Daycare gates ny: Loving Touch Daycare in Gates, NY, 585.429.5110

Опубликовано: July 27, 2023 в 9:24 am

Автор:

Категории: Miscellaneous

Best Childcare Provider in Gates, NY

Rise Above WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 312-3198

Hi! We’re Rise Above Daycare and we’re a home daycare providing childcare to families. Our goal is to ensure children reach their developmen… Read More

$112 – $223 / wk

6:00 am – 6:00 pm

Racquel’s Daycare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 460-3661

Hi! We’re Racquel’s Daycare and we’re a home daycare providing childcare to families. Our goal is to ensure children reach their development… Read More

$248 – $310 / wk

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Thank You for the Joy Family Childcare WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 252-5232

Welcome to Thank You for the Joy Childcare WeeCare! We offer childcare for families looking to provide their child with a loving and kind en… Read More

$266 – $333 / wk

6:30 am – 7:30 pm

Delia’s Daycare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(315) 660-1894

Welcome to Delia’s Daycare! We offer childcare for families looking to provide their child with a loving and safe environment that’s just li. .. Read More

$200 – $212 / wk

5:30 am – 6:00 pm

Curenton, Imawney Daycare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 449-4955

Curenton, Imawney offers safe, loving childcare in the Rochester area. Kids learn through curriculum-based, educational activities. The faci… Read More

$227 – $258 / wk

7:00 am – 5:30 pm

Pequeños Soñadores WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 326-9819

$130 – $167 / wk

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Baby Love WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 326-9202

Welcome to Baby Love WeeCare! We offer children a nurturing and loving environment that’s just like home. At our home daycare, our goal is t… Read More

$135 – $360 / wk

7:00 am – 12:00 am

Monarch Montessori Daycare LLC WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(315) 502-3689

Welcome to Monarch Montessori Daycare LLC! We offer childcare for families looking to provide their child with a loving and kind environment… Read More

$258 – $320 / wk

5:30 am – 5:00 pm

Weiland Woods Playcare WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 684-3737

Hi! We’re Weiland Woods Playcare and we’re a home daycare providing childcare to families. Our goal is to ensure children reach their develo… Read More

$284 – $310 / wk

7:00 am – 5:00 pm

Poo Bear WeeCare

Daycare in
Rochester, NY

(585) 257-2911

Welcome to Poo Bear WeeCare! We offer childcare for families looking to provide their child with a loving and safe environment that’s just l… Read More

$389 / wk

6:30 am – 6:00 pm

Map

Location not displayed

Search map as I move

List

Popular Searches

Nearby Neighborhoods

Nearby Cities

Transportation / Childcare Information

  • Home


  • District

    • About Gates Chili
    • Administration
    • Annual Professional Performance Review
    • Board of Education
    • Budget
    • Contact Us
    • COVID-19 Information
    • District Communication
    • Equity and Inclusion
    • School Directory
    • Staff Directory
    • Student Registration
    • 2023 Budget Vote and Board Election


  • Schools

    • Schools

    • Gates Chili High School
    • Gates Chili Middle School
    • Florence Brasser Elementary School
    • Neil Armstrong Elementary School
    • Paul Road Elementary School
    • Walt Disney Elementary School


  • Departments

    • Counseling

    • Instruction
    • Athletics
    • Business and Finance
    • Continuing Education
    • Facilities and Security
    • Health and Safety
    • Human Resources
    • School Nutrition and Meals
    • Student Support Services
    • Technology
    • Transportation


  • For Students

    • eDoctrina
    • i-Ready

    • Career Center
    • ClassLink
    • Code of Conduct and DASA
    • IT Requests
    • Library Media Centers
    • Microsoft Office 365
    • Naviance Family Connection
    • Paper Tutoring
    • Safe School Helpline
    • Schoology
    • SchoolTool Student Portal


  • For Families

    • Elementary Progress Reports
    • Library Media Centers
    • Mobile App Information
    • Naviance Family Connection
    • Student Laptop Information

    • Get Involved
    • Annual Notifications and General Information
    • Emergency School Closings
    • Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES
    • Parent/Guardian Rights
    • Schoology
    • SchoolTool
    • Update Contact Information
    • Virtual Backpack


  • For Community

    • Get Involved
    • Alumni Center
    • Capital Project
    • Continuing Education
    • Driver Education
    • Facility Use and Rental
    • Field House Community Use
    • Gates Chili Educational Foundation
    • Gates Chili Food Pantry
    • Gates Chili Performing Arts Center
    • Sex Offender Registry
    • Volunteer Opportunities


  • Calendar

    • District Calendars
    • Online Calendar


  • Student Support Services

    • School Social Work Services
    • K-12 OTPT’s Site
    • Speech/Language


  • Academics Pages

    • Art
    • Business
    • English Language Arts
    • Family and Consumer Science
    • Health
    • LOTE
    • Mathematics
    • Music
    • Physical Education
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • Technology

  • Transportation


    • Childcare Information

    • Join the Team

    • Meet the Team

    • Transportation Forms

    • Transportation Policies
  • Q: Can my child be picked up from home and dropped off at a babysitter or daycare? Or picked up at a babysitter or daycare and dropped off at home?

