The Year of the Dragon was celebrated in New York’s Chinatown with a series of events that concluded with the 26th annual parade on February 25. Well attended this year, the parade stepped off on a sunny day and featured many dragons and dignitaries and politicians.
The first and fiercest dragon on Mott and Bayard Streets
Fireworks are prohibited, but spectators replace the fireworks with confetti to greet the dragons
Lion dancers on Mott Street
A group of lion dancers on Confucius Square
Governor Kathy Hochul (second from left) appeared under heavy security
This year, Senator Chuck Schumer was greeted with chants of “Cease fire now” by a group of parade spectators
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in the parade
Young lion dancers from the De Soto School in Chinatown
We’re glad it’s over, grasping at hope that 2024 will be better in New York and the world. Here are some faces of New York City in 2023.
October 12: 5 days after the Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish students held a silent vigil for the victims of the attack and the hostages on the Columbia University campus. The photograph shows a young man named Ilan Fiorentino who was killed in the attack.
Also on October 12, on the other side of Butler Library at Columbia University, pro-Palestinian students held a rally at the same time as the silent vigil opposite them. Many demonstrators covered their faces. There was no mention of Hamas.
October 31: the annual Greenwich Village Halloween parade
November 5: a jubilant runner spots his friends on entering Central Park near the finish line of the New York Marathon.
November 23: Spectators at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade react as a float passes on Central Park West
He’s not from New York, but this tuba player from Alabama became part of New York for a day when his university band was selected to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
December 23: In front of Trump Tower, man named Neil who has made his living for the past six years doing impersonations of Donald Trump had to take off his mask to do emergency repair of the nose.
Two days before Christmas, many parents took their children to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree. Some were warmly dressed and their parents bought them treats…
… and other children accompanied their mothers who sell balloons and cotton candy on the street to the more fortunate children.
The shortest day of the year has passed, winter has begun, and the holiday lights in Midtown Manhattan bring cheer through the cold evenings.
Bergdorf Goodman’s windows, always inventive and elaborate, with reflections of the buildings across Fifth Avenue. The theme this year was animals.
A light show featuring a giant kaleidoscope on the facade of Saks Fifth Avenue attracted enormous crowds. With music from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and lights simulating fireworks, the spectacle was only three minutes long but unforgettable.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, iconic and on every American and international tourist’s holiday wish list.
Most New Yorkers never bothered looking at this – until Radio City Music Hall was closed for the pandemic and there was no Christmas tree in 2020.
The 97th annual Macy’s Parade kicked off from the American Museum of Natural History again this year, led by a marching band and featuring floats, enormous balloons, confetti, entertainers, and a huge and enthusiastic crowd lining the parade route. The logistics of coordinating the parade, making it secure, and handling the balloons are impressive. The parade is of course very commercial and the subtext is to start buying Christmas presents at Macy’s, where else? What any of it has to do with a famous dinner held in Massachusetts in 1621 is beyond the scope of this post, but if you’re a New Yorker it’s part of our beloved tradition.
The turkey float and its escorts preparing to march on Central Park West, startling a flock of pigeons
The Alabama A&M University Marching Band led off the parade
Marching down Central Park West
These people arrived at 5:30 AM to get bleacher seats for a parade that started at 8:30. They were cold but very enthusiastic.
The Smokey Bear balloon from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service is a perennial favorite at the parade.
Another turkey float passes the American Museum of Natural History
Controlling the balloons is difficult and carefully choreographed. The volunteer balloon handlers practice in a stadium months before the parade and need to be able to handle the balloons in gusts of wind.
The balloon inflation starts the night before the parade outside the American Museum of Natural History and is the perfect place for dinosaurs to hatch.
Dinosaur traffic control
These people got their viewing spots at the barricades at 4:30 AM but their energy was undiminished.
The anime character Goku waiting to join the parade
Toward the end of the parade, Christmas-themed floats appear like this one reminding us to buy candy.
The New York Marathon was a great success this year, with an exciting women’s finish and a new course record set in the men’s division by Ethiopian Tamirat Tola. Many top American marathoners sat out the race to save themselves for the US Olympic Trials in three months. 50,000 runners from countries all over the world ran the marathon and were welcomed with encouragement, excitement, and love from New Yorkers along the course.
