We’re All Friends Of The High Line

“…Perhaps the railroad line could be devoted to some recreational uses for the community – a linear park or jogging paths…It's an incredible environment for pedestrians…” PETER OBLETZ, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST & VISIONARY.

The Beginnings and Frightening Freight Lines

The West Side Railroad Line also called the West Side Freight Line, was part of the New York Central Railroad. It ran on a track built by the Hudson River Railroad Company, and in 1851, it extended as far as Albany. During its operation, the line delivered meat to the meatpacking district, agricultural goods to factories and warehouses of the industrial West Side, mail to the Post Office and more.

From the year of its completion through 1929, such an excess of accidents occurred between freight train, vehicular and pedestrian traffic that 10th Avenue was known as “Death Avenue.” Talk about a challenge for realtors;

“The view is lovely and there is plenty of sunlight, with very little obstruction.”
“We are new in town, but we heard this is ‘Death Avenue,’ and to perhaps avoid it.”
“Horseradish! It’s a very quiet building.”
“With all due respect every window is dark and it’s only 7 o’clock – seems like a dead building on a frightening street.”
“Didn’t I tell you it was a quiet building?”

Men on horseback, known as “West Side Cowboys,” were hired to ride in front of trains waving red flags – the Wild West had finally taken Gotham. But this was a temporary fix, and in 1929 a decision was finally made to fix the system.



The West Side Improvement Project began that year when the City & State of New York, and the New York Central Railroad, all agreed on a plan which included the High Line. The project would raise trains some 30-feet up onto an elevated platform, sending them over the top of 105 street level crossings. It would also add 32-acres to Riverside Park.

The entire elevated structure – consisting of wooden railroad ties, tie spikes, steel rails, and stone ballast - was 13 miles long and cost the city over $150 million dollars in 1930 (more than $2 billion dollars today).

Up Up and Away

The High Line opened in 1934, running from 34th Street to St. John’s Park Terminal, at Spring Street. It was designed specifically to connect to factories and warehouses, enabling the locomotives to conveniently chug right into various buildings. The revolutionary design allowed for seamless delivery of fresh goods such as meat, produce, dairy and other raw goods without all the hassle of street-level traffic.

By the 1950’s however, the growth of interstate trucking lead to a huge drop in the use of railroads to deliver goods. And so, less than 30 years after The High Line had opened, its south section was demolished - from Gansevoort to Clarkson Street. In April of 1980, Conrail (The Consolidated Rail Corporation), sent the last engine down the tracks - pulling three cars full of frozen turkeys…talk about an early Thanksgiving.

Preserve It Like It’s 1999

In the mid to late 80’s, property owners with land under the High Line began to petition the city to demolish the remaining structure. Chelsea resident, community activist and railroad-enthusiast Peter Obletz fought the demolition efforts in court and even tried to re-establish rail service, but it was too late. Still, he made some noise, and bought some time.

The remaining structure was once again under threat of demolition, and in 1999, the community-based non-profit group “Friends of the High Line,” was founded by Joshua David and Robert Hammond. A new kind of public space and park was on the cusp of being created.

In 2001, Architect Casey Jones – we promise, we are Walking the [High] Line, and couldn’t have made that up - came on board to conduct research on how to create the park, while members of the non-profit began outreach programs to raise public awareness of their project. The goal was to "Reclaim the High Line."

A year later, Friends of the High Line leapt over their first hurdle when they received a City Council resolution offering enthusiastic support for their plan. Friends of the High Line were soon able to prove new tax revenue - created by the public space and through special programs, donations and stewardship – which would be a greater benefit than the cost of construction.

If You Build It, They Will Come

In 2003, Friends of the High Line announced a competition called “Designing the High Line," and received proposals from 720 teams in 36 countries – rumor has it, that they simply didn’t have time to entertain anymore countries or applicants. The finalists and entries were then displayed at Grand Central.

The following year, James Corner Field Operations, (a relatively new NYC-based landscape architecture firm), and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, (an architecture and design firm also based in NYC who had worked on New York’s Waterfront Park, The Wooster Group Theater in Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music) were selected.

RENEW, RECYCLE

In April of 2006, with all of the planning and negotiation between the city and various departments of the transportation administration completed, construction began on the first section, stretching from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street.

Before the new landscape on the High Line could be created, everything on the structure, from the steel rails and concrete, to the gravel, soil and debris had to be removed. During the material removal phase, each section of railroad track was logged for its specific location, cleaned, marked, and then stored. Later, many of the rails and other steel railroad relics were reinstalled at their original locations, integrated into the plantings – sandblasted and lead-free.

Turning back the clock wasn’t out of the question, as the top layer of steel was painted to closely match the original color of the High Line. Repairs were also made to the High Line's Art-Deco railings. The steel was treated, and any missing parts were re-created to restore the railings to their original form.

The last phase in the High Line’s transition to a public park was the development of the park landscape. The High Line's pathways come to form a series of smooth, tapered concrete planks. Seating accommodations were added including river-view, sundeck chaise lounges.

A Cut Above

The first section opened to the public in June 2009 and features, among other things, some 210 plant species, of which 161 are native to New York. The gardens throughout the span were inspired by the indigenous plants and seedlings that were rooted on the out-of-use elevated rail tracks during the 25 years after trains stopped running. In fact, many of the species that originally grew on the High Line's rail bed have been re-incorporated into the park's landscape.

Overall, the perennials, grasses, shrubs and trees which exist there now were chosen for their hardiness and sustainability as well as their textural and color variations. Diversity in bloom time was also a consideration, with plants selected so that there would be blooms from late January all the way to mid-November.

Today, the remaining track runs along the Lower West Side of Manhattan, and runs parallel to Washington Street for much of its span. Section two, completed in 2011, runs between West 20th and West 30th Streets and features a lawn area for sitting, playing or having a picnic. A third section is currently in the planning stage, the High Line at the Rail Yards, where the tracks exist between West 30th and West 34th Streets.



The park is open to the public 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM every day during the summer, and 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM during the winter months. You can check it out by heading to any of these access points: Gansevoort Street, 14th Street (elevator access), West 16th Street (elevator access), West 18th Street, West 20th Street, 23rd Street, West 26th Street, West 28th Street and West 30th Street (elevator access) – it’s a great place to meet-up with friends, but never at midnight.

Confetti

FRYING PAN - Need some more fun in the sun but jonesing to be even closer to the Hudson River? Well stow away on the Frying Pan -- a once-sunken now permanently docked boat-turned sun bathed bar-that promises to leave you buzzed and most likely sun bathed yourself! Pier 66 Maritime (26th St), Chelsea (212) 989-6363

JEFFREY – Named after the entrepreneur himself: Jeffrey provides customers with first class service as employees bombard patrons as trained personal shoppers. From the hippest new wardrobe to the vintage-feeling kicks to go with it, you'll be accompanied throughout the store with your brand new BFF. 449 W 14th St. (Washington St.), Chelsea (212) 206-1272