Travel Tips

The Washington Square Park, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is a very popular and crowded square. It is best known for its bohemian and rebellious character. The park looks seedy, has little green space and attracts vagrants, but people from all backgrounds still flock to the square. The two main attractions in the square are the fountain and the Washington arch.

Before the Washington square was built in 1826, the area was used as a burial ground. The north side was a German cemetery, while the south side was a potter's field (a nameless burial ground). The area was later used as a public gallows and execution ground

Between 1829 and 1833, a row of houses were built at the North side of the square. The prestigious houses, built of red Brick in Flemish bond in Greek revival style, became known as 'The Row'. The entrances are flanked by Ionic and Doric columns and have marble balustrades. By the end of the 19th century, the north side continued to attract rich and leading citizens, while the south side was populated with immigrants living in tenement houses.

For the Centennial of Washington's inauguration as President of the United States a wooden Memorial Arch was constructed on the Washington Square. The arch, designed by Stanford White was so successful at the celebrations, that a marble version was commissioned. In may 1895 the final version of the 77 ft (23,4m) Washington Arch was inaugurated. The pier sculptures of Washington as general and president were added in 1916 and 1918 respectively.

Cars were allowed to drive through the arch until 1971, when the Washington square was redesigned by Robert Nichols. The square has had its ups and downs since.
Especially in the 80's, when it had become a drug dealing center, the square was particularly dangerous, but it has improved since the 90's and is now a relatively safe area.

The Washington Square park is bounded by Waverly Place, 4th street, University Place and MacDougal Street. The Washington Arch is located at 5th Avenue and Waverly place.

The rich history of Central Park dates back to the mid-1800's. In this area of the site, you will learn of its early history up through its recent past.
Also, take time to explore the many statues of the Park and learn how the Park fits in with today's popular culture.

Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the United States. Advocates of creating the park--primarily wealthy merchants and landowners--admired the public grounds of London and Paris and urged that New York needed a comparable facility to establish its international reputation. A public park, they argued, would offer their own families an attractive setting for carriage rides and provide working-class New Yorkers with a healthy alternative to the saloon. After three years of debate over the park site and cost, in 1853 the state legislature authorized the City of New York to use the power of eminent domain to acquire more than 700 acres of land in the center of Manhattan.

An irregular terrain of swamps and bluffs, punctuated by rocky outcroppings, made the land between Fifth and Eighth avenues and 59th and 106th streets undesirable for private development. Creating the park, however, required displacing roughly 1,600 poor residents, including Irish pig farmers and German gardeners, who lived in shanties on the site. At Eighth Avenue and 82nd Street, Seneca Village had been one of the city's most stable African-American settlements, with three churches and a school. The extension of the boundaries to 110th Street in 1863 brought the park to its current 843 acres.

TKS booth in Times Square on the day of the performance and purchase half
price tickets. ...

becareful of the traffic...

The internationally recognized symbol of capitalism is for sale: A one-time opportunity to own a landmark, The Charging Bull, located in Bowling Green, near Wall Street in New York City. For the very first time this world famous icon can be purchased by a private party. The Charging Bull is set to be sold on the 15-year anniversary of its public debut.

Sculptor, Arturo Di Modica , created the monument in a two year period following the stock market crash of 1987, and in the early morning hours of December 16, 1989, drove a flatbed truck to the New York Stock Exchange and unloaded his 7,000 pound gift. Workers arriving to the Financial District the next day were surprised by the sleek, 16-foot long bronze bull, head down, nostrils flaring, poised to charge up Broad Street.

Di Modica says that The Charging Bull was meant to stand as an icon of the strength, power and hope of the American people. In its 15 year tenure, the sculpture has found itself woven into a tapestry of symbolism both by locals and visitors from around the world. It has been linked to the prosperity enjoyed by Wall Street over the years and is visited by thousands of tourists

Exterior shots of the apartment building featured in Friends were taken of this building which is located on the corner of Grove and Bedford in Greenwich Village.

If you take on of the tour bus trips for MOVIES and TV Shows in NYC, they will take you here. We found it on our own. We took the Subway down to see Washington Square and NYU and it was only a few blocks over to the Famous TV Show "FRIENDS" apartment building.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON was born a British subject on the island of Nevis in the West Indies on January 11, 1755. His father was James Hamilton, a Scottish merchant of St. Christopher. Hamilton's mother was Rachael Fawcette Levine, of French Huguenot descent. When Rachael was very young, she had married a Danish proprietor of St. Croix named John Michael Levine. Ms. Levine left her husband and was later divorced from him on June 25, 1759. Under the Danish law which had granted her divorce, she was forbidden from remarrying. Thus, Hamilton's birth was illegitimate.

Hamilton married Elizabeth, the daughter of General Philip Schuyler on December 14, 1780. The Schuylers were one of the most distinguished families in New York. This connection placed Hamilton in the center of New York society. In 1782, he was admitted to legal practice in New York and became an assistant to Robert Morris who was then superintendent of finance

Hamilton was one of three authors of The Federalist. This work remains a classic commentary on American constitutional law and the principals of government. Its inception and approximately three-quarters of the work are attributable to Hamilton (the rest belonging to John Jay and James Madison). Hamilton also won the New York ratification convention vote for the Constitution against great odds in July 17-July 26, 1788.

Perched on Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation in the Park, is Belvedere Castle. Belvedere, Italian for panoramic viewpoint, offers visitors just that. You can look down into the Delacorte Theater to the left, home to summertime Public Theater productions of Shakespeare and cutting edge interpretations of new and classic plays. Straight ahead is the newly-restored, 55-acre Great Lawn, once one of the Park's original reservoirs; now it offers softball fields, basketball courts, and an abundance of sunbathers. And below, with a boulder-strewn shoreline, is Turtle Pond

Belvedere was originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as a Victorian "folly." In architectural terms, a folly was a spot of playfulness, a fantasy building - a miniature Greek or Roman temple or a pint-sized Gothic castle - that offered a dash of the unexpected in a carefully calculated pastoral landscape. The Castle originally was only a shell, with open window frames, and doorways, really an elaborate scenic overlook.

Today, Belvedere Castle has true windows and doors and is home to the Henry Luce Nature Observatory, run by the Central Park Conservancy. Inside are simple displays that show how naturalists observe the world to learn how it works, and how they share their findings. There are telescopes and microscopes and skeletons and feathers - all designed to pique the curiosity of young visitors

King Jagiello: C80
[Unveiled 1945]
1351-1434
b. & d. Grodek, near Lwów, Galicia, Poland
[now Lviv, Ukraine]
Sculpted: 1939
Sculptor: Stanislaw Kazimierz Ostrowski
1879-1947

This striking equestrian statue of
King Wladyslaw Jagiello, a Polish-Lithuanian
hero of the 15th century is one of the most
intense statues in Central Park. With swords
crossed in military victory over the Teutonic
Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 he
rides his horse into some of the most beautiful
sunsets in New York City here at the east end
of Turtle Pond.

As grand duke of Lithuania and King of Poland,
he united the two states as the leading power
of Eastern Europe.
Originally built for the 1939 World's Fair, this
statue now reigns over Turtle Pond where
traditional Polish and Lithuanian folk dancing
is often performed before it at the plaza