Union Square Park   

East 14th Street and Broadway
New York, NY 10003

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Union Square Park is home to what is considered one of the finest equestrian statues in the United States. George Washington sits proudly on horseback, surveying a site that was host to one of the largest displays of riotous behavior and police violence in New York's history. The May Day gatherings for the city's socialists, held at Union Square on Aug. 22, 1927, was mobbed with people protesting the execution of the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. They were summarily and forcibly dispersed by New York City's finest. In 1997 the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Union Square Park as a National historic landmark for its significance in American labor history.In more recent decades, the park fell on hard times and became a center for drug traffic. Thanks in part to its famous Greenmarket, Union Square has shed that reputation and is now a nice space to sit a spell and enjoy the spectacle of gregarious squirrels and daredevil skateboarders. In 1993 and 1994, two new playgrounds were built and a restaurant was opened in the sunken courtyard on the north end of the park. As Christmas rolls around each year, the park becomes home to a virtual Christmas shopping village consisting mostly of hand-made craftwork by local entrepreneurs. In addition, Union Square offers public bathrooms, a dog run and a safe haven for in-line skaters. -- Dan Lemmey