As Manhattan’s weather warms up, I’m realizing the advantage of living one block from Central Park. In winter it was an icy tangle of trees with no activity. Now it’s the center of city life.
Because I like surprises and saving money, strolling through the park can be the most fruitful way to spend an afternoon. Say you accompanied me last Sunday, your adventure would look like this:
1:30 p.m.
Buy an Americano and toasted chicken chipotle wrap at New World Coffee.
1:40
Pass classically trained cellist as you enter the park at 79th Street and Central Park West.
1:45
Check out what’s playing at Shakespeare in the Park. Twelfth Night, featuring Anne Hathaway, is sold out today. Plan to go another time.
1:49
Find an outcropping of smooth rocks beneath a canopy of trees near the Great Lawn. Flat-backed, study the clouds. Listen to banjo player pick away on a nearby bench. Observe old gentleman pick a bag of edible grass in a field beside you.
2:20
Notice the roar of a crowd. Investigate.
2:30
Near the Met, get swept up in the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. Admire flag-waving patriots dressed in red, white and blue.
2:33
Though you are Dutch, imagine you are Puerto Rican. Drink the fervor. Push your way through crowds and dance to Latin music. Chant any Spanish phrase you know, even if it’s “Donde esta el bano!”
2:40
Calm down. Ask a mounted park ranger to open the barricade. Exit parade.
2:45
Take the 72nd Street path west and find tap dancers doing time steps on sheets of wood. Old school. Gene Kelly style. Give them a dollar and say “you’ve got talent!”
2:50
Stop at Bethesda Terrace to watch “Lenny Hoops,” who plays loud music and teaches kids to hula hoop. Marvel at the 2-year-old drummer in Lenny’s house band. Walk on. You only brought one dollar today.
2:55
Happen upon a New Orleans-style zydeco band and remember your last visit to the French Quarter. Note the man with the miniature trumpet; the skinny white guy who could sing a Zatarain’s commercial; the park employees congregating, quietly applauding.
3:12
Arrive home. Don’t mind the small square-footage so much. Thank the gods for location. For summer.
In the stream of Puerto Rican Day Paraders.
Tap dancers earn their tips.
Lenny Hoops shows you how it's done.
Future Larry Mullen Jr.
New Orleans-style jazz.
My absolute favorite thing about Coney Island is the New York Aquarium. The beach, of course, is a close second, reminding me of the year I lived in Los Angeles and passed entire weekends meditating to sounds of the shore.
You certainly don’t need to leave Manhattan for a freak show. But if you’re interested in an old-timey freak show, hop the A train to Coney Island.
