Entry No. 36 — the New York City file — filed under: outdoor-weird

Septuagesimo Uno

Often called NYC's smallest park, this 0.04-acre sliver squeezes between two townhouses on West 71st Street. Built in the late 1960s under Mayor Lindsay's Vest Pocket Park campaign, it offers a few benches, shade trees, and planting beds in a space barely wider than a brownstone. Parks commissioner Henry Stern gave it its absurd Latin name ("seventy-first") in 2000; it was previously the blander "71st Street Plot." Most people walk right past without noticing it exists.

The move: Pack two coffees and squeeze onto the single bench in this tucked-away pocket park to see who can spot it first from down the block.

📍 Before you go Free and open to the public; extremely small, so it can feel private when no one else is there.

• 📍 Upper West Side, Manhattan
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: W 71st St between West End Ave and Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY

Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3

last checked: 2026-06-23