You are currently browsing the stories about the Central Park neighborhood
A Special Hidden Place
by Elizabeth S Titus 06/21/2012Neighborhood: Central Park, Midtown
"Henry, why must you be such a baby?" I say to Mr. Henry Longfellow, my piebald dachshund, as I carry him in my arms across Central Park West on our way into the Park next to Tavern on the Green. I am not young or especially strong. Carrying an overweight dachshund is not easy. Henry [...]
Holden’s New York
by Thomas Beller 01/29/2010Neighborhood: Central Park, Featured, Midtown
"THE first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz. I left my bags right outside the booth so I could watch them, but as soon as I was inside, I couldn’t think of anybody to call up.” So begins [...]
Smiling at the Rain
by Eric C. Novack 08/25/2005Neighborhood: Central Park
Have you ever had a great experience or adventure and you want to share it with every one you know, but you just don’t know where to begin? Well, that seems to be my particular problem right now. I’ve been staring at my laptop for at least an hour and I still can’t seem to [...]
Dog vs. Duck
by Gabriel Cohen 08/22/2005Neighborhood: Central Park
The model boat pond in Central Park is often the scene of fierce competition, but on a recent sunny afternoon I witnessed a real life-or-death struggle. A yellow retriever named Sam bounded away from his owners and plunged into the water to chase the pond’s resident ducks. At first only a few passersby noticed what [...]
The Gates, in Context
by Mindy Aloff 02/24/2005Neighborhood: Central Park
Central Park exists because of two writers who cared about the well-being of New York City, including all its people: the poet William Cullen (“Thanatopsis”) Bryant, who proposed his idea for the park when he was still studying at Yale and also editing a periodical called the “Evening Post,” and to the landscaper and editor [...]
Something About Turtles
by Thomas Beller 02/14/2004Neighborhood: Central Park
There was a time, not long ago, when turtles enjoyed a brief vogue in New York City. Turtles whose shells weren’t much bigger than a silver dollar were sold on street corners all over Manhattan, and people crowded around to buy them. In the midst of this turtle trend, my friend Kip moved back to [...]
The Going Away Party
by Jay Blotcher 01/31/2004Neighborhood: Central Park
Michael had long used us as a test audience for his trendy nihilism, togging up in punk, new wave and goth to suit his status as a Parsons grad student. We, his undergrad pals from Syracuse, continued to feign shock, through ten shades of hair color, safety pins inserted in various extremities, kilts, bondage pants [...]
Unleashed
by Bram Gunther 07/16/2003Neighborhood: Central Park
I was a New York City Urban Park Ranger usually stationed in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, but for this day I was detailed out to Central Park, the park of my childhood. In Van Cortlandt Park I knew where the hophornbeam trees lived in a valley of white oaks and tulip poplars. I [...]
I Found a Man in Central Park
by Fiona Capuano 02/03/2003Neighborhood: Central Park
I found a man in Central park. I’d been running around the reservoir on a weekend and needed to get home and shower. I wiped my T-shirt on my face, and bent down to tie a lace, and I heard a man telling a joke. I heard him telling the back-story about how this certain [...]
Applause
by Thomas Beller 11/03/2002Neighborhood: Central Park
Me and a friend wandered into Central Park yesterday afternoon to watch the New York City Marathon. By the time we got there it was nearly three O’clock, four hours after the race started, but the runners were still thick on the road, waves and waves of them running South, gulping from little green Gatorade [...]
The Fire Spinner
by Abigail Frankfurt 10/13/2002Neighborhood: Central Park
Our protagonist, Skunk, in action. Dan a.k.a Skunk and his girlfriend, Erin, pick me up on the corner of Broadway and 116th Street. Skunk briefly reminisces about his days at Columbia University: after a few years of "getting stoned and sitting on the couch" he dropped out and found what could be said to be [...]
The Hustle in the Park
by Jack Somers 08/29/2002Neighborhood: Central Park
When I was a kid we visited New York once or twice a year. I usually went with one of my folks and one or two of my brothers but we almost never went as a complete family. Back then we lived in rural New England, so it was always a big thrill to board [...]
