Central Park Guitarist Retires

The strum of a guitar filled the west side of Central Park on a cloudy Saturday afternoon in July. The music came from a small grassy hill filled with hundreds of spectators. On the sidewalk below, a man with white hair and bare feet sang into a microphone while encouraging his audience to join in and clap along. 

The musician is David Ippolito, who might be better known as “That Guitar Man from Central Park.” Almost every Saturday in the summer, he sets up his guitar and speakers by the lake off of 75th Street and plays a four-hour set of folk covers and original songs. 

After 35 years, these performances have become a summer standard for some New Yorkers, many of whom say they have found a community as part of Ippolito’s audience. But, Ippolito recently announced that this will be his last season, and he said he will miss it. 

“ There will be a few hundred people sitting there, and everybody's singing, and everybody's smiling, and there's one guy with a piece of wood strung with silver wire, and it's me," he explained at his July 11 set. "And that's the reason everybody's here."

He continues. “That to me is, like, just the most amazing feeling, and I’ll miss that.” 

It all started in 1992 when Ippolito was homeless and struggling with alcoholism. He said he felt like a failure, and out of desperation, he decided to stop drinking and turn his life around. 

To make some money, Ippolito began playing guitar in the park, and after just one performance, he developed a fan base. Now, some of Ippolito’s fans have become lifelong friends connected through his music.

“ If anybody ever tells you that music doesn't cross genre and generation and age and race, spit in their eye and point at me, 'cause we've been doing it out here for 35 years,” Ippolito said. 

One audience member, Allie Tabak, has been coming to listen to Ippolito play for 20 years. She said Ippolito put music back into her life after her husband died. 

“My husband played the piano. And when he died, the pianos went, and I never unpacked my music because it was too painful at that point in time,” Tabak said. “After coming here for the third time, I went home, and I unpacked my music.” 

Barri Falk, another fan, said she stumbled upon Ippolito playing his guitar in 2017, and now she comes back every summer. She said she feels a sense of community among the crowd.

“We have people all over, from all over the world coming together and being part of community and enjoying each other's company and laughing together, and it's a beautiful thing,” Falk said. “It makes me feel good. I always leave here feeling fulfilled in some way and good, warm fuzzy feelings.” 

This is the last summer that Ippolito will be performing at Central Park. He said it’s time for him to move on to other passions, like playwriting. But, he said he will continue playing the guitar and writing songs.

“ I write songs and I sing them for people,” Ippolito said. “When I say I feel like one of the luckiest men alive, I mean it.” 

As the afternoon went on, people from all walks of life soaked in Ippolito’s last summer of Central Park performances, all singing along as he played his guitar. 

Cityscape covers the people, places, and spirit of New York City.