    A: Yes, but this must be the same arrangement for five days a week. Fill out a Transportation Request Form and submit it to the Transportation Department.

     

    Q: What if my child’s babysitter is outside of the attendance area for the elementary school they will attend?

    A: Transportation will be provided to and from a New York State registered babysitter or daycare if they are within the Gates Chili School District’s attendance area. A list of registered babysitters and daycares is available.

     


    For specific information about the SAFE Program, contact the Town of Chili http://www.townofchili.org/working-for-you/town-departments/recreation/after-school-program.

     

    For specific information about the GAP Program, contact the Town of Gates https://gatesrecparks.org/Default.aspx?id=12

     

    If you are a parent or caregiver who needs childcare, please complete this parent need for child care survey. Based on the information you provide about your job, employer, number of children, and financial need, the OCFS may be able to help you find the child program you need.  

     

    If you are interested in helping support your community by helping to keep local child care programs operating-especially to care for children of health care and other critical workers, please complete this Survey for Current Child Care Workers. Your responses will be shared with local child care programs that are in need of staff.

    *The surveys are in English, they are currently being translated, translations to follow. 

     

    Additional Resources: 

    Office of Children and Family Services: https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/childcare/

    Link to the YMCA Emergency Child Care: www.emergencychildcareny.org 

    Monroe County Childcare Subsidy Assistance

     

Daycare Providers in the Gates Chili CSD – August 2020




















  • DAYCARE NAME

     

    CONTACT

     

    LICENCED?

     

    ADDRESS

     

    ZIP

     

    PHONE

     

    DESCRIPTION

    Abbott Family Daycare

    Kyle Abbott

    No

    14 Shetland Trail

    14624

    732-0591

    Family Daycare

    Generations Daycare

    Dir. Resielyn Ewell

    Yes

    2400 Chili Ave

    14624

    247-3490

    Daycare Center

    Imagination Childcare Academy

    Erin Medlar

    Yes

    230 Coldwater Rd

    14624

    413-3948

    Daycare Center

    Kradle To Kradle Daycare

    Kimberly Kradle

    Yes

    6 Sesqui Dr

    14624

    247-7731

    Family Daycare

    Legette Family Daycare

    Jessie Legette

    Yes

    20 Pyramid La

    14624

    503-5035

    Family Daycare

    Loving Touch Daycare

    Dir. Stephanie Schreiber

    Yes

    395 Spencerport Rd

    14606

    429-5110

    Daycare Center

    Mannara Family Daycare

    Valerie A. Mannara

    Yes

    19 Tarrycrest Ln

    14606

    429-5071

    Family Daycare

    Mommy Care

    Christina Morabito

    Yes

    991 Chili Ctr

    Coldwater Rd

    14624

    478-7550

    Family Daycare

    Northstar Christian Daycare

    Beth Porteus

    Exempt

    332 Spencerport Rd

    14606

    247-8620

    Daycare Preschool

    Nero Family Daycare

    Shannon Nero

    Yes

    12 Iland Dr

    14624

    429-7247

    Family Daycare

    Viola Espada Daycare

    Viola Espada

     

    146 Rossmore St

    14624

    683-0787

    Family Daycare

    Wallace Family Daycare

    Julie Ann Wallace

    Yes

    34 Laredo Dr

    14624

    781-4588

    Family Daycare

    YMCA Daycare

    Michele Beikirch

    Yes

    920 Elmgrove Rd

    14624

    341-3278

    Daycare Center

    Connie Groome

    Connie Groome

    No

    39 Tarrytown Drive

    14624

    615-1468

    Family Daycare

    Jean Osterling

    Jean Osterling

    No     247-0784 Family Daycare

New York Central Park History Queens; is not the oldest park in the US, created many decades after the parks in Boston and Philadelphia; and even, according to his own architects, is not the most beautiful park in New York, yielding to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. However, without exaggeration, Central Park is the most famous and significant city park in the United States.

The park is located on Manhattan Island between 59th and 110th Streets and Fifth and Eighth Avenues and thus has a rectangular shape. The length of the park is 4 kilometers, the width is 800 meters, the total area is 3.4 km2. With an estimated 25 million visitors a year, the park is the most visited park in the US and has been featured in many films and television shows and has made the park one of the most famous in the world.

