Tompkins Square Park

概览

Tompkins Square Park is bounded on its western edge by Avenue A, its southern edge by East 7th Street, its western edge by East 10th Street, and it is at the middle of its eastern edge of Avenue B and East 8th that another cluster of gardens abound. The park itself has parts that are beautifully planted with tiger lilies, roses and other flora; it also has two very moving historic monuments to the General Slocum tragedy, a water fountain under a cupola where the virtues of faith, hope, charity and tolerance are extolled, and a plaque in the children’s pool area. Some of the park areas are dominated by punks, crusties, drunks and more old-fashioned drifters but there are also children’s playgrounds and famous dog runs. Over the years, it has housed many concerts and festivals, including the thoroughly outrageous Wigstock.

In other words, the park is an accurate if uneasy microcosm of the neighborhood itself and always feels like a work in progress. It was the site of major riots in 1988 which built up in the course of an uneasy summer when tensions simmered and then reached a boiling point between the police and neighborhood residents many of whom had mixed feelings about gentrification, along with squatters who were being evicted by the city, punks who were living in the park, and pretty much anyone else who spent time there

NYC East Village - Loisaida Community Gardens - Tour 2
updated 03/2012 by NYC Lower East Side East Village Community Gardens