Central Park (New York)
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually , and is the most filmed location in the world. After proposals for a large park in Manhattan during the 1840s, it was approved in 1853 to cover . In 1857, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the park with their "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year; existing structures, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were seized through eminent domain and razed. The park's first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876. After a period of decline in the early 20th century, New York City parks commissioner Rober ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Pond And Hallett Nature Sanctuary
The Pond and Hallett Nature Sanctuary are two connected features at the southeastern corner of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located near Grand Army Plaza (Manhattan), Grand Army Plaza, across 59th Street (Manhattan), Central Park South from the Plaza Hotel, and slightly west of Fifth Avenue. The Pond is one of seven bodies of water in Central Park. Hallett Sanctuary The Hallett Nature Sanctuary is the smallest of Central Park's wooded areas at . Originally known as the Promontory, it is the only permanently fenced-off section of Central Park aside from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, occupies of the wooded promontory to the west of the Pond, jutting into the water body. The area was closed in 1934 when New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, NYC Parks commissioner Robert Moses set the site apart as a bird sanctuary. In the 1980s, after decades of neglect, invasive alien plants like ailanthus and Far Eastern wisterias were extirpated, and the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eminent Domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia, Barbados, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), or expropriation (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Serbia) is the power of a state, provincial, or national government to take private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and transfer ownership of private property from one property owner to another private property owner without a valid public purpose. This power can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized by the legislature to exercise the functi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shakespeare In The Park (New York City)
Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are managed by The Public Theater and tickets are distributed free of charge on the day of the performance. Originally branded as the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) under the direction of Joseph Papp, the institution was renamed in 2002 as part of a larger reorganization by the Public Theater. History The festival was originally conceived by director-producer Joseph Papp in 1954. Papp began with a series of Shakespeare workshops, then moved on to free productions on the Lower East Side. Eventually, the plays moved to a lawn in front of Turtle Pond in Central Park. In 1959, parks commissioner Robert Moses demanded that Papp and his company charge a fee for the performances to cover the cost of "grass erosion." A court battle ensued. Papp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biologically Diverse
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') level. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth; it is usually greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10% of earth's surface and contain about 90% of the world's species. Marine biodiversity is usually higher along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future as a primary result of deforestation. It encompasses the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural process ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater is a 1,800-seat open-air theater in Central Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is home to the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park productions. Over five million people have attended more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater since its opening in 1962. History The theater is named in honor of Valerie and George T. Delacorte Jr., who donated money for its establishment, after several seasons presented by Joseph Papp's Shakespeare Workshop (founded in 1954) had been touring New York's boroughs on temporary staging and had proved the venture worthwhile. Papp had started seeking funds in 1958 for a permanent outdoor amphitheater in Central Park, under the aegis of Helen Hayes. The first production at the theater in 1962 was ''The Merchant of Venice'' starring George C. Scott and James Earl Jones. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bethesda Terrace And Fountain
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park. The fountain, with its ''Angel of the Waters'' statue, is located in the center of the terrace. Bethesda Terrace's two levels are united by two grand staircases and a lesser one that passes under Terrace Drive. They provide passage southward to the Central Park Mall and Naumburg Bandshell at the center of the park. The upper terrace flanks the 72nd Street Cross Drive and the lower terrace provides a podium for viewing the Lake. The mustard-olive colored carved stone is New Brunswick sandstone, with a harder stone for cappings, with granite steps and landings, and herringbone pattern paving of Roman brick laid on edge. History Construction In Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted's 1858 Greensward Plan, the terrace at the end of the Mall overlooking the naturalistic landscape of the Lake was simply called ''The Water Terrace'', but aft ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Central Park Mall
