76-Second Travel Show: ‘Holden’s Central Park ducks’

30 January 2010
8:38am
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76-Second Travel Show: ‘Holden’s Central Park ducks’

Robert ReidLonely Planet author

JD Salinger died yesterday, and many are remembering the reclusive New York writer through his most famous character: Holden Caulfield. (This is the best article on Holden’s New York.)

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden offers an immortal two-day walking tour of New York City in December 1949. The scene that stands out the most isn’t the Greenwich Village jazz club, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, slimy bars — but the several mentions of another: Central Park South’s pond. He wonders where the ducks go when it freezes. There’s some symbolism there, I think. So I went to check.

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