The Diana Ross Playground is located in New York City's Central Park, inside the park at West 81st Street and Central Park West. Its namesake, the recording artist Diana Ross, who lives across the street in The Beresford, gave two legendary free concerts in Central Park on July 21 and 22, 1983(attendance estimated to be between 400,000 and 800,000 people), and pledged to fund the project with proceeds from the television rights. However, when a thunderstorm during the first (and only scheduled) concert destroyed all of its memorabilia/merchandise, the performance did not prove profitable, and Miss Ross used personal resources to fund the project. Groundbreaking took place in September, 1986, with both Ross and then-Mayor Ed Koch present. Ross reportedly called the event "one of the most fu