The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, non-profit organization that manages the park under contract to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The park is entirely man-made, although it looks natural. The park contains several natural looking lakes and reservoirs that have been artificially created, extensive walking trails, two ice skating rinks (one of which is a pool in July and August), Central Park Zoo, Central Park Gardens, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area natural forests, Teatro Delacorte, which hosts summer festivals. Landmarks of Central Park are: Belvedere Castle, the Swedish Cottage Puppet Theatre, and the historic Carousel. In addition, there are seven main lawns and many playgrounds for children. Let’s find out how it was created…

Between 1820 and 1850, New York’s population quadrupled, and already at that time, having become the largest financial and industrial center of the country, the urban population needed public places of recreation. The city limits were limited at that time to modern 39th Street and in the mid-fifties of the nineteenth century, the authorities allocated a huge tract of wetland that lay outside the city limits and was inhabited mainly by farmers. By the way, Harlem, which borders the park in the north, was then a separate city and had a completely indirect relationship with New York.

In 1857, a competition was held, which was won by two architects – an American *Frederick Olmsted* and an Englishman *Calvert Vaux*, who received education and practice in Europe (there was not a single school specializing in landscape and park design in the USA at that time ).

Their project was based on the idea of ​​creating an English-style park with lots of winding paths, gardens, hills and ponds. This differed, for example, from the classical French style with a spacious central promenade, an abundance of fountains and flower beds, which was more suitable for a park at the palace. However, behind this project there was something more that the authors tried to express by creating this park.

As already mentioned, by the middle of the 19th century, New York became a major world center with a strong middle and upper classes and no less numerous poor people and workers. Other world capitals, such as London and Paris, had parks where all citizens, without exception, could spend their leisure time. Unlike New York. At that time, only a limited circle of people had access to the few parks and gardens of the city – wealthy citizens, members of clubs, business owners. This social injustice worried both the architects and the city government, which in the end allocated money for the construction of the park.

As conceived by the architects, Central Park should become the embodiment of democratic principles and freedoms*, for which the country has fought for many years. Social equality – this was the motto and the main idea when designing the park. This, in particular, is expressed in the joint parallel (rather than separate) passage of pedestrian roads, occupied mainly by the poor, and roads for horse-drawn carriages of wealthy citizens. *Central Mall* – the only direct alley leading to the heart of the park *Bethesda terrace*, a wide pedestrian area with benches and places for street performances – was also supposed to be a place for people of different classes to mix.

If you pay attention to the entrances to the park, each of them has been given a separate name. The architects had the choice to name the entrance groups after great people, military battles, states, but they opted for the professions of ordinary people, thus paying tribute to the people who participated in the construction of the park. So, in the park there are gates of Scientists, Artists, Craftsmen, Merchants, Farmers, Hunters, Miners, Foresters, Engineers, Inventors, Military, etc.

But the park is not only a work of landscape design. This is also a breakthrough in modern engineering, which should have been embodied here. First of all, these are four roads, which initially, according to the project, crossed the park from east to west, but below the main level of the park, i.e. without creating not only interference with vacationers, but also
without giving out its presence at all, blocked by an abundance of bushes. The system of tunnels and bridges, designed in the middle of the 19th century, is still working almost unchanged.

Another engineering marvel that was first applied at that time in New York and implemented in Bethesda terrace is the separation of pedestrian and vehicle flows at different levels. The city at that time was full of various vehicles – first of all, horse-drawn carriages, and there were no underground or overhead passages and traffic lights then. The first structure appeared in the central park, which helped to separate the human and traffic flows.

The park was also included in the system of the newly built city water supply system, which for the first time in the history of the city provides uninterrupted supply of drinking water. The purest water from the Croton River entered the city through tunnels and aqueducts from a distance of more than 100 kilometers. For an overpopulated city suffering from infectious diseases due to insufficient sewerage and sanitation, this was a real salvation. Despite the fact that the fountain with drinking water was publicly available. Krotonskiy akveduk 500×215 Central Park. Creation history

After the announcement of the winners of the competition in 1857, its direct construction began, which continued until 1873. During this time, more than 14 thousand cubic meters of fertile land were brought to the territory of the park measuring 2.5 by 0.5 miles (4 by 0.8 kilometers), more than 4 million plants of 1400 species were planted, alleys, gardens, an artificial rectangular reservoir were organized ( which was subsequently dried up and is now in its place *Great Lawn*), playgrounds, a carousel, a boat station, 2 ice skating grounds and more. For the first time since the formation of the United States, all this was available to absolutely all residents of the city.

Initially, there was only one statue in the park – this is *Angel of the waters*. However, gradually the peoples who inhabited the city at that time began to give the park statues of the most prominent representatives of the art of their countries. So the statues of Beethoven, Scott, Shakespeare and others appeared in the park. And it also became a manifestation of democratic signs on the one hand and showed the national diversity of New York on the other. At the same time, the park was replenished with statues of national heroes of the civil war.Statui v TSentralnom parke 500×337 Central Park.

