Talk:Washington Square Park

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Fictional Accounts
The article mentioned something about its infamous drug dealings,and how that is used in fictional accounts. Anyone know of any books or movies that use that as a plot line?

Actually, for the past couple years, illicit drugs and crime have been at an ultra low rate, due to a cop station being deployed right on the park. <-- REALITY CHECK: I have been going to Washington Square Park recently; my most recent visit was 4 September 2007. On this day, just like my prior visits, at least a dozen different individuals mulling around the area just west of the central fountain solicited me for the purposes of selling marijuana. I would not consider this to be "an ultra low rate" of illicit drugs in a public park anywhere. If there is actually a "cop station" at Washington Square Park, then perhaps I keep failing to notice it. Kepiblanc 00:33, 12 September 2007 (UTC)


 * The NYPD trailer is parked near the south edge. Can't speak for the day you were there, but often the "drug dealers" in the park are undercovers.  WSP has also been a pilot test site for various NYPD camera surveillance programs.Decafdyke 02:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Undercover detectives by the dozen selling dime bags in a "reverse sting" operation? I severely doubt this. If this is true, then I'd call it a tremendous waste of NYPD manpower and resources. The whole of Manhattan is still supposedly a high profile terror target after all. Although I have declined all the numerous solicitations made to me by these drug dealers, I have hung around WSP long enough to observe these individuals from a distance. I have seen them making what appear to be actual transactions, and I have not yet seen any arrests happen. The only time I have seen anything like that actually happen was one day when I was in Tompkins Square park and saw a NYPD van drive right up to an area with picnic benches, and then two uniformed officers jumped right out and grabbed this guy who was just sitting there. Kepiblanc 03:12, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

The Movie Barefoot in the Park starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford was filmed here.


 * Washington Square Park still has a reputation as a drug dealing hot spot, which is why I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the pop culture section. One movie where this is prominently featured is Igby Goes Down. --djrobgordon 16:35, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not Washington Square Park of course, it's Washington Square, as everyone knows. Washington Square, New York would be the sensible title for this article. Someone has made a separate article for Washington Square North. A sense of context is lacking. --Wetman 07:56, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I thought that "Washington Square" referred to the entire block (i.e, including the streets), whereas "Washington Square Park" only refers to the grounds of the park. Perhaps the difference is small, but it is a distinction. --Tothebarricades 00:00, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Mass grave
I think there should be some reference to the fact that Washington Square Park was once a mass grave during the Cholera Prestilence.

History Edits
I just did some edits - mainly correcting facts and dates in historical sections. They were primarily based on research Dr. Joan Geismar did during the 2 recent archeological assessments of the park, but also on 19th century writings about the park at that time.

Sorry to anyone who was in love with the Hangman's Tree! That elm stands on the other side of the valley the Minetta ran through. It was on private farmland, not on city land.

I also added info on the Stonecutter's Riot, and a bit of info on who used to sit and sun themselves in the park in the mid-20th century.

And I de-NYU'd the description of NYU's use of the park. Yes, they consider it part of their campus, and they use the arch on their promotional stuff. But it is in fact a city-owned and city-maintained park, free to anyone, and NYU has no special claim to it. They have to rent it from the city for graduation ceremonies. I think I achieved neutrality in that part of the entry.

EdgarCarpenter 22:21, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I removed a sentence in the introduction claiming that "as early as 1922" an NYU official predicted that the university "would take over the park for its own uses." The article cited for that claim did not mention any such plans. I have altered the language to remove that claim while retaining the discussion of local residents' desire to protect the park as a public space. Pjb dinky (talk) 06:03, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Robert Moses/Jane Jacobs Factual Inaccuracy
Factual Inaccuracy- The Lower Manhattan Expressway was not planned for Washington Square. (see LOMEX) Nor was it planned in 1952, which is which predates the Interstate highway system. 1962 was the correct date, and it was planned further downtown in the area by Canal Street.

That was not a reference to LOMEX, it was about the 5th avenue extension through the park and through the neighborhood below. I changed the sentence to be explicit. EdgarCarpenter 22:29, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I thought Fifth Avenue already *did* go through the park under the arch up to the 1950s; Robert Moses proposed building an underpass under the park; and activists fought back and got the city to close the park to cars entirely. I don't have a cite for this, but if anyone does, please fix the factual mistake in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.190.166.162 (talk) 16:31, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

This article is a complete mess
Since I used cleanup-rewrite, I thought I should explain what needs to be done here:


 * Intro is way too long, but that's because ...


