Viewing NYC Articles Categorized Under Parks

[VIDEO] World's Largest Landfill Is Now A Massive Park | New York City's Freshkills

2026-01-14T12:00:00-05:00

Staten Island's Freshkills Park, once the world's largest landfill, has been remarkably transformed into one of New York City's largest wildland areas. For decades this was the world’s largest landfill, where 150 million tons of garbage was dumped along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in New York City’s Staten Island. But today these 200-foot tall mounds of trash have been transformed into a wildland recreation area nearly three times the size of Central Park. To see it first hand, my friends at Open House New York organized a sunset group walk with Mark Murphy, President of this impressive project, and Field Educator Jen Gallo. Discover the innovative landfill waste management techniques that led to this environmental sustainability success story on Staten Island, New York. Witness the ongoing ecological restoration efforts that are bringing new life to this urban green space.

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[WATCH] Meet Thiru Kumar a.k.a. The Dosa Man in Washington Square Park

2025-12-05T12:00:00-05:00

In this video we visited the Famous Dosa Man in New York, the place was packed with locals and his Dosa's were really good too.

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[WATCH] We Found 27 Hidden Relics of the World’s Fairs in a NYC Park

2025-09-09T12:00:00-04:00

I’m Dave from View Master Travels, and this time I set out to explore what’s left of the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs — two massive events that shaped not just the city but also the View-Master reels I collect. Armed with my vintage viewer, I walked the grounds of Flushing Meadows in Queens, comparing what’s there now to the original images. These two fairs were held 25 years apart but are deeply connected — and surprisingly, a lot of their remains are still scattered around if you know where to look.

The site itself has a crazy backstory — it used to be a massive ash dump that even showed up in The Great Gatsby. The 1939 fair was meant to pull New York out of the Great Depression with its “World of Tomorrow” theme, but World War II broke out months later and the whole thing ended in financial disappointment. Fast forward to 1964: Robert Moses, New York’s master planner, revived the idea with a new fair themed “Peace Through Understanding.” It was even bigger and bolder, but still lost money — and again, the dream of turning the area into a world-class park kind of stalled.

Even so, some pieces survived. I visited the Unisphere (still standing tall), the old New York Pavilion with its towers and crumbling “Tent of Tomorrow,” and the Queens Museum, which still houses a giant model of New York City from the ’64 fair. We also hunted down old fountains, statue locations, street markers, and even benches and water fountains that date back to the fairs. It felt like walking through a forgotten world — part ghost town, part open-air museum.

One of the most haunting parts was standing over the original 1939 time capsule, buried by Westinghouse and intended to stay sealed for 5,000 years. It’s still there, under the grass, waiting to be discovered by people in the year 6939. That moment really hit me — a reminder that the fair was more than just a temporary spectacle. It was a message to the future, packed with hope and optimism. That’s what keeps me doing this: digging up the pieces of forgotten dreams and seeing what still echoes in the world today.

00:30 - The two world’s fairs
01:08 - History of the fairs
05:07 - The Unisphere
06:57 - Trylon and Perisphere
08:11 - New York City Pavilion
09:58 - New York State Towers
11:51 - Avenue of the Flags
12:07 - Astral Fountain and the Vatican
12:46 - Court of States
13:21 - Dupont
13:56 - British Pavilion
15:51 - Fountain of the Fairs and GE
17:02 - Avenue of Progress, Benches, Fountains
17:40 - Column of Jerash
18:05 - Netherlands
18:22 - Heliport
19:04 - Hollywood
19:34 - Pan American Building
19:52 - Kodak
20:09 - Monorail
20:49 - Speed
21:08 - Time and the Fates of Man
21:27 - Polish Pavilion
22:38 - US Pavilion
23:34 - Science Center Rockets
24:26 - The Time Capsule
25:30 - Conclusion

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[VIDEO] The Most Controversial Half-Acre in NYC

2025-08-18T12:00:00-04:00

Welcome to the Elizabeth Street Garden. Look at the flowers, hear the birds chirping, smell the fresh air, and the controversy. That's because this tiny little park in downtown Manhattan is one of the most hotly contested lots in the city. Subject to over a decade of disputes over whether it's going to stay a park or whether it's going to be this building. The issue has divided members of the community, mayoral candidates, and even self-identifying Yimbies.

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[WATCH] How Brooklyn's Revamped Waterfront is Changing NYC

2025-08-09T12:00:00-04:00

Over the last two decades, Brooklyn's waterfront has been transformed into one of New York City's most dynamic areas. Discover it on this tour with Scott Wooledge https://scottsnewyork.com/ @scottsnewyork

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These Vintage Photographs Show Castles in Washington Heights Before the Cloisters

2025-07-17T12:00:00-04:00

Fort Tryon Park is a 66 acre park established in 1935 that sits at the Northern tip of Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood and also houses the grounds for The Met Cloisters museum. In these vintage photographs from the Met, check out what Washington Heights looked like before the Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park.

Washington Heights—the neighborhood in northern Manhattan that houses The Cloisters museum and gardens—is built upon a series of bluffs and cliffs. Concrete staircases and creaky subway elevators connect different sections of the neighborhood, and buildings stand tall on stilts driven deep into Manhattan schist. […] However, despite its once-impenetrable terrain, or maybe because of it, Washington Heights is a place where some of the wildest and most romantic medieval-architecture fantasies in New York City have been realized for over 150 years.

Check out the accompanying article for more info on the castles in the photos.

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[VIDEO] Why New York's "Little Island" Failed

2025-02-25T12:00:00-05:00

In Episode 1, we're diving into the controversy surrounding Little Island, the newest addition to New York City's arsenal of public parks. With its futuristic design and lofty ambitions, as well as a slew of controversy, Little Island promised to be a monolith for the Chelsea neighborhood and revolutionize public space. But does it deliver?

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[WATCH] NYC's Historical Rail Trail: The High Line

2025-02-24T12:00:00-05:00

In this lesson I want to show you how New York's transit connections shaped the contours of the city and created the Metropolis that we know today

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[VIDEO] Aerial Video Gives a Birds-Eye View of Madison Square Park

2025-02-14T12:00:00-05:00

Aerial footage of Madison Square Park. Featuring: The FlatIron Building, the Met Life Building, Madison Square Park Tower, One Madison, New York Life Building and the Empire State Building.

The music featured in the video is "Easy Sunday" and "A Caring Friend" by Bad Snacks

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[VIDEO] How an Abandoned Railroad Became One of NYC’s Most Popular Parks

2025-01-08T12:00:00-05:00

Today AD joins architect Nick Potts in New York City for a walking tour of The Highline. Once an abandoned commercial railroad, the area is now a thriving public park lined with designer buildings courtesy of some of the world’s most famous architects. Explore with Nick and discover how The Highline has transformed NYC’s Meatpacking District.

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