St. Vartan Park

Pretty solid patch of green in a not so solid area, dig it for a quick stop to eat or relax when in the area.

NOSTALGIA TRIP — or — WHERE I PERFECTED MY «KILLER-​SHOT» !!!
TO MY OLD RACQUETBALL WEEKEND HANGOUT!!!
Decades ago, when I used to live on 20^th street & worked long weeks at the nearby NYU Med Center, this park was it, for releasing my pent up stress & energy from life.
Being one of the top Brooklyn players (at least in the Marine Park area), WHEN I teamed up with my German friend, we held the court all day. From early morning till when you could no longer see the ball.
The only draw back of constantly WINNING… was that you had to keep winning hour after hour all day to keep the court… & we almost always did. The only break was to drink some gatorade, readjust our sneaker laces, & such… or beat all the competition to a pulp.
Boy, was I am former hot-​shot (but not now at 55… lord am I out of shape!).
Besides the obvious appeal of a FREE SPORT in the middle of NYC… it was also a good place to make some dates. Some super-​hot, some just Psychotic!
IN THE WINTER (AS IN BROOKLYN) SOMETIMES THE DIE-​HARDS LIKE ME WOULD BRING A SHOVEL TO GET RID OF THE SNOW & STILL PLAY!!!
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
Even thought these & other NYC courts were originally intended for handball for new immigrants… latter Paddleball, & then Racquetball prevailed.
I was first weaned at 12 year of age in the ART of PADDLEBALL in Marine Park in Brooklyn… with my JHS 278 friends, Donald, Ronald, & sometimes Frank.
One was Chinese, one was Irish/​Jewish, one was Italian, & I completed the mix, being Slovak. We were friends for at least a decade, but gradually lost touch.
Sad, but true.
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Anyway, in the great MELTING POT of NYC, these FREE City Courts
were a great blessing to the immigrants brats, that called NYC home!
Like US!
THANKS NYC !!! 10 BILLION STARS *****************************etc…
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Besides the court, I rarely explored much of the Park except at recent visit when I took a short-​cut through it in the snow/ice…loaded down with over 1,360 pages of medical records from my mom’s horrid 2 week stay at NYC Med Center. Those 25+ or so pounds of crap in my backpack did not make enhance the safety of my trek across the unplowed park… but it did give an idea of how the untouched snow did look in NYC.
Unfortunately, some A-​hole Yuppy girl was left her two crappy mutts take a crap on my old court while I tried to imagine the past. What an A-​hole!
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SOME background about this park, from the NYC Parks Website:
«St. Vartan Park, between East 35^th and 36^th Streets on Second Avenue, is named for the St. Vartan Cathedral of the Armenian Orthodox Church in America. Vartan was an Armenian who lived during the fourth century, remembered for his martyrdom at the Battle of Avarayr in 451AD between Armenian and Iranian forces in present-​day Albania.
In June 1897, Mayor William L. Strong (1827 – 1900) appointed an advisory committee that became known as the Small Parks Commission. That commission selected this site for a park in 1901, and they acquired the land through condemnation two years later. This park opened as St. Gabriel’s Park in 1904, named for nearby St. Gabriel Church formerly at 310 East 37^th Street. The park was reconstructed in 1936, and a playground, wading pool, roller skating track, and courts for handball, shuffleboard, and horseshoe pitching were added, as well as a field house and comfort station.»

beautiful, well maintained-​fun safe park for your kids-​just be wary of the fence line and bushes toward dusk– rats. which is usually a nyc problem in general–
the basketball/​handball courts are top notch-​but there is no water fountain in this part-​so bring your own–
the park is nice size-​playground area has sprinklers, swings-​things to climb-​kids everywhere! put your kids in a bright shirts so you can find em easy-​connected to that is huge concrete area/​field for baseball.skating.bikes.whatever-and across tunnel approach street are the basketball/​handball courts
this park really is a good one-​all the kids-​teens, athletes, adults will enjoy themselves here
across street on 2^nd avenue 35^th st is pizza and diner-​on 1^st ave 34^th st-​deli deli and deli-​just watch out crossing streets-​tunnel and hospital traffic-​hold your kids hands-​and if driving, read signs carefully-​traffic agents are like shadow ninjas

This park although mainly for children, has 4 large picnic style tables for lunch an plenty of benches to sit on. It doesn’t have much greenery with the exception of the entrance on first avenue they have a beautiful but small garden. They have a rec-​room/​preschool type of program. You can google that if you’re interested. It’s kids and nanny central! I just sit here and have lunch sometimes enjoy the nice breeze and shade. It’s a small getaway from the office if only for just lunch. For the sports/​fitness buffs, they have a pretty decent size field (for like little league) and handball/​basket ball courts as well.

I don’t live here, but I occasionally walk by this place on my way to soliciting another park or just cause. YOLO!
All jokes aside, it is very nice to have access to a rather large open space for anything from tossing frisbees or playing catch. On an average weekend day, you will probably see a handful of youths running around the hard court throwing legally and socially appropriate objects at each other repeatedly.

A nice small dog park near the UN and the East River. Small.

I love this park. I bring my two girls here (both under 3) whenever I can grab someone else to come with me. There’s so much to do for them here… too much, in my opinion. And I don’t mean too much in a bad way; in a bad way for me as one parent, by myself, with two high-​active, adventurous toddlers; hence, the extra person to come along.
There’s, I would say, about 10 baby swings (give or take), a rather large jungle gym with bridges, slides (a spiral one and a straight one). Tire swings, a big area that has sprinklers running in the summer months… so much. Too much! In a good way.
There’s also a playschool house that seems like you need to know someone to get into. So, other than that (the elusive entrance into the playhouse) I really love this place.

So Google Maps thinks this is St. Gabriel’s Park, but it was renamed in 1978 to St Vartan Park after St. Vartan Cathedral of the Armenian Orthodox Church. Go figure.
It’s a rather dumpy park, not much green and it’s in a very high traffic area given it’s proximity to the Queens-​Midtown Tunnel. There is a lot of concrete and asphalt which means some basketball and handball facilities. It’s not a great place for eating lunch (oops, my bad).
On the more positive side there was a well populated kids jungle gym area which looked ok. I’m sure it’s better than nothing for those who live in the neighborhood, but it sure isn’t a shining example of the best in NYC park facilities.