Most New Yorkers live in crowded buildings, with no more lawn or garden than they can fit in a window-box. Therefore, the great big expanses of green in Central Park are a precious thing, shared in good spirit by everyone who can find a free moment to spend there.

On Saturdays and Sundays almost all the roads in the park are closed to motor vehicles, and when the weather is nice, everyone comes out to play. The main park loop is thick with joggers, cyclists, and roller bladers. Inside that loop, particularly in the area between about 65th and 77th Streets, you'll find music at every turn. Folk singers, jazz bands, drum circles take up their regular spots week-in and week-out for years, some for decades.

Just to the west of the Mall, halfway across the park at about 70th Street, DJs set up in the late afternoon and play soul and dance music, surrounded by roller skaters and bladers, some of them extravagantly flamboyant. Elsewhere you may find someone playing some slower music, while a few dozen couples pause their evening walks for a bit of ballroom dancing.