This Week: The High Line

Now for a week dedicated to one of my new favorite spots in Manhattan: The High Line. It is like a park in the sky, moving between New York buildings, green with trees and grass, meandering and relaxing. I've visited a half dozen times now and find something new every time.

The High Line is a public park built on 1.45 miles of railroad tracks running from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking to 34th Street. It was originally a freight rail line and used from 1934 to 1980 (B&W pictures and history from the High Line website):

It carried meat to the meatpacking, agricultural goods to warehouses and mail to the Post Office:

Now, the tracks are owned by the City of New York with the space underneath owned by the state, the city and private owners. The Friends of the High Line is a non-profit organization that helped to build and now maintain the park. Let me add that among the benefactors and advocates are DVF who wanted to save the structure in the late 1990s.

Now for my journey down the High Line. Today we'll take a look at the rails and save some of the special details for the rest of the week.

A view south (I entered on 20th Street. When it first opened in June, the crowds were so large, they only allowed entry at the south end):

A great view of the Empire State Building, almost eye level with the billboard:

As you can see, it moves through the buildings. The building on the left is the Caledonia, a new apartment building. As I walked by, you end up eye level with a yoga class at the Equinox.

And a closer view of the planks:

A landscape architecture firm, James Corner Field Operations, used a self-seeded landscape and plantings that grew on the unused High Line. Warning to keep out of the planted areas:

The entrance at the south end:

Looking up from street level. It's amazing what they have done to incorporate this into the surrounding neighborhood.

And my last picture. Apparently, the day I was out there, someone was performing some sort of sky performance art. I captured this in the few minutes it was in the sky: