

The finance bros of Manhattan went hard during happy hour and ended the night well before neon-haired ravers, who piled into subway cars with plans to dance until the sun came back up. Neighbors played dominoes and drank lukewarm tequila.

We headed back to our regular haunts, and at bustling Pride celebrations we rediscovered the kind of liberation that comes from losing track of your limbs in a crowd. Before the Delta variant began heightening anxieties and led to increased calls for a return to wearing masks, the city felt, shockingly, almost normal.Īt no time was that more evident than the hours between sunset and sunrise, when New York’s streets became electric. There was a glorious yet fleeting moment this summer, between waves, when the Covid case count was at its lowest since the beginning of the pandemic.
