While Central Park is a big, beautiful urban space in the middle of a crowded City, the specific goal I had in mind for my last visit was to see the Zoo there, something I had not done in more than twenty years, since the Administration of Mayor Edward Irving Koch and his Parks Commissioner, Henry Stern. Way... read more

With this summer’s addition of balloon rides, at Bethesda Fountain near 72nd Street, kiddie rides, at the site of the winter ice skating rink under the banner Victorian Gardens, and concerts, Central Park’s reputation is being pushed beyond the traditional limits of a public park into the more trafficked... read more

The most direct route to the Queens Zoo, once you get off the train, is to make a right turn around the USTA Tennis Center and then through an overpass to the Grand Central Parkway and, voila, you hear a lot of birds, you can see the aviary and the wrought iron bars that separate the zoo from the rest... read more

Having just posted a positive essay on my recent visit to the New York Aquarium, I decided it might be worthwhile to visit some of the other Wildlife Conservation Society’s urban zoological parks in the city, so I decided that I might start with the Queens Zoo. Even though the Bronx Zoo might have... read more