Storefronts In The Dark, Damage On The Streets In The West Village
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Streets were almost as crowded with traffic and people as any other day in the West Village Tuesday afternoon, but power was out virtually everything was closed.
The effects of Superstorm Sandy, including an explosion at a Con Edison power station at 14th Street and Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, left much of Manhattan south of 39th Street dark beginning Tuesday evening. Thus, the only light to be found on the elegant streets of the West Village was that of the gray, gloomy sky.
Evidence of Sandy's wrath was strewn about the wet sidewalks. Branches and leaves were everywhere, and on Christopher Street, passersby gawked at a tree that had been uprooted, with its metal surrounding fence lying on its side.
Meanwhile on Seventh Avenue, a window had been blown out of a restaurant and was lying nearly shattered against another downed tree.
Some businesses persisted until the last minute. Tape covered the windows at Lima's Taste Ceviche Bar, 122 Christopher St., and handwritten signs jokingly said, "Lima's Taste, Authorized Drinking Shelter by Mayor Bloomberg."
A few blocks away, the Galway Hooker bar at 133 Seventh Avenue was boarded up and covered with messages mocking the hurricane – "Oh Sandy… my real love is the Hooker!"
And some businesses remained open despite having no power. In the mid-afternoon, two men were sitting in booths eating hamburgers in the dark at the Hudson Diner, 468 Hudson St.
Nearby, Barrow's Pub, 463 Hudson St., had mounted a handwritten sign saying it was open. People were seen coming in and out.
But closer to the Hudson River, the scene reflected severe devastation. CBS 2's Elise Finch reported the owner of a bicycle shop along the West Side Highway saw his business inundated.
"Eventually, the water came right up with the winds, and it was leaking in the back of the building – in the back door, the front door -- and it was filling up the basement," said bike shop owner Christian Farrell, "and I went to the basement, and it filled up and it started to fill up the store."
The CBS 2 Mobile Weather Lab was out on the West Side Highway Tuesday afternoon, as people walked around trying to find a site where they could get cell phone reception. Some people mistook the Weather Lab van for a cell phone tower, Finch reported.
The annual Halloween Parade had been for Wednesday night in the West Village, but has been canceled as a result of the damage from Sandy. It is the first time in 39 years that the parade has been called off.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the parade will still be held at an unspecified later date.
"We'll work tomorrow and figure out what date makes sense, given the resources the city has," Bloomberg said.
Superstorm Sandy has left 12 people dead in New York City alone. The storm caused 13-foot services on the trees, downed trees, and knocked out power to millions region-wide.
CBS New York Web Producer Adam Harrington contributed to this report.
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