Ping Pong Upgrade

Regardless of the chilly weather, ping pong aficionados have been visiting the park with their own paddles and balls, putting the tables to good use during the winter months. The photo above was taken last week on January 27 as the temperature hovered around 38 degrees! Petanque devotees have also been frequently spotted playing in the park on milder winter days.

When the weather permits, amenities like these have helped Bryant Park become a truly active public space, year round. In the summertime we will bring back our Ping Pong Area attendant to monitor a sign up sheet and provide equipment, free of charge, for those who wish to play.

Fountain Facts

Recent visitors to Bryant Park may have noticed workmen in and around one of the park’s most beautiful monuments, the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain.

The fountain, located on the 6th Avenue side of the park, near the 41st Street entrance, is currently being cleaned and  weather-proofed under the supervision of Bryant Park Corporation’s Capital Projects team. The work should be completed by November 6.

Designed by Charles A. Platt, the fountain is said to be New York City’s first public memorial dedicated to a woman. It was named for Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843 - 1905), a 19th century American social reform leader and philanthropist.

Photograph of the fountain’s dedication ceremony from nycgovparks.org

Another lesser-known fact about the Lowell Fountain is that it was once located on the East side of Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library, as per the original design by architect Thomas Hastings.

Bryant Park, 1920s

The park was redesigned in 1934, based on a plan by architect Lusby Simpson, and implemented by the parks commissioner at the time, Robert Moses. Simpson relocated the fountain from east to west, creating a grander entrance off 6th Avenue to what we now refer to as the “Fountain Terrace”.

Bryant Park, 1934

You can learn more about the history and monuments of the park at bryantpark.org.

Ping Pong Area Improvements

Due to the overwhelming popularity of Bryant Park Ping Pong, one of our newest amenities, the ping pong area at the Northwest corner of the park is currently being resurfaced.

So many people took advantage of playing at the state-of-the-art ping pong tables over the summer, that the gravel under their feet began to wear away. To improve the quality of the players experience, Craig and the Capital Projects team are replacing the gravel with a harder surface. Granite slabs (left over from the New York Public Library Terrace restoration project) will be set in the ground at either end of each table, to give players a more stable surface to move on.

The ping pong area should re-open on Monday for public use.

About Us

Who We Are

The Bryant Park Blog gives you information about park activities, events, and operations directly from the source. Written by employees of the Bryant Park Corporation, the non-profit organization that manages the park, the blog seeks to not just keep you updated about what’s going on, but to also answer your questions. Did you ever wonder how a giant bed appeared on the Fountain Terrace overnight, where the Bryant Park lawn comes from, or why crews are digging a hole on the south side of the park? The Bryant Park Blog answers these questions and more. Let us know what you’re curious about, interested in, or want to see in the park.

Contributors

Katie, Bryant Park’s main blogger, gives you the behind-the-scenes scoop. She has coordinated events at Bryant Park for nearly 3 years, and has experienced thousands of park events from the inside. You might catch Katie packing up her things as the sun rises in the park after supervising an overnight event load-in. A life-long animal lover, Katie’s all-time favorite event in Bryant Park was Outdoor TV’s Dock Dogs challenge in September 2007. She was up all night as a large pool was constructed and filled with water on the Fountain Terrace, ran home to get a few hours of sleep, then returned to watch the dogs compete for the longest and highest jumps into the pool. She says it was 100% humane fun.

Tricia, our resident retail blogger, writes about fashion in the 34th Street District as Fashion Herald, and during the holiday season writes a blog for The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park. We tap Tricia every month for shopping news and deals in the ever-growing retail area that surrounds the park.

Barbara has worked for the Bryant Park Corporation for more than a decade, and is a fount of knowledge for all things park related. She is a long-time Brooklyn resident with a passion for community development and local politics, and is an active Brooklyn neighborhood blogger.

Craig is the Vice President of Capital Projects. He joined the Bryant Park staff in 2008 and has been diligently improving the park ever since. Keep an eye out for Craig’s posts to provide an unparalleled understanding of the park’s physical infrastructure.

Kati wears many different hats at the Bryant Park Corporation. She is the official voice of Bryant Park on Twitter, runs several programs like Ping Pong and Meet the Birds, and supports Park Operations in addition to several other departments in the company.

Catherine joined the Information Systems department in 2008 to support the staff’s technological needs, including Bryant Park’s immersion in multiple social media outlets.

