Business might be slow, but along with the fortune-tellers and healers, the henna tattooists, acrobats and gnaoua, the spiritual musicians, they know the importance of claiming your space before the sun goes down and the big breaks come.
Previous years have seen Cirque du Soleil-style acrobats hanging from the rafters of the library's basement, a 12-piece orchestra playing songs popular during Prohibition and five old-school barbers in a pop-up grooming shop to freshen up any scraggly-bearded gentlemen, gratis, on the spot.
By the time we get to the party, for which the Colosseum is bathed in blue light as a backdrop for wire-dancing acrobats dressed in Valentino red, the Felliniesque-ness of it all can bring tears to our eyes.
