When I heard that The Highline was opening a few months ago, I thought it’d be a cute little narrow walkway with a pretty view (I pictured something like Battery Park).
This jaded native New Yorker was floored. The Highline is magical!
The things that “wow-ed” me. And I did say “wow” about 20 times in 20 minutes:
- First of all, it’s enormous, and it’s only gonna get more enormous as it expands further north to 30th Street. It currently runs from Gansevoort to 20th St.
- The view of the skyline (obviously). I went at night, which maximized the intensity of the experience for me.
- Intersecting angles of the Highline itself and the surrounding structures
- The privilege of walking along an above-ground path that has been cut through Manhattan. It’s like one of those “flying” dreams…except you’re walking.
- Walking under The Standard Hotel, and planning to have a cocktail there for a future special occasion.
- The dynamic design of the benches and other furniture which pay tribute to the railroad tracks.
- How the railroad tracks have been incorporated into the landscape design.
- The plants and flowers that live in between the tracks.
- The neat lights in the blue tunnel.
A view of The Standard from The Highline below
Go for a stroll on The Highline
Visit the Highline at night!
Futuristic blue tunnel
This city needs more thoughtfully-designed public spaces for New Yorkers to relax and congregate. A part of me wishes that we’d turn Ground Zero/WTC into a cool park like this one.
To the people behind this monumental effort to restore The Highline and open it to the public: thank you!
