| Abe Lebewohl Park | |
|---|---|
 Lion statue in Abe Lebewohl Park | |
 | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | In front of theSt. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery at 2nd Ave and East 12th St,East Village, Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°43′48″N73°59′13″W / 40.7300°N 73.9870°W /40.7300; -73.9870 |
| Area | 0.16 acres |
| Operated by | New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Website | https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/abe-lebewohl-park |
Abe Lebewohl Park is a public park in theEast Village neighborhood ofManhattan inNew York City, in front of theSt. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery where East12th Street,Second Avenue, andStuyvesant Street meet. The park is named afterAbe Lebewohl, a local who owned theSecond Avenue Deli, which was formerly located across the street from the park. It contains a small seating area as well as aUkrainian-American World War II memorial.
Abe Lebewohl Park, along with nearby Abe Lebewohl Triangle, were originally bought by the city in 1799 for street-grid purposes. In 1938 it was redeveloped into a seating area and became known as St. Mark’s Park, after the church directly behind it.[1] In 1980 a petition was started for the city to save the park after it had deteriorated throughout the 1970s. This led to the creation of a weekly summertime concert series, now called "Music at Abe Lebewohl Park", in conjunction with theThird Street Music School.[2] On March 4, 1996,Abe Lebewohl, a local who had helped to organize the petition to save the park and was well known for owning theSecond Avenue Deli, which was at the time located just across the street from the park, was murdered while making his daily run to the bank.[3] After the park was renovated later that year, it was renamed to Abe Lebewohl Park in his honor.[4]
