THE HIGH LINE – RESCUED FROM EXTINCTION (1ST IN SERIES)

It was a picture perfect summer day on the west side of Manhattan when I was first invited to walk The High Line. The circumstances to the invite made it a ‘full steam ahead acceptance’, and off we went!

The High Line – for those of you who have never heard of it – is a re-purposed section of abandoned rail tracks, rescued from extinction to become a beautiful and natural 1.45 mile linear pedestrian park.

Years in the making, this viaduct which runs from the meat packing district of Greenwich Village north to Chelsea, is now a public space created from once useful elevated rail tracks. This New York Central Railway line, which was constructed in the mid-19th century to transport freight of all sorts, was originally run on street-level tracks. The rail traffic, however, to this busy section of the City, made the area treacherous to pedestrian traffic and resulted in many deaths. In the interest of public safety, and, since the warehouses located in Chelsea were dependent upon their deliveries, the Railroad Commission elected to raise the tracks to an elevated height of 30′ high, a full three stories up; an innovative solution to the turn of the century urban growth of New York.

In 1933, the first train ran on The High Line—which was then called the “West Side Elevated Line.” A few of the tracks were cut directly through some of the buildings, creating easy off-loads of freight for factories like Nabisco (a space which is now the home of Chelsea Market.)

In the mid-1960’s -1970’s, train use dwindled due to the rise in over-the-road trucking. As the decline continued through the 1970’s, some parts of the Line were demolished. By the time the calendar rolled around to the 1980’s, all traffic was stopped and calls for a total demolition of the structure soon followed.

That might have been the end of the story had it not been for the bright and creative minds of two innovative young men who stepped forward in the late 1990’s. Rallying and campaigning for the area to be deeded back to the City for use as public space, a foundation was formed named Friends of The High Line. The design and construction was undertaken from these efforts and, right before the neighboring residents’ very eyes, a new City park was established.

But, the High Line it is more than just a park. Its glory is in its variety. Perched 30-feet up overlooking gothic revival red brick warehouses and looming skyscrapers, the technological marvels of glass and steel co-mingled with the centuries old relics, well…one gets a sense of time traveling.

Now, I will be the first to say that New York City knows a thing or two about parks. This is the city that pioneered solutions by building bridges, subways, public spaces, and towering buildings to power it. In walking through this park, I felt connected to the City’s history and the immigrant love and labor that built her. It was truly a magical experience for this first time High Line walker.

So, if you are ever in New York City and you get asked….Why don’t we walk The High Line? Say “YES!”, it is a delightful adventure.

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Footnote – In viewing the attached photograph you might note a long string of people lined up along the building on the right. These folks were waiting, some for two days straight, for admittance to Taylor Swift’s Lover Experience Pop-up! The Twitter feed and Instagram photos were screaming that day with all the Swiftie’s posts and gloats! And, this old gal with her sore leg muscles, watching like a voyeur from above, surely did get an injection of generational time travel watching that event unfold!