Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
New Year's Eve

JANUARY 8, 2006 --

It was a gray, even dark and snowy afternoon in Manhattan, December 31, LPR, nevertheless, drove Broadway and then Seventh Avenue to try and get photos in Times Square, early New Year's eve.

On Broadway, near 86th Street, LPR noticed a table with New Year's eve ornaments, and got a photo of the table, and of the vendor wearing 2006 glasses.

A Vendors selling his festive goods on New Years Eve.

A New Years Eve Vendor, with 2006 eyewear.

LPR got to Times Square at about 3.30 p.m. just before the area was closed to cars. People had begun to assemble for the Times Square ball drop, marking the arrival of the new year, but the crowd along Seventh Avenue was still fairly light.

On the corner of 7th and 42nd Streets, on New Years Eve.

LPR got photos of people, including another man wearing 2006 glasses, while stopped for red lights, heading down Seventh Avenue to 42nd Street.

Another person wearing the famed 2006 glasses.

Waiting for midnight in Times Square on New Years Eve.
The people in these photos had a wait of more than eight hours to see the ball drop signifying the arrival of the new year. Pedestrian traffic on 42nd Street was heavy, but not more than usual for this time of day (or night, as it seemed).

Traffic was very light, however, on Seventh Avenue, below 42nd Street.

Pedestrian traffic crossing on 42nd Street in the snowy mix, New Years Eve.

Traffic was light below Times Square, on 7th Avenue, on New Years Eve.

Sign of snow in Columbus Circle on New Years Eve.
Heading uptown, LPR stopped at Columbus Circle, 17 blocks north of Times Square, to get some New Year's eve snow photos. LPR then noticed a CNN sign on a building above Columbus Circle, to the left (no pun intended) of the Time Warner building.

The Time Warner Center, on New Years Eve.
A few days after LPR took this photo of the CNN sign, the media, including CNN, reported that 12 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine had survived -- to report a few hours later that only one of the miners was found alive.

The CNN Sign
And so, LPR's drive to Times Square on a gray, even dark and snowy afternoon included a photo of a media sign that, a few days later, proved to be tragically ironic.

LPR would suggest that editors ask the "how?' question before going public with a story -- how did the reporter get this information?

(Yup, it is kind of useful to know the sources of information; it could prevent profound grief following baseless elation.)

LPR saw in the New Year via NBC and Fox television. LPR did not intentionally avoid Dick Clark on ABC but, from what people say, perhaps LPR should be thankful it did not watch the ABC coverage of the arrival of 2006. LPR would also note, for the record, that CBS did not cover the arrival of the new year.)

Looking towards Times Square on New Years Eve.

Looking towards Times Square the first day of 2006.