Coleman Playground is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

on the border between the

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

and

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

neighborhoods 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 ...

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 ...

History

New York City Street Skateboarders At Harold Hunter Park

The park is named in honor of a U.S. Army corporal, Joseph Francis Coleman, who died in 1919. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Coleman family lived nearby on Madison Street. Coleman fought in France as a member of the 321st Field Artillery, the 82nd Division of the

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

(AEF). Coleman died on June 16, 1919, at Base Hospital in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

, after contracting tuberculosis in the trenches. Exactly six months after Coleman's death, the

Board of Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands ( wethouder) and Belgium ( schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking mem ...

named this

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

in his honor.

LES Skatepark

Under the bridge, Coleman Playground features a

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...

officially called the Coleman Playground Skatepark but often referred to as the LES Skatepark, LES Park, Coleman Square Skatepark, or Chinatown Skatepark. The park began as a DIY spot on old abandoned basketball courts, with the only obstacle being the double stair set that still exists today. In the early 2000s, the city installed pre-fab obstacles to mixed reviews. The locals skaters including

Steve Rodriguez Steven James Rodríguez (born November 29, 1970) is an American baseball coach and former second baseman/shortstop. He played college baseball for the Pepperdine Waves from 1991 to 1992. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1995 ...

received a grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation to fix up the obstacles. The LES skatepark went through a complete concrete remodeled in 2012 and now features ledges, jumps, rails and a pyramid. This skate park is unsupervised. No bikes are allowed; inline skates are permitted. The 2012 redesign was led by Rodriguez with funding from

Nike SB Nike Skateboarding, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web. His ...

. In 2017, the artist

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her visual word art that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative ca ...

created an installation at the park which featured Kruger's signature bold text on

ramps A ramp, or inclined plane, is a simple machine. Ramp, Ramps, RAMP, may also refer to: People * James J. Ramp (died 1978), Philadelphia police officer * Jenny Ramp (born 2003), Filipina beauty pageant titleholder * Pieter Ramp (1592–1660), ...

, rails, and walls with slogans like “WANT IT. NEED IT. BUY IT.” and “THE GLOBE SHRINKS FOR THOSE WHO OWN IT.” The installation is no longer visible. In 2019, Steve Rodriguez and Adidas Skateboarding hosted a

Go Skateboarding Day Go Skateboarding Day (GSD) is an event created by Don Brown, formerly IASC Marketing Director and co-created with Per Welinder who wanted a day for the global skate community to all ride together and elevate the energy of skateboarding around th ...

event at the park. The following day Rodriguez and Red Bull Skate hosted a best trick contest at the park with

Jamie Foy Jamie Foy (born June 14, 1996) is an American regular-footed skateboarder. He was crowned 2017 and 2024 Skater of the Year by ''Thrasher'' magazine. He skates for Death Wish Skateboards, Thunder Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, Redbull and New Balanc ...

References

{{Protected areas of New York City Urban public parks Parks in Manhattan Lower East Side