There were isolated angry exchanges with a small group chanting "Hey hey, ho ho Donald Trump has got to go", but the President-elect's supporters were magnanimous and measured in victory.
"I think this means great things for America," said Paulina Palladino. "No more corrupt politicians, we have better trade options, job opportunities. He tells us the truth."
"I put my money into this, I put my heart into this, I put my emotions into this," said David Ryan. "I just want America safe again. He cares about the people. When you've got a president that cares about the people and puts the people first you're not going to lose."
Two kilometres away, at the Jacob K Javits Centre, the crowd who had been expecting to celebrate with Hillary Clinton were filing out long before she failed to show.
Outside, street vendors were selling T-shirts commemorating her election for a knockdown $5.
The Javits Centre has glass walls and a glass ceiling. Clinton and her high-profile support team had urged voters to help her break it, to become the first woman president.
But there's another saying about glasshouses -- and it involves not throwing stones.
Clinton paid the price for a largely negative campaign, focused on running down her opponent rather than positive change. She changed tack in the final days, talking of healing a divided nation, but it was too late.
Trump ran a negative campaign too, but provided a genuine alternative to millions of disenfranchised, disengaged working class voters in less fashionable towns than New York.
He surged towards victory by winning Florida and, crucially, making incredible gains across the Rust Belt, the string of states where American industry -- and therefore its economic might -- has withered.
At his final rally of the campaign, in blue collar Grand Rapids, Michigan, he drove home his pledge to protect jobs and ditch trade deals that encourage international competition -- including the Trans Pacific Partnership. He said it was time for the American working class to fight back
Boy, did they.
This was a victory won by non-college educated white Americans, particularly men. They delivered a potentially debilitating verdict on America's political establishment.
Trump was the first international star created by reality TV. Tomorrow, America, and the world, will wake to a new reality.