Between 1860 and 1873 the construction of the park dragged on and most of the basic ideas had to be revised. At this time, more than 14,000 m3 of fertile land was imported from New Jersey, as the local land was not suitable for many of the trees, shrubs, and other plants envisaged by the original plan. When the park was officially completed in 1873, over 10 million cartloads of material, including earth and stone, were dug up and removed from the site. Also included were over 4 million trees, shrubs and other plants representing some 1,500 species.

Some time after opening, the park began to fall into disrepair. One of the main reasons for this was the infamous political machine known as Tammany Hall, at that time the biggest political force in New York. And it was also connected both with the advent of the car as a new means of transportation, and with the death of one of the creators of the Vox park in 1895, who until the end of his life followed his condition. The city stopped allocating money to maintain the park, there was no one to replace old trees, bushes, look after lawns and playgrounds, the police stopped patrolling the territory, and over time, the crime rate in the park increased.

The situation changed when Fiorello La Guardia became mayor in 1934 and appointed *Robert Moses* to the post of park manager. Under Moses, the park gained a new life, while slightly changing the concept. Since the mid-1930s, the park has become not just a place for walking, but also a place for active recreation for citizens. * Sports grounds * (for playing baseball, handball, football), basketball and tennis courts are being built, the Croton reservoir is being drained (the same one that was on the site of the modern Great Lawn).

In the 60s, after the departure of Moses, the park again lost the attention of the authorities and the corresponding funding. At this time, the park is used primarily as a place for meetings, concerts, demonstrations, folk festivals. Due to lack of funding, the police patrol the park less and less, graffiti appears, there is no one to clean up the garbage, crime, prostitution, and drug trafficking are growing again. All this reaches its peak in the 70s…

By 1975, several advocacy groups joined forces to come up with new ideas on how to improve the park. As a result, at 1980 and formed the Committee for the Protection of Nature.

When the Committee began its work, the founders decided not to create a new organization with specially hired workers, which would lead to high costs. Instead, they decided to focus on recruiting volunteers for most of the work, as this would help encourage city residents to take better care of the park, as well as create the impression that the park is one of the integral parts of New York.

The Committee began to interact with the Commissioner of the Park, and committed to the restoration and improvement of the park, publishing in 1981 a document entitled “Reconstruction of Central Park for the 80s and beyond.” The document was presented as a master plan for the further development of the park and described the actions to be taken to return the park to its former glory.

The document included three key tasks necessary for future survival. The architectural heritage had to be restored – not only the landscape and the environment, but also bridges, buildings and other structures that had fallen victim to neglect in 20 years. In addition, the document called for a significant replanting of all grass and constant care for each section of the park, as well as the creation of programs to improve safety in the park, especially at night, and thereby attract new visitors.

During the work of the organization, the park was almost completely restored to proper condition. The work of sports and children’s playgrounds has been organized again, new trees, flowers, lawns have been planted, bridges and structures have been restored, and police supervision has been established. The main idea was to attract volunteers who were ready to work for the benefit of the park for some time free of charge. Today, the organization provides over 80 percent of the park’s $40 million budget and manages about 80 percent of the staff.

Over the years, many buildings have been restored and many hours have been spent restoring the park. In 2004 alone, volunteers spent more than 32,000 hours, including restoring the Heckscher playground, several lawns and stone rises.

Today, Central Park is one of the most visited places in New York, with over 25 million visitors a year. It is an urban park located between 59th and 110th streets and 5th and 8th avenues, almost twice the size of the Principality of Monaco, with more than 80 kilometers of walking and 10 kilometers of jogging paths, 36 uniquely designed stone and cast-iron bridges, several open-air theatres, a tennis center, many free outdoor sports facilities and much more. And it is very important that this is not only a tourist attraction, but also a favorite vacation spot for New Yorkers themselves.

90 003

new-york.ru
© infoglaz.ru

Green New York. How to collect mushrooms in the “stone jungle”

Today, as part of my podcast “Alexander Genis: a view from New York”, we will go for a walk through the green New York, which exists contrary to popular belief about the “stone jungle” of Manhattan.

Embed
share

Green New York: Mushrooming in Manhattan

by Radio Liberty

No media source currently available

0:00
0:27:30
0:00

Asphalt – glass.
I go and call.
Forests and blades of grass
– shaved off.
North
from south
are avenues,
west from east –
streets.

The author of the remarkable New York cycle, including the poem “Broadway” just quoted, was a great master of hyperbole. Chukovsky spoke about the still young Mayakovsky, that he looks at the world through a telescope (in contrast, the critic added shrewdly, from Akhmatova, who uses a microscope).

The greenery of European cities is a by-product of civilization

Arriving in New York, Mayakovsky described not what he saw, but what he knew about the city of skyscrapers. Because of this, he ignored everything that did not fit into the familiar formula – for example, Central Park. The neglect of details also caused another almost comical mistake in the best of Mayakovsky’s American poems “Brooklyn Bridge”:

0005 to others –
hungry
long howl.

