Washington Square Cemetary nee Park

The park I frequent most, and therefore, probably my favorite, is Washington Square Park. Washington Square was first developed to increase the areas property value of the area. Prior to being a park it was a cemetery where victims of the Yellow Fever Epidemic and indigents were buried. Those souls still enjoy the park since their bodies were never disinterred but remain buried there, which just makes the place all the more interesting and probably haunted. At the northern boundary of the park facing Waverly Street are thirteen red brick brownstones which made up some of the most fashionable homes in the early 19th Century. Right across from this, at the end of 5th Avenue is an arch, dedicated to George Washington and built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his Inauguration. The park surrounds a fountain and plaza which is always crowded with people and performers. Under the arch you can hear a doo whap group and along the walkways a great jazz trio. Once I heard a young man and his older brother performing Michael Jackson songs and I swear I will next hear him on Broadway. None of those things recommend Washington Square so much its venue for people watching. Located in the midst of NYU and within the boundaries of Greenwich Village, it is and always has been the place to see the most interesting people. If you could travel back in time you might have seen Robert Louis Stevenson sitting on a bench with Mark Train. Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women a block from the park. In recent history you could have seen Stanley Kubrick playing chess or Pete Seeger holding hands with his wife. Bob Dylan, first played near here. It is the scene of numerous movies including When Harry Met Sally, I am Legend, Deep Impact and August Rush as well as T.V. shows too numerous to name. (This may be why people, first visiting the park have told me that it looks familiar.) It has inspired songs by Joan Baez (Diamonds and Rust) and Counting Crows among others.

Today the young and old, rich and homeless, glamorous and gauche, poets and songwriters, artists and novelists, philosophers in deep discussion, lovers in deep amore provide a buffet better than Luby's for the people watcher.