The City: Waistcoat Parks

When U.S. cities thought about parks in the past, they thought big, tended to put all their greenery in one huge garden. New York, for instance, takes tremendous pride in the fact that Central Park is larger than Monaco. But many city planners, led by Landscape Architect Robert Zion, have argued for years that what cities really need are small parks in midtown where pedestrians can escape from the madding crowd.

The Zionist movement finally saw daylight last week. CBS Board Chairman William Paley announced plans to convert the site of the defunct Stork Club (TIME, Oct. 15) into a lot-size (42 ft. by 100 ft.) public park as a memorial to his father, Cigar Czar Samuel Paley, who died in 1963. The $1,000,000 plaza, which is to be completed this summer, will be New York's first midtown "waistcoat" park, and the first privately endowed public park in the city. Designed by Zion, it will feature a canopy of 24 intertwined locust trees, individual chairs and a kiosk for sandwiches and soft drinks. Mirrors on the side walls will add a feeling of depth, and a sheet of water cascading over the entire length of the back wall will help drown out some of the city noises. "An immensely creative and stunning idea," said new Park Commissioner Walter Moving of Paley's Park. "I hope it proliferates all over the city."