cat
We did 12,000 or so steps on Saturday, but we knew we would crush that today. I had looked at the map, and a plan had come together.
Only, I have man flu, and as the day went on my temperature went up and up and I was sweating for England. And sneezing. I was a mess. But also driven to take snaps and see thing I have only dreamed of seeing.
First of all we walked up Greenwich Street for about ten blocks, past all these grand old buildings, offices and tree lined streets, not having a village feel, but this was The Village.
We stopped off for breakfast at a café, sat at a table and pretended it wasn’t trying to rain. We both have pancakes and either bacon or sausage, and lashings of syrup. And plenty of hot joe.
Refuelled, we set off north some more, until we went one block west and in front of us, was the start of the High Line. The High Line is an old elevated freight railway, that has now been converted to a walk and wildflower garden
But before we walked that, we had an appointment with Mr Hopper at the Whitney Gallery. And we were half an hour ahead of schedule, so we sat outside a while, just resting up. I got talking to an artist who had set up a stall to sell her work, and got onto the subject of copyright theft as she thought I had snapped her work, and I said I would not do that as I respected people’s work.
She was very pleasantly surprised, and so we had a long talk, until it was time to go into the museum.
We went to the top of the building, out to the viewing platforms to get views over the city to the huge scrapers in Uptown.
Contemporary art can be challenging, and not all floats my boat, but there were some great stuff in there. And some blank canvasses, that’s all I’m saying.
Outside again, we buy a drink and a pretzel, then climb the steps onto the High Line and find a place to sit and eat.
Now, I like a walk, especially if there are plants and butterflies to look at, what I was not expecting is that half the city would also be out walking too, and getting in the way too, I mean, we’re all photographers these days, but damn, there were some crowds and slow walking people.
Highlight really was seeing a Monarch Butterfly, near enough to snap, even if I did not have the macro lens, but still, amazingly beautiful to see.
Near the end of the walk, the line winds through some spectacular new scrapers being built, then around the sidings for trains operating out of Penn Station, then one final corner and the walk drops to street level, right by the Mega Bus stops, and the place was even busier, that and the ComicCon taking place the other side of the street.
-----------------------------------------
The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City.[1] The High Line’s design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a "living system" drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture.[3]
The park is built on a disused, southern viaduct section of the New York Central Railroad line known as the West Side Line. Originating in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, the park runs from Gansevoort Street – three blocks below 14th Street, in the Meatpacking District – through Chelsea to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Center.[4] The West Side Line formerly extended south to a railroad terminal at Spring Street, just north of Canal Street, and north to 35th Street at the site of the Javits Center. Most of the viaduct's southern section was demolished in 1960,[5] and the section north of 34th Street was demolished and reconfigured in 1981.[6] Another small portion was demolished in 1991.[7] The High Line was inspired by the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris which was completed in 1993.[8][9]
Because of declining usage, the railway viaduct was effectively abandoned in 1980. Repurposing the railway into an urban park began in 2006,[10][11] with the first phase opening in 2009[12] and the second phase opening in 2011.[13] The third and final phase opened to the public on September 21, 2014.[14] A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street will open by 2018, when the first phase of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project is complete.[15]
The High Line's success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space.[16] The project has spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods,[17] increasing real-estate values and prices along the route in an example of the halo effect.[18] As of September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually
The park extends from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street. At 30th Street the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project[19] to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 34th Street,[4] although the northern section is expected to be integrated with the Hudson Yards development and the Hudson Park and Boulevard.[20] When the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project's Western Rail Yard is finished in 2018 it will be elevated above the High Line Park, so an exit along the viaduct over the West Side Yard will lead to the Western Rail Yard.[21] The 34th Street entrance is at grade, with wheelchair access.[4][21]
The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in winter, until 10 p.m. in spring and fall, and until 11 p.m. in summer (except for the Interim Walkway west of 11th Avenue, which is open until dusk). It can be reached through eleven entrances, five of which are accessible to people with disabilities. The wheelchair-accessible entrances, each with stairs and an elevator, are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th Streets. Additional staircase-only entrances are located at 18th, 20th, 26th, and 28th Streets, and 11th Avenue. Street-level access is available at 34th Street via the Interim Walkway, which runs from 30th Street and 11th Avenue to 34th Street west of 11th Avenue.
