Library Way

Walking on the south side of 41^st street heading toward Fifth Avenue to visit Patience and Fortitude, the massive stone lions which guard the steps of the New York Public Library, I stumbled into a tourist who had stopped abruptly to read the sidewalk.  This had the effect of making me read the sidewalk, too.

Did you know that the sidewalks on 41^st Street from Park Avenue to Fifth Avenue are studded with bronze plaques featuring poetry and literary quotes? Both sides of the street?   They are modern quotes and less modern quotes by authors such as Georges Braque, Kate Chopin, Thomas Jefferson, Emily Dickinson, Tom Stoppard and Mark Twain.

These bronze additions to the sidewalk were designed by Gregg LeFevre and completed in the 1990’s. They are easy to read and look as though they have always been a part of the sidewalk there or at last as long as the Library itself. The library was completed in 1910.

Being curious who gets to choose quotes for public use like this, I learned that actual librarians were involved. There were on the selection committee with literature experts from The New Yorker magazine and the New York Public Library. I suspect this may have taken real patience and fortitude.

If you want to read all of the plaques without walking Library Way go to: http://www.grandcentralpartnership.org/our-neighborhood/library-way.

By the way, we have a few agencies to thank for this street entertainment, .The vision for this came from the Grand Central Partnership with assistance from the New York Public Library, commercial tenants long the way on 41^st street and the NYC Department of Transportation.

I also want to thank the tourist who stopped without warning in front of me.  People stop like this all the time, smart phones in hand, and maybe for less value than the thoughtful and elegant quotes on Library Way.