The Key To Unlocking The City Is Gold-Plated Pewter And Costs $100 To Make

And Fats Domino is still around:

Keep your eye out. Fats Domino could show up anywhere in New York at any moment. He now has the “freedom of the city.” And an official, five-and-three-quarters-inch-long gold-plated pewter key to prove it.

To honor Mr. Domino’s fund-raising efforts on behalf of the struggling musicians of New Orleans, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg presented him with a key to New York City on Thursday night, following a municipal custom going back 305 years. (The key was presented at the Pink Elephant club in Chelsea, a municipal custom going back only to Thursday night.)

Mr. Bloomberg may be better known for his advocacy of the latest technology than his fondness for historical pomp, but he has managed to hand out 28 keys so far in his mayoralty; not a bad clip compared with his immediate predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who had presented 32 keys by this point in his second term.

“Even as times change and technology advances, the key to the city symbolizes how New York City’s gates will always remain open,” said Matthew Kelly, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg.

Except as David Dunlap’s article points out, the key isn’t all that symbolic and really hasn’t changed all that much:

Ashburns Engravers of 90 John Street, six blocks from City Hall, makes the keys. They cost $100 each. A supply is always kept on hand in the mayor’s office. They are presented in black velour-covered boxes with a small plate on top saying, “Facsimile of key made in 1812 for the door of City Hall, New York.”

In fact, a jumbo skeleton key about nine inches long and bearing notches similar to the mayoral key is still used to unlock the rear door of City Hall.

And A-Rod has one, too (a gift from Bloomberg). I’m just saying . . .