Photo: Bald Punk
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.