From here
unemployed
to the Hudson
threw themselves
upside down.

Vladimir Mayakovsky in New York. Photo by David Burliuk

As everyone knows, even those who have only heard of the most famous bridge in New York, it spans the East River, the East River. In order for the “poor unemployed” to get from the bridge to the Hudson, they, like a demon, seagulls or angels, need to fly across the whole of Manhattan.
And yet, the banal and incorrect idea of ​​New York as the notorious stone jungle, which Mayakovsky approved, lives in the collective consciousness of compatriots – and frightens them. To refute this cliché, today we’re going for a walk in green New York.

But first, it must be said about what distinguishes the New World from the Old in this landscape area as well.

The greenery of European cities is a secondary product of civilization. Every square there is a churchyard. The roots of trees growing on the rich humus of culture are entangled in the ruins of cramped medieval life. But in America, as it often seems, and sometimes it happens, nature was simply fenced off – with a fence, a street, a city. New York did the same with the magnificent Bronx Botanical Gardens.

I must confess that during the days, weeks, months of the war, this wonderful establishment serves as an oasis of escapism for me, where it is best to admire the change of seasons. The seasons endow the confused soul with harmony. Everything here happens by itself, and we can only enjoy the elegant metamorphosis of nature, indifferent and beautiful. She lives separately from us, allowing herself to be admired.

Exhibits of the exhibition of orchids. Photo by Irina Genis

As New Yorkers do every year at the orchid exhibition in the Botanical Garden. To put it bluntly, this is the most snobbish event on the city’s secular calendar. The circle of orchid lovers includes the rich and famous. This hobby is expensive and “pedigreed” like horse racing. Therefore, at the exhibition you can meet ladies in inventive hats, gentlemen in bow ties, old ladies in veils and other fauna from good society and the past.

The general atmosphere of “Belle Epoque” is exacerbated by the scene: a greenhouse, which was built a hundred years ago according to all the rules of Victorian engineering skill. Openwork like the Eiffel Tower, the greenhouse is its own world under the roof, a refined world that is much better and certainly more beautiful than ours.

The Bronx Botanic Garden’s greenhouse. Photo by Irina Genis

The forest that has never been cut down serves as a monument to America as it was before the arrival of the whites

But as soon as we go outside and delve into the garden, we will find a purely American rarity. About a quarter of the garden is the last virgin forest in New York City. Understanding the value of this fossil miracle, botanists carefully surrounded the thicket along the banks of the Bronx River with paths, leaving everything as it was before the arrival of the whites. This primeval, never-cut forest serves as a monument to America as it was before the arrival of the whites.

Another equally unusual prehistoric museum can be found in the south of the island, in the heart of Greenwich Village. This fenced patch of fossil greenery carefully preserves the island’s original landscape.

After spending the first third of American life on the northern edge of the island, I thoroughly studied its forests in the Inwood region. Deer, hares, foxes of amazing beauty and their victims pheasants live here. My wife and I quickly discovered the benefits of such a neighborhood, and in the early years of American life, missing the Baltic forests, we gathered mushrooms here in the fall, including my favorite chanterelles, and in May, my favorite flowers, lilies of the valley.

But, of course, the main wonder of New York is its great Central Park.

Central Park is unique in design. A neat rectangular park of three and a half square kilometers stretches over fifty blocks. Starting at the statue of Columbus on 59th Street, it stretches to the Harlem entrance on 110th Street. But penetrating the city, Central Park does not belong to it, because it lives in harmony only with its own aesthetic laws and philosophical theories.

When the park was invented, the New World was not only new, but also untamed. In the Wild West, which began, as arrogant residents of Manhattan still believe, on the other side of the Hudson, mustangs galloped, bison roamed, scalps were taken and cowboys drove around.

Mustangs were only admired by New Yorkers at the zoo, bison were valued for their smoked tongues, scalps were looked at in museums, and cowboys were only read about in westerns, which were novels until they hit Hollywood.

See also

Treasure Island.

Cycling through Manhattan

Like a theater within a theater, Central Park exaggerated nature

Therefore, in the greenhouse conditions of cramped Manhattan, Central Park was supposed to become the Wild West for the internal use of the townspeople. It was artificial, but a real reserve of virgin America. Like a theater within a theater, Central Park exaggerated nature. Enclosed in a stone box, she blossomed into a paradise, neglecting price and benefit. Not like Disneyland with its caricatured geography, not like the National Parks with their untouched beauty, not like romantic gardens with their poetic arbitrariness, but like a life-size model of the New World. Strictly inscribed in the correct figure, the park demonstrates its intentional origin. But the nature that got inside lives in freedom. In lined-up Manhattan, Central Park provides a refreshing respite from geometry.

