Bryant Park

One little park, tucked behind the New York Public Library and surrounded on all sides by office buildings new and old, hotels and Broadway theaters right around the corner - it's Bryant Park.  When I first moved to New York in 1981, this was just about the last place any New Yorker would think of to spend time, unless you were a drug dealer or customer.  Now, it's simply amazing.  Yesterday's 73 degrees at lunchtime proved it.  The park is not only extremely well-located for midtown workers to have a breath of fresh air during lunch, but this small location packs a punch with creative and ambitious programming:

Chess games

Southwest Porch, complete with beach-style seating and bar

Free wifi

Free sun and grass

The fountain - a good place to meet

The Reading Room, with books, etc. from the Public Library

Almost a little bit of Paris in midtown NYC

Le Carrousel

Movies in the summer evenings, ice skating in the winter, as well as take-out sandwich stands and the Bryant Park Grill for dining or drinking indoors or out, Bryant Park is my favorite bit of sanity in the middle of the city.