Washington Square Park551

Surrounded by NYU and Greenwich Village and covering nearly 10 acres, Washington Square Park has long been known as a meeting ground for students, local residents, tourists and performers. While it maintains its distinctive, funky downtown flavor, this park has also become much friendlier to families with small children in recent years.

The most striking feature of Washington Square Park is the enormous Washington Arch on the north side, which was built over 100 years ago (modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) to commemorate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration. It marks the bottom of Fifth Avenue and the entrance to the Park.

The picturesque, shady north side of the park, which faces a row of beautiful Greek Revival townhouses, features two playgrounds. The larger of the two (to the east) is for children about seven and under and features three separate climbing/sliding areas, one each for small, medium, and medium-large children. The two smaller areas are built above rubberized surfaces for safety, as is the swing area (two baby swings; four for older children). The larger climbing area is built above a sandy pit, which acts as a huge sandbox. Three spouting turtles allow for sprinkler play during warmer months. Three picnic tables and numerous benches allow tired grown-ups to relax, slightly.

The smaller playground, to the west of the arch, is for small children only, with a baby climbing area, four baby swings, and 3 spring-action rocking horses.

Both the east and west sections of the park offer several small grassy areas, some of which are periodically closed to human and canine traffic for replanting. At either side of the north and south central entrances are beautifully planted gardens.

At the center of the park is a large fountain, as often functional as not, which is the site of a vast array of virtually free (aside from hat-passing) performance art, ranging from fire eating to break dancing to folk music. While many of these are perfectly appropriate for the young, as well as enormously entertaining, a few performers use foul language as part of their schtick, so beware.

On the south side, west of the central entrance, is a large dog run, which can provide excellent entertainment for young children, whether you choose to watch from without or within. Of course the level of friendliness inside depends on the dogs (and their owners!), so some may find it safest to watch from the benches lining the outside perimeter.

At the southwest corner of the park are 19 concrete and marble game tables. You have to bring your own chess or checker pieces, but there are usually lots of local pros hanging around, some of whom are friendly enough to play a game with a budding prodigy.

Directly to the east of the game tables is a fenced-off area containing three large asphalt moguls. According to park rangers, bike riding is permitted here (obviously for older children and teenagers), although it is forbidden elsewhere in the park. Our advice: lots of protective gear, and mountain bikes only!

There are several standard-issue food stands throughout the park where you can get hot dogs, pretzels, soft drinks, ice cream, and the like. These come in handy when the water fountains are out of order, which is often the case.

The public restrooms here are regrettably sub-par. There is a small changing table in the women's room, but no paper towels, no hot water, and a horrid stench hangs in the air. Use only in desperation.

The NYC Parks and Recreation Department does have plans to renovate Washington Square Park, including work on the restrooms and drinking fountains, as well as repaving paths and fixing broken benches.

In case you were wondering, the pebble-covered courts to the east of the central entrance on the south side are for playing Petanque, a French game involving heavy metal balls called boules.