In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on Manhattan's West Side. The street-level tracks were used by the New York Central Railroad's freight trains, which shipped commodities such as coal, dairy products and beef.[53][54] For safety the railroad hired "West Side cowboys", men who rode horses and waved flags in front of the trains.[55] However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that the nickname "Death Avenue" was given to Tenth[56][57] and Eleventh Avenues.[53] In 1910, one organization estimated that there had been 548 deaths and 1,574 injuries over the years along Eleventh Avenue.[53]
Public debate about the hazard began during the early 1900s.[58] In 1929 the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project,[54] conceived by Robert Moses.[59] The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park; it also included construction of the West Side Elevated Highway. It cost more than $150 million,[60] worth about $2.14 billion in 2017 dollars.[61] The last stretch of street-level track was removed from Eleventh Avenue in 1941.[58]
The first train on the High Line viaduct, part of New York Central's West Side Line, ran along the structure in 1933.[62] The elevated structure was dedicated on June 29, 1934, and was the first part of the West Side Improvement Project to be completed.[63] The High Line, which originally ran from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal at Spring Street,[6] was designed to go through the center of blocks rather than over an avenue;[63][55] as a result, the viaduct's construction necessitated the demolition of 640 buildings.[63][58] It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to load and unload inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing street traffic.[55] This reduced the load on the Bell Laboratories Building (which has housed the Westbeth Artists Community since 1970)[64] and the former Nabisco plant in Chelsea Market, which were served from protected sidings in the buildings
cat
We did 12,000 or so steps on Saturday, but we knew we would crush that today. I had looked at the map, and a plan had come together.
Only, I have man flu, and as the day went on my temperature went up and up and I was sweating for England. And sneezing. I was a mess. But also driven to take snaps and see thing I have only dreamed of seeing.
First of all we walked up Greenwich Street for about ten blocks, past all these grand old buildings, offices and tree lined streets, not having a village feel, but this was The Village.
We stopped off for breakfast at a café, sat at a table and pretended it wasn’t trying to rain. We both have pancakes and either bacon or sausage, and lashings of syrup. And plenty of hot joe.
Refuelled, we set off north some more, until we went one block west and in front of us, was the start of the High Line. The High Line is an old elevated freight railway, that has now been converted to a walk and wildflower garden
But before we walked that, we had an appointment with Mr Hopper at the Whitney Gallery. And we were half an hour ahead of schedule, so we sat outside a while, just resting up. I got talking to an artist who had set up a stall to sell her work, and got onto the subject of copyright theft as she thought I had snapped her work, and I said I would not do that as I respected people’s work.
She was very pleasantly surprised, and so we had a long talk, until it was time to go into the museum.
We went to the top of the building, out to the viewing platforms to get views over the city to the huge scrapers in Uptown.
Contemporary art can be challenging, and not all floats my boat, but there were some great stuff in there. And some blank canvasses, that’s all I’m saying.
Outside again, we buy a drink and a pretzel, then climb the steps onto the High Line and find a place to sit and eat.
Now, I like a walk, especially if there are plants and butterflies to look at, what I was not expecting is that half the city would also be out walking too, and getting in the way too, I mean, we’re all photographers these days, but damn, there were some crowds and slow walking people.
Highlight really was seeing a Monarch Butterfly, near enough to snap, even if I did not have the macro lens, but still, amazingly beautiful to see.
Near the end of the walk, the line winds through some spectacular new scrapers being built, then around the sidings for trains operating out of Penn Station, then one final corner and the walk drops to street level, right by the Mega Bus stops, and the place was even busier, that and the ComicCon taking place the other side of the street.
