Gramercy, Gramercy Park North between Lexington Avenue and Park Avenue South

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Here we are at the iron fence of the most exclusive park in New York City, which is to say, it is private. Only local residents, those with a golden key, can enter. And inside this lovely park is the first flowering tree I have seen this year. I think it's a star magnolia, but that's just a guess. If anyone knows flowering trees, go to this closeup of the blossoms and let me know.

The park is only the size of a city block, from 21st to 20th and . . . well, I can't figure out how to describe the east and west borders in less than a couple of paragraphs, so just take a look at the map.

Here's a highly entertaining article from New York Magazine about the fight between the president of the National Arts Club, which you can see through the trees here (photo coming up) and the chairman of the Gramercy Park Trustees. It was written in 2000, and I have no idea what's going on now, but it's well worth reading anyway.