New Year's Eve- Times Square

New Year’s Eve- Time Square- 1978

My first year out of college was fun and freeing but it was also confining.  I loved being an adult now.  And having an income, as meager as it was, was so liberating.  But being responsible and confided to a 40 hour a week obligation did require an adjustment to my free spirit.  It limited my spontaneity.  It required me to get to bed at a reasonable hour each work night.  I had to iron my blouses now.  And panty hose ate up too much of my expendable income.

So my free time was cherished and I tried to make every minute count.  So when I got an invitation to spend New Year’s Eve in Time Square, I jumped with excitement.  Yes, I wanted to bring in the New Year at the most happening spot in the world.  Yes, this was one cool idea, an adventure worth bragging about.  “Yea, I was in Time Square on New Year’s” I would tell people nonchalantly as if to convey, where else would you expect me to celebrate the New Year.

So I packed a backpack and hopped a train to Penn Station.  I made my way to my friends’ apartment.  It was a one bedroom apartment and three of them shared the place.  The twin sisters shared the bottom bunk and Judy had the top bunk.  There was a fold out table in the kitchen.  And when the table was out, it blocked the door to the bathroom.  So if someone had to use the bathroom when we were eating, we would all have to get up, grab our plate and grab one of the bowls of food as well.  And someone dropped a leaf of the table.  And we all rearranged ourselves to let the other person out and then we waited until she finished in the bathroom.  And then she came out and we rearranged ourselves again.  And none of us cared about this inconvenience because that is the price you pay to live and play in this great city.

So now it was time to make our way down to Time Square.  Someone asked “how much money are you bringing.  How much money should I bring?  Should I bring it all?”

I offered a bit of caution.  “Only bring as much as you can afford to lose.  I’m not bringing my train money with me.  There are going to be lots of pick pocketers in the crowd.”  Well, you would have thought that a great prophet had just spokes because my line was quoted several times in the next hour as we all got ready for the big event.

It was cold and we bundled up and then drank too much blackberry brandy.  We had convinced ourselves that this drink would keep us warm, which it didn’t.  It only served to get us drunk quickly and then we had to go to the bathroom which was not available to us.  But this major inconvenience did not curb any of our drinking.

Crowds had already gathered.  The streets were crowded. Stores were crowded.  And excitement filled the air.  And my group of friends strutted through life with a sense of coolness that we thought we had earned.  Watch out Manhattan, we had arrived.

We made our way to Time Square and we were sandwiched in amongst thousands of people, most of them very, very drunk.  People were smoking pot.  Hustlers were luring drunks in to their card tricks and taking their money.  Merchants were selling knock off bags and scarves and hats.

We found a group of guys who shared their whiskey with us.  And after a few shots, some of us were trading shots for kisses.  And this arrangement seemed to be agreeable with all of us. We were having a good time.

The ball was going to drop in fifteen minutes and that is when a fight broke out.  I looked to my left and four or five teenage boys were rolling on the ground, wrestling each other.  The crowd forced an open gap to get out of the boys’ way.  The boys shot up and startled to run.  And then I felt someone push me and I heard the woman beside me scream, “Get him. He took my necklace.”  The woman was hysterical.  The boys had eyed her beautiful, expensive multi-diamond necklace just a few minutes ago and then they faked a fight as a way to distract all of us to pull off this perfectly executed robbery.  And I had just noticed her necklace, just moments before it was stolen. It sparkled so much under the street lights that it caught my attention. And now it was gone.

Now this woman wanted me to run after them and get her necklace back.  She was shaking and bordering on shock.  I told the woman that I would go find a police officer.  But I was not going to risk my life over this woman’s diamond necklace.  That’s why you have homeowner’s insurance.

When I didn’t move right away, she turned to the others in the crowd and demanded, “Go get them.”  But like me, no one complied.  But a police officer did arrive on the scene and he moved the lady out of the crowd.  But her anger and her disappointment in us lingered in the air.

I don’t remember watching the ball drop.  I was still absorbed by the robbery.  I couldn’t believe the thoughtlessness and selfishness of the robbers.  And I couldn’t believe the arrogance of the victim.  She was in this large, unruly crowd in her beautiful full length mink coat.  Her neckline was purposely exposed on this cold night and she proudly displayed her diamond necklace with 20 or 30 diamonds worth thousands of dollars. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone.  And then she expected complete strangers to risk their lives to get her necklace back. And when we didn’t, she became angry with us.  And as I stewed over these last few minutes, I found myself becoming more and more angry with her.  She chose to call attention to herself.  She chose to display this beautiful necklace to this large crowd of the rich and the poor, the haves and the have- nots.  And the have- nots saw it and went for it.  She didn’t deserve it.  But she was careless and ostentatious and now she is the victim. But really, we were all victims because a cloud of anger and regret hung over all of us as others cheered for the end of one year and the hopes of a new year.