This contradiction reflects the unique character of New York. He easily manages without the weapons of state building – the main square, such as Krasnaya in Moscow or Tiananmen in Beijing. In New York, this square is replaced by the Great Clearing of Central Park.

Great Clearing of Central Park

The further we go into the park, the deeper we plunge into the past. The monuments of the spirit are replaced by boulders left by glaciers. And right there, almost rivaling them in age, is the oldest attraction in New York. This is the Egyptian obelisk “Cleopatra’s Needle”. He had aged less in three and a half thousand years than in the last fifty. But now it’s been cleaned of the city’s soot, and it’s as good as new.

Approaching it, I always increase my pace out of impatience, although I understand that, having lived for 35 centuries, the obelisk will be waiting for me. The last time, staring at my favorite monument, I did not notice the frail bespectacled man and almost knocked him off his feet.

“Idiot,” his wife hissed, holding me by the floor, “you want to deprive us of Woody Allen.

There were always other celebrities in Central Park. Most often – Jacqueline Kennedy, who loved to walk and run around the reservoir. Now this circular path bears her name. Another first lady, the ex-wife of former President Sarkozy, liked our park so much that she exchanged both Paris and her husband for it.

One of my favorite American novelists, Scott Fitzgerald, was among Central Park’s ardent fans.

We settled a few hours from New York, and I found that every time I arrived in the city, I immediately drowned in the chain of events. But one thing remained undeniable: that moment of absolute peace when you drive south through Central Park in the dark, to a place where the light from the facades of 59th Street begins to break through the trees. Before me was my lost city again, serenely wrapped in its mysteries and hopes.

Scott Fitzgerald, who dedicated a real paean to 1920s New York, rightly noted the feeling of peace experienced by every pedestrian, cyclist or rider (but not driver) who enters or drives into the park, leaving behind him a thundering “midtown “, the noisiest part of the city.

New York is very difficult to surprise, but Christo managed

Central Park experienced its finest hour, stretching for 16 February days, in 2005, when Christo took over it. The same New York artist of Bulgarian origin who wrapped up the Reichstag, curtained the mountain gorge and installed umbrellas on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. At that time, Central Park became the object of his monumental fantasy, along the paths of which 600 assistants of the artist placed seven and a half thousand gates decorated with bright orange plastic.
New York is very difficult to surprise, but Christo succeeded. It took 21 million dollars, five thousand tons of steel (one-third of the Eiffel Tower by weight) and one hundred thousand square meters of orange nylon.

Action Christo “Gate” in Central Park

The orange gates, reminiscent of Japanese torii, have turned the winter landscape, which means black and white, into a color movie. Gently following the relief, climbing the hillocks and descending into the clefts, man-made sights did not compete with nature, but removed it. The wind, inflating the curtains, molded them into mobile sculptures, reminiscent of orange waves, sand dunes, or colorful dreams. After all, they, too, can neither be recounted in words, nor considered in reproductions. Even the best panoramic photographs do not convey the impression of Christo’s “Gate”. It’s like dancing by correspondence: the magic of presence is lost.

crowd of onlookers turned into columns of pilgrims

I have never seen a park so beautiful. Feeling the fleeting significance of what was happening, the New Yorkers passed under the “Gate”, muffled voices, as if they were participating in a temple procession. In fact, it was so: the crowd of onlookers turned into columns of pilgrims.

“Gate”, of course, had nothing to do with the first Ukrainian Maidan, which ended with the victory of the people just a month before the opening of the Hristo happening in Central Park. But looking in New York at the apotheosis of the orange color, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian freedom, I could not help but recall the Orange Revolution in Kyiv.

For me, Central Park is inseparable from my closest friend, a wonderful artist, master of words and virtuoso of scissors Vagrich Bakhchanyan. He lived a stone’s throw from the park, and we often walked along the endless alleys. Vagrich knew every path by heart, every tree and every creature by sight.

In art, Bakhchanyan preferred a minimal shift separating pathos from parody. The most famous example is the Lenin cap on the poster of his work. Pulling it over the leader’s eyes, the artist turned Ilyich into an urka.

Vagrich Bakhchanyan in Central Park. Photo by Irina Bakhchanyan

Vagrich professed the same minimalism in fishing. Not recognizing a fishing rod, he always carried a fishing line with a hook in his pocket and threw the tackle wherever he had to, but always with success. Most often, in the same artificial lake that wraps around the already mentioned Jacqueline Kennedy path. Previously, the approach to the lake was guarded by a multi-meter wire fence. Once the city used this water, now it is used by gulls, frogs, fish and, until Bakhchanyan died. Deftly tossing the hook over the fence, he dragged white perch, fattened without fishermen. Vagrich also picked mushrooms in the park, and in the summer – berries for jam. Climbing into the thickets of Shakespeare’s hill, where all the plants mentioned by the bard are planted, Bakhchanyan composed his absurd and very funny texts.

