You are currently browsing the stories about the Central Park neighborhood
Central Park Saves the Day, Again
by Christine Shaffer 06/14/2020Neighborhood: Central Park
I’ve been spending some jobless time in Central Park during the pandemic with other New Yorkers, where we are, seemingly, at times–aimless–roaming the park’s eight hundred and forty-three acres. What are we doing here, I often want to blurt out. We should be in our offices, attending boring meetings, typing away at our computers, picking […]
Naked City
by Clifford Thompson 02/10/2019Neighborhood: Central Park, Cypress Hills, Manhattan
For a time in the late 1980s, a local TV station in New York City aired late-night reruns of Naked City. The show, a black-and-white police drama set in New York, had originally aired from 1958 to 1963, the year of my birth. Those years were a critical period in the civil rights movement, and, […]
The Turtle Pond
by Su Young Lee 04/16/2017Neighborhood: Central Park, Manhattan
Sitting in the sunset in the middle of Central Park, the unfamiliar boy and I huddled together in the growing chill of late October, using the excuse of needing bodily warmth to search for some other, more abstract warmth of feeling. We had spent the whole day exploring the Met Museum, and afterwards walked around […]
See You in New York
by Olivia Sjostedt 03/19/2017Neighborhood: Central Park, Manhattan, World Trade Center
As the wheels hit the ground and the pilot stopped the airplane at Newark airport, I felt right at home. I was landing in the city that was going to be my new home, at least for a couple of years. People had always told me that I should live in New York once, but leave […]
The Empire State Building Loves Me
by Alexa Brahme 09/13/2015Neighborhood: All Over, Central Park, Midtown, Union Square
The day before my birthday was beautiful. It was one of those clear summer days in New York that somehow evades the typical humidity and the sun’s unbearable heat. Instead of roasting everything beneath it, the sun proudly showcased New York’s beauty. The pink and purple flowers on the High Line unfurled themselves towards the […]
Performance, Anxiety
by Jenny Tufts 06/01/2014Neighborhood: Central Park
The rare April sun has sucked hundreds of New Yorkers from their homes and offices, spilling them across Sheep’s Meadow in various states of undress. At the north end of the field next to the fence and a small grove of spindly trees sits an observer. Her hair is a dusty sunset of pink and […]
Rejoice for the Winter that Was
by Candy Schulman 03/28/2014Neighborhood: All Over, Brighton Beach, Central Park, Union Square
Long lines at Whole Foods in Union Square again. It feels like the Russian bread lines, but no, it’s another snowstorm shopping spree. I’m not the only one anxious about running out of food—even though the streets are always plowed before my stomach growls uncomfortably. Everyone is complaining. Too cold, windy, snowy, sleety, Too much […]
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, 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 […]