for The Wall Street Journal: Remember Last Year's 7 p.m. Cheer? Some New Yorkers Are Still at It. by José A. Alvarado Jr.

Media News

for The Wall Street Journal: Remember Last Year's 7 p.m. Cheer? Some New Yorkers Are Still at It.

josé a. alvarado jr.

Jul 14, 2021

Location: manhattan

Early in the pandemic, New Yorkers began cheering for essential workers every evening at 7. From windows and balconies, they clapped, yelled, blew horns and banged pots and pans, letting it all out for the men and women facing down the deadly virus with little more than a flimsy mask.

The ritual lasted a few months. By the summer last year, the booming five-borough chorus had quieted to a few isolated soloists.

Yet the nightly noisemaking is still going strong at a handful of apartment buildings clustered in a neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with cheers still sounding at the appointed hour.

These 7 p.m. revelers haven’t adopted a moniker or formed any official organization, though a few have started to meet, swapping greetings and learning names. Up until then, most had been known only by the nicknames pinned to their varied cheering styles.

Opera Guy, Jumping Jacks People, the Clanger.

These men and women struggle to explain why they still cheer after most of the city has stopped and the pandemic has largely eased throughout the metropolitan area. At best, they say it has something to do with airing a message of hope.

Photographed for The Wall Street Journal with words by Charles Passy.

Remember Last YearâÂ€Â™s 7 p.m. Cheer? Some New Yorkers Are Still at It.
People across New York City used to raise a ruckus every night for the pandemicâÂ€Â™s frontline workers; Opera Man, Shofar Lady and the Clanger havenâÂ€Â™t stopped.
Www.wsj.com

1,458

José A. Alvarado Jr.

Also by José A. Alvarado Jr. —

for The New York Times: Former Rikers Employees Are Charged With Smuggling in Contraband

for Seven Days VT: 'Safe Haven'

for The New York Times: Lawmaker Is Left With ‘Lifetime Trauma’ as Attacker Pleads Guilty

for The New York Times: Health Insurers’ Lucrative, Little-Known Alliance: 5 Takeaways

for The New York Times: Baruch College, an Upward-Mobility Machine

for The New Yorker: The Haunted Juror

for Bloomberg Originals:

for Bloomberg: Guyana Is Trying to Keep Its Oil Blessing From Becoming a Curse

for The New York Times: Audit Finds Fatal Lapses in Mental Health Program Meant to Curb Violence

for The Wall Street Journal: America’s Biggest Bank Is Growing the Old-Fashioned Way: Branches

for The New York Times: The Young Black Conservative Who Grew Up With, and Rejects, D.E.I.

for The New York Times: How Rikers Island Became New York’s Largest Mental Institution

for The New York Times: This Venezuelan Family Won Asylum. Days Later, They Lost It.

for Southern Foodways Alliance: Offsides Fowl

for Anglers Journal: End of an Era

for Bloomberg: ‘Market’s Wrong, I’m Not’: Mike Mayo Loves Playing a Provocateur

for Brooklyn Vegan: Glassjaw celebrated 30 years with career-spanning Brooklyn shows

for The New York Times: Kendra’s Law Was Meant to Prevent Violence. It Failed Hundreds of Times.

for The New York Times: A New Push to Improve Mental Health Care for Homeless New Yorkers

for Bloomberg: The Other Side of Greenwich: Hunger Among the Hedge Funds

for CULTURED Magazine: At 25, Artist Oscar yi Hou Has Already Had a Solo Museum Show—And Written a Memoir

TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2023

for The New York Times: Behind 94 Acts of Shocking Violence, Years of Glaring Mistakes

for The New Yorker: What Will It Take to Win Brooklyn’s First Majority-Asian District?