Bakhchanyan has not been with us for many years, but we can talk to his faithful companion, friend and widow (terrible word) Irina Bakhchanyan,

What was Vagrich’s relationship with New York?

Vagrich had an inexhaustible interest, he wanted to know everything about all the artists

Irina Bakhchanyan: Vagrich treated everyone very attentively and with great benevolence – if only they didn’t get killed. When we arrived in New York, we found that many things were not very beautiful. We had such a mayor who spread terrible filth and crime in the city. But the city itself was big and the people were quite nice.

Vagrich immediately opened his large Armenian eyes with pleasure and began to look around, seeing a lot of interesting things. So he saw that he lived right next to the Metropolitan Museum, which you could go to as much as you wanted. (At that time you could even pay one cent, they were impudent. No, no, not Vagrich.) There were all the galleries around, if he wanted to see something, he could go from 92 to the very bottom, to the Village and see everything – which, by the way, he did: weekly he went around his favorite galleries, which he was interested in seeing.

Irina Bakhchanyan

Alexander Genis: I remember that Vagrich took me to all the New York galleries, and I was amazed that he knew literally all the New York artists, he was perfectly familiar with all American contemporary art. When did it start, back in Russia?

Irina Bakhchanyan: This is a good question. Vagrich had an inexhaustible interest, he wanted to know everything about all the artists. But when he arrived in New York, he could already meet them personally, of course, with those who were still alive at that time, here it was possible to find new friends. In those years, life was very active – without strict rules. Many galleries exhibited a huge number of new artists, and there was always an abundance of work. There was always something new to see. Therefore, he had a dual interest: not only to see the work, but also to see the people, the creators, so to speak (such a pompous word), to meet the authors.

I remember one day he came home on one of his regular walks in Madison and brought a large postcard, beautifully printed. In my opinion, it was an exhibition of one of the founders of pop art, Jim Dine. Vagrich says: “Look who I saw!”

On 57th Street he met, but did not talk to Yoko Ono and Lennon

It began with the fact that on 57th Street he met, but did not talk to Yoko Ono and Lennon, they obviously always walked there. Then he turned, went further along Madison, walking toward him, surrounded by a gang of some “thugs” Truman Capote. Of course, Vagrich could not miss this, he began to speak with him in the language he could, which made Capote incredibly delighted. He began to explain to his guys accompanying him: “Look, even a Russian knows me.” That is, he was very pleased with this circumstance.

Further Vagrich goes up Madison, and the sculptor Louise Nevelson was at that time, I don’t know what she was doing there, but just in case, he began to find out something from her, some creative secrets, and asked her sign too. It all happens on one piece of this Jim Dine printed postcard. There is a postcard, by the way, sometimes I look at it and remember this day very well right away.

See also

Land of skyscrapers. High-rise architecture through the eyes of Manhattan residents

Alexander Genis: I remember how we walked with him and saw a man in a huge white fur coat, which, I must say, is very unusual in New York.

Irina Bakhchanyan: It must have been a bear.

Alexander Genis: No, it was Keith Haring who painted graffiti. Vagrich hugged him and said: “Brother!” They really liked each other.
Ira, Vagrich said: my Winter Palace is the Metropolitan Museum, my Summer Palace is Central Park. What did these two New York attractions have in common, next to which – a few blocks away – you have lived in America all your life?

Irina Bakhchanyan: These attractions were united by one name: Vagrich Bakhchanyan. Both of them welcomed him with open arms. You could go to museums as much as you wanted, look at anything. And you could also see a lot of interesting things in the park.

Alexander Genis: How did you spend your time in Central Park?

he was very careful and very polite with nature, and with the animal world, and with people too

Irina Bakhchanyan: The ritual walk usually took place on weekends, because on weekdays I had to go to the office. Our park usually started on Saturday morning, the earlier the better. I bought the New York Times on the way, we sat down near the lake, right behind the monument to Hans Christian Andersen, looked at the newspaper, read, Vagrich looked for something from the pictures. They admired the boats, watched the eagles nest in the house opposite this lake, then went somewhere else. The usual path led around this lake from all sides, then it was already possible to return home.

Alexander Genis: What is the most amusing episode connected with Vagrich and Central Park?

Irina Bakhchanyan: The thing is that he was very careful and very polite with nature, and with the animal world, and with people too. So I remember the only time he ran into a problem. It happened when, near this very lake, we saw a bird entangled in a fishing line on a tree. Of course, none of us could get past this one, Vagrich began to get it out and untangle it, she pecked at him, left marks on his fingers. Of the other living creatures, there were only raccoons, but they were very voracious, you always had to be very careful with them, no matter what they grabbed.

Alexander Genis: But did you save the bird?

