Skip to main content

A Guide to Gramercy Park: A Checklist, But Not a Key, & Dining Suggestions

From Summer 2009

"At noonday the landscape is just as fine, just as mysterious and just as significant as it is at twilight." - Robert Henri, The Art Spirit (1923)

The scene is cool, summery and inviting, but this attractive corner of Gramercy Park is off limits to those without a key. It's one of the only two private parks in New York City. The other is in Queens. When I walked around the park last week, the only residents I glimpsed through the fence were toddlers in strollers accompanied by their nannies. An older residential section of Manhattan to the east of Park Avenue South and between E 20th St. and E 21st St., Gramercy Park exudes an aura of elite privilege and discretion.

Home to well-known actors and famous artists as well as members of New York society and politics throughout its history, the neighborhood makes a particularly good strolling destination. There's not much to do here except look at the buildings surrounding the park and on nearby streets (especially the so-called Block Beautiful on E. 19th), but since Gramercy Park sits at the center of one of the city's best restaurant areas, the streets around the park are perfect for a pre-dinner or post-lunch walk.

• The Park. The locked, fenced private park is accessible only to those with a key. An article in the NYT from June 19, 2008 profiles the park's guardian and self-appointed mayor and discusses some of the disputes among the neighbors about access. According to the article, about 400 keys exist. Many do not use them.

• TV series. Several TV series have used the park as a location including Ugly Betty, Fringe, Gossip Girl, and Law & Order (all franchises). I remember a particular Law & Order in which the victim was found in the park.

• Gramercy Park Hotel, 2 Lexington Avenue, NW corner Gramercy Park North and Lexington Ave. Julian Schnabel's interior is flamboyantly cool and with exceptional paintings by the artist, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others. With a tremendous fireplace, it feels like a Texas-French contemporary arts hacienda. Hotelier Ian Schrager also developed 50 Gramercy Park North, the private residences at the hotel. The hotel was famous as a comfortable bohemian destination long before its current renovation. A documentary by Douglas Keeve, Hotel Gramercy Park (2008), looks at the drama behind the scenes during the renovation.

• 10 Gramercy Park South. Home and studio of Ashcan School artist and teacher Robert Henri (1865-1929). Painter George Bellows also lived on the street.

• 15 Gramercy Park South. National Arts Club. 1845 mansion updated in 1880s by Calvert Vaux. Originally Samuel Tilden House. Nice Gothic Revival, featured in Martin Scorcese's The Age of Innocence (1993) based on the novel by Edith Wharton.

• 16 Gramercy Park South. Home to The Players, theatrical club, and where actor and club founder Edwin Booth lived. A statue of Edwin Booth in the park depicts the actor as Hamlet.

• 3 Gramercy Park West. Actor John Garfield died here in 1952 while visiting his friend Iris Whitney. #3 and #4 feature impressive ironwork.

• 34 Gramercy Park East. 1883. This dark castle with a marble entrance was once home to Margaret Hamilton, John Carradine, James Cagney and other celebrities.

• 36 Gramercy Park East. 1908-1910. White Gothic, 12-story building with armored knights at the entrance. John Barrymore lived here from 1910-1916. Barbara Stanwyck's character in the movie East Side, West Side (1949) lived in this building.

• 27-30 Gramercy Park South. Brotherhood Synagogue, formerly Friends Meeting House. Pretty side garden.

• The Block Beautiful. E. 19th St. between Irving Place and Third Ave., is a stretch of well-kept townhouses with individual flourishes.

Lovely, yes, but don't let the outward serenity of Gramercy Park fool you. Historically, there's been a lot of drama behind the scenes, much of it focused on the past, present, and future of the neighborhood.

The larger Gramercy Park area, together with the nearby Flatiron District, Union Square and Madison Square is well-known as a dining destination. I've listed some recommendations on the map below.


View Gramercy Park Dining in a larger map

Image at top by Walking Off the Big Apple. August 2009.

See also the post E. B. White and The New York of Stuart Little. I explore the street to the south, Irving Place, in this section of my New York Christmas walk.

Well, at least we know of someone who has the key to Gramercy Park.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Terry at Blue Kitchen2:47 PM

    Interesting history, Teri. I have to admit, this kind of blatant exclusivity and privilege rankles me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Teri Tynes1:18 PM

    Terry, I go back and forth on this. Like you, it bothers me that such an elitist privilege has held on to this day. The park sits along public streets, and I would like to see it opened to the public one day. On the other hand, the mystique of the key seems quaint and charming, two qualities worth keeping.

    ReplyDelete
  3. James Nevius8:09 PM

    While they love to put dead bodies in the park on Law & Order, they can't ever get a key either -- so they film in nearby Stuyvesant Square. (Maybe that can be on your next walk!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Teri Tynes8:13 PM

    That's a good one, James. Law & Order is endless with the NY locales. Stuyvesant Square is rather charming, too, and I should get over there sometime soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:41 PM

    Love it!! Wish I had a key!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3:49 PM

    I've lived on the park since 2005 in a small apartment. I'm not one of the privileged, just happy to buy on the park. Most people do no know that all key holders pay extra $ each month for a gardner 6 days a week to constantly take care of the park. If it were open to the public, the city would not care of it the same way. We all know what those parks look like.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu
Read more

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin
Read more

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift
Read more

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  reopened to the public on  August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this  new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . •  New-York Historical Society  reopened on  August 14  with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine
Read more

10 Short Walks from Grand Central Terminal

(updated March 2017) Famously crowded Grand Central Terminal functions as a major crossroads for the city, hosting busy commuters as they come and go from the suburbs via the Metro-North Railroad or within the city via a few subway lines, but the terminal also happens to be a good place to launch short walks. With its south side fronting E. 42nd Street and its massive structure interrupting Park Avenue, Grand Central provides quick access to many of the city's most well-known attractions. The New York Public Library and Bryant Park are only a couple of blocks away from the terminal, a quick jaunt on 42nd Street. And from there, Times Square is just another block or two farther west of the library, its neon shimmering in the distance. One wonders, standing near the intersection of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, how many souls have been lured away from their well-meaning library studies by the beckoning lights of the Theater District. Grand Central Terminal : Before setting
Read more

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli
Read more

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99  New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert
2 comments
Read more

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the
5 comments
Read more

From Manhattan to the Bronx: A Walk Over the Henry Hudson Bridge to Henry Hudson Park

At the tiptop of Manhattan Island, Inwood Hill Park offers picturesque views of the Hudson River. For one of the best views, follow the marker at Shorakkopoch Rock (see map at the end of the post), the legendary place where Peter Minuit was said to have bought the island for 60 guilders, and follow the ridge up the slope. The path leads gently higher and higher, with views of the Salt Marsh down below and then the underside of the Henry Hudson Bridg e above. This spot along the ridge is well known among birders, as the height and the proximity to the Hudson River allow access to treetops and places where birds like to go.  View of Henry Hudson Bridge from Muscota Marsh in Inwood Hill Park. Look for the path on the left that leads up and under the bridge. This post will explain how to cross the bridge on foot. Keep going around the bend and past the bridge. A few spots of open pavement at the edge of the hill provide good views of the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, a swing bridge
Read more

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.
Post a Comment
Read more