Final Dog Park Project

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.”
-Milan Kundera


I first fell in love with dogs as a small child- I would watch them from my stroller- desperately trying to squirm out my way to my furry friends. I have always been entranced by a dog’s passion for everything in life. They are equally excited to go for a car ride, go to the park, or simply receive a belly rub. When I moved to New York for college, my first extended time away from my family and my dog, I instantly found comfort in the Washington Square Dog Run. I would spend entire afternoons sitting in the Dog Run, and despite the occasional smell of dog pee when the wind turned my way, most of my favorite New York memories have occurred in that park. I soon discovered that there is so much more to the Washington Square Dog Run then cute puppies frolicking about off leash. In this dog run I found old friends catching up, romances just starting, high-powered business men and women networking and gushing about their “baby” Fido at the same time. The Dog Run provides a community and sense of stability in one of New York’s most historical and amorphous parks.
When I began this documentary study I had just finished Henry James’ Washington Square. I was in love with the era the book took place in; Washington Square Park was filled with grand balls, tea parties, and fairy tale like romances. Washington Square Park however is forever changing and soon transformed into a haven for artists and reactionaries alike. During the 20th Century it saw the likes of Edward Stieglitz, Jackson Pollack, Jack Kerouac, and Bob Dylan just to name a few. Real estate was cheap around the square in the mid century; many buildings were converted tenements and sweatshops, so it created a draw for many struggling and poor artists. Simon and Garfunkel, who lived on the south-west end of the park even wrote a song about Bleeker street, (which runs just south of the park) in which they mention how inexpensive the village was in the 60’s. In the song they say, “Thirty dollars pays your rent /
on Bleeker Street.”
That was the Washington Square of the 60’s- my parents generation- I wanted to learn about the Washington Square of my generation. The one where a bottle of water costs two dollars from a vendor, rent starts around two thousand a month, and thirty dollars could hardly buy you dinner. My goal in documenting the dog park was to see how Washington Square Park has changed and explore what it has become by looking at a small community of people within it. What I found: thirty dollars may have once paid your rent, but today it won’t even pay for a dog walker!
On a nice day about 1000 dogs pass through Washington Square Park, of those more than half are being walked by professionals who are being paid, on average, 20-30 dollars an hour depending on the size of the dog. These professional dog walkers pick the dogs up from their home’s, walk them to the park and let them run around for a little less than an hour then walk them home. The dog walkers can also be paid extra to play with the dogs and groom the dogs. These services may cost a pet owner upwards of three hundred dollars a week. This may seem very expensive, but in an area where a million dollar apartment is considered cheap it is considered the norm. These prices reflect the prosperity that has flooded the area around Washington Square Park. For this documentary I talked with hundreds of people, and I heard many times a word that the dog owners seem to have invented to describe what has happened to their park: “yuppification.” The park has become gentrified, and while some were pleased, others were outraged. There was a mass consensus that the “yuppies” had moved in and were trying to take over Washington Square Park.
As history has seen time and time again, history is written by the victor, so the community has yet to decide if this “yuppification” has had a positive or negative effect on the park. Many of the dog owners love and deeply appreciate that the park has been cleaned up, there are less drug users and dealers wandering around, and less homeless men sleeping on the benches. However, with this change many artists and bohemians have also disappeared being replaced by NYU students and business people who can afford the rising costs of the village real estate market. Washington Square Park is currently undergoing a mass renovation, which will also increase gentrification. It has been met with many cheers from some and an uproar of resistance from others. At this time we are at a major fulcrum for change- when the park reopens it may have lost its artistic soul forever- or it may retain its bohemian aura and history- only time will tell.
I do believe that Washington Square Park has been changing for the better, but this documentary is not an advocacy piece for continued gentrification. This documentary is simply a time capsule of a very unique community in a very unique park, during a very unique time. I intend for each person to draw his or her own conclusion on the current state of the park and hope it can provide a window into this exciting and changing time for future generations.