As a young boy, I lived on a quiet dead-end block in Maspeth on 73rd St. Then one day trucks came, and workers lifted the brick house across the street onto a large, wheeled platform and moved the house a few blocks away, then other houses were moved. Many houses were demolished, and large trucks carried the debris away. Some of the piles of wood were set on fire. All of this was a sign of things to come. The Long Island Expressway was coming right through our neighborhood!

When the expressway was completed, the city made a little triangle park where the brick house once stood. The park was a cement island and had three benches and three trees with cobble stones in the center. The park was one of many sitting areas and parks and green spaces that were constructed after the LIE was completed. During the day, seniors had a place to sit and talk and kids had a place to play but at night large groups of teens would gather with fast cars and loud radios. Drinking beer, and breaking bottles were the norm.

Once, late at night when the park was being built, the teen crowd was making lots of noise and trying to overturn a construction trailer, so my father yelled out the window to quiet it down and get lost. Well before we knew it a rock came crashing through our window. My father ran out to confront them, but they took off in all directions. Teens of the 1950’s could get a little wild.

The little park was a place for my friends and I to play games like tag, box ball and Johnny-Ride-the-Pony or just sit on the benches. One thing always remained the same, at night teens would gather. As I got older it was my friends and I that hung out there but being we all lived on the block, and everyone knew us, we didn’t do too many bad things.

When I achieved adulthood, I would go out and talk to the teens and let them know that if they were going to be loud late at night and break bottles neighbors will complain and call the police. I always told them that I used to hang out here when I was a teen. It always worked, oh sure there was usually one jerk who forgot the rules but mostly we had peace at night and in the morning, I would pick up the bottles.

During the budget cuts in the 1970s the Parks Dept stopped maintaining the park and the weeds grew to 4-feet high and the benches needed painting. So, my wife, daughter, and some friends pulled all the weeds out and removed the dirt to expose the cobblestones and we also painted the benches. We planted our live Christmas tree that we had in our living room right in the center of the park. When Spring came someone dug the tree up and stole it. Next Christmas we did the same thing and this time local kids broke the tree in half, killing it.

In the years that followed, two of the original trees planted in the 1950s died but in their place grew a large Weeping Willow and a large Mulberry and they, along with the original Honey Locust tree, made it a pretty nice park. Anyone who knows about Honey Locust trees knows they have large spikey thorns. Kids were always jabbing each other, getting flat tires on their bikes and I even made a trip to the doctor after stepping on one. So, I made it a point every year to prune the thorns. Nowadays, the Parks Dept plants the thorn-less variety.

Then about 20 years ago our little park got a makeover from the city. All the cement areas were dug up and carted away and the Parks Dept created a green space with lots of shrubs, native plants, trees, and benches for sitting. The Parks Dept’s Greenstreet Program has transformed many cement islands into lush green oasis all over the city.

Some years ago, the LIE was widened, and we lost much of the green spaces along the highway, so I appreciate the little park more than ever and have planted some flowers to beautify it even more.

Now, how did my little park get to be called “Quick Brown Fox Park?” The Parks Commissioner at the time was Henry Stern and he gave himself and his staff whimsical nicknames and this carried over to park names. The saying “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” is known as a pangram because it uses all the letters in the alphabet and has been used to teach reading, writing, typing, and talking in English. There was originally a sign in the park with all this information, but it has long been gone. It’s a good thing the fox statue has been well cemented in as I’m sure there have been attempts to steal it. An interesting note: for the last 15 years or so kids haven’t been hanging out there anymore. I enjoy the quiet peacefulness and don’t miss the drama, but I wonder just what are the teens doing these days?

As you go about the neighborhood look for these little Greenstreet gems. Some have whimsical names, some have historical info, and some are named after prominent people. All are nice places to sit and relax and enjoy nature.