May 30, 2018
If you hadn’t heard, today was Manhattanhenge, the twice-yearly occurence when the setting sun aligns with the east-west grid of Manhattan. I found out about it yesterday when my girlfriend asked if I wanted to go see it, which is how I ended up today at Park Ave and 42nd St just after 8 p.m., blocking traffic along with a crowd of a couple hundred other people. The two-lane street was reduced to between zero and one lanes by a clump of people standing on the bridge where Park crosses 42nd, each trying to stand precisely in the middle so as to take the perfect picture.
I caught glimpses of the event itelf between 34th and 40th streets, walking up from the subway; at 42nd St, it was too crowded for me to line up properly with the city’s grid, so instead I took pictures of the crowd. In certain shots, you can see all the people outstretched phones line up towards the sun as well.
If Stonehenge was constructed to align with the heavens on special dates, it seems fitting that Manhattanhenge is a date specified so that the sun will align with Manhattan.