Madison Square Park

Ah, those earliest warm, sunny New York days in March. They bring out creatures of all kinds to bask in the spring weather and do what they were meant to do. 

For flowers, plants, and trees, that means just starting to bloom.

For squirrels I suppose it can mean a bit of self-cleaning:

I had never seen a squirrel doing that!

And for squirrels it can also mean hanging out and taking a look around. First in my general direction:

And then Hey, what's going on over there?

Taking photos of squirrels made me feel especially like a tourist because I often see tourists marveling at them and snapping pics. I guess they don't have squirrels in other parts of the world, though I wouldn't have guessed that because they're as abundant here as pigeons and those certainly seem to be an international animal. 

Anyway where was I? Oh yes, so we have plant behavior and squirrel behavior on a nice March day. And what is human behavior? Waiting on line at Shake Shack, of course. What?

Their food seems good but I don't know if any food is good enough for waiting on a long line when you're in the middle of Manhattan. I'll try not to judge. Good for Shake Shack, I guess. 

I haven't even mentioned where we are in this post, other than in the title. Madison Square Park runs from 23rd to 26th Street and is bordered to the east by Madison Avenue. The northern part of its western edge is along 5th Avenue, but instead of continuing south along 5th Avenue to complete the rectangle, its southwestern border is the diagonal-cutting Broadway. This leaves a chunk of that rectangular corner out of the park and forms a separate pedestrian area, including Flatiron Plaza in front of, conveniently, the Flatiron Building.

The Flatiron Building is one of the very nice buildings bordering the park. I featured it more in a previous post. Here is a view from inside Madison Square:

Along the Madison Avenue border to the east is the Met Life Tower:

Construction on it finished in 1909 and it is 700 feet tall. It was the tallest building in the world from 1909-1913, until the Woolworth Building farther downtown overtook it. Here is a 1911 photo by Irving Underhill:                   
Facing the southeast corner of the park:

Here are a few other nearby building features that stuck out to me. At the northeast corner:

The northwest corner:

And along Madison Avenue:

In my post on Washington Square North I mentioned an historic tree, and this park has one too!

Here's the tree:

Pretty cool. I never noticed that plaque before.

A lot of the grassy areas in the park seem off limits to the public, which I guess is good for their health. The grassy areas' health, that is. Here's a big field in the middle of the park:

And from the other side:

You can see a lamppost light being on in the above photo. This was the case for most of them in the park even though it was the mid-afternoon. I'm not sure what the deal is there.  

There is a kids' playground in the northeast area, in the background of the photo below.

I saw this sign in a small section next to the playground:

I thought the garden might just be a small area next to one side of the playground. According to the website of the Madison Square Park Conservancy, however, Bridget's Garden goes all around it and was named after Bridget Watkins, "a champion and friend of Madison Square Park." 

Along the northern area was this circular space where a lot of people were sitting, perhaps because the big grass field was closed off.

The statue to the right in the photo is of David Glasgow Farragut.

He served in the U.S. Navy and Union Navy from 1810-1870. A famous phrase comes from him, which is generally considered either mythical or a paraphrasing of an order during his winning effort at the Battle of Mobile Bay in the Civil War: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

There is another military tribute in the park, the Eternal Light Flagstaff, seen here from a distance: 

After victory in World War I, the U.S. Army and Navy were honored here, and this commemorates those service members. The star at the top is meant to always be lit as a tribute to those who gave their lives. Here is one side of the base:

Also along the western side of the park is Jemmy's Run, which was named best dog park of 2015 by the Village Voice. I didn't need to look up that info because I've memorized every Village Voice best dog park winner going back to the 1920's. I don't have a photographic memory, it's just how I spend my free time.

Here are some looks at the southeast corner of the park, near the Shake Shack area.

The statue is of Roscoe Conkling, a New York politician who served in the U.S. House and Senate in the 19th century. 

There are two more political statues in the park. Here's William H. Seward:

And "Chester Alan Arthur," aka Chester A. Arthur:

 A small section of the park was closed off for a tree removal:

It was nice to have the process explained in detail. 

Please don't feed pigeons. Just... don't. 

In conclusion, Madison Square Park is a very pleasant place, especially when the weather is nice. A pretty relaxed vibe overall. And if you want to avoid long lines for food, go to Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop just a block away on 5th Avenue. You won't regret it.