Posted on May 30, 2018 at 9:13 pm by West Sider

A group of sun-gawkers were blocking traffic on West 79th Street when the authorities decided to end the madness, forcing them to disperse just as Manhattanhenge was hitting its peak. Police told people to leave at 8:10 p.m., says Alex Israel. The sun hit its perfect spot between the buildings at 8:12.

Alex was there to document the anticipation, and the buzzkill, in the photos below.

A similar scene played out on 72nd Street, where a garbage truck pulled in front of people watching the sunset right at 8:10 a.m. “At 72nd Street they decided to back a garbage truck into the middle of the crowd watching the “show” at exactly 8:10,” wrote William, who sent the photo below. “I begged them to wait 2 minutes and was met with complete indifference. This caused the crowd to scramble out into CPW to get a view.” William wasn’t sure who told the truck to drive there, surmising that they might have been connected to a nearby race in Central Park or perhaps were just from a moving company.