Calm in Chaos - The Parks of Manhattan Quiz

Answer: Chinatown

Sitting on Mulberry Street (which is why it was once known as Mulberry Bend Park), Columbus Park has transformed over centuries to become a site for gathering Chinese locals, many of whom use the area for music, gaming, and social activities. Renamed in 1911 after Christopher Columbus, the park was actually an important landmark in the century that preceded the name change, so much so that it was visited by Charles Dickens who wrote of it as a particularly horrible place-- and that was a man who knew his Industrial Revolution/Victorian Era squalor.

It opened as a park space in 1897, but not before becoming a gateway to the nearby tanning district and the areas that would form into Chinatown and nearby Little Italy.

Answer: Lincoln Center for Performing Arts

Found at Amsterdam Ave. and W. 62 St., Damrosch Park is much more a space for events than a respite from Manhattan's bustle. Frequently the site for the catwalks of New York Fashion week, it's also the autumn home of the Big Apple Circus. The park is also utilized by the adjacent Lincoln Center during the summer months, partly because of its main focal point, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim bandshell, which sits on its grounds and plays host to free concerts.

Its location places it at the southern reach of the Upper West Side.

Answer: Charging Bull

Bowling Green, established in 1733, was created between Broadway and what becomes Whitehall Street at the southern end of Manhattan. Its south edge also borders the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.

The Custom House is built on the site of what was originally supposed to be the house of the President (then, it was going to be Washington), but Government House, as it was called, was left vacant when the government was temporarily moved to Pennsylvania. Charging Bull was placed onto the edge of the park space in the late 1980s and has since become a symbol of Wall Street (which isn't too far away).

In 2017, the Fearless Girl statue was also erected there.

Answer: Gramercy Park

Gramercy Park sits between Park Avenue and 3rd Avenue in the Gramercy Park Historic District and it's a pricey one for anyone seeking entry. This is because the park is only accessible with one of about three hundred some odd keys, and those keys are paid for (annually) by residents in the surrounding neighbourhoods, some of whom pay thousands of dollars just for access to the area.

The key system was introduced in 1831 and it cost $10 per key back then. Notable residents with access over the years have included Thomas Edison, Oscar Wilde, James Cagney, Gregory Peck, Julia Roberts, Uma Thurman, and Chelsea Clinton. Nearly thirty thousand people call this neighbourhood home, though purchased residences there cost millions.

Answer: The New York City Public Library

Bryant Park is directly next to the New York Public Library's main branch (though technically the library sits within the park) between 40th and 42nd St. and 5th and 6th Avenues. Declared public space in the seventeenth century, Bryant Park is one of the most used of the public spaces in Midtown due to its centralized location; it hosts open air movie screenings in the summer and, typically, ice skating in the winter.

The spot has also been frequently seen in movies known for being set in New York like "Sex and the City" and "Ghostbusters".

In fact, several scenes early in the latter movie were filmed in the stacks and the famous Rose Room of the Library.

Answer: Union Square Park

Union Square Park is a public space that marks the intersection between the south reach of Broadway and the termination of Park Avenue. It's both a major hub for New York City Subway service and a landmark sitting amongst the buildings of The New School.

Besides the statue of Washington, there are also statues in the park grounds of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Marquis de Lafayette. In the nineteenth century, this area also happened to be New York's early Theatre District. The nearby Con Ed Building still stands as one of NYC's many opera houses.

Answer: 5th Avenue

Washington Square Park, sitting in the middle of NYU campus, marks the end of 5th Avenue which, further up the way, is home to several of the more expensive establishments in New York City. It kind of continues on with the ritziness though-- Washington Square Park is also part of Greenwich Village at that point.

The triumphal Washington Square Arch was erected from marble in 1892 to celebrate the hundred year mark of George Washington's presidency (which occurred a few years prior). The site has undergone repeated renovations over the years and, as a result, is mostly paved for public use; it's not uncommon to see buskers and street performers throughout.

Answer: The Battery

The Battery is named as such because it's also the home of the artillery batteries that were built there when New York City was first made into a settlement. The West Battery, Castle Clinton, still stands there as a National Monument. Besides this, the park is also home to the Hope Garden, the East Coast Memorial, and the American Merchant Mariners Memorial.

Many people visit Battery Park en route to the nearby ferry terminal because, from there, tourists catch easy trips to and past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, both of which can be easily seen from the water's edge.

Answer: False

This one is a bit interesting because while Madison Square Park was next to Madison Square Garden in the past, it's only because New York City has seen four different venues by that name, the famous one being south of Times Square between 7th and 8th (at 31st, near Penn Station). Madison Square Park, however, is between 5th and Madison at 23rd, right next to the Flatiron Building and nearly cut through by Broadway.

It's enough of a fixture in the city that the trendy neighbourhood directly to the north is called NoMad, referring to North of Madison Square Park.

Answer: Park Plaza Hotel

Stretching from 59th Street to 110th Street and placed between Fifth and Eighth Avenue, Central Park is by far the most visited, most popular, and largest protected area in Manhattan. The place is simply expansive, acting as home to countless attractions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Central Park Zoo, Tavern on the Green, and Belvedere Castle. Additionally, hundreds of films and TV shows have been shot within the park; it's one of the most shot locations in cinema!
The Park Plaza is across the road from the park at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 59th.