For 16 days in February, the environmental artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude performed a makeover of Central Park by erecting 7,500 “saffron” gates along 23 miles of footpaths.

There was anticipation; there was hoopla; there were crowds roaming through the bitter cold to experience what some consider a great work of temporary art on a grand scale that will be discussed for generations.

Then, after days of sunlight and snow, “The Gates” were dismantled – leaving their mark only in photographs and memories.

Critics voiced their opinion in papers, magazines and on broadcast news programs all over the city, country and the world.

Now “The Gates” have gone to their final resting places: the fabric to a shredding plant in Pennsylvania, the steel to a recycling plant to be melted and reused. The international tourists have left, and Central Park is cold and quiet as it was before the saffron invasion.

NYC24 asked the opinions of real Central Park experts: residents of the Upper West Side and Harlem who use the park on a daily basis. They walk their dogs, stretch their legs and often feel like the park is their back yard. Some residents with small dogs go to the park five or six times a day – so over the 16 days of the Gates, many saw the pleated saffron drapery on more than 50 occasions at different times of day and in different weather conditions.