The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City. The mall, leading to Bethesda Fountain, provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for Central Park. Description The Mall was designed so that a carriage could disgorge its passengers at the south end, then drive round and pick them up again overlooking Bethesda Terrace, whose view of the Lake and Ramble formed the "ultimatum of interest" in Olmsted and Vaux's vision. With no need for redoubling their steps, fashionable New Yorkers, who in the first decades of the park's existence drove through it in their carriages but rarely ''walked'' in it, had their chance to mingle with the less affluent, a mix that was considered thoroughly "American" and picturesque enough to be illustrated repeatedly in the watercolors of Maurice Prendergast and Ludwig Bemelmans. To the east of the Mall, the wisteria pergola paralle ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Central Park Zoo
The Central Park Zoo is a zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In conjunction with the Central Park Zoo's operations, the WCS offers children's educational programs, is engaged in restoration of endangered species populations, and reaches out to the local community through volunteer programs. Its precursor, a menagerie, was founded in 1864, becoming the first public zoo to open in New York. The present facility first opened as a city zoo on December 2, 1934, and was part of a larger revitalization program of city parks, playgrounds and zoos initiated in 1934 by New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) commissioner Robert Moses. It was built, in large part, through Civil Works Administration and Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor and funding. The Children's Zoo opened to the north of the main zoo in 1960, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Central Park Carousel
The Central Park Carousel, officially the Michael Friedsam Memorial Carousel, p.413 is a vintage wood-carved carousel located in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, at the southern end of the park, near East 65th Street. It is the fourth carousel on the site where it is located. History The original 1871 carousel was powered by a mule or horse under its platform, signaled to start and stop by the operator tapping his foot. The two succeeding versions were destroyed by fires in 1924 and 1950."Carousel" on the website The current carousel is the fourth on the site, p.133 and is part of the [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wollman Rink
Wollman Rink is a public ice rink in the southern part of Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. It is named after the Wollman family who donated the funds for its original construction. The rink is open for ice skating from late October to early April. Wollman Rink opened in 1950, having been proposed four years earlier. The rink was closed for renovations in late 1980 and reopened in November 1986. Following the renovation, The Trump Organization operated the rink under contract with the New York City government until 1995 and again from 2001 until 2021. From 2003 until 2019, Central Amusement International, LLC, operator of the Luna Park amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, operated Victorian Gardens, a seasonal amusement park for children, on the site from late May to September. Site The rink is located at the southeast corner of Central Park. It was formerly part of the Pond, located directly east of Wollman Rink. The Pond's western section was drained and back ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sheep Meadow
Sheep Meadow is a meadow near the southwestern section of Central Park, between West 66th and 69th Streets in Manhattan, New York City. It is adjacent to Central Park Mall to the east, The Ramble and Lake to the north, West Drive to the west, and Heckscher Playground and Ballfields to the south. Sheep Meadow was originally designed as a parade ground and incorporated into the Greensward Plan, the original plan for Central Park developed in the 1850s. However, Central Park's designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux opposed the use of the meadow for military purposes, so it was instead converted to a pasture with sheep. Housed in a nearby sheepfold that now contains the Tavern on the Green restaurant, the sheep were removed in 1934. Sheep Meadow has a long history as a gathering place for large-scale demonstrations and political movements. These have included festivals, rallies, concerts, and protests such as the be-ins of the 1960s. Though sports and gatherings we ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, also known as Central Park Reservoir, is a decommissioned reservoir in Central Park in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, stretching from 86th to 96th Streets. It covers and holds over 10⁹ US Gal. (3.785 10⁶ m³) ( 3070 Acre-foot ) of water. Croton Aqueduct Board president Nicholas Dean proposed the construction of Central Park around its receiving reservoir (later the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond) in the 1850s. As part of this project, the Central Park Reservoir was completed in 1862. The reservoir was decommissioned in 1993, after it was deemed obsolete, and control was transferred to the Department of Parks and Recreation in 1999. The Central Park Reservoir was renamed in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994 to commemorate her contributions to the city and because she enjoyed jogging in the area. History Design and construction In the 1850s, Central Park was proposed by Croton Aqueduct Board president Nicholas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |