Seeing an eclipse from the Empire State Building
While the city anticipates the solar eclipse due to arrive on Monday afternoon, it’s worth noting that New Yorkers have had eclipse fever before.
In 1932, hundreds of people packed the observation deck of the Empire State Building and squinted toward the sky.
“In New York City millions forgot mundane matters in contemplation of the infinite,” the New York Times wrote on September 1.
“From the East Side, where the teeming life of the tenements swarmed on fire-escapes and rooftops to witness the eclipse, to Park Avenue, where the rich eyed the sun from penthouse easy chairs, the routine of New York halted while the moon edged across the fiery brilliance of the sun’s patch and dimmed its shining splendor.”
Times Square and city parks held thousands of eclipse-watchers. And according to the Times, animals at the Bronx Zoo acted up when darkness fell.
[Photo: AP]
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