Back in the day, New York had lots of El trains. That’s not Spanish for train, but shorthand for ‘elevated.’ Think of the famous car chase in ‘The French Connection’ where Gene Hackman swerved back and forth under the El. In Manhattan, almost all the El tracks have been removed. Except the High Line, that is, which runs between Greenwich Village and 30th Street. About two kilometers of rusty track has been lying there waiting for someone to fix it up. And presto, someone just has, turning it into a garden walkway that runs through the new Standard Hotel – the way it once used to run through apartment buildings – with lots of wooden benches, sunbeds, a little amphitheater where you can picnic and watch the traffic pass below, great views of the Hudson River, and flowerbeds and grasses that intentionally look wild rather than tended. Entrances are at Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District and on 16th Street.
The High Line Before
Cyclists and runners on their morning ritual were standing next to these 100-year-old giants just gaping. This isn’t the kind of thing that happens in New York. New York is orderly (except for the odd shooting, robbery, mugging and siren every five minutes). Roads were closed off, park employees were scrambling to cut up the trees and clean up the branches. I thought of Africa, then, and how this kind of thing happens all the time. Nice to see Mother Nature hasn’t forgotten Manhattan.
Then there are free dances to watch or to join (