Let's Take a break

With 8 million people visiting the Big Apple you might ask yourself, "Where do all those people go to attend to personal needs (use the restroom)?" Well, most public places in New York will tell you , "NOT HERE." This presents a problem to women of a certain age and I suppose men of a certain age as well. Here are some tips about places which will allow you use of their facilities. Any fast food restaurant such as McDonald's will be glad for you to use the facilities so long as you buy a drink or something small. Subways is the exception since they do not have public restrooms. Starbucks will share its facilities though you should expect a line. So will the large bookstores, Borders and Barnes and Noble. Hotels usually welcome guests though I have found one hotel near Times Square which requires a room key to use the restroom in the lobby. Woe be unto you should you take a long trip and then try to use the restroom before you check in.

If you think about it, you really can 't blame the public places for not sharing restrooms. How would you like to clean the toilet after 8 million people?

Other parks

There are several other parks which I enjoy. One is Prospect Park in Brooklyn, It is next to Park Slope, one of Brooklyn's elite neighborhoods. It is near an arch dedicated to Civil War Soldiers. The interesting thing is that it is dedicated to Yankee soldiers. Imagine that.

Another favorite park is called the River Park located along the West Coast of Manhattan, accessible from 59th street, around Lincoln Center. This is a favorite of mine. Willow trees abound here along with tall ornamental grasses. The view of the Hudson River soothes the soul. The ruins of a once busy railroad track and bridge remain in the river as a reminder of times past. Along a wooden deck visitors can take free yoga lessons and in the summer, free classic movies are presented at the end of the pier.

New Yorkers will turn anything into a park as evidenced by High Line Park. A freight train, which ran about 20 feet above street level, operated in the mid 20th Century. The abandoned track is now a park, with grass, trees, walkways and benches. It is very interesting to walk along this park with the city traffic drumming and honking underneath. The High Line Park is accessible from 14th and 20th street around 12th Avenue.

A Cemetary that was Once a Park

Greenwood Cemetery is located in Brooklyn and is one of the oldest in the country. I include it here because, it was the inspiration for the public parks. During the 19th Century, New Yorkers would hang out at the Cemetery on Sundays to take advantage of the trees and grass. Because so many were doing this, it was decided to provide open spaces without the graveyard.

Greenwood Cemetery is historic and also provides an great view of the Manhattan Skyline. I have not spent much time there but have been told it is the home of parrots.

What is it with New York Parks and Cemetaries

Bryant Park is next to the New York City Public Library, at 42nd and 6th Avenue. It is beautifully landscaped and probably haunted as it was once a cemetery. As with Washington Square Park, the graves were not moved when the land was transformed into a park. I believe that they were moved when the library, which could not expand beyond Fifth Avenue, expanded under Bryant Park.

The Park is the site of various entertainment venues, including the Summer Broadway Series. On Thursday's at noon, casts from several Broadway Shows perform musical numbers from the shows. This event is free of charge.

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.

The Great Back Yard

The most famous of all New York City's parks, is Central Park. Everyone has heard of this park, everyone who has seen a movie or TV show within the last 30 years. Central Park occupies over 850 acres and is bordered by 59th street to the South and 110th to the north, making a giant rectangle in the north central part of Manhattan. Though there was originally a small village, Seneca, inhabited by Irish and black residents, most of the land was uninhabitable. Today, a walk through the park reveals giant schists or large black boulders, the remains of the receding Wisconsin Glacier. These schists are evident elsewhere in the city but nowhere as prolific as in the park. Removal of these formations made agriculture or development financially prohibitive. Today they provide seating and points of interest for park visitors. There are numerous points of interest in the park and the best way to see it is by taking a walking tour. These are provided through the park conservatory or through commercial guidebooks. One of my favorite sights is the Elm Grove which includes the "Poet's Walk" This is the largest Elm Grove in the Country. At the time when Dutch Elm Disease killed most of the elm in the United States, these elm were protected and survive today.

I have had some memorable moments in Central Park. One was last winter when it snowed. I took a lengthy walk through the park. I will let the pictures describe what words cannot.

Central park serves as a major entertainment venue. This summer I saw a production of Shakespear in the Park, Twelth Night. The production was critically acclaimed and rightly so as it rivaled any Broadway Production. There is no charge for admission but you do pay a price, having to stand in line the day of the production for four hours.

Another memorable event was the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's Summer Concert in the Park. This was also free. New Yorkers came by the thousands with their blankets and picnic baskets to sit on the lawn and listen to Beethovan and Mozart.

The great back yards.

Most New Yorker's do not have conventional back yards. Oh, there are some postage stamp green spots adjacent to some of the homes, but nothing that would qualify as a lawn back in Texas. It is interesting that many neighborhoods turn the ocassional vacant lots into gardens, with small plots for the community gardeners. These are delightful. But New Yorker's have great yards in which to play, rest and relax. Imagine if you can, yards that are always well maintained, mowed, planted with green grass and featuring a variety of trees and plants, annuals as well as evergreens. These lawns have playground equipment and frequently host parties with live entertainment venues. These are the New York City parks and it is to those I now turn my attention.