Lots of excitement today about the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding.
If it’s really happening at Madison Square Garden — a cultural kitsch moment for the books — the New York Times says the city has been asked to close down streets.
This sounds ominous, but actually only two “streets” could be closed and one of them isn’t even open anyway.
New York cannot close down Seventh Avenue in front of Madison Square Garden, or Eighth Avenue behind it. Penn Station and the Long Island Railroad are not coming to a halt for anyone’s wedding — particularly on the July 4th weekend.
The Garden is bounded by West 33rd St on the north and West 30th on the south. The former is already banned to traffic and paved over as a pedestrian walkway. That’s where rock concerts do their load ins. If anything West 33rd can be blocked off easily,
As for West 30th St, in the middle of the block there’s an unassuming VIP entrance to the Garden. In theory the street could be closed, but there’s a major parking lot there on the opposite side of the street, and some businesses. I guess Taylor could rent out the lot for her guests.
The other VIP entrance is on Eighth Avenue not far from the corner of West 30th St. But using that one might be difficult since people are coming in and out of Penn Station. So the West 30th side is the most likely.
That’s if this wedding is actually being staged at Madison Square Garden, on a Friday night in the middle of July 4th weekend It’s hard to imagine. Is this just a mis-direct? It wouldn’t surprise me.
