Bella Abzug Park

Bella Abzug Park — the green spine of Hudson Yards

A chain of connected blocks running through the newest neighborhood in Manhattan, laid out by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates as a sequence of small worlds rather than one big lawn. Where the trains once idled in an open rail yard there is now a linear park with lawns, fountains that read the wind, a rope-climbing structure that children queue for, and rows of benches occupied all day by office workers, families and anyone waiting for a train. It carries the name of one of the sharpest political figures New York has produced — and it is the only genuinely public open space at the heart of a district otherwise built out of privately owned plazas.

Highlights

• The wind-reading fountains — three water features engineered with anemometers that shut them down automatically when gusts pick up, so the spray never soaks the surrounding seating. It is the most quietly clever thing in the park.
• The rope-climbing play structure — a tall net tower that is the single biggest draw for families in Hudson Yards and Hell’s Kitchen, in a district otherwise short of playgrounds.
• The block-by-block layout by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates — each block has a different program: open lawn, formal seating, informal seating, play, plaza. Walk the whole chain and the park changes character four or five times.
• The lawns — properly usable turf in a neighborhood of hard surfaces, and the reason the park fills at lunchtime from spring through fall.
• The pollinator planting — the park is a registered stop on the regional pollinator pathway, with beds chosen to feed bees and butterflies rather than just to look tidy.
• Free public programming — the local business improvement district runs outdoor movie nights, salsa and bachata sessions, wellness classes and pop-up food events through the warm months.

What you’ll find

The park is long and narrow, threaded between residential towers and running toward the Hudson Yards development. It reads less like a park you enter and more like a park you pass through — which is exactly what a dense new neighborhood needs.

• Open lawns for sitting, eating and low-key sunbathing.
• Small paved plazas with movable and fixed seating, heavily used by nearby office workers.
• The children’s play area with its rope climbing tower and adjacent water play.
• Three water features, positioned as focal points for separate blocks.
• Dense tree and perennial planting designed to mature into real canopy over the coming decades.
• Public art and seasonal installations rotated by the neighborhood alliance that programs the space.

Things to do — and who it’s for

• Office workers — the most reliable lunch spot in Hudson Yards, and free, which cannot be said of much else in the district.
• Families with young children — the rope tower and the water play carry an afternoon; the rest of the neighborhood is short of anything comparable.
• Travelers with time to kill — a genuinely pleasant place to wait out a gap before a train, within easy walking distance of the main rail terminals.
• Anyone walking the High Line — a natural extension of that route, with grass to sit on at the end of it.
• Evening crowds — movie nights and dance sessions in summer turn the lawns into an outdoor social space after work.
• Architecture watchers — the park is the best ground-level vantage point on the Hudson Yards towers, seen from below and at a distance rather than from inside the development.

Getting there & practical

The park runs through Hudson Yards on the western edge of Hell’s Kitchen. The 7 train terminates at the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station, which opened in September 2015 and sits directly at the park’s southern end; the A, C and E lines stop at 34th Street–Penn Station, and Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall are both an easy walk. Crosstown and avenue buses M12, M34 SBS and M11 serve the surrounding blocks. The park is free, open daily on standard city park hours from early morning until late evening, and requires no ticket or reservation for any part of it, including the play areas. Nearby attractions such as the High Line are also free; the observation deck and the paid attractions inside the Hudson Yards development are separately ticketed and unconnected to the park. Thirty to forty minutes covers the full walk; longer if you sit for a meal.

When to visit

Spring is the best of it — the young trees leaf out, the perennial beds start feeding pollinators, and the lawns reopen after winter dormancy with the neighborhood desperate for outdoor space. Summer is the busiest and the most social season: fountains running, children in the water play, the business improvement district’s evening film and dance programming on the lawns, and the towers throwing usable shade across the blocks by mid-afternoon. Autumn is arguably the most comfortable, with warm light down the length of the park and far fewer people once the school year starts. Winter empties it almost entirely; the fountains are shut down and the wind funnels off the river, but the park is still the quickest, most pleasant walking route through the district and it looks striking under snow against the glass towers.

Good to know

This ground spent most of its recorded history under rails. The Hudson River Railroad reached Manhattan in 1849 and built its terminal depot yard here; Cornelius Vanderbilt consolidated the operation in 1864, and the Pennsylvania Railroad drove the North River tunnels beneath the Hudson in 1910, ending the ferry transfer between New Jersey and New York. The yards sat largely untouched until the Hudson Yards redevelopment began in earnest, with the park planned as the public spine of the new district. The first phase, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, opened in 2015; a further block was added and opened to the public in August 2022. In 2019 the city renamed what had been Hudson Yards Park in honor of Bella Abzug (1920–1998) — lawyer, peace activist and congresswoman for Manhattan’s West Side from 1971 to 1977, known universally by her hats and her nickname “Battling Bella”. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan, pushed through strengthening amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, and in 1974 co-sponsored the first federal gay rights bill introduced in Congress.

Visitor tips

• Walk the park from end to end rather than sitting in the first block you reach — the character changes completely from one block to the next.
• Check the neighborhood alliance’s summer calendar before an evening visit; film nights and dance sessions are free and turn the park into something quite different.
• On hot days aim for the blocks where the towers cast afternoon shade — the open lawns are brutal in full midday sun.

Questions & answers

Is Bella Abzug Park free? Yes, entirely. It is a public city park with no admission and no ticketing for the play areas or the lawns.

Who was Bella Abzug? A New York lawyer, peace activist and member of Congress who represented Manhattan’s West Side from 1971 to 1977. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus and was one of the most recognizable figures in American politics of her era.

Was the park always called this? No. It opened as Hudson Yards Park and was renamed in her honor in 2019.

Is this the same as the High Line or the Hudson Yards plazas? No. The High Line is a separate elevated park nearby, and the plazas inside the Hudson Yards development are privately owned. Bella Abzug Park is ordinary public parkland run by the city.

Is it good for children? Yes — the rope-climbing tower and the water play are the main family draw in this part of Manhattan, and both are free.

Why do the fountains sometimes stop? They are fitted with wind sensors and shut themselves off automatically when gusts get strong, to keep spray off the seating areas.

How long does a visit take? Half an hour to walk the full length. Longer if you are eating lunch, letting children play or staying for an evening event.