Crotona Park
Encyclopedia
Crotona Park is a public park in the Bronx
, New York City
, United States
. It covers 127.5 acre (0.51597465 km²) or one-fifth of a square mile (51.6 hectares or half a square kilometer), including a 3.3 acre (1.3 hectare) lake, the Bronx's largest swimming pool, and 28 species of trees. The park is bounded by Crotona Park West (also known as Fulton Avenue), Crotona Park North, Crotona Park East, and Crotona Park South; Claremont Parkway and Crotona Avenue pass through it. The Crotona Play Center
is in the western part of the park.
Robert Moses
famously refused to realign the Cross-Bronx Expressway
, which is located several blocks north of the park's northern boundary, to pass along the edge of the park and save a number of homes from demolition.
Late in August, the park is the location of the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, an International Tennis Federation
women's tennis tournament with a $100,000 purse which features players in the top 100, who use the tournament as a "tune-up" for the U.S. Open
which begins the following week. The Bronx Open also hosts the United States Tennis Association
's National Junior Doubles championship for boys and girls age 14-16. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the New York Junior Tennis League.
The park is referenced in Clifford Odets
' play Waiting for Lefty
, in Act III when Irv tells his sister Florence that their mother doesn't want her meeting her boyfriend Sid in Crotona Park.
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It covers 127.5 acre (0.51597465 km²) or one-fifth of a square mile (51.6 hectares or half a square kilometer), including a 3.3 acre (1.3 hectare) lake, the Bronx's largest swimming pool, and 28 species of trees. The park is bounded by Crotona Park West (also known as Fulton Avenue), Crotona Park North, Crotona Park East, and Crotona Park South; Claremont Parkway and Crotona Avenue pass through it. The Crotona Play Center
Crotona Play Center
Crotona Play Center is the only swimming pool complex built by the Works Progress Administration in the Bronx. It opened in July 1936. It was designated a New York City landmark in 2007...
is in the western part of the park.
Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
famously refused to realign the Cross-Bronx Expressway
Cross-Bronx Expressway
The Cross Bronx Expressway is a major expressway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, conceived by Robert Moses and built between 1948 and 1972. It carries traffic on Interstate 95 through the city, and serves as a portion of Interstate 295 toward Long Island; a portion is also designated U.S...
, which is located several blocks north of the park's northern boundary, to pass along the edge of the park and save a number of homes from demolition.
Late in August, the park is the location of the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, an International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
women's tennis tournament with a $100,000 purse which features players in the top 100, who use the tournament as a "tune-up" for the U.S. Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
which begins the following week. The Bronx Open also hosts the United States Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
's National Junior Doubles championship for boys and girls age 14-16. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the New York Junior Tennis League.
The park is referenced in Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
' play Waiting for Lefty
Waiting for Lefty
Waiting for Lefty is a 1935 play by American playwright Clifford Odets. Consisting of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. The framing situation utilizes the audience as part of the meeting.While this was not the...
, in Act III when Irv tells his sister Florence that their mother doesn't want her meeting her boyfriend Sid in Crotona Park.