Liberty Park is
back, and much better looking than it was, it must be said. (I know Liberty
Park is not its official name. But I’m sure it will no more be called Zuccotti
Park than Sixth Avenue is called Avenue of the Americas, or the West Side Highway
is called Joe DiMaggio Highway.)
Judging by the
photos up at Curbed, the chess players are back as well. But the real question
is whether the backgammon players will return. They left after September 11,
of course, and eventually found a new, more central venue: Bryant Park.Will
they desert midtown and its magnificent
conveniences for the memories of the windswept Liberty Park of old? In the
years before September 11, Wall Street would regularly face off against the
semiprofessional backgammon hustlers, sometimes for very large stakes indeed.
Bryant Park is probably nicer, but I suspect the pickings are better downtown.