24 Sycamores Park

Twenty-Four Sycamores Park is a slender strip of green along the FDR Drive on Manhattan's Upper East Side, named for the stately row of London plane trees (often called sycamores) that line its walkway. The park sits between East 60th and East 61st Streets near York Avenue.

The park was developed as part of the city's effort to create usable public space along the FDR Drive corridor, where the highway's construction in the mid-20th century severed many Upper East Side neighborhoods from the waterfront.

Benches along the sycamore-lined path offer spots for reading or people-watching, and the canopy of mature trees creates a pleasantly shaded environment during summer months. Dog walkers from surrounding apartment buildings are among the park's most frequent visitors.

The park connects to the larger East River Esplanade pedestrian and cycling path, making it a convenient access point for joggers and cyclists heading north toward Carl Schurz Park or south toward Midtown.

Though it lacks the programming of larger Manhattan parks, Twenty-Four Sycamores succeeds as exactly what the neighborhood needs: a quiet, leafy pause in one of the city's most densely residential corridors.