The High Line! The High Line! The High Line!

Yesterday was my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom) and she had the inspired idea to lunch down by the High Line so that we could take a look at Section 1 of this new elevated public park which opened to the public on June 9, and runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street.

The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. The High Line website describes how it "lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980."

We have Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 to thank for this fantastic new addition to Manhattan. When the historic structure was under threat of demolition, Friends of the High Line works in conjunction with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park. Awesome.

What an adventure! What an incredible public project! What a gorgeous addition to the island of Manhattan!

An elevated public park is an inspired idea. 30 feet in the air is a wonderful vantage point from which to view the architecture and landscape of NYC.

The High Line park retains hints of its former life as freight train tracks and the design of the walkway and landscaping reflects that. Some of the plants look like they're growing out of rusted train tracks.

The High Line's plantings are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the out-of-use elevated rail tracks during the 25 years after the trains stopped running. Landscape architects James Corner Field Operations and the Netherlands-based Piet Oudolf chose species for their hardiness, sustainability, and textural and color variation, with a focus on native species. Many of the species that originally grew on the High Line's rail bed are incorporated into the park landscape. The 210 species in Section 1 bloom from late January to mid-November.

Walking uptown on the High Line, I kept thinking: this is the best thing to happen to Manhattan since_____. I couldn't quite fill in the blank but it made me want to spend more time in Manhattan. And that's a big deal for a Brooklyn girl.

The High Line is located on Manhattan's West Side and is open from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm daily.
It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues.