It’s getting harder and harder for your intrepid photographer to find holiday spirit in New York City, and not only because retailers continue to cut back on their decorating budgets.
When I first began this project nearly two decades ago I only recently had turned 50 and getting up and down the stairs of my third-floor walk-up—even loaded with my bike and a week’s worth of groceries—wasn’t an issue. But now, permanent retirement to the house I share in Florida looms so enjoy these photos—they may be my swan song.
This year’s batch (too many, I know) is organized geographically and comes complete with my sentimental and occasionally snarky commentary. HO HO HO!
Upper East Side
Did any of the window dressers at Bloomingdale's actually see "Wicked" which I loved, much to my surprise. First, the Wizard doesn't even fly in his balloon, which Hudson Yards does so much better anyway.
More importantly, mannequins must not come in green.
And if you're not going to give Glinda a bubble, shouldn't she at least have a wand?
Christmas seemed mostly MIA on much of Madison Avenue this year. Once home to some of the city's most delightful windows ( RIP Barney's) you're now more likely to find nail salons or empty storefronts.
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| Jimmy Choo |
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| Baccarat |
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| Manolo Blahnik |
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| Roger Vivier |
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| Loro Piana |
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| Valentino |
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| Asprey |
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| Bonpoint |
Not only did the footprint of Hermes shrink after relocaing across the street, its now cluttered displays lack the WTF creativity that made the store one of my favorite destinations.
Ralph Lauren, at least, kept up the holiday tradition although the grandness of the company's buildings is more impressive than the stale decoration which could use some zhuzhing.
Zitomer, on upper Madison Avenue, deserves honorable mention. This independent pharmacy does something fun and different every year. Just look at the critter on the scooter. Ride, kitty, ride!
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| Diptyque |
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| Love Shack Fancy |
The green and red Helmsley Building, a dozen blocks downtown, looks more impressive the closer you get.
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| Berluti |
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| Miu Miu |
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| Fendi |
Penn Plaza and Madison Square Garden have spruced up as a result of the magnificent Moynihan Train Hall. They're both a lot more welcoming with new facelifts.
Speaking of Moynihan, it's a great spot to enjoy some pre-or-post commuting holiday cheer.
Apparently, the Macy*s Thanksgiving parade is America's most widely watched entertainment event. If only all those viewers would express their appreciation by shopping at the bricks-and-mortar flagship in Herald Square, the dowager empress of New York City's department stores.
The windows remain vibrant, especially for kids who grew up with screens.
But if you really want to find traditional Christmas spirit, you'll have to patronize a shop that merchandises it.
In recent years Bryant Park has blossomed into a holiday destination with a Christmas market and an ice skating rink. Can you find the Empire State Building? Newer skyscrapers have begun to obscure it.
Here's the gorgeous Helmsley Building from another angle.
Fifth Avenue
Time for a rant. Lord & Taylor, an early victim of one-click shopping, once boasted the most traditional (and visited) Christmas windows in Manhattan. They drew crowds to lower Fifth Avenue by quaintly celebrating the season more than commerce. When an internet company purchased the building, the windows sat empty. Amazon filled them this year, adding insult to injury.
It's no wonder Jeff Bezos is one of the world's richest people. The Amazon windows could not get much cheaper, more branded or more utilitarian. Shoppers can use a QR code affixed to the glass to order the products on display.
While working at the New York Public Library early in my career, the New York Times quoted me after a thief stole Patience's wreath. "'It makes people at the library wonder what kind of people prowl around on Fifth Avenue at night." Holiday photographers, for one!
The circulating library across the street, which re-opened during the pandemic after extensive renovations, may not look like much from the outside, but inside it's a gorgeous oasis of urban calm for adults and children.
Like water seeking its own level, this Christmas market "popped up" in front of an empty lot. Note the green and red spires in the background.
I photographed the entrance to St. Patrick's Cathedral to make a scandalous point. SKIMS (Kim Kardashian's body wear line) just opened a new store less than two blocks uptown in the former Vanderbilt Triple Palace. So what? It houses an enormous, headless statue of a voluptuous, nude woman with visible pubic hair. Have the sacred and the profane ever been in such close proximity? You should have seen the line to get inside (the only way to shoot an NSFW picture)!
