond to four of New York City's five boroughs and New Jersey, respectively.

In every rendition of the city, Liberty City is primarily depicted as a large city with a sizable population (4 million in the Grand Theft Auto III rendition,[2] with around 8 million in Grand Theft Auto IV), featuring a complete transportation infrastructure of roads and railways, airports and elevated trains and is located on a geographical configuration of shorelines and islands, similar to that of New York City and Chicago. The city has been described as one suffering from crime and corruption, with the presence of organized crime, feuding street gangs, petty criminals, and rampant misconduct and corruption among city officials and law enforcement. Parts of Liberty City have also suffered major damage and loss from bombings, which are depicted as being orchestrated by local criminals. Some of these damages, however, have been repaired or resulted in complete redevelopment of an entire area.

Liberty City is also located in the same fictional universe as Vice City, Carcer City (Manhunt), Bullworth (Bully) and San Andreas, other locations portrayed in games throughout the series and other Rockstar Games related games.[citation needed] Liberty City is the most used fictional setting in the series: it is prominently featured in six of the ten stand-alone and one expansion pack Grand Theft Auto games, with a cameo appearance in a further two

Overview
A very detailed map of Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto IV), rendered using in-game elevation and traffic node data.The license plate used by vehicles in Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV. The images on the top of the plate are designed as a nod towards New York's license plate design.The fifth appearance of Liberty City is in Grand Theft Auto IV, assuming a very different design that is based much more closely on New York City than previous renditions. This new rendition of Liberty City is larger in scope than any previous version, with highly advanced detail and a greater degree of realism. The city continues to be referred to as the "Worst Place in America", which has been trademarked by Rockstar Games[18 ] and appears on the License Plate given to those who pre-ordered the game.

The mayor of Liberty City, as of 2008, is Julio Ochoa, and the deputy mayor is Bryce Dawkins. During the course of the game there is an election campaign taking place for the state governorship. John Hunter and Michael Graves are the two main candidates although it is not clear who belongs to which party or who (if either) is the incumbent.

The bridges in the city are locked down during the early stages of the game due to a terrorist threat,[19 ] and crossing the police blockades will result in the player receiving a 6-star wanted level. As the player progresses through the game, the blockades are gradually lifted. This allows the player to access the other islands in the city in a fashion similar to previous games in the series. The population of the city is given at 15,000,000.

During the game, the player is able to watch the first part of a television documentary that tells the story of the history of Liberty City from its founding up until the Civil War. The city's timeline is also similar to that of New York City. The Liberty City area is said to have first been explored in 1609 by Horatio Humboldt. A Dutch trading post was established in 1625 on Lower Algonquin, quickly becoming a den of drugs and vice. The city was originally named New Rotterdam by its first Dutch settlers, but was changed to Liberty City when control of it passed to the English in 1664 due to a sponsorship deal that had been agreed with the Bank of Liberty. The British abandoned Liberty City in 1783, concluding the American War of Independence. Liberty City became the first capital of the United States and remained so until the government moved to Capital City in the 1790s.

Landmarks such as the Statue of Happiness, Zirconium Building, Rotterdam Tower, Grand Easton Station, Civilization Committee, Triangle Building, Liberty Ferry, LC24 Tower and the GetaLife Building are present in the city, as well as Star Junction, which features advertisements for familiar brands and companies such as the Liberty Tree newspaper, Bank of Liberty, Sprunk, Cluckin' Bell, and Burger Shot fast food restaurants, and Middle Park. One can also find Weazel News there as well as the Burlesque theatre district. Firefly Island has a roller coaster called the "Screamer" (which is based on The Cyclone), the Liberty Eye ferris wheel (based on the Wonder Wheel), and a ride called "The Corpse Ride". The elevated trains resemble the Culver Line in Brooklyn. The city's transportation includes the Broker and Algonquin Bridges and BOABO (Beneath the Offramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass). Each street in the city is individually named.[17 ]

Boroughs (GTA IV)
Liberty City is made up of four geographical islands, with Bohan being the smallest major island and Algonquin being the largest. Next to the city is the state of Alderney, which is independent of Liberty City and Liberty City State. Despite this, it shares many of the city's services and facilities.

