Et looks like a European spa pavilion: the boathouse in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Many weddings usually take place here, but since the coronavirus shut down the city, the boathouse has become a meeting place for music lovers. Dozens of people, most of them in masks, sit on the steps in front of the white pillars and listen to “Alegba and Friends”. Guitarist Alegba Jahyile has been playing with his friends every evening for months, often for three hours. Jazz and Haitian Rasin, sometimes a couple of covers. On a warm Wednesday evening in July, around fifty people are there, scattered on blankets and on the steps of the boathouse. One woman is dancing with a little boy, another has a glass of champagne in her hand. Everyone keeps their distance. This is not exactly the exuberance that the New York concertgoer knows from before Corona. But it’s one of the best the city has to offer after sunset. They want to keep going here, every night until the pandemic is over or the snow comes, Jahyile says.
The nightlife in New York has been shut down since mid-March. Officially, at least. They dance in the park in Brooklyn, but everyone obeys the rules. Others are less squeamish. Gatherings of more than 25 people are actually not allowed – phase three of the reopening is currently underway. But already in April there were the first reports of parties “underground”. Restaurants that were only allowed to be open for picking up and delivering food waved to groups of friends into their cellars. In the meantime there is said to be a whole series of illegal techno parties that can only be accessed with a password and via secret mailing lists. Announcements are making the rounds on Instagram – a “Techno_Brooklyn_Open_Air” is said to be sold out. A promoter sent out invitations to a party with 90 people in a Midtown lounge that said, “Don’t share this information on social media!” They were “not interested in drama”. An Instagram account called “Nocturnal Radio Live” posted similar invitations. The magazine “Air Mail News” wanted to know about parties that offered everything: “Cocaine, ketamine, models and music” and reported on young people who crowded into cellar bars and said in mid-May: “Our district is not so concerned. “
“You want to be outside”
Not all see reason for secrecy. The hotel “Ravel” in Queens has been trying to openly launch a new kind of party over the past few weeks. At and in the pool on the roof, young people without masks enjoyed themselves, dancing close together – videos made the rounds on the net. The operators proudly announced that they had not only taken all possible “hygiene measures”, every visitor would also be quickly tested for the corona virus. According to the website of the “Profundo” club on the hotel roof, the minimum consumption starts at 200 dollars per person – for 1500 you can lie around on a cabana bed. Hotel manager Frank Alessio defended himself against criticism and said in an interview: “I think New Yorkers are resilient. They want to be outside. “Governor Andrew Cuomo retweeted a press report about the parties, adding,” Listen. In order to. On. Now. “It is unclear whether the police took care of the alleged express corona testers. The invitation to the pool frenzy is still online.
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