Tania Damiano - Activity 7 - Plaza Observation

It was a cold, windy and breezy early afternoon in March 26 at Paley Park. It had just hit 12 noon and there was no one at the plaza. Oh! Let me point out that I missed it while attempting to get there. Paley Park is a small plaza located off the corner of 53rd street and 5th avenue. If you are passing by in a hurry and certainly not looking for the park, you are at a very high chance of not seeing it. If you are walking by with little or no aim, you might just glance at it and smile at is beauty. And then, if you are like me, that has a small idea of what it looks like and knows exactly where it is, you might still miss it because it’s located so randomly. It is such a beautiful, comfortable, small space with the relaxing sound of the waterfall at the rear of the park. There are about 20 tables each with three movable chairs, and many trees, plants and sitting rock “benches.”
I figured by getting there, the park would be packed or at least with a lot of people since it was noon, most people’s lunch hour. Yet there was no one. I settled somewhere by the middle, took out my camera and my notebook and took down notes of everything I saw. Just like in Whyte’s film and book, many people passed by and smiled. Others stopped right at the middle of the entrance, pointed at the waterfall or other areas inside the park, and went on their day. They looked at the waterfall as if admiring something precious, amazed by it. At around 12:12pm, a lady wearing a long, blue coat comes in, walks towards the middle, left side of the park, put her bag on a chair and searches through it. She moves to the middles of the park, by the waterfall once she apparently fails to find whatever it was that she was looking for and leaves. A few minutes later, another woman comes in talking on the phone. She stands by the entrance of the park, up the steps, as if it was any less noisy there, “escaping” from the city street. Later, another woman comes in. She walks towards my side and sits on the “rock bench” to light up a cigarette, right under a sign that says refreshments.


It looked like she was having a bad day and smoking that one cigarette and the park was going to make it all better. I was confused by the “refreshments” sign so I approached her: “Do you come here often?” I popped the innocent question and she looked at me as if I was an undercover policeman about to arrest her for smoking or something. Who knows? She said occasionally, but yes. I asked her what the sign was about and she pointed at a big green door five steps away from her and told me that in the summer, there is a small food stand with sodas and some food (sandwiches, café sort of)- it was closed now opening in late May. I thanked her for her help and walked back to where I was sitting. Not too long after I sat, a man that clearly knew that lady stood right next to her and lit up his own cigarette. They talked for a few minutes, exchanging smiles and comments and soon left. A man that caught my attention was one who was passing by the park, stopped, entered, and walked the pathway of the middle of the park that leads straight to the waterfall. Once he arrived at the waterfall, looks at it up and down, side to side, turns around, and walks back down the same path. Huh? Yes, he did just that. The lady that was on the phone all this time, hangs up, and approaches the waterfall. She sits down close by the waterfall and lights up a cigarette. She leaves ten minutes later when a man goes up the steps and calls for her.

Though there were only a few people, Paley Park seems to be a high point of a meeting place and a big smoking area. Smoking appears to occur at the corners, meeting somewhere around the middle or by the steps. There was a girl that came in and sat in the first chair of the first table right off the entrance. She was on the phone and did not move until a few minutes later after she hung up, when her friend met her there and they left together. A couple of adults enter the park, marveled by it and sat in the table closest to the waterfall. The lady sat with her back to the entrance and then man moved his chair so that he was almost at her side but facing her from the front, if you understand what I mean. Similar to those sitting areas that Whyte describes as “fixed individual seats” that tell you “you sit here, and you sit there.”He says that they work very well for “lovers” but not for most people. But since it seems that this couple was married, the sitting arrangement worked just fine.

The public park is very public indeed. At least at the time that I was there, there only surveillance was that of a sanitation worker that swept up one or two papers (garbage) from the floor. But mostly, it is the people that sit there that do the surveillance and watching of the park. Also, there aren’t any signs that prohibit certain people from coming in and although there is a big gate that I assume eventually closes, there weren’t any signs that said operation hours of the park. Actually, the only sign I saw besides the ‘refreshments’ one, was plaque outside the park that read: “The park is set aside in memory of Samuel Paley, 1875-1963 for the enjoyment of the public.” Those last 6 words are pretty welcoming if you ask me. And as I said, the park is right off the street, it is almost impossible that if you have spare time while you pass by it, to not simply come in and enjoying it nice, comfortable, beautiful space.

I enjoyed my time there. Though it was very empty, watching people pass by and look in to the park was really fascinating and often funny. I kept remembering Whyte’s film and his observation of what people do at Paley. There were more people amazed by the park that passed by than the ones that were in the park. Many took pictures from the entrance; others stood by the entrance and had someone else take pictures of them with the park as a background. The waterfall was calming to me and the chairs quite comfortable. Sadly, it was really cold for me that day and did not take advantage of the park as much as I would have liked. I’m definitely going back in the summer