9 May 2023, ♣ Φ Berkeley parks

9.5.2023, Berkeley parks

Arbitrary collection of Berkeley parks, strongly varying in character:

  • Aquatic park
  • Berkeley Hills incl. Clark Kerr trail
  • Berkeley Rose Garden, see: 23.5.2023
  • People’s park, see: 6.5.2023
  • Poetry Park at Arts Magnet School, see: 27.5.2023
  • SF Bay Trail, see: 9.5.2023
  • Tilden Park, incl. Nimitz trail

City of Berkeley: Parks and recreation – Parks, https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/parks-recreation: Berkeley has over fifty parks, with various amenities including picnic areas, sports facilities, and more. Please follow the park rules when you visit …

6 May 2023 ff, Berkeley, incl. Bay Area Book Festival

6.5.2023 ff, Berkeley, incl. Bay Area Book Festival

Bay Area Book Festival, www.baybookfest.org/schedule23/: What is Bay Area Book Festival? A bridge to everywhere. We believe books, and smart conversations about them, build bridges. At a time when so much divides us, we close the gap with programming that opens minds and hearts … Since 2015, Bay Area Book Festival has featured the boldest and most brilliant literary voices in conversations … with a focus on justice and diversity …

Incl.: „An Evening with Joan Baez: Trailblazing Musician, Artist, and Activist“, … Joan Baez is a dynamic force of nature. Her commitment to music and social activism has earned global recognition … Retired from active performing since 2019, she has devoted much of her time to the “Mischief Makers” series of paintings, portraits that immortalize risk-taking visionaries she has known and who have brought about social change through history, from Dr. Martin Luther King and Bob Dylan to the Dalai Lama and Patti Smith … – Baez will be joined on stage by Greg Sarris, who is in his fifteenth consecutive elected term as the Tribal Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria … Saturday, May 6 | 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM, Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA

B.R. Maybeck: First Church of Christ, Scientist, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Church_of_Christ,_Scientist_(Berkeley,_California): located at 2619 Dwight Way at Bowditch Street across the street from People’s Park …

The historic 1910 church was designed by … architect Bernard Ralph Maybeck (1862–1957), in a primarily American Craftsman style, with Byzantine Revival, Romanesque Revival, and Gothic Revival style elements … widely considered one of Maybeck’s masterpieces …

Berkeley in (Alameda County), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley,_California (18.3.2023): … considered one of the most socially progressive cities in the United States … Berkeley is strongly identified with the rapid social changes, civic unrest, and political upheaval that characterized the late 1960s … Berkeley — especially Telegraph Avenue — became a focal point for the hippie movement, which spilled over the Bay from San Francisco … overlap between the hippie movement and the radical left … conflict over a parcel of university property south of the contiguous campus site that came to be called “People’s Park” … In the end, the park remained undeveloped, and remains so today … A culture of anti-establishment and sociopolitical activism marked the 1960s … The city … promotes greenery and the environment … is a leader in the nationwide effort to re-tree urban areas … also heavily involved in creek restoration and wetlands restoration, including a planned daylighting of Strawberry Creek along Center Street … Urban Creeks Council … Friends of the Five Creeks …

2 May 2023, ♣ NYC: The High Line

2.5.2023, ♣ NYC: The High Line

The High Line, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line: … a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan … The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a “living system” drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology … inspired by the 4.7 km (2.9 mi) long Coulée verte …, a similar project in Paris completed in 1993 … Originating in the Meatpacking District, the park runs from Gansevoort Street … through Chelsea to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street … Due to a decline in rail traffic … effectively abandoned in 1980 … A nonprofit organization called Friends of the High Line was formed in 1999 …, advocating its preservation and reuse as public open space, an elevated park or greenway … The administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a High Line park in 2003. Repurposing … began in 2006 and opened in phases during 2009, 2011, and 2014 … 2019 … 2023 … the High Line has become an icon of American contemporary landscape architecture. The High Line’s success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space. The park became a tourist attraction and spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods, increasing real-estate values and prices along the route … by 2019, it had eight million visitors per year …

1 May 2023 ff, ♣ NYC: Central Park

1.5.2023 ff, ♣ NYC: Central Park

Public art in Central Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_art_in_Central_Park: … Until recently, depictions of real (as opposed to imaginary) humans have been men, whereas depictions of women have been either mythological characters (angels or goddesses) or characters from literature. The installation in 2020 of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument, depicting three female activists, was a first step in addressing this oversight …


Central Park, www.britannica.com/place/Central-Park-New-York-City: largest and most important public park in Manhattan … 840 acres (340 hectares) … extends between 59th and 110th streets (about 2.5 miles [4 km]) and between Fifth and Eighth avenues (about 0.5 miles [0.8 km]) … one of the first American parks to be developed using landscape architecture techniques … In the 1840s the increasing urbanization of Manhattan prompted the poet-editor William Cullen Bryant and the landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing to call for a new, large park to be built on the island … A plan was devised by the architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux that would preserve and enhance the natural features of the terrain to provide a pastoral park for city dwellers … During the park’s … construction millions of cartloads of dirt and topsoil were shifted to build the terrain, about 5,000,000 trees and shrubs were planted, a water-supply system was laid, and many bridges, arches, and roads were constructed. The completed Central Park officially opened in 1876 … The Metropolitan Museum of Art is in the park, facing Fifth Avenue …

1 May 2023 ff, Φ ♣ NYC Parks

1.5.2023 ff, NYC Parks

List of New York City parks, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_City_parks: … Three entities manage parks within New York City, each with its own responsibilities: Federal – US National Park Service (NPS) – both open-space and historic properties; State – New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSP); Municipal – New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) …

Central Park: see 1 May 2023ff

The High Line: see 2 May 2023

Bryant Park, https://bryantpark.org/: Bryant Park is one of the world’s busiest public spaces. More than 12 million people per year visit the park …

Jefferson Market Garden, www.jeffersonmarketgarden.org/: … Mission Statement: To provide stewardship for a beautiful garden where the community and visitors can enjoy tranquil surroundings in our hectic urban environment … From Market to Jail to Garden … the community created a public green space in place of the women’s prison. A newly formed committee of local residents became its stewards, and in the spring of 1975, Jefferson Market Garden’s first flowers bloomed …

Little Island Park, https://littleisland.org/: … a new public park, located in Hudson River Park, where all New Yorkers and visitors can experience nature and art in a unique urban oasis on the Hudson River … Move your body – Add Little Island to your running route or utilize our spaces for your daily yoga routine …

Thomas Paine Park, www.nycgovparks.org/parks/thomas-paine-park: This park in the heart of New York City’s civic center is named for patriot, author, humanitarian, and political visionary Thomas Paine (1737-1809) …