This year Saks Fifth Avenue cancelled its holiday light show--a crowdpleaser projected on the facade of its flagship store, across from Rockfeller Center--and slashed its window-dressing budget. To quote a retail maxim, "You get what you pay for."
Cartier's sales, on the other hand, must be booming!
A week after I took this photo, Skims opened in the store to the right with papered windows (Cartier also occupies the former Vanderbilt Triple Palace, erected for multiple branches of the robber baron family).
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| Coach |
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| Apple |
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| Dior |
This year, Bergdorf Goodman's windows celebrate New York City's landmarks, including those used by pets. Funny story: when I was in college my stepsister came to visit at Thanksgiving. We bought a gag gift called "Dog Gone" at FAO Schwartz, then located just around the corner. A slightly curved, stiffened leash, it also had a harness about a foot off the ground. We elicited peals of laughter from holiday shoppers when we stopped at every fire hydrant on Fifth Avenue to relieve our invisible pooch.
Scooters and e-bikes are pretty much the bane of my existence, but who can begrudge them when they're this bejeweled?
Hailing a boxy yellow cab that easily could seat parties of up to six was so much more glamorous than calling an Uber.
IMHO--after taking these holiday photos for nearly 20 years--Bergdorf's is the only remaining store that can justify a window celebrating itself.
I do love a poodle, even a purple one. The dog reminds me of my childhood.
Believe it or not, you can find all of these creatures in New York City's parks.
I can't ever recall seeing a menorah in a Bergdorf's display.
I'll bet passengers on the North Pole Express don't see as many sights as you'll find in this blog post.
Fifth Avenue & 57th Street
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| Louis Vuitton |
The white Tiffany's bird is hard to see but visible perched just to the left of the red snowflake.
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| Louis Vuitton & Tiffany's |
There's the bird again, to the right of the Tiffany's blue band.
Rockefeller Center
Security was as tight as I've ever experienced in midtown during the holiday season with foot and bike patrols out in force.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Soho
Retail in Soho is like a game of musical chairs. The stores rarely stay put from one year to the next.
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| A Bathing Ape |
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| Tory Burch |
Concepts are often high in neighborhood art galleries.
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| Louis Vuitton |
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| Etro |
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| Anthropologie |
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| MCM |
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| Thompson Street |
During the early 80s, a friend of mine once briefly sublet a loft in Soho. He had to throw down the keys when I visited, just like in After Hours.
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| 7 For All Mankind |
Newer structures lack the old world charm that make the neighborhood iconic.
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| Jaquemus |
Note the chili pepper wreaths. My stepmother sent me one many years ago from New Mexico. After the holidays, I turned the wreath into powder with a food processor and then used it for a red enchilada sauce that I served to my housemates in the Pines. It set their mouths afire!
Don't get me started on the cost of chocolate. Be prepared to spend $160 before opening the box in the Neuhaus window.!
I blame Virgil Abloh for the functionalism of many luxury retailers. Just look at Gucci and Chanel. It's all about the clothes, not the decor.
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| Gucci |
But it really doesn't take much to signal the season.
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| Moschino |
. . . even a simple color contrast can do it.
Symbols do the trick, too.
During the holidays, NYC firefighters use their down time to decorate their houses.
Lower Broadway
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| Prada |
I always forget there's a Bloomingdale's downtown.
Look closely and you'll be able to guess the name of these retailers.
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| Swarovski |
Lower East Side
My passion for street art makes this corner at Houston and Canal Streets a favorite stop, but the holiday projections, new this year, seem a little incongruous.
Flats make the wreath.
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| Basilica of Old St. Patrick's |
Hudson Yards
Nieman Marcus may have abandoned ship too soon. The center of retail gravity in Manhattan seems to have shifted south and west as a result of the High Line and Hudson Yards.
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| P!Q |
Lower Manhattan
The Oculus added an under-utilized skating rink, at least on a Thursday evening.
A few more skaters could be found at Brookfield Place's rink, just across the West Side Highway. Right on the Hudson River, it offers winter-crisp views of the Jersey City skyline and the Maxwell House Coffee clock.
"Holiday Under The Palms," complete with a children's castle, replaced the high-tech luminaria in the lobby.
I do love a seahorse.
The World Trade Center light show is visible from the entrance to Brookfield Place. Escalators take pedestrians to a passageway that connects to the Oculus.
Louis Vuitton really is inescapble.
Nordstrom
That's actual snow on top of the golden doves!
