It's Wednesday. We'll look at plans for a New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square that is shaping up to be like those of the past — if you are vaccinated. We'll also look at an art collection auction that brought in far more than the presale estimates. |
 | | Brittainy Newman/The New York Times |
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The flourishes and frippery of past New Year's Eve celebrations will return to Times Square on Dec. 31 — the crowd in the cold, the shouted countdown to midnight, the off-key renditions of "Auld Lang Syne" — and Mayor Bill de Blasio wants the evening to signal the city's post-pandemic renaissance. |
But there will be a reminder that the coronavirus remains a concern: Only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to attend. |
De Blasio said the celebration in Times Square — scaled back last year, when officials told people to stay home — would unfold "at full strength" this time around. |
"We want it to be big — we want it to be full of life," de Blasio said. "New Year's Eve is going to be something beautiful and amazing as part of the comeback of this city." |
The Times Square celebration will mark his final act as mayor after eight years in office. That will leave any fallout from the event to Eric Adams, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 1. |
The celebration will present the usual logistical complexities. But my colleagues Ashley Wong and Dana Rubinstein write that it could also pose philosophical questions for police officers who fought de Blasio's vaccination mandate for city employees. The police will not only have to deal with controlling the crowd; they will also have to confirm that the crowd is vaccinated. |
Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance, said that all spectators over age 5 would be asked to show proof of full vaccination; children younger than 5 — who are not yet eligible for vaccines — will have to be accompanied by a vaccinated adult. Attendees who are unable to get vaccinated because of a disability will have to show that they tested negative for the coronavirus no more than 72 hours before the event. Harris said that masks will be required for any unvaccinated attendees. |
Asked at a news conference why vaccination would be mandatory to attend the ball drop when it is not required for many other outdoor activities in New York, de Blasio said a crowded, hourslong event drawing people from around the country and the world required greater precaution. |
"When you're outdoors with a few hundred thousand people packed close together for hours on end, it's a different reality," de Blasio said. "You're talking about a lot of people really close for long periods of time. It makes sense to protect everyone." |
Several public health experts have cautioned that with the constantly changing nature of the coronavirus, it is difficult to predict what infection rates and caseloads might be at the end of the year. In New York City, the number of Covid-19 cases has edged up in the past couple of weeks, but hospitalizations have stayed low. |
Still, Ashish Jha, the dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, said de Blasio's plans for New Year's Eve seemed "very reasonable." |
"Vaccines make outdoor events, which are already pretty low risk, exceedingly low risk," Dr. Jha said. |
Some experts noted the risk would not be limited to Times Square. Attendees will also have to consider what happens on the way to the celebration and after the ball drop, with people going in and out of nearby bars and restaurants to eat, to warm up and to use restrooms. While New York City requires people eating and drinking indoors to provide proof of vaccination, Denis Nash, a professor of epidemiology for the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, said that those traveling from outside the city should consider the possibility of taking the virus back home. |
"There will be people coming from places that don't have much Covid going on right now," he said. "We need to be thinking about seeding, outbreaks and spread, not just in our own backyards but everywhere." |
It's a day with increasing clouds, New York. Temps are steady in the mid-50s during the day and throughout the partly cloudy evening. |
In effect until Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day). |
$676.1 million for 35 works of art |
 | | Mary Altaffer/Associated Press |
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No, the giant his-and-her portraits of Macklowe and his second wife, Patricia Landeau, were not included — the giant portraits that hung on the side of Macklowe's building on Billionaire's Row as "a proclamation of love" in 2019. The art collection was assembled in the decades before he told Linda Macklowe their marriage was over and their lawyers began fighting about what it was worth. |
When Sotheby's sold 35 of the works on Monday, their worth was $676.1 million, $276 million more than Sotheby's had estimated — a testament to the strength at the top of the art market. Trends in the market played out in the salesroom, notably in strong buying from Asia, which accounted for 30 percent of Sotheby's total sales last year. |
The 35 works represent only part of the collection. Sotheby's will sell more in May. |
Brooke Lampley, a Sotheby's executive, called the sale on Monday "the most valuable single-owner auction ever staged." It was followed on Tuesday by the sale of Frida Kahlo's "Diego and I" for $34.9 million, which made it the most valuable work of Latin American art ever sold at auction. Sotheby's identified the buyer as Eduardo Costantini, who founded a museum in Buenos Aires. |
My colleague Robin Pogrebin writes that in the Macklowe sale, the top lots included Alberto Giacometti's craggy 1964 sculpture "Le Nez" ("The Nose"), which sold for $78.4 million. On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun revealed on Twitter that he was the buyer. "We got it!" he wrote. |
Auction-high prices were set for Jackson Pollock, whose "Number 17, 1951," from his Black Paintings series, sold for $61 million with fees, and for Agnes Martin, whose "Untitled #44," featuring slender bands of subtle color, sold for $17.7 million. |
Given the absence of artists of color in Monday's sale and the scarcity of women — only Agnes Martin and Tauba Auerbach were included — the auction to some symbolized a chapter from the past. "This is the collection of a generation that's passing — an old white man's collection," said Adam Lindemann, the gallerist and collector. "Yes, these things are always going to be great, but is this what a young tech billionaire wants? I don't think so." |
I had traveled about 40 minutes on the Q to my regular barbershop on 57th Street and 10th Avenue, across from the office I don't think I'll ever return to. |
The barber who took me spoke little English and engaged in no small talk, just as I prefer. Threading his hands through my hair, he lifted the strands to snip, comb and repeat. It felt comfortable and routine again. |
Then, as he pushed my head downward to trim along the nape of my neck, I suddenly felt the scissors stop. Slamming them down beneath the mirror, the barber rushed out the door and began to run down the block. |
I watched it all through the window, a long flop of hair he had just abandoned drooping over my forehead. Everyone else there seemed unfazed. What had happened? I had no idea. |
Minutes later, the barber returned. He was sweating. He continued the haircut as if nothing had happened. He didn't say anything, and neither did I. |
When he finished, I tipped him with a few folded bills. |
"Thank you," he replied, the most he had said to that point. "Generous." |
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. |
Melissa Guerrero, May-Ying Lam, Rick Martinez and Olivia Parker contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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