Pocket Parks and POPS of Midtown East (Walk/Urban Hike)

Midtown Manhattan: the heart of big business, urban America, the birthplace of the skyscraper, the home of more leading corporations, government organizations, and financial and legal institutions than anyplace else on earth. And yet . . . there are some fascinating little spots nestled in between the massive office towers: cute little parks, unexpected atriums, manmade waterfalls, food courts, centuries-old gardens, and paths with panoramic river views. What is a POP? Well, it is a Privately Owned Public Space, and there are a bunch of them in Midtown.

You are welcome to join us for an exploration of these charming places. We plan to visit over 20 of them! I will not list exactly where we are going -- let's let that be a surprise. This will be an approximately 4 mile long urban hike. We will walk at a comfortable pace, and make numerous stops to admire our surroundings. One of the stops may require a $5 donation -- the details of that are still being worked out, but you won't have to participate if you don't want to.

We will meet up in Grand Central Terminal (exact location will be provided when you register). Bathrooms are available downstairs in GCT, also at the end of the walk , and there may be 1 or 2 along the way. There will be no lunch break, but we will find a place to stop for a snack, so bring something to eat if you want to do that. Those who are interested can join the leader for a drink and/or bite to eat after the hike is concluded.

The leader is Tim Burrows, and he can be reached at dreadnowt@ymail.com, or here on Meet Up. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Special thanks goes to Rosemary O'Brien, whose book "BEST Pocket Parks of NYC" provided a lot of good suggestions about where to go.

Please DO NOT TRY TO REGISTER HERE. YOU MUST MUST REGISTER VIA THE AMC's website. If you are not registered, you will not be welcome to participate. Here is the link (which also contains the exact location of the Meet Up).

https://activities.outdoors.org/s/oc-activity/a5UVX0000011UY92AM/act00019092