Coffee Flats Terrors

I'm in the midst of planning a summer baseball trip (Quick! Someone tell me if it's better to see the Burlington Bees or Clinton Lumberkings!) and I've been using Google Earth to get an idea of the spatial relations between cities in the midwest.

And when you're playing with Google Earth, you've got to look at your own city. Combine that with my lack of plans for the coming Memorial Day weekend and it's a recipe for searching out New York City bocce courts. I spent part of yesterday cross-referencing the courts listed on the parks website with the aerial photos from Google Earth.

After scoping out a few far flung Brooklyn locations, I turned my focus on Manhattan. The court Jamie visited two months ago isn't listed, but one at James J. Walker Park is. Zip zip zip on Google Earth and "WHOA! that's just a few blocks from my office!"

I swung past the park yesterday afternoon and took a few photos.

Approaching James J. Walker Park from Hudson Street brings a new ballfield into view. There's a large fence in centerfield. Behind that fence one can see the concrete ends of a bocce court. I entered the park from Clarkson Street, walking along the outside of right field.

The bocce court looks to be in okay condition. Having never played on an outdoor bocce court, I don't know how to perform an evaluation. The surface looks below average and it certainly isn't made of crushed oyster shells. There are divets in the course, but it's possible bocce could be played here. I plan to walk past the court once a week during lunchtime to see if there are actually bocce players engaged in a game.

This photo-taking convinced me I should check out a few of the bocce locations on Brooklyn, as an advance scout for outdoor play this weekend.

After work, I took the F Train to Bridge Park. If you look at a map, this park covers the Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge. The surface is all asphalt and concrete, bisected and trisected by the elevated highways of the BQE.

I don't think repairs have ever been made to this actual park. And who decided it would make sense to do anything recreational beneath a highway? This seems like an artificial way to increase the acreage of NYC parks.

Bridge Park 3 it is. Early this week when discussing playing bocce this upcoming weekend, I'd mentioned this park as a possible location. I sent an email with the subject line "brooklyn smog style bocce." I had no idea how right I was. One wrong throw and you're sending a bocce ball hurtling upward into the windshield of a car zooming by at 40 mph!

A closer look reveals there will be no aberrant bocce tossing. In addition to the desolate nature of the "park" the sides of the two bocce courts are surrounded by fences.

But what about being a rebel? I walked closer, thinking that my friends and I could just tear the fences away! No dice. There's no hint of wood sideboards. The courts are strewn with trash. Oddly, between the wood chips and the grass the surface looks much better than it could. Obviously, these courts have been cleaned out in the past year.

From DUMBO, I walked to Court Street and deeper into Brooklyn, planning to check out the bocce courts at Carroll Park.

Nestled between Court and Smith on Carroll Street, this park looks to hold a gem of an outdoor bocce court. It's protected from the basketball courts by high fencing and the park sees regular visitors. I smiled when I glanced at the court's surface from a distance. I thought a comfortable spring weeknight would bring out bocce players. I was wrong. The court was empty. AND I couldn't have played if I'd wanted to. Both gates into the court area were locked!

The court was surrounded by brooms and other items used to maintain such a good looking bocce surface. In addition to those items, a scoreboard was hung from the fence at mid-court. I want to play here! Who has the keys to those locks? When are people playing here? Do I have to join a society to get in?

Perpendicular to the nice bocce court is this one. It's not overrun with garbage, but the surface looks to be all gravel!

Do people play on this court? I'm definitely not bringing my new bocce balls here. And what kind of rolls can one expect on a jagged stone surface?

This hint of NYC bocce courts has fired me up to go on a quest for more places to play. The idea of playing on a true outdoor court excites me. I may spend my Sunday checking out the courts in Astoria or elsewhere in Brooklyn. I will find a place to play on Monday.