Irina Bakhchanyan: Yes, of course.

Alexander Genis: Tell me, is it true that once Vagrich was mistaken for Pablo Picasso?

the coachman began to shout directly from the goat: “Hey, Picasso! Picasso!”

Irina Bakhchanyan: Yes, there was such a case. Vagrich participated in the filming as the protagonist of a short film, which then grew and turned almost into a biopic, the film “Vagrich and the Black Square”, which was shot by Andriy Zagdansky, a Ukrainian director. Vagrich read some of his texts to him, and read, and read, and read. Nearby, a Japanese woman who spoke exclusively in Japanese had already managed to adapt to him and somehow stick to him from some side, but she really liked Vagrich. They talked about something for a long time. And at that time they were passing by, because this is such the most famous road in the park, carriages pulled by horses were passing by. The driver, also dressed, by the way, rather unorthodoxly, in a top hat, in some kind of waistcoat. He saw Vagrich in a striped T-shirt, which in this outfit was very reminiscent of Picasso in the famous photograph. This driver began to shout directly from the goat: “Hey, Picasso! Picasso!” Such people were bound to somehow attach themselves to Vagrich, not to say stuck.

Alexander Genis: A wonderful New York story, very similar to New York, where every driver knows Picasso by sight.

Alexander Genis: Well, now it’s time for a surprise that ends each program from the “My New York” series. Today I will talk about the newest and most original park in the city, which has become the second – after the Statue of Liberty – a landmark in New York. This is the High Line Park, which allows you to admire New York from an unusual point of view.

High Line. Park on rails

At first glance, the High Line is just a narrow green strip that stretches over three dozen Manhattan blocks. But at a second glance, it is a masterpiece of conceptual architecture. Its authors call their idea “borrowed landscape”. Not so much by changing as by rethinking what has already been done, the park takes on a different dimension of the urban landscape. I would call it elevated.

To appreciate the audacity of the undertaking, one must hate overpasses just like all New Yorkers. Their shallow (no match for Moscow) metro is trying to jump out of the ground like a devil and rumble over the heads of defenseless citizens. Shaking the body and shaking the soul, the train rushes along the bridges that disfigure New York, like a mezzanine – a manor apartment.

“There were mezzanines, there will be a mezzanine,” announced the designers of the High Line, deciding to create a park from the unsightly waste of the industrial past.

Unemployed rails imperiously but imperceptibly guide the traveler, turning the walk into a procession

An abandoned overpass with rusty rails annoyed the city fathers for thirty years, until one of them, Mayor Giuliani, decided to demolish it. Oddly enough, the eccentrics, who found these ruins picturesque, stood up for her. Another mayor, Bloomberg, agreed with them, and soon the High Line itself went into operation, and built us. The unemployed rails imperiously but imperceptibly guide the traveler, turning the walk into a procession. Walking along the sleepers, because there is nowhere else, we obey the measured rhythm of the spectacle, which changes with every step.

There is something of a ritual about it, as if Stonehenge had been spun and pulled out. There is something in this from the parks of Versailles, which subjugated the nature of geometry. There is something of a romantic garden in this, which poeticizes even artificial ruins. But mostly New York.

A pathological exhibitionist, this city craves to be seen and is meant to be seen at all times and from everywhere. For a New Yorker, there is nothing more precious than the view from the window. Actually, the High Line turned out to be so successful because it offered Manhattan a new movable frame, which updated the hardened scene. Walking through the park, we look at the city not from the gallery, not from the stalls, but from the mezzanine: far enough not to mix with the crowd, close enough not to miss a single detail.
All of them seem unusual, because we ourselves found ourselves in an altered – uplifted – state. Skyscrapers are visible from the knees. Cars flaunt their roofs, passers-by their hats, the hills open up beyond the Hudson.

But, to be honest, the most interesting thing is to look into other people’s windows. The path leading through residential areas does not allow, but forces to spy. Others might be embarrassed, but New York City is an extrovert on steroids, so property prices immediately shot up in the real estate market with park-facing windows. Some of them were decorated with luxurious curtains, others, on the contrary, abandoned them altogether, the third put up his portrait so as not to lose the attention of tourists even when the owner is not at home.

Quickly learning the benefits of the view from above, the artists battle for the right to get on the huge billboard that the park director rents out to the most original ones.

But what impresses the High Line most of all is that in the process of converting the nasty ruins into a fashionable attraction, almost nothing has changed. The same unprepossessing flora sprouted through the applied soil, persistent and stubborn, like all living things in New York, decrepit iron, bent levers, a scattering of pebbles. The designers have preserved every rusty detail, urging us to admire the industrial era that replaces the melancholic antiquities of the Old World in America.

You have listened to the new episode of my podcast “Genis: A New York Perspective”. In it, we took a walk through the green New York to get acquainted with its parks.