The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

You're standing at Rockefeller Center, at the edge of the sunken plaza in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the tall Art Deco tower everyone here calls 30 Rock. Below you is the skating rink. Above it is the tree. Let your eyes climb all the way to the top, to the star. That star was designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind in 2018. It has 70 spikes, about three million crystals, and it weighs roughly 900 pounds.

But before any star goes up, somebody has to find the tree. Rockefeller Center's head gardener, Erik Pauzé, hunts for it. He visits nurseries around the region and looks for unusual backyard trees, because the tree is almost always donated. Pauzé wants a tree that's hearty, with what he calls a true Christmas tree shape, and branches strong enough to hold the heavy ornaments.