Old New York: Easter Parade Tips Its Hat to Vintage New York

By Mitch Broder

Vintage New York was launched last year on Easter Sunday, and this year on Easter Sunday New York City celebrated.

It was celebrating Easter, actually. But it was still on my anniversary. So thank you, New York. I bet I can count on you next year, too.

It's a good bet, because the Easter Parade has been running for a century and a half, since it began as a casual stroll on Broadway south of Canal Street. It has evolved from a pageant of finery to a display of funny hats. But it's still the best parade in the city because you get to see it without homesteading.

For most of its life, of course, the parade has been on Fifth Avenue, which it still overruns each year, from 49th Street to the park. It's really less a parade than a tangle of the people who didn't get around to making funny hats taking pictures of the people who did.

On Sunday, Vintage New York was among the former. Here's what we saw before we OD'd on fake flowers.

I saw a Michael Jackson hat, a God Save the Queen hat, and a Titanic hat with chickies and bunnies on deck. But I prefer the ones that stick more purely to springtime themes. That's why I liked these flower hats and the above watering-can hats. I asked the gentlemen if I could photograph their cans and they obligingly turned around.

These girls were getting worn down by the weight of their egg heads. This was about as close as they could get to a smile.

The first boy's hat is a bridge (those are cars on it); the second boy's is a BMX track. Their sister took the traditionalist route.

Everybody knows that Peeps are yellow. I believe that those other colors were made expressly for this hat.

This guy claimed that he was the iBunny. Either way, he was a mobile device.

That's a woman under there. The beige appendage at the center of the photo is one of her arms holding up the hat. She confirmed that it was heavy.

This young lady opted for one big bloom. It appeared to be a more comfortable choice.

These people are regulars. They evoke the original look of the parade. I asked the guy for his morning suit but he turned me down.

Vintage New York will keep on cheeping and try not to lay an egg.