Central Park: Then and Now

Description

Explore Central Park, the heart of New York City and the very first landscaped public park in the United States. Central Park: Then and Now presents compelling historic and contemporary images of this famous park from throughout its 150-year history and across its 843-acre sylvan landscape filled with a unique urban vitality.

The book is a “walk through the park,” beginning at its elegant Fifth Avenue entrance at East 59th Street with views of the Plaza Hotel and Grand Army Plaza. It moves north along Manhattan’s Upper East Side, taking in such famed sites as the Zoo, the magnificent Mall, the Terrace, the Bethesda Fountain, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It extends to the park’s northern border at 110th Street in Harlem near one of the city’s least known and most beautiful gardens.

Returning south along the Upper West Side to West 59th Street, the book displays picturesque scenes along the lake and boathouse, as well as the Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow. This side of the park also reveals hidden sites in the wooded Ramble, the glittering Tavern on the Green restaurant, and a Thanksgiving Day parade that took place along Central ParkWest more than half a century ago.

In addition to being an arena for style and fashion of trendy New Yorkers, Central Park was also home to monumental historical events, such as the 1968 rally against the Vietnam War and the vigil following John Lennon’s death in 1980. Lost structures are revealed, including a lavish 1920s nightclub known as the Casino, which featured talented performers such as Eddy Duchin’s orchestra and Ethel Merman. The photos also portray the park’s changing surroundings, from mansions to towering skyscrapers.

Central Park: Then and Now pairs rare archival images with specially commissioned photographs, bringing the past and present together to reveal New York’s fascinating history and cultural changes throughout the decades.

144 pages, 155 illustrations (77 in full color). 11 1/4'' x 10''. Hardcover, with jacket.

• 144 pages
• 155 illustrations (77 in full color)
• 11 1/4'' x 10''
• Hardcover
• with jacket