Central Park Caper

So you know the iconic Central Park in New York City, right? No need to introduce this famous space if you’ve been to the Big Apple before. Even if you haven’t visited before, you know of Central Park from Friends, at least. Ok. That’s settled then.

One fine Saturday in September, Nicolette and I experience a tour of parts of the park by an expert who has lived in the area for two decades and knows the park like the back of his hand.

Central Park extends from 59th St. Columbus Circle through to 110th St. Central Park North but we begin our almost 2 hour trivia tour at The Majestic & The Dakota on 72nd St. & Central Park West (CPW).

CPW is lined with landmark and historic multifamily buildings with tons of history many native New Yorkers do not even know of and we are treated to some history behind The Dakota.

Without further ado, these are the random Central Park quirky trivia we learn this sunny Saturday in September.

1. The Dakota is so-called because NYC was sparsely populated uptown compared to midtown & downtown. As a result, when the building was erected, people referred to it as “going to the Dakotas”… meaning a distant land. Hence, The Dakota stuck. If that ain’t a quirky backstory, I don’t know what is. Lol.

2. Before the advent of the subway, it was very dangerous for people to cross CPW to Central Park, resulting in many accidents.

As a precaution, a tunnel was built from The Dakota to the park entrance on 72nd St. for nannies to ferry their wealthy charges in safety.

Every other 99% kid could dodge danger, of course. The tunnel was discarded with the coming of the subway in the early 1900s.

3. John Lennon was actually shot right in front of The Dakota. All these years, I thought he was shot in Strawberry Fields in the park. In fact, the mosaic of Strawberry Fields was donated by Italy. If you knew of this history, good for you. I most certainly did not!

4. The Majestic, another historic building opposite The Dakota, once housed rival mafioso lords. How that didn’t degenerate into a shoot out is beyond me. I believe the phrase used for why they were “peaceful” was: “you don’t shit where you eat.” Classy.

5. Lennon’s murder was witnessed by a resident on the top floor of The Majestic. By the time he ran down, the killer had taken off.

6. A known mafia boss, Frank Costello, lived in The Majestic and survived an assassination attempt just as he was stepping into the lobby of the building.

The bullet grazed the top of his head and lodged in the lintel. The killer was found with his throat slit some time later. They didn’t play in the old days, huh!?

7. Conan O'Brien once lived at The Majestic. Click To Tweet

8. Yoko Ono has the whole top floor of The Dakota where multiple apartments were bought and converted to a single expanse for her.

Within Central Park

9. Every wooden structure in the park, from the little boat houses to the arched canopy near the 72nd St. entrance, is made from dead wood sourced from the park itself. If that isn’t the best method of recycling, I don’t know what is.

10. There is a spot that sits right in the middle of Central Park. It is a literal “X” marks the spot signifying the park’s middle.

11. The statue of Daniel Webster was originally for Boston but political brouhaha didn’t permit its erection in that city thus its new home became Central Park.

12. If you ever get lost in Central Park (which for me is most times lol), look for the nearest lamppost with numerals.

E.g. if the post has 7204, that means you’re in line with 72nd St.; 04 signifies your location in the eastern part of the park.

If the bottom two numbers are odd, it signifies the western part of the park. Apparently, people order pizza from lamppost codes to the park. Neat!

13. From the 72nd St. entrance past Strawberry Fields and the Webster statue, you come to an intersection with a hot dog stand present.

Guess how much the permit costs for that stand to legally vend at that spot? $5k, you say? How about $20k? Sounds about right, right? WRONG!! How about $250,000??? Yes! No erroneous zeros added.

The permit costs $250,000 to sell at that particular spot and they probably make a killing in warm months because the line is always long but their profit margin has to be spectacular to justify that expense.

14. Another quirky Central Park trivia is the presence of a tree burl from a parasite that deforms the tree grain and makes it grow outwardly and bulky on the stem. There is one present in the park and looking at it literally makes my skin crawl *shudder*.

15. You can commemorate a section of a park bench for the low fee of $10,000. If you want to dedicate a bench to your spouse, family etc, $10,000 is worth the love, no? Alrighty then. Lol. Click To Tweet

16. On to Bethseda Terrace, where chess tables are set up for multiple matches and is the site of the famous lake and Bethseda Fountain aka “Angel of the Waters” commemorated in 1873. There is a story behind this fountain:

• Several moons ago (around the 1850s), it is the unofficial law that women not do public art.
• Emma Stebbins, the sculptress who crafts “Angel of the Waters“, is from an influential home and goes to Italy to study statue making.
• There, she falls in love with Charlotte Cushman, and becomes part of a circle of lesbians in Italy. She can be free here where she can’t in NYC at the time.
• Cushman undergoes breast cancer treatment and Emma devotes her time to caring for her at the expense of her art.
• “Angel of the Waters” celebrates clean water from the Croton Aqueduct at a time when New Yorkers are dying from cholera.
• They return to NYC after Cushman’s treatment and live till Cushman dies of pneumonia in 1876.

17. Within Bethseda Terrace is a hall that apparently has the best acoustics in the world! It contains 16,000 mosaics imported from the U.K. and is an amazing sight to behold.

The wall mosaics are great backdrops for impromptu photo ops and you can bet your bottom dollar that folks line up against it. Lol.

 

 

18. The San Remo is the iconic NYC building seen from a particular vantage point across from the Bow Bridge and its lake. Click To Tweet

19. The Majestic is also seen from this point not far from the San Remo.

20. There are cast-iron pots on the bannisters of the Bow Bridge and some time ago, all of them were stolen at night never to be seen again. The current ones are replicas of the old ones.

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Well. I hope you enjoyed this mini history quirky trivia tour of Central Park as most New Yorkers don’t know of these quirky trivia. There are even lots more of the park to discover as you head north to Harlem and I might just do that part of town soon.

Let me know your fave quirky trivia of this post and don’t forget to comment if you’ve been here and know or noticed these. See you on the social streets!! xoxo

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