New Year’s celebrations around the world

Sunny Jang, left, Hayden Bark and Jinney Lee were among those on hand for the New Year’s Eve celebration at Grand Park and the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. About 50,000 people were expected to attend. The theme was L.A. Dreams, which, according to the Music Center, “imagines the future of L.A. County” through the “thoughtfulness and creativity of its children.” Local fifth-graders contributed essays, drawings and more.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The Gonzalez family of Apple Valley, Calif., attends the N.Y.E.L.A. celebration in downtown Los Angeles.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The Gonzalezes and a friend, right, get festive at the New Year’s Eve event at L.A.’s Grand Park.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Fireworks explode over Copacabana Beach just after midnight during the New Year’s celebrations in Rio de Janeiro.  (Leo Correa / Associated Press)

St. Petersburg, Russia, welcomes 2019.  (Dmitri Lovetsky / Associated Press)

Fireworks light up the sky behind Lisbon’s Castle of St. George in the first minutes of Jan. 1, 2019.  (Armando Franca / Associated Press)

The Champs Elysees in Paris is thronged with New Year’s revelers.  (Kamil Zihnioglu / Associated Press)

The new year lights up Paris’ Arc de Triomphe.  (Kamil Zihnioglu / Associated Press)

Fireworks illuminate the sky over the Arc de Triomphe in the first minutes of the new year.  (Michel Euler / Associated Press)

In Berlin, fireworks light up the Quadriga (a chariot and four horses) atop the Brandenburg Gate.  (Michael Sohn / Associated Press)

Confetti rains down on revelers at a mall in Quezon City, northeast of Manila, as Filipinos welcome the new year.  (Bullit Marquez / Associated Press)

Midnight brings a bright display at the landmark Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  (Yam G-Jun / Associated Press)

Spectators at the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur mark the start of 2019.  (Yam G-Jun / Associated Press)