Bryant Park

Exiting the subway at 40th Street and 5th Ave, I noticed that the oasis of Bryant Park was really there. Under all metal girders, draped in white there was a park. The dismantling of the tents signaled the ending of what will hopefully be the conclusion of what had simply been business as usual in this country, like conspicuous consumption. Hopefully we can say good bye to gluttonous MacMansions and grossly oversized vehicles and the celebration of pomp without a lick of substance. If we are lucky, we can say good bye to the arrogance and unrestrained hubris, that had been the mantle of America in general, that is until the collapse this past fall of the financial world.

Contemplating the lovely Bryant Park, I had recently completed reading The Kill by Emile Zola. The Kill (La Curee 1871-72) the second book in the 20 volume Rougon-Macquart series, has been reprinted after years of being out of print. The setting ofThe Kill is 19th century Paris, when Paris was undergoing significant changes. Tiny medieval streets were being destroyed and redesigned into big wide boulevards. Neighborhoods were being replaced with newly minted enclaves, shiny and bright. Despite the grand plans of master designer Baron Haussmann, there existed something sinister lying just under the surface. There always is in Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series.

Zola's colorful tale is peopled with characters not unlike what we presently see in our tabloid smut, there are the Madonna types and characters like Eliot Spitzer and Donald Trump and lovely airhead beauties expounding on fashion as though their opinions were somehow worthy. Schemers, hucksters and land-grabbers decked out in the finest threads, with kid covered hands, smile and peck cheeks as though they were the epitome of civilized society. All the while Madoff type plans are being hatched, fueling the excess that is the backbone of this little treasure. It is a book for our times, showing greed at its worst. What we learn is that history repeats itself over and over again, the good times and the bad times. Fashion Week closed on a somber note, not unlike the final pages of The Kill.

On today's map you wouldn't have a clue as to where the Crystal Palace at Reservoir Square was located. Looking at a William Perris' fire insurance map from 1853 however reveals that, where now stands our magnificent central library on the corner of 5th Avenue & 42nd Street, once stood the huge Croton distributing reservoir, gravity feeding the thirsty city from near the top of Murray Hill and a spectacular Crystal Palace, seen here as the large purple shape on the top left.

You can see both the reservoir and the Crystal Palace here.

An even closer look reveals a handwritten note reading "50,000". This is a fire insurance map which probably means that the fire insurance policy taken out for the Crystal Palace was $50,000 or about $1.5 million in today's dollars.

That seems like a shockingly low price for such a spectacular building.

Especially considering the fact that in 1858 it burned to the ground.

The story goes that the morning after the fire, in typical New York City fashion, street hawkers were selling still warm pieces of the melted Crystal Palace.

What makes stretching out on the Bryant Park Lawn irresistible? This photograph taken in 1925 could easily be a scene of the park today. The similarities, however, would end there considering the Bryant Park depicted in the above photo and the Bryant Park of today. Those of you familiar with the park's evolution know that its history is dappled with periods of renovation and dereliction.  read more »

I work at the Mid-Manhattan Library at 40th Street and 5th Ave. In the evening when I leave from work, I walk down 40th Street to the subway station at 6th Ave. This spring I noticed something different, something I never noticed before. The weather was beginning to warm, the days were growing longer and there was an explosion of green coming from Bryant Park. I happen to look up as I walked west on 40th Street. At that moment, I was met with a striking, yet subtle view. I stood there a few moments to take it all in, as people hurriedly passed me by. As the world rushed around me, I felt completely alone as I stood there looking out. Along the western edge of the park, buildings covered in skins of green, blue and gray glass thrust upward with enormous energy and vigor. The area is tight with tall buildings and the emphasis on height is even greater juxtaposed with the low lush green park. I looked out upon the buildings, high in the sky and what I saw was a vertical reflecting pool, like a placid pool of water that gently lifts the surrounding landscape to your eyes. But my Midtown reflecting pool is upright and it is the skin of glass that jettisons the images outward. The view is every bit as beautiful as that which is given to us by a quiet body of water in a natural landscape. However this hard surfaced pool, streaming vertically into the sky, is a man made beauty.

I wish to rain on your parade. I think Bryant Park should not be a venue for commerce! Once again the green in Bryant Park is being traded for the green in money. In the spring and fall, the park is filled with the fashion shows and come winter there is the skating rink and the surrounding shops. I do not object to the skating rink and a small concession stand. What I do object to is Bryant Park being scheduled back to back with events throughout the year without any time alloted for it being a park.

There is so little green in the city. The beauty of Bryant Park is that it is a park, classical in style and rimmed with mature trees, beautiful plantings, and most importantly, a rectangle of green grass like no other in the city. Bryant Park is an oasis but it is never allowed to be the oasis it was designed to be. When the weather allows and the park is not blocked off to the public, people clamor to find any bit of space in the park to sit during their lunch hour and take in the wonderful setting of Bryant Park. I read in the NYTimes that even during the dark days of Bryant Park, when drug addicts and grifters were rampant, people would still converge on the park and enjoy the park despite its derelict condition.

The park is beautiful and obviously able to generate a lot of income. Certainly income needs to be made to help in the upkeep of the park but when I see the sod torn up and then replaced once, twice and thrice, money seems horribly wasted. Realistically I know that the money Bryant Park generates will always be a motivating factor to utilize the park in more money making ways.

I just find it really sad the merchandise in the shops that fill almost every spot in the park during this time of year is perceived as something special. What’s packed into those contrived little chalet-like booths can be had anywhere and better too.

My voice is a small one when it comes to defending Bryant Park. And unfortunately the sublime beauty of this well-designed park does not speak loud enough to override this terrible misuse of a grand park.