The women’s lead pack heading down Fifth Avenue near the 24 mile mark. Kenyan Hellen Obiri (second in this photo) went on to win in 2:27:23.
Viola Cheptoo (Kenya) pulled ahead of Obiri but finished sixth in the end.
The top American woman was Kellyn Taylor. She led for most of the race but was caught by the lead pack and finished 8th.
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia cruising to victory with no other runner near him. His time of 2:04:58 set a new course record.
New Yorkers with cowbells cheering the runners on
A runner from the Central Park Track Club is cheered by members of his club inside Central Park on the way to the finish line
Sometimes it hurts
Timing is everything at a water station
He ran the whole marathon with an Israeli flag draped on his back like a cape
Finishers got a medal, an orange poncho, and a bag of snacks at the finish line. Central Park West was a sea of orange as throngs of finishers exited the chutes, and this woman was absorbed in her phone.
On Thursday, October 12 starting at 6 AM, the entire Columbia University campus was closed to anyone not presenting a Columbia ID at the gates following the invasion of Israel by Hamas and the announcement of protests. In the afternoon two opposing protests were held under tight security. Butler Lawn in front of Butler Library was divided into a protest organized by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and a protest on the other side of the lawn by Students Supporting Israel at Columbia University on the other side, separated by campus security and police. The two protests were peaceful but could not have been more different. See the captions under the photos.
The sign says “Israel still lives.” Other students hold a photo of a man kidnapped or killed during the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 6.
After a silent protest, the demonstrators sang songs.
Singing together
The photo shows a young Israeli named Ilan Fiorentino who was killed by Hamas.
On the other side of Butler Lawn, the pro-Palestinian demonstration
Many of the protesters covered their faces with scarves, masks, and hijabs to prevent themselves from being identified in the media.
This woman stationed herself at the entrance to the lawn and asked members of the media not to enter the protest area to interview or photograph demonstrators.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrator chanting slogans
Demonstrator covering her face as the protesters began a march
Ukrainians gathered in Times Square on March 5 to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to call for a no fly zone over Ukraine to protect civilian lives. Supported by Russians, Georgians, Kazakhs, and others from former Soviet republics, the protesters were universal in attacking Putin personally for the invasion rather than blaming Russians.
A protester named Cole holds a sign in Times Square. The other side of the sign insulted Putin in Russian with an unprintable epithet.Chanting protestersUkrainian protester in Times Square“No to War,” a sign forbidden in Russia. Demonstrators in Russian cities are arrested immediately if they display this sign.“Jimmy” was a captain in the Red Army in the Soviet UnionFather and son protestingProtesters calling for a NATO no fly zone over Ukraine
The Lunar New Year Parade marking the Year of the Tiger took place again after the suspension in 2021 due to the pandemic. A smaller and more subdued event this year, it was still welcomed as another important step toward a more normal life in New York City. But the Chinatown community is still reeling after the murder of a Chinese American woman by a homeless man and is resisting the construction of a new jail and the addition of new shelters in the neighborhood.
The NYPD Marching Band led the parade down Mott StreetLion dancersThe youngest drummer Drums and cymbals accompany the lion dancersPeople give the lion dancer a traditional New Year gift of money in a red envelopeThe dragon passes under the Manhattan BridgeSenator Chuck Schumer marches in the parade every yearProtesters opposing the placement of homeless shelters and a large jail in ChinatownA sidewalk memorial to Christina Yuna Lee, murdered in her apartment by a homeless man who followed her from the streetA mural by Manuel Alejandro depicts a tiger that seems to be emerging from the subway
In these years of pandemic and social distancing, wandering in a vast cemetery has become more than ever before a peaceful and contemplative activity. Some come to visit relatives’ graves, some to learn about the historic battle of the American Revolution that took place here, some to visit the graves of famous New Yorkers like Leonard Bernstein or Jean-Michel Basquiat. Others bring binoculars and look for birds, or admire the beautiful trees, or simply walk among the permanent residents of this unique place.
An angel watches over the graves of the Dennis familyShe weeps for as long as the stone lastsA Civil War veteran’s graveStanding tall on a pedestal, she gazes over New York HarborA rare Henslow’s Sparrow visited the cemetery and attracted birders from all over the city.
DeborahShapiroPhotos 