The nights when New York felt alive again

There was a glorious yet fleeting moment this summer, between waves, when the COVID-19 case count was at its lowest since the beginning of the pandemic. Before the delta variant of the coronavirus began heightening anxieties and intensifying calls for a return to wearing masks, New York City felt, shockingly, almost normal.

At no time was that more evident than the hours between sunset and sunrise, when the streets became electric. 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.

Neighbours played dominoes and drank lukewarm tequila. Manhattan’s finance bros 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.

Between May and July, The New York Times sent 40 photographers and nine reporters to all five boroughs to document performances, house parties, bars, dance floors and all the chaos that makes New York come alive in the dark. The portfolio captures the collective risk that many New Yorkers took to revel in the city’s deeply missed party scene. Now, as cases spike once more, the moment can look like recklessness, or a tragedy narrowly averted, but these euphoric weeks were a release from the heaviness of the year — a hint at what we hope will be waiting on the other side.

After months of lifted and relaxed restrictions, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this past week that indoor entertainment and performance venues will need to require proof of vaccination from patrons, another challenge for nightlife venues. But the industry will be crucial to the city’s recovery — both spiritually and economically. A study conducted in 2016 showed that New York’s nightlife industry was supporting nearly 300,000 jobs and generating $35.1 billion annually. Ariel Palitz, senior executive director of the city’s Office of Nightlife, said nightlife provided about $697 million each year in local tax revenue.

And although the most recent rise in cases has proved how fragile and uncertain recovery will be, it is clear that nightlife will find a way to return, as long as people still crave the escape of moving through a room of strangers.

“The pandemic really highlighted what was essential in this city and what’s a luxury,” Palitz said. “This industry has always been seen as nice to have, but now we know it’s a need. It is absolutely part of our fabric, of our daily lives.”

© 2021 The New York Times Company