Is Washington Square Park a Good Place to Meet Women?

Yes. a dating coach lists Washington Square Park among the parks he uses for daytime approaches in New York, next to Bryant, Madison Square and Union Square. It works for the same reason any good park works: people go there to be around other people, and many of them are sitting still with nothing to do.

What follows is how to use it well, including the one thing about this park that makes starting a conversation easier than almost anywhere else in the city.

My reasoning about parks applies directly. "If someone's out in a park, they've come out to be among people." A woman who wanted privacy would be at home. She is here because she wants a little company, even if she did not plan to talk to a stranger.

Washington Square is the heart of Greenwich Village. It has a marble arch and a fountain, and it is known for its street performers. That mix of landmark, music and benches makes it a place where people stay for a while instead of passing through.

An opener usually needs a reason, and the park provides one. When a musician or a performer is drawing a small crowd, you and she are both watching the same thing. You do not have to explain yourself with a clever line. You can say something about what you are both looking at.

"That was better than I expected" or "How long do you think he has been playing?" is a normal sentence between two people standing in the same place. From there, you can find out whether she lives nearby, whether she comes here often and what she was about to do before she stopped. Keep it light and let her answer set the pace.

Pick a woman who has time. A few signs:

• She is sitting on a bench, on the edge of the fountain or on the grass.
• She is watching a performer, not looking at a phone and walking away.
• She is alone or with one other person, so you are not walking into a group conversation.

Skip the woman cutting across the park with headphones and a fast step. She is on her way somewhere, and My own warning about busy streets applies here too: people with headphones in are hard to reach, and you should say hello only if she looks open to it.

Stand a few feet away, so she can see you and step back if she wants. Use your voice at a normal volume. My rule on every open is to "assume it's going to happen" and speak as if it will. Then give a plain reason:

"Hi, I saw you watching him and wanted to say hello. I am Sam."

Then read her. If she smiles and answers, ask a second question about her. If she gives a short answer and turns back to the show, say "enjoy it" and leave.

A packed lawn on a warm weekend can make it hard to hear and hard to find a woman who is alone. Do not push through it. coach says the best park among the four cycles over time, so go to a different one on another day. Bryant and Union Square are a short walk apart, and a break in the same afternoon costs you nothing.

If the music is too loud to talk over, wait for a pause or walk with her a few steps away from it. A coffee shop or a bar is within a couple of blocks, so if the conversation is good you can suggest a drink right away.

It will not go well every time. My point about New York is the best comfort: you have an almost endless supply of strangers, and if one conversation goes badly you will probably never see her again. It is forgotten by the next corner. That low cost is the reason men learn faster here than in smaller towns.

The park is the easy part. The hard part is the moment you stand a few feet from a woman and your mind goes blank. On a Cold Approach Bootcamp, you practice that moment in the field, with a coach beside you and feedback after every set. Training days are two four-hour blocks, daygame and night game mixed to suit you, and there is no skill floor. The Bootcamp runs in Miami and New York.