“We’ve rounded up some of the shadiest playgrounds in NYC—as in places with lots of shade . . . . There are a few in Manhattan, an awesome all-abilities playground, and even some where you can get wet when you really want to cool off . . . a Murray Hill favorite: St. Vartan Park. This east side park provides relief on hot days thanks to mature trees, sprinklers, and restrooms. You’ll find fun climbing structures, swings, various ball courts, gardens, and lots of open space to play.”

“. . . a rehabilitated playground . . . facility —complete with swings, slides and 9,200 shrubs—was renovated with $900,000 provided by the Glick Organization, a real estate developer. In return, the city agreed to rezone a section of Kips Bay from manufacturing to residential to allow Glick to construct a 35-story luxury apartment building. [New York City Mayor Ed] Koch called the zoning swap ‘a good example of the marriage of community and private interests.’”

“By 1951, residents of the congested neighborhood had succeeded in restoring the playground areas lost when the tunnel approach was built. The renovation added a sand pit, jungle gym, and seesaws as well as a 16-foot-high fence separating the ball field and the children’s playground.”

“Children who came to the park . . . found a crowd collecting in the girls’ playground, where a May party was being prepared . . . Groups of little girls in garlands of pink and yellow paper roses were lining up . . .”

“In the city parks having playgrounds for children one feature sure to attract the visitor’s attention is the slides. The slide in this form originated in the New York Park Department. The first was put up in October 1906, in the girls’ playground at St. Gabriel’s [now St. Vartan] Park . . . and it at once proved immensely popular, as it has ever since remained. The slide of this sort, a kind of gloried cellar door, is a permanent installation. At the top it is about six feet above the ground and ten feet long. For about two feet at the lower end the slide is level and it ends with a vertical fall, like a step in a stairway. The level stretch checks the child’s speed at the end of the slide, and down its vertical face the child’s feet drop naturally to the ground, and then with the slight momentum still remaining from the slide and a natural impulse to keep moving the child moves out of the way of others coming down. ”

“The playground . . . was opened on October 4, 1906, at 10 a.m. . . . features in the playground are a ‘large slide’ and old-fashioned ‘see-saws.’ Both of these innovations have proved great successes, for every child, irrespective of age or size . . . On this ground are also found swings for the older children, baby swings for the little ones, a sand box about 12 feet in diameter . . . Material also for ball games, tennis, racing pins, potato racing, dumb bells . . .”