Broker
Broker is located south of the borough of Dukes, on the southern half of the island located in the eastern part of the city. Broker is primarily an industrial portion of the city based on Brooklyn, made up of factories, warehouses and brick townhouses, many of which are dilapidated. The borough's population consists largely of ethnic gangs, hipsters, and industrial workers.

A taxi service owned by Roman Bellic, called Express Car Service, operates within the district. The game begins in this borough, with Niko Bellic living in Roman's small two-room apartment in the Eastern-European district of Hove Beach. Other districts include Outlook, East Hook, BOABO, Schottler, South Slopes, Downtown, Rotterdam Hill, Beachgate, Firefly Projects, Firefly Island and Beechwood City. Broker is connected to Algonquin via the Broker Bridge and the Algonquin Bridge.

According to the TV documentary on the History of Liberty City, Broker is named after Sir William Broker III, the (fictional) illegitimate son of the King of Great Britain. Most streets in Broker are named after famous cowboys, such as Hickcock (sic) Street and Earp Street, while most avenues are named after Native American tribes of the Northeast, such as Mohegan Avenue, Seneca Avenue, and Mohawk Avenue (coincidentally, there is a street in Brooklyn, Broker's real-life counterpart, with the name Seneca Avenue).

Dukes
Dukes is a borough in the northern half of an island at the eastern end of the city limits. As the second largest borough in the city, it is based on the borough of Queens. The city's airport, Francis International Airport, returns from the previous rendition and is located to the eastern most part of the city, this time containing elements of New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports (the terminal resembles the TWA Flight Center, and the geography and layout of the airport is based on that of LaGuardia). Districts include Steinway, Cerveza Heights, Meadows Park, Meadow Hills, Willis and East Island City. Contrary to popular belief, Schottler and Beechwood City are not neighborhoods in Dukes, but are located within the Broker boundaries. Dukes is connected to Bohan by the Dukes Bay Bridge and the East Borough Bridge. The East Borough Bridge also connects Dukes to Algonquin.

According to the TV documentary on the history of Liberty City, Dukes is a shortened version of "dookie" (slang term for feces) because most of the residents there "smelled like shit." Most avenues in Dukes are named after famous American military battles, such as Bunker Hill Avenue, Ticonderoga Avenue, Inchon Avenue and San Jacinto Avenue, though Battle of San Jacinto was fought by the Texans before America acquired Texas in the early 19th century.

Bohan
Bohan, based on The Bronx, is the smallest borough in the city, and contains co-op housing similar to Co-op City. Districts include Industrial, Northern Gardens, Chase Point, South Bohan, Fortside, Boulevard and Little Bay. To the north of Bohan is Welham Park which is surrounded by the Welham Parkway.

According to the TV documentary on the history of Liberty City, Bohan is a Dutch word meaning "Dutch word." Most avenues in Bohan are named after famous prisons, such as Alcatraz Avenue, Sing Sing Avenue, Rykers [sic] Avenue, San Quentin Avenue, and Guantanamo Avenue while the streets are named after break dancing maneuvers such as Windmill Street, Worm Street and Drill Street.

Algonquin
Algonquin, based on Manhattan (Manhattan comes from the Algonquian word "Man-a-hat-a"), is the largest area of the city and is located on an island in the very center of the city limits. Like Manhattan, it's also the most densely populated, as it serves primarily as the city's business district and administrative headquarters, with skyscrapers concentrated towards the southern end of the island. A large parkland area called Middle Park, based on Central Park, resides in the center of the district and is suggested to have been built to give local drug users a scenic backdrop for narcotics abuse. Adjacent to the park is Middle Park East and Middle Park West, based on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side respectively. The Liberty City Police Department (LCPD) have their main headquarters on the island, in East Holland, which is a neighbourhood based on Spanish Harlem. The Triangle modeled on TriBeCa features the Rotterdam Tower, the tallest building in the city based on the Empire State Building. The Exchange is the in-game equivalent of Wall Street. Districts include Chinatown, City Hall, Castle Garden City, Castle Gardens, The Meat Quarter, Purgatory, Lancet, Lancaster, Little Italy, Hatton Gardens, Varsity Heights, Fishmarket North, Fishmarket South, Westminster, Suffolk, Presidents City, Easton, Lower Easton, Northwood, North Holland, East Holland.

