From London to the ‘Burg … McCarren Park Impressions

McCarren Park is the place to chill. But unlike other parks; Central Park in Manhattan and Hyde Park in London, it only seems to become habitable after 2pm. Before then it is only the lonesome dog walker and well, me. I have put this low frequency of people before this time to be due to the fact that hipsters (which many of the residents surrounding the park tend to be) are a semi-nocturnal animal. When the afternoon hours draw to an end and the evening begins, this small stretch of green begins to liven up.

It is also the pace of the park that differs. Not only are the people moving to a different beat, they tend to stay a lot longer. In London, when I sit on a park bench and watch the lives that pass me by, they zoom. People are always in a hurry. There are the business men and women that have a meeting to get to, so they sit, inhale their food and off they go. Even those that are meant to be just hanging out in a London park have a certain je ne sais quoi about their environment and are constantly moving around as if they cannot get comfortable in their sitting positions; when I lift my head to look again, they’re gone. This is not the case in McCarren Park. Dwellers do not rejuvenate, they multiply.

The artists in this world are working to their own office hours and thus do not have the most conventional lunch breaks, meaning this sense of urgency that we Londoners, and even most in Manhattan feel is lost on them. They also participate in games that I have not seen since I was in primary school (elementary school, for you guys) such as hacky sack, which might just be due to the hipster image they wish to uphold. This image is also contributed to by the amount of ink around, making me feel obsolete with my measly two tattoos.

Now I am no connoisseur on the New York State public drinking laws, so I am unsure of whether it is illegal to drink in public places here, but that is one big difference I have noticed. In London we drink, whenever and wherever, so I find it strange to see young people hanging out in a park after noon and to not be surrounded by empty bottles of cider. Although that might just be due to the fact that Britans have a reputation of being binge drinkers, apparently.

Like Hyde Park, McCarren used to be the home to many of the Williamsburg and Greenpoint summer concerts; however these events have recently relocated to the Williamsburg Waterfront. Gigs that are coming up are Band of Horses, Grizzly Bear, Weezer and Modest Mouse to name a few, leaving the McCarren Park Pool to be a place to swim, not to dance. Unless you really want to.