Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park

Atlantic Ave., 95 Ave. bet. 127 St. and 125 St.

Queens

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

From the time that this park opened in 1938, it has been known locally as Smokey Oval Park. In 1987, Parks officially named it Smokey Oval. The name refers to the park’s location, across from a Long Island Railroad terminus which once made it a landing area of soot and ash from the railway smoke. It is also inspired by the oval-shaped mound at the front of the park.

Before the park was constructed, 126th Street and 94th Avenue ran through the parkland in the typical grid pattern. These roadways were closed off to provide for a large open recreational area. In 1944, a strip of the playground’s land, approximately 40 feet long, was deducted from the original acreage by local law to allow for the widening of Atlantic Avenue.