The High Line Park is officially open! Well, at least the first section of it. From Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, you can now enjoy the newest park to New York City. This elevated park is a mile-and-a-half-long and runs throught the West Side of Manhattan through neighborhoods like the Meatpacking District, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. The landscape, designed by James Corner Field Operations, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, combine concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings.

Here’s a little history about the High Line. The High Line itself was built in the 1930s to move freight trains off the West Side streets. It was abandoned in the 1980s and the rail line was threatened with demolition until the Friends of the High Line, founded by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, came along. For the past 10 years, the Friends of the Highline advocated to utilize the High Line as an open, public space. Check out the great panoramic from the NY Times to get an idea of the potential this space had and the vision that the Friends had.

Although the parks completion date is in 2010, you can certainly head down to the current section by entering at Gansevoort St and Washington St. They have impressive summer programs and coming this July 12th , from 12-5pm, there will be the High Line Street Festival (FREE) featuring internationally acclaimed artists, bands on a roof-top stage, story-tellers, inflatable sculptures and appareantly the World’s Largest Lemonade Stand!

The High Line will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under City Happenings, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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