Contact Us

If you have a question, comment, or suggestion about the blog or the park, we want to hear it. We’re happy to respond on the blog, Twitter and Facebook. Check out our website for more information about the park. Or call us Monday through Friday (9am-5:30pm Eastern Time) at (212) 768-4242.

Copyright and Permissions

This blog is copyright of Bryant Park Corporation - © 2009 Bryant Park Corporation. All rights reserved. All content is property of Bryant Park Corporation unless otherwise stated. Bryant Park Corporation grants permission to reproduce or distribute any text and images from http://blog.bryantpark.org, provided that content is clearly credited with “© 2009 Bryant Park Corporation” and includes a link to http://blog.bryantpark.org.

Please Pardon Our Appearance (Part 2)

Summer is a busy time in Bryant Park, and the capital improvement schedule is no exception. Craig, who updated us last week on the sanitary line installation in the 40th Street Allée, is back to explain what’s going on behind the sidewalk shed in front of the New York Public Library.

Bryant Park Corporation and the New York Public Library are partnering to restore the Library Plaza along Fifth Avenue between 42^nd and 40^th Streets.  There are three distinct elements of work in the overall “replacement-in-kind” and cleaning program.

The first, currently in progress, is the reconstruction of the stairs along the 5^th Avenue sidewalk. Over time, the foundations for the stairs have deteriorated and the granite steps have become misaligned and several have become unstable. The foundations are being reconstructed and many of the original steps will be put back in place, however, approximately seven tons of new granite will be required to replace original stones that were broken.

In addition, nearly 10 tons of bluestone and granite pavers will be installed throughout the entire Plaza to replace damaged pieces. The work on the stairs will be completed in early September, while the pavement work will be completed before the end of 2010.

The second step in the restoration is the repair and cleaning of all bronze elements on the plaza and the 42^nd Street terrace, including two ornate flagpole bases, two torchieres, and various plaques.

Finally, the repair and cleaning of the masonry on the Plaza is the third element of the project. This includes the limestone balustrade railings along 5^th Avenue, 42^nd and 40^th Streets, and the bases of the flagpoles. The bronze work and masonry repair will both be completed before the end of 2010.

Please Pardon Our Appearance

Over the past week, those strolling through the 40th Street Allée may have noticed a disturbance to certain sections of the pathway. Craig, Bryant Park Corporation’s Vice President of Capital Projects and animal rescue operative, penned an explanation to his department’s most recent upgrade to the park.

In order to better serve the patrons of our winter ice rink and holiday market, The Pond and The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park, the Bryant Park Corporation is constructing a sanitary sewer line in the south central area of the 40^th Street side of the park.

To support the crowds that visit the winter events, portable restrooms are brought in and require daily pumping and cleaning of the toilet tanks. The new sanitary line will enable the event producers to install a trailer with multiple bathrooms inside, connect to the sanitary line beneath the trailer facility, and use a gravity system to discharge effluent. No offensive, expensive daily maintenance is required, improving the overall quality of the holiday activities in the park.

The sanitary line will tie into an existing manhole situated in the 40th Street Allée. The project involves the removal and replacement of extensive bluestone pavers, trenching and installation of a six inch diameter pipe, and reinstallation of the bluestones. The project is scheduled for completion by early August 2009.

We appreciate your patience while the sanitary line is being installed. Feel free to contact us if you’re curious about any construction or maintenance activity you observe in the park.

A Hero Among Us

Sometimes something small is all you need to start the day off right. We arrived in the office this morning to an email from Craig, Bryant Park Corporation’s Vice President of Capital Projects, to help spice up our Friday morning inboxes:

This morning I saw a small finch just sitting on the sidewalk at Broadway and 41st Street. People walked right past and over the little bugger. I got a cup from a coffee vendor and the bird walked up to the cup and sat on the rim. I took him into the Park, where he hopped off the cup and onto a park chair. As soon as I got him to a nice place with lots of shrubs and other birds, he FLEW into the shrubs. The little guy wasn’t hurt at all but just wanted to be in a better place!

How lucky for the bird to get picked up by someone headed right to the park! Our resident birding experts immediately identified it as a Common Yellowthroat. He even let his hero snap a few pictures on their journey together.

Who doesn’t love a story with a happy ending? And you never know, maybe we’ll see the little guy again on Monday morning’s Birding Tour in the park!