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1883...The original Metropolitan Opera House opens at Broadway and 39th Street.

1962...Mayor Robert Wagner signs a law establishing a minimum wage of $1.50, the highest in the nation.

1979...The U.S. allows the Shah of Iran to enter New York Hospital for cancer treatment – a move that sets off the Iranian hostage crisis two weeks later when 53 Americans are taken captive at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include actor Tony Roberts, born in 1939.