If I’m going to be completely honest here, I’m going to have to admit that I almost expected a singing crab to start serenading a couple in a rowboat. And the woman in that rowboat would probably be a mermaid.
While visiting the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, it doesn’t take long to forget that you are in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world. Found at East 72nd Street and Park Drive North in the middle of Central Park, the Loeb Boathouse is home to both the Boathouse Restaurant, which has lakeside dining and an express café, with quick service items ranging from breakfast food to snacks and beverages, as well as a bar and grill that overlooks the main restaurant, the lake, and their docks.
For a $20 cash deposit, $12 for an hour and $2.50 for each additional quarter hour, up to four people can rent a classic rowboat and take themselves on a tour of the massive lake on which the Loeb Boathouse sits. On a warm day, several boats can be seen cutting through the calm water as diners watch, possibly also imagining scenes from Disney movies as they do so. I can’t be the only one.
In addition to rowboat rentals, the docks also allow bike rentals for a $200 deposit and additional costs per hour that depends on the type of bike you’re renting.
Now, if neither renting a rowboat or a bike tickle your fancy, for $30 per half hour you can have the Loeb Boathouse’s host Andres Garcia take you, and up to five more people you’d trust in a boat with you, on a tour of the lake in a classic Venetian gondola. As someone who both lacks upper body strength and friends who would want to row a boat for me, having someone else row a gondola around a lake in Central Park seems like a sweet deal.
If you were as enthusiastic about the Loeb Boathouse as I was while reading, check the website at www.thecentralparkboathouse.com for dinning and rental hours.