Architect Cesar Pelli created a Manhattan rarity in the World Financial Center – a pleasant indoor public space. Its late-eighties style of has aged relatively gracefully, even after the damage sustained during 9-11. The Palm Court, with its staggeringly large palms uprooted from the Mojave Desert, is a great place to meet a friend before taking a stroll. The wide arc of the rose granite steps descending to the Court are good for making a grand entrance, although when the benches under the palms are full, the steps take the overflow. There are regular free concerts and performances in the Winter Garden (check the World Financial Center web site for a calendar), as well as art installations in galleries and public spaces.
When the weather is good, you can buy a picnic from one of the takeout lunch spots (which include the usual suspects, like Au Bon Pain and Cosi Sandwich Bar, but also a more interesting transplant from Soho, Donald Sacks Takeout) and eat outside. There are often snazzy yachts or World Cup racers in the harbor. A walk up or down the promenade will give you a sampling of public sculpture. South takes you past Ned Smythe’s “Upper Room” a concoction in concrete and tile with Egyptian motifs, to the South Cove landscape with steel viewing walkways designed by Mary Miss. The sculptural form of the Holocaust museum lies beyond.
If you head north, before you set off, take not look at the railing along the harbor and notice the Walt Whitman quote enshrined there. It’s not the “Mass of Men lead Lives of Quiet Desperation” – that would be too much of a downer for the commuting business folk who are heading for the New-Jersey bound ferries that you’ll pass. Beyond the Mercantile lies spacious Rockefeller Park, with lawns for sunbathing as well as a playground. The park contains an installation of Tom Otterness sculptures – small-scale bronzes that mix playfulness with irony, called "Real World."
There are numerous other sculptures in the area that you will discover for yourself. One thing you won’t see is an overflow of homeless people, as a private security detail polices the area, and even the gum is scraped from the sidewalk regularly. It’s an urban planner’s dream version of New York City.