Saturday in the Park (Madison)

“By its nature, the metropolis provides what otherwise could be given only by traveling; namely, the strange.”                                                            Jane Jacobs

“People” always ask how I learn of the various and interesting things I find to do as I adventure around my new home town.  Simple, I read!  One of my absolute go-to’s is Timeout.  The website has been on my favorites toolbar for years, and somehow, literally magically, the magazine started getting delivered to the apartment last fall.  Even though I subscribe to the online version of the NYTimes; I hardly ever read it.  I do read my Timeout faithfully!  This week there was an advert about Jane’s Walk NYC.  Upon further investigation, I quickly realized it was something I wanted to explore.  (I love when “native” New Yorkers are amazed by the things I teach them!  It happened on this walk.)  

From it's website

“The Municipal Art Society is New York’s leading organization dedicated to creating a more livable city. For 120 years, MAS—a nonprofit membership organization—has been committed to promoting New York City’s economic vitality, cultural vibrancy, environmental sustainability and social diversity. Working to protect the best of New York’s existing landscape, from landmarks and historic districts to public open spaces, MAS encourages visionary design, planning and architecture that promote resilience and the livability of New York.” (borrowed from the MASNYC website).

Also from the MASNYC website: “On Saturday and Sunday, May 3 & 4, thousands of New Yorkers will take their eyes to the streets for Jane’s Walk NYC: 100+ free guided walks throughout NYC.  Jane’s Walks take place in over 100 cities around the world. Unique, and different from traditional tours, Jane’s Walks are “walking conversations”, bringing together diverse participants and viewpoints.”

From the Internet

“Jane Jacobs was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, became perhaps the most influential American text about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists.”  (From the Project for Public Spaces website).

This was the walk I joined on Saturday May 3: “Madison Square Park/Flatiron: Reorder Your Senses to the City as Living Laboratory.  Join Mary Miss/City as Living Laboratory and renowned game designer Josh Debonis in an exploration of the Madison Park and the Flatiron neighborhood through an experimental game of chance operations and playful directives that will draw you through the environment, its history, landmarks, flora and fauna, the iconic and the invisible – all cooked up by a team of experts: historian, Miriam Berman, naturalist, Gabriel Willow, Flatiron expert Scott Lamkin, architect, Juliett Spertus, and others.”  (From the Jane’s Walk website.)

What an enjoyable couple of hours I spent with lovely, interesting people on a beautiful spring afternoon!  I have made it perfectly clear, I think, how I feel about “my” park, Central Park.  But, to literally “play” in a park with strangers was such a treat.  How often do we give ourselves that opportunity as ”grownups”?  My group took advantage of two of the play packets and discovered many interesting things about Madison Square Park, and its environs, that we normally would never have known!

Some of the pictures to go along with the game prompts:    

  Find an interesting rock or stick and take an interesting picture with it

Meeting place: Williard Seward

              

This picture worked for a couple of prompts.  We learned some interesting tidbits about this tree, the London plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia).  From Wikipedia: According to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation the symbol of that organization is a cross between the leaf of the London plane and a maple leaf. It is prominently featured on signs and buildings in public parks across the city. The tree is on the NYC Parks Department's list of restricted use species for street tree planting because it constitutes more than 10% of all street trees.

                                                            



Count cabs and take a picture of the 25^th one. (It took about 10 minutes.)

                      

This was our own prompt: make your own game piece: We decided to take pictures of celebrating People (2 different weddings!)

      

This one was tough, but we did it! (And we salivated as there was a great food market going on!)

               From Wikipedia:  Worth Square: At the northern end of Madison Square, on an island bordered by Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 25th Street, stands an obelisk, designed by James G. Batterson^[10] which was erected in 1857 over the tomb of General William Jenkins Worth, who served in the Seminole Wars and the Mexican War,^[1] and for whom Fort Worth, Texas was named, as well as Worth Street in lower Manhattan.^[11] The city's Parks Department designated the area immediately around the monument as a parklet called General Worth Square.^[12] Worth's monument was one of the first to be erected in a city park since the statue of George III was removed from Bowling Green in 1776,^[13] and is the only monument in the city except for Grant's Tomb that doubles as a mausoleum.

                                                                                From Audobon.org

One of my charming teammates is an avid birder.  As we were discussing our fun time, he looked up into a tree and excitedly pointed out a sweet little bird, a warbler, that normally lives in Virginia, but has been seen here in recent years.  He tweeted the find, and said that soon more birders would be arriving!  (Another little tidbit about a neighbor:  Chelsea Clinton lives in one of the buildings border the Park!  How do people know this?!)

On Sunday afternoon, I continued the theme a bit and went down to Hester Street Fair for Jane’s Birthday Party!  Walking along Canal Street in Chinatown to get there, I picked up a couple of things I “needed.”  Will I ever learn?  I bought a “Seiko” watch that doesn’t work!  (I may invest in a battery to see if that helps.)   But the Fair was fun, and I had a light dinner of chicken satay from Aux Epices for $4.  Delicious!