'America's Day': NYC Celebrates Biden Inauguration

NEW YORK CITY — A lifelong New Yorker exited the White House with uncharacteristic quiet shortly before his successor took the oath of office to cheers in New York City.

President Joe Biden's inauguration Wednesday marked the end of Donald Trump's tumultuous presidency.

For New York City, which had largely turned its back on Trump, it was a moment of celebration. Biden, during his inauguration speech, framed the moment not as a triumph of partisanship but for all democracy.

"This is America's day," he said. "This is democracy's day."

Biden acknowledged he took the presidency amid a once-in-a-century pandemic, a national reckoning over race that is 400 years overdue and political divisions that erupted into an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

But he said together Americans can overcome it all — a message that New Yorkers welcomed after four years of Trump, whose presidency stoked division and grievance.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who ran against Biden in a crowded Democratic presidential primary, started his daily briefing on time — an uncommon occurrence — so he could watch the inauguration.

"This is the definition of a new day dawning and a new era beginning, and it will be filled with justice and it will be filled with change that will really include everyone and respect everyone," he said. "And an entirely different approach to fighting the coronavirus, which is exactly what we need."

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New Yorker, took a prominent seat at the inauguration stage. He didn't let his former Senate colleague Kamala Harris's historic role as the first Black, Asian-American and woman vice president go unremarked upon.

"Madam Vice President," he tweeted.

New York City itself was quieter overall than the day Biden's victory was projected — a moment of catharsis after four years under a president who most New Yorkers had no love for.

But, still, cheers and applause could be heard echoing through streets and Upper West Side high rises as Biden and Harris took their oaths.

Some New Yorkers responded to the event with humor and creativity.

An artist gave Astoria's 46th Street subway station a cheeky makeover. He added "Joe" to the M and R station's tiled wall and changed the exit instructions below it from "46th ST" to "45th OUT."

On the Lower East Side's Thompson Street, an artist changed the street sign to "Trump Gone St."

Online, Twitter users sang the praises of two native New Yorkers — Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez — as for their respective renditions of the National Anthem and "This Land Is Your Land.”

And former presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie, who hails from Brooklyn, got the meme treatment for his coat and mittens combination.

New York Nico, the city's self-proclaimed "unofficial talent scout," tweeted photoshopped pictures of a cold-looking Sanders in very New York City scenes.

"I’m once again asking for some hand warmers," he captioned the tweet.