Gantry Plaza State Park is a state park on the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. The park is located in a former dockyard and manufacturing district, and includes remnants of facilities from the area's past. The most prominent feature of the park is a collection of gantries with

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a t ...

transfer bridges, which in turn were served by barges that carried freight railcars between Queens and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

History

The southern portion of the park is a former dock facility and includes restored "contained apron" transfer bridges of the James B. French patent. These were built in 1925 to load and unload rail

s that served industries on Long Island via the Long Island Rail Road's

North Shore Freight Branch The Flushing and North Side Railroad was a former railroad on Long Island built by Conrad Poppenhusen as a replacement for the former New York and Flushing Railroad. The railroad was established in 1868, was merged with the Central Railroad of Long ...

, which used to run on the south side of 48th Avenue (now part of Hunter's Point Park). The northern portion of Gantry Plaza State Park was part of a former PepsiCo bottling plant that closed in 1999. The freight branch was located below street level, and it was infilled in the early 2000s. The park contains a , cursive, ruby-colored, neon-on-metal

Pepsi-Cola sign The Pepsi-Cola sign is a neon sign at Gantry Plaza State Park in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The sign, visible from Manhattan and the East River, was built in 1940 and originally installed atop PepsiCo (previo ...

, manufactured by the General Outdoor Advertising Company in 1939 and rebuilt by

Artkraft Strauss Artkraft Strauss is a sign design and consulting company headquartered in Manhattan, New York. Throughout the 20th century, the company was the preeminent designer and creator of Times Square's iconic signs and displays. These included the “s ...

in 1993. It was located on top of the bottling plant before it was dismantled and reassembled into a permanent location within the park in 2009. The Pepsi-Cola sign was designated a New York City landmark on April 12, 2016.Engelbert, Corinne (April 12, 2016
"Pepsi-Cola Sign Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

The park first opened in May 1998 and was expanded in July 2009. The park is being developed in stages by the

Queens West Queens West is a district and redevelopment project along the East River in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The project, located on Hunter's Point south of the Anable Basin, is a joint project sponsored by the Port Authority of New Y ...

Development Corporation. The original section of Gantry Plaza State Park was designed by

Thomas Balsley Thomas Balsley (born 1943), FASLA, is the founder and principal designer of Thomas Balsley Associates, a New York City-based design firm best known for its fusion of landscape and urbanism in public parks and plazas. Balsley's firm has been active ...

with Lee Weintraub, both New York City landscape architects, and Richard Sullivan, an architect. Stage 2, the new section of the park, was designed by New York City landscape architecture firm Abel Bainnson Butz and the first phase of Stage 2 opened to the public in July 2009. When complete, Gantry Plaza State Park is expected to total in size.

Facilities

The park offers picnic tables, a playground, playing fields, and a waterfront promenade facing the

headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

and the Midtown Manhattan skyline. Fishing and crabbing is permitted at pier #4, subject to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations.

In popular culture

* A view of Gantry Plaza State Park is seen one hour and nine seconds into the 1969 ''

Olsen-banden The ''Olsen Gang'' ( da, Olsen-banden, no, Olsenbanden, german: Die Olsenbande) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang ...

'' film ''

The Olsen Gang in a Fix ''The Olsen Gang in a Fix'' ( da, Olsen-banden på spanden) is a 1969 Danish comedy film directed by Erik Balling and starring Ove Sprogøe. The film was the second in the ''Olsen-banden''-series. Plot After yet another unsuccessful robbery Ego ...

''. * The film ''Munich'' took advantage of the park in its final scene, shot in 2005. The pier and the Pepsi-Cola sign to its north are visible in this scene. * The same location was used in ''

The Interpreter ''The Interpreter'' is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the fin ...

'', in the final scene where

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...

's character says goodbye to

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

's character, who is sitting on a fence by Gantry Park. The Pepsi-Cola sign at the former bottling plant is visible in the scene as well.

References

External links

New York State Parks: Gantry Plaza State Park

Gantry Plaza State Park
{{authority control Long Island City Parks in Queens, New York Piers in New York City State parks of New York (state) Urban public parks Protected areas established in 1998 1998 establishments in New York City

History

Facilities

In popular culture

See also

References

External links