Frederick Law Olmsted Was A Super Cool Dude

Have you ever been strolling through Prospect Park, and you find yourself on the Lullwater Bridge overlooking the Boathouse? And you gaze out at the swans and then over at the waterfall (which MIGHT be a little nicer if there weren’t always a gaggle of teens licking each other in front of it, but I digress). Then suddenly your eyes glaze over and you imagine yourself standing on the bridge draped in a strapless Vera Wang wedding gown, and you’re exchanging vows with the HOT, questionably autistic FBI agent from A&E’s Criminal Minds?

I’ve never done this.

HOWEVS --- There is a man responsible for that American-Beauty-Paper-Baggy feeling that you get when walking through some of New York City’s finest parks. And someone made a documentary about him!

19th Century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed and built nearly 100 public parks, including both Prospect and Central (He better have bragged about this shit at dinner parties). The doc explores what makes these urban parks so different from others, and the importance they hold for those of us who spend 40+ hours a week busting ass in Cement City Midtown. Plus, The Prospect Park Alliance will also be featured, so let us watch and appreciate, shall we?

Olmsted and America’s Urban Parks, a documentary by Rebecca Messner, airs
Wednesday, April 20th at 7 p.m. on WLIW21 and 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN.

You can watch the trailer, enter to win cool parks gear and share your favorite NYC park stories here.