It seems like not much has changed.

“Block parties are a way the majority of New Yorkers that don’t go to the Hamptons every weekend in the summer let off some steam and foster community,” Ms. Garcia told me. “I hope readers got to see a part of New York that is not on ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Girls.’ I hope they got to feel what real New York is like.”

According to data from the city, 1,311 permitted block parties took place this year between June 1 and Sept. 1, with 721 in Brooklyn alone.

At rare times, the parties have been marred by violence. But overwhelmingly they are a way for New Yorkers to revel in the city’s rich culture and wide diversity.

“The thing is, come out, give love to your neighbor,” Leroy Williams, a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, told The Times. “Everyone you meet, give love .”

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