Abe Lebewohl Park is a public park in the
East Village neighborhood of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, in front of the
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery where East
12th Street,
Second Avenue, and
Stuyvesant Street
Stuyvesant Street is one of the oldest streets in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs diagonally from 9th Street at Third Avenue to 10th Street near Second Avenue, all within the East Village, Manhattan, neighborhood. The majo ...
meet. The park is named after
Abe Lebewohl, a local who owned the
Second Avenue Deli
The Second Avenue Deli (also known as 2nd Ave Deli) is a certified-kosher Jewish delicatessen in Manhattan, New York City. It was located in the East Village until December 2007, when it relocated to 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington Av ...
, which was formerly located across the street from the park. It contains a small seating area as well as a
Ukrainian-American
Ukrainian Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Ukrainians, Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.3% of the American population. The Ukr ...
World War II memorial.
History
Abe Lebewohl Park, along with nearby Abe Lebewohl Triangle, were originally bought by the city in 1799 for street-grid purposes. In 1938 it was redeveloped into a seating area and became known as St. Mark’s Park, after the church directly behind it. In 1980 a petition was started for the city to save the park after it had deteriorated throughout the 1970s. This led to the creation of a weekly summertime concert series, now called "Music at Abe Lebewohl Park", in conjunction with the
Third Street Music School. On March 4, 1996,
Abe Lebewohl, a local who had helped to organize the petition to save the park and was well known for owning the
Second Avenue Deli
The Second Avenue Deli (also known as 2nd Ave Deli) is a certified-kosher Jewish delicatessen in Manhattan, New York City. It was located in the East Village until December 2007, when it relocated to 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington Av ...
, which was at the time located just across the street from the park, was murdered while making his daily run to the bank. After the park was renovated later that year, it was renamed to Abe Lebewohl Park in his honor.
Gallery
References
{{Protected areas of New York City
East Village, Manhattan
Parks in Manhattan
Second Avenue (Manhattan)