Omero Catan was known by New Yorkers as Mr. First. Simply put, in a career that began in 1928, Catan was the first person present at more than 500 historic opening days across the east coast.

In 1932, he was the first to buy a token on the newly opened Eighth Avenue subway. In 1936, he was the first to skate on the Rockefeller Center ice rink. In 1951, he was the first to use a token on a city parking meter. Four years later in 1955, he was the first to drive across the Tappan Zee Bridge. In 1962, he was the first to cross the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. The list goes on.

It began in 1928, when 13-year old Catan heard of a family friend who had been the first to cross the Brooklyn Bridge when it opened in 1883. Soon after, he journeyed to Lakehurst, NJ, and was the first aboard the tour of the famous airship, Graf Zeppelin.

He was the first to board five different subway lines, first to dive into New York City's first public swimming pool (Hamilton Fish Park, June 1936), first ticket-holder to enter two World's Fairs.

The event that put him on the map, however, was in 1937, when Omero Catan became the first person to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel, back when it had only one opening, one lane going to New York, and one going the other way to New Jersey.

https://untappedcities.com/2015/07/14/the-story-of-omero-c-catan-nycs-mr-first-to-cross-the-lincoln-tunnel/

(PS as XOXOXOBruce once commented, "I could win a lot of bar bets with the stuff you post")