According to the TV documentary on the history of Liberty City, Algonquin is believed to be a Native American term meaning "place to build condo skyscrapers" or "place to contract an STD".

The Algonquin street grid is laid out similarly to Manhattan's. East-west roads, called streets, are named for minerals and chemical elements, and ordered by letter, from A (Amethyst St.) in the southern part of the island to X (Xenotime St.) in the north. North-south roads are called avenues and named for cities, from A (Albany Ave.) in the east to G (Galveston Ave.) in the west. Some in-town streets have non-conforming names, such as Burlesque. There are a number of roads which lie outside the grid such as Grummer Road in the northwestern part of the borough. These are used to reach non-urban areas of the city such as docks on the West River.

Islands Off Algonquin
Three playable islands exist off Algonquin. All figure in to various missions during the game.
 * Charge Island (a parody of Wards Island) to the east-northeast of Algonquin at the confluence of Humboldt River and Dukes Bay. The hub of the East Borough Bridge sits on Charge Island. There is a large industrial port on Charge Island as well as a forest and some athletic fields.
 * Colony Island (a parody of Roosevelt Island) to the east-southeast of Algonquin in the Humboldt River. The island is reachable by road bridges and the Colony Island Tramway. Colony Island has a number of residential buildings, some urban ruins, and an industrial presence.
 * Happiness Island (a parody of Liberty Island) sits near the mouth of the West River, between Algonquin and the state of Alderney, south-southwest of Algonquin Island. The Statue of Happiness (a parody of the Statue of Liberty only with a coffee cup instead of a torch, and it bears striking resemblance to Hillary Clinton.) is located on Happiness Island. This is the only part of Liberty City not reachable by road vehicle (boat, helicopter, or swimming from near docks). Happiness Island contains two marinas for boats to dock at, multiple hot-dog vendors and multiple buildings on the southern end of the island. There are also multiple binoculars on the water's edge.

Statue of Happiness
Based on the Statue of Liberty, located in game on "Happiness Island", this massive monument lies just south of Algonquin (based on Manhattan.) Within the statue is a fully pumping beating heart, known as the "Heart of the City", suspended in mid-air. The statue is said to have been presented to the United States by France in 1886 to mark "100 years free from British food and spelling" in the in-game television documentary about Liberty City. The statue closely resembles its real-life counterpart, aside from the different face, the statue facing towards the city, and the torch being replaced with a styrofoam coffee cup and a tablet reading:

Send us your brightest, your smartest, your most intelligent, Yearning to breathe free and submit to our authority, Watch us trick them into wiping rich people's asses, While we convince them it's a land of opportunity. JULY IV MDCCLXXVI

Alderney
Alderney is a small state located to the west of, and independent from Liberty City, mostly based on Hudson County and Bergen County, New Jersey and named after the channel island of the same name. The state is largely dominated by Alderney City, (the equivalent of Jersey City with parts of Newark, NJ), and is concentrated towards the middle of the island with Sopranos-esque upmarket suburbs located to the north and the Acter Industrial Park (based on the Port Johnson industrial sector at Constable Hook) on the southern end. The abandoned "Sprunk" brewery is located here and the city is filled with strip-malls and condominiums. The state is infamous for its prison, Alderney State Correctional Facility (based on Northern State Prison in Newark) located to the east of the Acter Industrial Park and an abandoned casino to the north (an exact copy of an abandoned casino in Asbury Park) in Westdyke. Alderney City is connected to Algonquin via the Hickey Bridge and Booth Tunnel.

Districts Include Acter, Berchem, Leftwood, Tudor, Port Tudor, Westdyke and Normandy. It is implied throughout the game that Liberty City citizens do not like Alderney, or anyone from it. One of the Helitours pilots says, "There's the West River. Every day people from Liberty City are glad to know this separates them from Alderney." In the game guidebook Alderney is depicted as "Liberty City's Ugly Sister". Despite the mutual animosity between the two areas, Liberty City shares a number of its services with Alderney, including taxis and emergency services, for example, the FDLC(Liberty City Fire Department) operates two fire stations in Alderney, and the Alderney police officers have different uniforms, but drive LCPD-marked cars). Many members of The Lost can be found on the streets of Acter, Alderney riding their motorcycles or standing around on street corners. In The Lost and Damned, the Lost have a clubhouse in Acter, Alderney.

