Public Spaces, NYC

One of the things I particularly liked  about New York is the number of public spaces that exist for people to chill out, eat, socialize, or just hang around.

This is Paley Park, just a few yards from MoMA on 53rd and taking up the space of a building.

A little oasis in the middle of the city. A mini-waterfall and transparent water tunnel are the main attractions here. It is very quiet and peaceful, the sound of the rushing water drowning out everything else

all the flowers were yellow, like the tulips here

Next door, another public space, with a five-panel section of the former Berlin Wall as the centrepiece. Artists: Thierry Noir and Kiddy Citny.

Park Avenue Plaza

spacious

luxurious

offering seating without the obligation to buy

or alternatively, you can sit by the (very quiet) waterfall and buy yourself a drink

enjoying the tastefully arranged flowers

while listening to live piano music

M'Finda Kalunga Community Garden, on the edge of Little Italy and Nolita

lovingly tended by the volunteers while we were there

a peaceful little corner

with lots of colour

tulips dominated at this time of year

different colour combinations

the garden is divided into different 'rooms' each with its own seating arrangement.

The Rockefeller Centre, between 5th and 6th Avenues, another place with public areas for people to use

walking down the gentle slope of the Channel gardens

with the pool at the centre,

one comes to the Lower Plaza, ice rink in winter, sunken restaurant in the summer months,  dominated by Paul Manship's Prometheus sculpture

the gold theme dominates everywhere here - from the entrance to the GE building

to the entrances of all the buildings of the complex

as in here

down to the smallest detail out on the street

and here is another one,  just in case you thought the same design was used for all the trees...

Inside the main, GE, building, Jose Maria Sert's mural, American Progress and Time, replaced the original by Diego Riviera which was removed by Nelson Rockefeller when the artist refused to scrap a panel glorifying Lenin. Rivera was fired in May 1933 and mounted police were stationed outside the Centre to break up the demonstrations that erupted in response. Rivera's panel Man at the Crossroads was chiseled off the walls in February 1934. This is one of the most notorious incidents of artistic censorhip in US history.

Beautiful glass panel inside the same building.