Crowds In Awe As Solar Eclipse Gives NYC A Once In A Lifetime Show

NEW YORK CITY, NY – The city that never sleeps came close to a standstill Monday as millions of people stopped what they were doing and looked to the skies for a partial solar eclipse the like of which many will never see again.

Across the city, crowds donned special glasses or used homemade pin hole cameras to watch as the moon started slowly creeping across the sun.

In Washington Square Park, sky-gazers took up position before 1 p.m. As the eclipse reached its peak, the crowd burst into cheers.

Mary, 75, who declined to give her last name, viewed the event using a pasta strainer and a newspaper. She shared her homemade viewing mechanism with passersby.

"I'm really glad the city was able to come together for this," she said. "It's really a nice moment for the neighborhood to share."

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Daphny, who didn't give her last name but is from Brooklyn, had taken her pre-teen daughter Nicole across the city to try to catch a glimpse. She couldn't get into the Natural History Museum because the lines were too long and was devastated thinking they'd miss it when a stranger in Times Square handed the pair some glasses – and said they could keep them.

"There were tears rolling down my face," Daphny said. "Now we're sharing them with other people."

In Central Park, Brad Ascalon, 40, took in the view from Turtle Pond.

"I just thought it was a pretty incredible experience," he said. "It's awesome, makes you feel very small, which is very refreshing with all the turmoil in the world today."

"I'm a science teacher, so this is something that I love," said Jacqueline Milander, an educator at Corona Arts and Science Academy who was taking in the event at Astoria Park.

"For me, I notice my students, they don't look up anymore. They don't look at the stars, they don't look at anything. I like that it was publicized. It makes you want to look up and notice that there's something bigger than us.

Watch NASA's live feed of the eclipse here.

The show began around 1:23 p.m. in the city as the moon began its creep , a gradual covering that will make the city darker and caused an eerie, gloomy quietens.

The eclipse peaked around 2:44 p.m. with 76 percent of the sun blacked.

Patch Editors Brendan Krisel, Ciara McCarthy, Kathleen Culliton, Shant Shahrigian, Daniella Pavon, Conor Sheeran and Olivia Halevy and Todd Richissin contributed to this report.