The city was completely closed off from 14th street and below. If your license didn’t have an address that placed you below 14th Street, you were not passing the armed guards. To this day, I make sure my address on my drivers license is always up to date. There were people who were unable to get to pets they had left behind. Unable to go home.
The day they opened the city up to Canal Street, we felt compelled to walk from 14th down to Canal. When we arrived at Union Square, we discovered that most of Manhattan shared the urge.
The park became a shrine, a place for people to gather and be with one another.
