New York July 4th Fireworks
I had my first experience watching July 4th fireworks in NYC last week. It was one hell of an experience!
Below is the 2nd half of the fireworks. For spoilers, just skip to 14:30 for the best part of the show.
The morning before the fireworks, I spent 2 hours researching for the best experience. A couple searches and it was clear that the most beautiful fireworks would be organized by Macy's along the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City.
On their website, Macy's showed the official view points, which were along the FDR drive in Manhattan. I had a hunch that I would have a better experience watching from the Long Island City side because:
- There were always crap loads of people in Manhattan - mostly tourists.
- I had always preferred the idea of sitting on grass in a park to enjoy the fireworks.
- I didn't like the idea of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other people the entire time waiting for fireworks.
- Standing on highway concrete for a long time sucks.
- It would be nice to have Manhattan buildings as backgrounds for the fireworks.
With these reasons in mind, I tried looking for alternatives. First came the Hunters Point because that looked like the perfect spot, but it was quickly a no-go because I found out they would occupy that spot for the music stage and all.
After reading and reading, I came up with 2 options,
1) Gantry Plaza State Park
2) WNYC Transmitter Park
Some of the other names that popped up: Grand Ferry Park, East River State Park, and Sunset Park.
Anyways, 2 choices were enough, so at 5PM, I made my way to Gantry Plaza State Park on the 7 train (Yeah, my research showed that I should be there 4-5 hours earlier for a good spot. They started firing fireworks at 9:25 PM).
Upon exiting, I already saw lots of people making way to Gantry Plaza State Park already. It was pretty organized, with fences and policemen and all.
There was a security checkpoint where I got my backpack scanned. After that, I just followed the flow of people, and walked along the fences.
Finally I was able to see a good nice wooden-floored area. There I saw security officers handing out wrist bands to people who wished to sit in the pier bridge area. It was 5:45 PM at that point, and they only had about 15 wristbands left. I asked for 3 wristbands, and then I just waited there for my friends.
I surprisingly ran into some of my Vietnamese friends there. Woot!!! the more the merrier.
Then I just sat there waiting while chatting with my friends. My other friends came late. I almost lost them because I started losing phone signals.
The sun died down a bit, and we could enjoy the entire view of the pier and the river, watching Manhattan buildings on the other side.
Later on, my friends and I concluded that where we were sitting was not a good seat, so we made our way to the furthest point of the pier bridge. Surprisingly, there was so much space there. Then we just had some pleasant talks til the fireworks. The fireworks began promptly at 9:25 PM.
Not much to say about the fireworks. It was the best firework event I have seen yet. Just like thunder rocking the sky.
Below is the first part of the firework show.
The show lasted exactly 25 minutes!
After the show, it was crazy on the way back too. But after you get off train 7, things became normal again.
We had dinner afterwards, and to our surprise, lots of restaurants maintained there regular hours on this holiday.
I showed my friends a rather popular restaurant in K-Town, Pocha32
We all got home late afterwards. I was happy and felt accomplished for such a great experience.
Below is the 2nd half of the fireworks. For spoilers, just skip to 14:30 for the best part of the show.
The morning before the fireworks, I spent 2 hours researching for the best experience. A couple searches and it was clear that the most beautiful fireworks would be organized by Macy's along the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City.
On their website, Macy's showed the official view points, which were along the FDR drive in Manhattan. I had a hunch that I would have a better experience watching from the Long Island City side because:
- There were always crap loads of people in Manhattan - mostly tourists.
- I had always preferred the idea of sitting on grass in a park to enjoy the fireworks.
- I didn't like the idea of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other people the entire time waiting for fireworks.
- Standing on highway concrete for a long time sucks.
- It would be nice to have Manhattan buildings as backgrounds for the fireworks.
With these reasons in mind, I tried looking for alternatives. First came the Hunters Point because that looked like the perfect spot, but it was quickly a no-go because I found out they would occupy that spot for the music stage and all.
After reading and reading, I came up with 2 options,
1) Gantry Plaza State Park
2) WNYC Transmitter Park
Some of the other names that popped up: Grand Ferry Park, East River State Park, and Sunset Park.
Anyways, 2 choices were enough, so at 5PM, I made my way to Gantry Plaza State Park on the 7 train (Yeah, my research showed that I should be there 4-5 hours earlier for a good spot. They started firing fireworks at 9:25 PM).
Upon exiting, I already saw lots of people making way to Gantry Plaza State Park already. It was pretty organized, with fences and policemen and all.
There was a security checkpoint where I got my backpack scanned. After that, I just followed the flow of people, and walked along the fences.
Finally I was able to see a good nice wooden-floored area. There I saw security officers handing out wrist bands to people who wished to sit in the pier bridge area. It was 5:45 PM at that point, and they only had about 15 wristbands left. I asked for 3 wristbands, and then I just waited there for my friends.
I surprisingly ran into some of my Vietnamese friends there. Woot!!! the more the merrier.
Then I just sat there waiting while chatting with my friends. My other friends came late. I almost lost them because I started losing phone signals.
The sun died down a bit, and we could enjoy the entire view of the pier and the river, watching Manhattan buildings on the other side.
Later on, my friends and I concluded that where we were sitting was not a good seat, so we made our way to the furthest point of the pier bridge. Surprisingly, there was so much space there. Then we just had some pleasant talks til the fireworks. The fireworks began promptly at 9:25 PM.
Not much to say about the fireworks. It was the best firework event I have seen yet. Just like thunder rocking the sky.
Below is the first part of the firework show.
The show lasted exactly 25 minutes!
After the show, it was crazy on the way back too. But after you get off train 7, things became normal again.
We had dinner afterwards, and to our surprise, lots of restaurants maintained there regular hours on this holiday.
I showed my friends a rather popular restaurant in K-Town, Pocha32
We all got home late afterwards. I was happy and felt accomplished for such a great experience.
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