On this date in...

1839...The town of Sunswik is renamed Astoria in an attempt to flatter millionaire John Jacob Astor into paying for a women's college. Astor isn't fooled and the college is never built – but the name sticks.

1968..."Rosemary's Baby" – the popular movie about Satan worship on the Upper West Side – opens at theaters in the Big Apple.

1978..."Son of Sam" David Berkowitz is sentenced to life in prison for each of the six murders he committed during his reign of terror in New York.

1994...Lubavitcher leader Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson dies in Brooklyn after a long illness.