Election Night in New York City

Jackie Strause – The Hollywood reporter

The contentious opponents are ringing in the results two miles away from one another, with a reported Clinton afterparty bringing her one block from his Trump Tower.

For the first time in over 70 years, New York City will host two presidential nominees on election night when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold dueling Tuesday night events in Manhattan.

Not since 1944 has the presidential race featured two New Yorkers as major-party candidates — Trump resides at Midtown’s Trump Tower, also his campaign headquarters, and Clinton lives outside the city in Chappaqua, with her headquarters in Brooklyn. On Tuesday night, however, the opponents will be only two miles apart: Clinton preparing for victory under a symbolic glass ceiling on the West Side and Trump hosting an invite-only gathering at a Midtown hotel, surprisingly not bearing his name.

At the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (655 W 34th St.), the Hillary for America Election Night Event kicks off at 6 p.m. The West Side’s six-block glass fortress has an atrium with a glass ceiling — an apt symbol for Clinton’s potential to make history as the first female president of the United States. When celebrating her historic nomination at the Democratic National Convention, she “shattered” a digital glass ceiling declaring: “I can’t believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet!”

The nominee had planned to shoot a celebratory fireworks display over the Hudson River, but NYPD chief of intelligence Tommy Galati said during a Monday press conference on Election Day security that the potential victory show was canceled, despite the campaign having a permit. The fireworks were reported to last for two minutes at 9:30 p.m., a half-hour after polls close in New York.

The Clinton campaign website still instructs guests to dress for outside weather, as well as prepare for “airport-like security.” The event is open to the public and hundreds of her supporters lined up for tickets on Monday.

As for the GOP nominee, the Donald J. Trump Victory Party opens its doors at 6:30 p.m. at the New York Hilton Midtown (1335 Ave of the Americas), only a few blocks from Trump Tower. Trump and running mate Mike Pence will be hosting friends and supporters of the Trump-Pence campaign.

Though the quintessential New York hotel has hosted many high-profile events, as well as past presidents, the intimate ballroom setting diverges from Trump’s usually large rallies. The atrium in his Trump Tower, however, is a privately owned public space and the nominee was fined $10,000 by the city of New York when he used it to launch his campaign last year. The Washington Post cited a source close to the campaign who said the low-key victory celebration is due to Trump being “superstitious” and not wanting to jinx the results with an over-the-top celebration.

One thing guests at both events can expect is heightened security, and plans for street closures indicate that Clinton and Trump will be narrowing their distance even further as the night goes on.

Also during Monday’s press conference, NYPD Chief of Department Carlos Gomez said there will be full street closures at the Peninsula Hotel, on 55th Street from Fifth Avenue to Sixth Avenue, starting Tuesday afternoon. He added that Tuesday morning will also begin to see street closures at Trump Tower, on East 56th Street from Fifth to Madison avenues. “We’ll do that as long as Donald Trump is in the tower,” he said. “When he goes out, we’ll try to open traffic best we can.”

According to the New York Post, Clinton is planning an afterparty at the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue — which stands only one block from Trump Tower.

Amid all the anticipated Midtown hubbub, much of Broadway has closed their shows on election night. The Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall also will be dark. “This is by far the largest election detail the NYPD has ever had, it is more than double our previous high,” said Gomez, who compared the planned security to New Year’s Eve and Pope Francis’ Big Apple visit.

New Yorkers can expect street closures near both Clinton and Trump’s official venue locations starting Tuesday afternoon: on 11th Avenue between 34th and 40th Streets, and 34th Street between the West Side Highway and 10th Avenue near the Javits Center; and West 53rd and 54th Streets between Sixth and Seventh Avenues near the Hilton.