Gramercy Park - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

From the northwest corner One of the birdhouses in the park

Literature

• 1892: John Seymour Wood's Gramercy Park: A Story of New York may be one of the first literary works set in the area
• 1945: In E. B. White's children's book Stuart Little, the Little family live at "22 Gramercy Park", which White describes as " pleasant place near a park in New York City." White also wrote a poem called "Gramercy Park", which was published in The New Yorker, about he and a friend climbing over the fence into the park.
• 1949: Henry David McCracken's The Family on Gramercy Park is set in the neighborhood.
• 1961: Medusa in Gramercy Park is a book of poems by Horace Gregory
• 1965: The address in the title of Priscilla Dalton's 90 Gramercy Park does not actually exist.
• 1970: A character in Jack Finney's Time and Again lives in 19 Gramercy Park South around 1882.
• 1982: In The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe by Ken Darby, the character Archie Goodwin states that Nero Wolfe's townhouse was actually on East 22nd Street in the Gramercy Park district rather than the fictional West 35th street address(es) given in the novels to protect Wolfe's privacy.
• 1983: Bruce Nicolaysen's The Pirate of Gramercy Park is part of the Novel of New York multi-generation family historical fiction series.
• 1988: In the book Changes for Samantha, part of the American Girl series, Samantha stays at her Uncle Gardner and Aunt Cordelia's brownstone house in Gramercy Park.
• 2001: The mystery novel Muder on Gramercy Park by Victoria Thompson is part of the Gaslight Mystery series
• 2003: Paula Cohen's historical novel Gramercy Park is set in 1894.
• 2005: The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh is a psychological thriller.
• 2006: Several key scenes of Jed Rubenfeld's historical thriller The Interpretation of Murder, which is set in New York in 1909, take place in the park itself and the houses nearby, where one of the book's main protagonists lives.
• 2007: The Luxe, a book by Anna Godbersen, takes place in the neighborhood around Gramercy Park.
• 2010: In his memoir Assholes Finish First, Tucker Max recounts that he gained access to Gramercy Park to win a bet with a female acquaintance. To satisfy her end of the bet, she was required to give him fellatio while he was sitting on a bench in the park.

Films

• Note: Because Gramercy Park is private, film companies are not usually allowed to shoot there.
• 1973: In the science fiction film Soylent Green, which is set in New York in 2022, a corrupt New York governor escorts some children into a tent saying, "This was once called, 'Gramercy Park,' boys. Now it's the only tree sanctuary in New York."
• 1979: In the film The Warriors, one of the fictional gangs featured is the Gramercy Riffs, the biggest gang in New York.
• 1993: The exterior of the park can be seen in the Woody Allen film Manhattan Murder Mystery. The characters in the film comment on the beauty of the park from a wine tasting filmed in the National Arts Club. Later in the film Diane Keaton and Alan Alda walk into the street directly in front of the park as they try to track a bus route.
• 1999: In the film Notting Hill, a famous actress, played by Julia Roberts, is shown starring in a film called Gramercy Park, which was also the name of the production company for Notting Hill.

Music

• 1989: American jazz-funk/soul-jazz saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.'s album Time Out of Mind contains a track titled "Gramercy Park."
• 1997: Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee released a song entitled "Grammercy Park Hotel" on his album Something to Remember Me By.
• 2000: Jazz fusion/rock duo Steely Dan made mention of the park in "Janie Runaway", from their album Two Against Nature: Down in Tampa the future looked desperate and dark / Now you're the wonderwaif of Gramercy Park.
• 2001: Dutch jazz pianist Michiel Borstlap owns a record label called "Gramercy Park" and he also composed a tune with the same name.
• 2002: The Industrial Metal band Deadsy released a song entitled "The Key to Gramercy Park" on their album Commencement.