John Jay Park
East 78th Street and Cherokee Place
www.nycgovparks.org/parks/john-jay-park-and-pool/
If it’s not all about the pool at this Upper East Side jewel, the two pools—one swimming, one diving—of John Jay Park are two big reasons it’s such a great summer destination. While the park’s assemblage dates back to the early 1900s, the pools themselves were opened in stages between 1940 and 1942, and are among the many wondrous products of the New Deal-era WPA capital construction programs, with the fingerprints of the pool-loving, NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses at the time also visible. More recently, the completion of the pool deck and other related renovations in May 2024 have brought the facilities up to present-day standards, which is no small thing in a city that remains desperate for pools. Other John Jay Park improvements include resurfaced tennis and basketball courts and a rebuilt central walkway. Also of note are John Jay’s more than 100 trees—a stark and welcome contrast to the now often treeless Lower East Side waterfront—some calisthenic equipment and two remarkable welded-steel sculptures by Douglas Abdell. Area food tip for hungry kids and adults: Orwasher’s bakery, 308 E. 78th St., for all manner of breads, cookies, and other treats.
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Ave., at 103rd Street
917-492-3333
It’s never too early to share a love of history with a young person. Indeed, the ebullient curiosity of kids makes it a pleasure, and often a distinct learning experience, for the adults in their life also. Enter the Museum of the City of New York, literally and figuratively, where children under 18 are admitted free. Besides its regular diverse public programs, including story times and a drop-in NYC Discovery Lab, the museum’s slate of current exhibitions has much to interest visitors young and old. “Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100” is a bracing tribute to the feisty Barbados-born Brooklynite who became the first Black woman elected to Congress and ran a quixotic but inspiring long-shot campaign for President in 1972. Through July 20. “Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection,” which runs through August 24, is a must-see as it showcases how illicit street and subway painting—which many called “vandalism”— transitioned into gallery-shown art. The ongoing “Songs of New York: 100 Years of Imagining the City Through Music,” combines sound and photography to celebrate a cross section of many musical styles that made the city home.
Jacob Javits Playground
Fort Washington Avenue and Cabrini Boulevard, near 190th Street
While nearly everyone knows at least something about Jacob Javits (1904-1986), if only the namesake convention center in Hell’s Kitchen, many fewer people are aware of the playground in Hudson Heights, which also honors the widely admired liberal Republican congressman and senator of Russian-Jewish descent. Though his eminence transcends geography, the playground honoring him is here because the Javits family moved to West 192nd Street when Jacob was a teenager; he attended nearby George Washington High School and represented the Washington Heights area in Congress. As for why families should schlep far uptown for a mere playground—wonderful as it is, with all the standard park and playground amenities including an exceptional calisthenics area—the answer is geography. Set high above the Broadway valley to the east and the Hudson River to west, and sited on the southern edge of Fort Tryon Park, Jacob Javits Playground is but one attraction of many. Depending on available time and energy levels, visitors could happily spend all day up here, especially if they also visit the Cloisters medieval art museum a bit farther up in Fort Tryon Park and check out the restaurants and cafes of Fort Washington Avenue afterward.
Teardrop Park
Murray Street in Battery Park City
www.bpca.ny.gov/place/teardrop-park
Pssst: Don’t tell anyone but one of Manhattan’s great children’s play areas is nestled amid buildings in Battery Park City. In a way, this shouldn’t be too surprising, as geography and history have conspired to keep life within Battery Park City a relative secret to outsiders. Cross West Street at Murray Street, walk past the excellent BPC library branch, and there you are, in a remarkably inspired manmade environment of rocks, trees, hills, stairs, paths, a long metal slide, a sand lot, a lawn, a marsh, and more. Geologically, parts of the landscape are more like a well-imagined variation on the Manhattan schist you see in Central Park and parts north than the original shoreline but that’s fine—even preferable in fact, since it adds variety to downtown’s otherwise level shoreline. The design of this play area isn’t the only inspired touch either: There are startlingly clean restrooms nearby, and the many attractions of both Rockefeller Park and Brookfield Place are nearby. Verdict: worth the trip, just don’t tell anyone!
Bella Abzug Park
33rd Street to 36th Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues
Hell’s Kitchen is a tricky thing for kids. As much as its population has evolved and been reinvigorated since the rough-and-tumble 1990s, it’s still substantially defined—some might say confined—by geography and its mixed industrial past. Calling it “Clinton” didn’t really help matters either, though DeWitt Clinton Park, bounded by Eleventh and Twelfth avenues and 52nd and 54th streets is worth visiting, especially for its ballfields. But its lack of outdoor exercise equipment—not even a set of pull-up bars—is unfortunate. While Bella Abzug Park—a linear concoction born of the 7-train extension and Hudson Yards projects renamed to honor Abzug in 2019—doesn’t fare better in this regard, it’s nonetheless a welcome addition to the far West Side, including both a play area and open space for a mix of adult and kid-friendly activities programmed by the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance. Ongoing plans to extend the area farther, to 39th Street, should address some of the park’s current shortcomings. The park’s proximity to Hudson Yards is a bonus, too, for its excellent food and clean bathrooms.
Bella Abzug (1920-1978) was a famously feisty, Yiddish-speaking, hat-loving lawyer, Congresswoman, friend of the working class and many progressive causes including civil liberties, and civil, women’s and gay rights. What she might say about the surroundings, who knows? Surely she’d love to see children playing—and the bagels and bialys at Kossar’s at Hudson Yards. And that’s enough.