Seasons of the City

		Seasons of the City

02/17/08

Movie directors love the seasons of the city of New York. Especially Woody Allen! The variety of the seasons is one of the things I like about New York - though I admit to liking it better in October and April than in August and February!

Click a thumbnail to see a larger version.

To see or download full-size size versions of these photos, click here.

Summer

Summerstage

Central Park has lots of events in the summer. One of the most popular is Summerstage, which presents free concerts every weekend. A couple of years ago we went to a "celebration of New Orleans," with Kermit Ruffin & the Barbecue Swingers, Donald Harrison & New Mardi Gras Sound, Rebirth Jazz Band, and Lady Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Club. The photos at right give a sense of it.

I wrote up this "New York moment" for the New York Times "Metropolitan Diary" (every Wednesday), and they printed it. Too bad I didn't have the camera!

Last year, we had a spot on the Summerstage bleachers with a good view. At the barriers below, a dapper gentleman (I heard later he was in his 70s) was dancing quietly in place to the lively salsa-type music, until a young woman scrambled down and asked him to dance.

Both were expert dancers - he precise and professional, she enthusiastic and energetic, flinging arms and legs in all directions. People moved back in a circle to watch them, applauding. The song came to an end, and he swept her into a deep dip over a bent knee. She caught the moment, swung her legs up and pointed her toes to the sky. And everyone applauded wildly.

They danced again with the next song, and this time the dip was even more spectacular. Then they took a bow from the wildly applauding crowd around them, shook hands, and she returned to her boyfriend in the bleachers, still laughing with the sheer joy of the dance.

Street fairs are a favorite summer activity in New York - they show up in every area of the city. We often take a long bus ride to another borough - Queens or Brooklyn - to take in a street fair. The fair is just an excuse for us to go to a part of the city we might not see otherwise, wander around the streets, check out the neighborhood, and have lunch in a new restaurant.

Some street fairs are bigger than others. The Brazil Independence Day festival (around Labor Day) gets bigger and more crowded every year. The Feast of San Gennaro (mid-September) is a "feast" - literally. Tons of Italian food. This year I found the secret - go early, like noon. The later in the day you go, the more crowded it gets!

A memory that sticks in my mind - a year or two before 9/11/05, when Rudy Guiliani was still mayor of New York, but not yet "America's mayor." There he was, on the stage at the Feast of San Gennaro, trying to dance and look hip. Now Rudy Guiliani is many things, but he's not hip! And he can't dance. But he did try, I'll give him that.