A Manhattanhenge Moment
As the saying goes, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, then join ‘em.’ Yesterday’s Manhattanhenge viewing on the streets of NYC was pure chaos. I remember when Manhattanhenge (as with so many other NYC events) used to be low-key and something that only a few people knew about. Perhaps due to the Memorial Day holiday, the crowds were out in force. To the point where I am seriously considering moving out of New York.
In any case, unless you had set up shop on a key vantage point about two hours ahead of time, there was no way for you to actually see the Manhattanhenge moment. I had originally planned to go to the Tudor City overpass, but it was completely swamped with people. In addition, there were trees on either side of the road making it impossible to get anywhere near the center of the overpass.
Since I wasn’t able to photograph Manhattanhenge properly, I decided to instead make it a story about the spectators. And there were plenty of people in the street to photograph.
One key point of interest: the NYPD officers out and about were in great spirits. The officer maintaining order at the corner of 42nd Street and Second Avenue was having a ball telling people to move to the side. It was actually fun.
Needless to say I will be avoiding this event in the future, or perhaps I’ll do the same thing next year and concentrate on the people in the middle of the street. They turned out to be much more interesting than the sun going down between buildings.
In case you missed the Manhattanhenge moment yesterday, and want to be part of the ‘fun,’ it will also be going on tonight.
- Manhattanhenge – Article on the phenomenon from the American Museum of Natural History
- Mahattanhenge dates – May 29/30 and July 12/13
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