You Like It...It Likes You

“There’s nothing like Christmas in New York.” I hear people say that a lot at this time of year. Not having been too many other places at Christmas, I cannot say definitively whether or not that statement is true. Actually, I would venture to say that there’s nothing quite like Christmas in a lot of other places as well.

Until relatively recently, I had left “Christmas in New York” behind. For me, the holiday heyday in the big city was four and five decades ago. Shopping at Macy’s, the Christmas show and movie at Radio City Music Hall, and visiting Rockefeller Center were annual traditions. Fast forward to the not-too-distant past and I had literally gone twenty or so years without laying eyes on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. It is, after all, only a forty-five minute train ride and fifteen-minute walk away.

To tell you the truth the tree looks pretty much the same as it did two score and seven years ago. There are, however, more people than ever before getting a bird’s-eye view of it. So many more, in fact, that snippets of crossover streets were closed this year by the powers-that-be. Now, this is good news for pedestrians and not so good news for drivers. Without such closures, I might very well have been trampled to death this past week.  

Honestly, I'd rather experience a sunset in New York harbor than call on Rockefeller Center or set foot in Macy's at Christmastime.

Let it flow...why not? It floats back to you...

Sun, take a good look around, this is your hometown.

I have recently been advocating that tourists visit the canyons of Wall Street during the month of December. Although not nearly as big as the one at Rockefeller Center, the tree there is considerable in size and sports both lights and ornaments. And, as you can see, there aren't swarms of people in the vicinity. This has got to count for something.

And you are a stone's throw away from the Brooklyn Bridge. 

On now to the masses of humanity at Bryant Park, a primer of much worse to come.

The Greek city-states of the seventh century were known to protect themselves with eight-men deep phalanxes. With all eyes on the Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas wall of lights was a phalanx of fifty-men and women deep. Penetrating this massive wall of Homo sapiens with their raised smartphones was not for the faint of heart. 

Fortunately, this section of 50th Street was closed to vehicular traffic. Otherwise, there would be no picture here.

I gave some consideration to having my palm read, but—one—the reader was on a bathroom break. And, two, I remember being taught not to put a plastic bag over my head. Lastly, I'm not a little person.

Glad to see the big banks, like Chase, in the holiday spirit and turning their logos into Christmas decorations.

Jolly Ol' Saint Nicholas says, "It depends on what the meaning of special is."

Extraordinary news uncovered on my Christmas visits downtown this week: The 168th station—for Number 1 train riders—has reopened after being closed for elevator replacement for the entire year. The Metropolitan Transit Authority miracle here is that it occurred a couple of weeks earlier than expected.

Proving once again that one never knows what's around the bend.

Respect others. Now that's a novel concept to heed in 2020.

Okay, it's Northern Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge. Once upon a time I spent Christmas Eve with a grandmother in the Bronx and Christmas Day with a grandmother in Bangor, Pennsylvania. Over the river—in this case the Hudson—and eventually through the woods of Northwestern, New Jersey while listening to AM/FM WPAT's "Spirit of Christmas" on the car radio. May I just say that there is nothing like Christmas in Bangor.

Wherever we traverse, discoveries await. I didn't have to traverse afar this week to uncover the Hudson River Stonehenge.

Granted, it's not quite as impressive as the prehistoric Stonehenge in England, but impressive enough for me.

Finally there: The Little Red Lighthouse—Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse—under the GWB. From a passing car, I spied it for decades. I can cross this off my bucket list. And fewer people around it than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree!

(Photos from the personal collection of Nicholas Nigro)