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 story
In the late 1960s, Mayor John Lindsay’s administration launched a vest-pocket park campaign to turn odd municipal leftovers into micro-sanctuaries across New York City. The result on West 71st Street—sandwiched tightly between two residential townhouses—was a 0.04-acre slice of brick and soil originally handed the bland official title of the 71st Street Plot.
It remained a nameless neighborhood anomaly until 2000, when eccentric NYC Parks Commissioner Henry Stern gave it a grander identity. Stern had a quirk for bestowing Latin names on city green spaces, rechristening this pocket of ground *Septuagesimo Uno*—literally "seventy-first." The absurdly formal name turned a narrow gap between brownstones into what is frequently cited as the city's smallest designated park.
What it's like
Finding the park feels less like visiting public land and more like accidentally wandering onto someone's private side yard. A short brick walkway runs between the high brick walls of neighboring residential buildings, framed by planting beds, shade trees, and a couple of wooden benches. Because the park is barely wider than a standard brownstone, a single couple on a bench can easily make the space feel full. Go on a quiet weekday afternoon if you want to sit in complete solitude on Manhattan's most tucked-away block.
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.
Pair it with
- Astronomy Live at the Hayden Planetarium — Walk six blocks north to trade the city's tightest patch of green space for a live, astrophysicist-led trip through the entire cosmos inside the dome.
- Creel and Gow — Cut across Central Park to match this outdoor townhouse slot with an indoor cabinet of natural curiosities inside a converted 19th-century stable.
- John M. Mossman Lock Collection — Head south to Midtown to swap a hidden street-level park for a quiet second-floor room filled with historic bank and vault locks.
Good to know
Where exactly is Septuagesimo Uno located?
You'll find it on West 71st Street on the Upper West Side, between West End Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue.
How big is the park?
It spans 0.04 acres (roughly 1,600 square feet), squeezed into a gap barely wider than a townhouse lot.
Do you need tickets or a reservation to enter?
No, it is a public park operated by NYC Parks and is completely free to enter during open hours.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · nycgovparks.org · Untapped Cities
last checked: 2026-06-23