According to the TV documentary on the history of Liberty City, Alderney is named after Phillip de Alderney, the only person who could originally tolerate living there. The theming of streets is varied in Alderney. Northern Alderney has streets mostly named after mountain ranges within the Rocky Mountains, such as Percell Road and Big Horn Drive. A collection of streets in central Alderney are named after cult leaders, like Koresh Square, Applewhite Street, Jonestown Avenue and Hubbard Avenue. Most streets in southern Alderney are named after nuclear bomb tests done by the United States, such as Plumbbob Avenue, Emery Street and Niblick Street. Other streets in south Alderney are named after inventors, such as Farnsworth Road, Moog Street and Edison Avenue. One of Alderney's major north-south thorofares is the Plumbers Skyway, which resembles the New Jersey Turnpike, and its elevated portion which resembles the Pulaski Skyway.

Fire Department
The Liberty City Fire Department, or FDLC, protects both the City of Liberty and the State and City of Alderney and operates out of eight fire stations throughout the areas. the Borough of Broker has one fire station, the Borough of Dukes has one fire station, The Borough of Algonquin has three fire stations(including one, Engine 47, without any fire engine), the Borough of Bohan has one fire station, and the State and City of Alderney has two fire stations. The FDLC firefighters wear fire turnout gear similar to that of the FDNY, and utilize fire apparatus, only fire pumpers, that also resemble those of the FDNY. However, if the player calls the FDLC on his cell phone, they will respond, but will just get out of, then get back into their engine and just say, "Another false alarm", and leave, whether there really is a fire or not. Also, all fire engines in the game are numbered the same, Engine 69.

Transportation
Each of the boroughs and the state of Alderney are connected via tunnels and bridges, these include the Northwood Heights Bridge, East Borough Bridge, Dukes Bay Bridge, Hickey Bridge, Algonquin Bridge, Broker Bridge, and Booth Tunnel, a commuter tunnel linking Algonquin with Alderney.[19 ] The elevated Plumbers Skyway is a series of deck truss bridges that traverses much of Alderney. There also exists an under construction ferry terminal, known as the "Liberty Ferry" (based on the Hoboken Terminal) which exists below Downtown Alderney City near the Booth Tunnel. When built, it will let pedestrians travel in ferry boats across the West River to Lower Algonquin near Castle Garden City. A rapid transit system, based on the New York City Subway, also exists in Liberty City, with destinations in each of the four boroughs. Much of the underground portion of the system is located in Algonquin, while the elevated part is located elsewhere. The 3/8 Broker Line loops around Broker and Dukes in a figure-8 meeting at Huntington Street with stations in Hove Beach, Schottler, Lynch Street and Francis International Airport. Algonquin features two different lines: the A/J Algonquin Outer Line, linked to the 3/8 line and with stations in Feldspar, Emerald, Hematite, Manganese East, Manganese West, Quartz East, Quartz West, Vauxite and Vespucci Circus; and the K/C Algonquin Inner Line with stations in City Hall, Suffolk, Easton, Frankfort Ave, West Park, East Park and North Park. The Easton station (parody of Grand Central Station) serves as the main junction of the entire system. The B/E Bohan Line loops around Bohan and links with the K/C line, it features two stations in San Quentin Ave and Windmill St. In the Steinway district of Dukes, there is a nonoperational terminus station called Dukes Boulevard, closed due to maintenance works. Bohan and Broker also feature elevated railways across their respective districts. There is also the remnants of a defunct elevated rail system in Algonquin, which is no longer in use, based on the High Line in Manhattan. This and other derelict sections of railway track scattered around the city suggest a now-abandoned freight railway. The subway system, as well as a supposed bus system, is operated by the Liberty City Transport Authority (LTA). A Liberty City version of the Roosevelt Island Tramway connects midtown Algonquin with Colony Island.

Sports
Liberty City has a baseball team named the Liberty City Swingers, who play in Dukes. There is also a football team called the Liberty City Wrath. The city also has two basketball teams called the Penetrators and Salamanders and an ice hockey team named the Rampage.