-----------------------------------------
The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City.[1] The High Line’s design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Operations (Project Lead), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Piet Oudolf. The abandoned spur has been redesigned as a "living system" drawing from multiple disciplines which include landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology. Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon of contemporary landscape architecture.[3]
The park is built on a disused, southern viaduct section of the New York Central Railroad line known as the West Side Line. Originating in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, the park runs from Gansevoort Street – three blocks below 14th Street, in the Meatpacking District – through Chelsea to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Center.[4] The West Side Line formerly extended south to a railroad terminal at Spring Street, just north of Canal Street, and north to 35th Street at the site of the Javits Center. Most of the viaduct's southern section was demolished in 1960,[5] and the section north of 34th Street was demolished and reconfigured in 1981.[6] Another small portion was demolished in 1991.[7] The High Line was inspired by the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris which was completed in 1993.[8][9]
Because of declining usage, the railway viaduct was effectively abandoned in 1980. Repurposing the railway into an urban park began in 2006,[10][11] with the first phase opening in 2009[12] and the second phase opening in 2011.[13] The third and final phase opened to the public on September 21, 2014.[14] A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street will open by 2018, when the first phase of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project is complete.[15]
The High Line's success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space.[16] The project has spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods,[17] increasing real-estate values and prices along the route in an example of the halo effect.[18] As of September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually
The park extends from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street. At 30th Street the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project[19] to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 34th Street,[4] although the northern section is expected to be integrated with the Hudson Yards development and the Hudson Park and Boulevard.[20] When the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project's Western Rail Yard is finished in 2018 it will be elevated above the High Line Park, so an exit along the viaduct over the West Side Yard will lead to the Western Rail Yard.[21] The 34th Street entrance is at grade, with wheelchair access.[4][21]
The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in winter, until 10 p.m. in spring and fall, and until 11 p.m. in summer (except for the Interim Walkway west of 11th Avenue, which is open until dusk). It can be reached through eleven entrances, five of which are accessible to people with disabilities. The wheelchair-accessible entrances, each with stairs and an elevator, are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th Streets. Additional staircase-only entrances are located at 18th, 20th, 26th, and 28th Streets, and 11th Avenue. Street-level access is available at 34th Street via the Interim Walkway, which runs from 30th Street and 11th Avenue to 34th Street west of 11th Avenue.
In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on Manhattan's West Side. The street-level tracks were used by the New York Central Railroad's freight trains, which shipped commodities such as coal, dairy products and beef.[53][54] For safety the railroad hired "West Side cowboys", men who rode horses and waved flags in front of the trains.[55] However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic that the nickname "Death Avenue" was given to Tenth[56][57] and Eleventh Avenues.[53] In 1910, one organization estimated that there had been 548 deaths and 1,574 injuries over the years along Eleventh Avenue.[53]
Public debate about the hazard began during the early 1900s.[58] In 1929 the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project,[54] conceived by Robert Moses.[59] The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park; it also included construction of the West Side Elevated Highway. It cost more than $150 million,[60] worth about $2.14 billion in 2017 dollars.[61] The last stretch of street-level track was removed from Eleventh Avenue in 1941.[58]
The first train on the High Line viaduct, part of New York Central's West Side Line, ran along the structure in 1933.[62] The elevated structure was dedicated on June 29, 1934, and was the first part of the West Side Improvement Project to be completed.[63] The High Line, which originally ran from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal at Spring Street,[6] was designed to go through the center of blocks rather than over an avenue;[63][55] as a result, the viaduct's construction necessitated the demolition of 640 buildings.[63][58] It connected directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to load and unload inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods could be transported and unloaded without disturbing street traffic.[55] This reduced the load on the Bell Laboratories Building (which has housed the Westbeth Artists Community since 1970)[64] and the former Nabisco plant in Chelsea Market, which were served from protected sidings in the buildings