July Light: Tricks of the Central Park West Druid

Last week on Friday we experienced the late summer alignment of Manhattanhenge. This pet of the head astronomer at the Hayden Planetarium is one of my favorite urban quirks: twice each summer the setting sun aligns perfectly with the crossstreets of Manhattan, and you are given the chance for a figure on Greenwich to cast a shadow onto 2nd Avenue.

Among the many reasons I love this event is, of course, that it is exactly the type of thing I collect in my little birdbrain. More significantly, it is the unexpected source of another, more ephemeral delight for us summer New Yorkers. For a week or so surrounding Manhattanhenge, each long evening takes of a special glow as the long light of the summer afternoon is allowed to penetrate deep into the city. The luminous urban evenings of the Hudson riverbank bleed deep into the grid, and the scene for us pedestrians is lit like a movie set (preferably the evening moments of Rear Window, right before the stage catches on fire). It makes me glad to be here.