 * ... like the entire rest of the article, it seems to consist of randomly introduced facts in no particular order. Among them, all the namedropping could be eliminated as, in some cases, nearly unverifiable and unencyclopedic. So all these famous people strolled through the park at some point? So what? So have I. Did it have any significant impact on their work? Did it do anything for the park? And can we cite a reliable source


 * No inline refs. These should be converted to the proper style.


 * History section should come first.


 * We ought to have more photos or diagrams of the historical park, or news events connected to it. Right now we just have a gallery we're trying to pass off as illustrations.

Daniel Case 00:41, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Alright, did what I could with it. Still not perfect but now future editors have some idea where to go from here. Daniel Case 03:06, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Future redesign
The future redesign has been the site of some political lobbying/poetic license lately.

I'm leaving in the present descriptions of the proposed renovation work, although I think they do not reflect NPOV. I deleted the sentence about Justice Goodman's pro-"Open Washington Square Park Coalition" court decision because:

1) It was inaccurate -- Open Washington Square Park Coalition was not a party to the case

2) Another sentence *in the following paragraph of the article* notes the same decision

3) That decision was reversed on appeal. I added a reference to the appellate court's decision.

Decafdyke 04:06, 31 October 2007 (UTC) (hey look, it's late 2007...)

60's to 90's
Serious grammar issues —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.164.87.82 (talk) 01:59, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Trivia
''I've removed the following trivia from the page. If you would like to properly integrate any of it into the article, feel free, but most of it seems to be random, insignificant facts about musical acts.''

In 1963, The Village Stompers scored a jazz-pop hit with their song "Washington Square".

Washington Square has served as the setting in a number of literary and musical works, including William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch, Henry James's Washington Square and Joan Baez's 1975 song "Diamonds & Rust".

In the 1979 movie version of Hair, Hud's fiancee played by Cheryl Barnes sings "Easy to be Hard" at the park's east entrance.

The late stand-up comedian Charlie Barnett did many of his live shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Washington Square Park, often filling out the entirety of the fountain auditorium area.

The park appears in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally; Sally drops Harry off in front of the arch upon arrival in New York.

During the 1990s, Washington Square Park hosted the location for many skateboarders. It was popularized in the skateboarding world by pros such as Steve Rodriguez, founder-owner of 5boro Skateboards, and Harold Hunter.

It also appears in the 1995 movie Kids as a hangout for teenagers. The television show The Critic also featured the Washington Square Arch in its opening credits. A minor character from the film Deep Impact is seen within the park when a giant tsunami comes ashore, destroying the arch while sweeping away fleeing citizens.

The Kansas City emo group The Get Up Kids have a song called "Washington Square Park" appearing on their debut album, Four Minute Mile, released in 1997.

In their 2000 album "Who Are We Living For?", Dispatch mentions the park on the track "Lightning."

In his 2006 album Streets of New York, Willie Nile sings “The Day I saw Bo Diddley In Washington Square”.

The main character of the 2007 film I Am Legend, played by Will Smith, has his home and laboratory on the Square.

In September 2007, alternative country singer Steve Earle released his New York City-themed album entitled Washington Square Serenade. The Washington Square Arch is featured in many episodes of the New York based TV series Friends.

The square is a recurring landmark in the 2007 film August Rush.

On March 25, 2008, the Counting Crows released their fifth studio album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, and the seventh song is titled "Washington Square." Lead singer Adam Duritz is a resident of New York City.

On October 28, 2009, the New York Times City Room Blog reported a gravestone from 1799 was discovered during construction work in the park.

Washington Square Park is the main setting for the Fearless teen book series by Francine Pascal.

In 2010, Pop Punk band, The Wonder Years released a song called "Washington Square Park" on their album "The Upsides".

Glassbreaker5791 (talk) 14:42, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

View from Kimmel Center
Possibly better photos of the view from the Kimmel Center, which I took recently:

I leave it to someone else to decide whether to replace the one in the article. If someone wants the contrast of one of these adjusted to a level more resembling the current image, let me know. I can do that. - Jmabel &#124; Talk 03:23, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

When it became a park
This article says that in 1849-50 the first park was created on the site. NY Park & Rec says it became a park in 1827. Anybody know why this discrepancy? I looked at the reference that was cited in the article but found nothing there to support that 1849-50. The reference was not clear, but seemed to indicate that the area was intended as a park at the time it stopped being used as a parade ground in 1828. It also says that the first park design was created in, possibly, 1847, though the cited report was uncertain about that date. I have seen an 1851 painting of the space being used as a parade ground and descriptions of the painting seem to indicate that it was actually a scene from 1851. I am so confused. I would like to know if anybody knows what the space was actually used for between 1828 and 1850, and when it was in fact created as a public park. What would someone have seen there in 1849? Anybody know? Sylvia A (talk) 21:09, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

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