Highline World's Populer Landmarks

that was quick... of course, maybe perhaps folks travelled recently because it *is* new... maybe it falls off once folks have seen it.

The Highline is a landmark? Really? It's a stupid idea. It should have been turned into a highway or subway tracks.

"The Highline is a landmark"

Says who?

New Yorkers, meanwhile, have long endured the notion that everyone expects them to be hostile. But are they just misunderstood?

“People in New York are constantly in a rush,” says Big Apple manners expert Thomas P. Farley, who writes the blog What Manners Most. “Certainly, they don’t linger on corners smiling, waving, and waiting to help people. But once you’ve stopped a New Yorker and asked them for directions, they’re usually more than helpful.”

"the high line?, why it's right down the the block you f'in piece of sh*t. Have a nice day."

Yeah, I still don't get it. You came to a city with life, museums, restaurants, theater, arts, etc. so you could... walk on a spiffed up old railway track with other tourists and then shop in Sephora?

Go to Central Park, where there are museums, theater, lots of space, and lots of real NY'rs actually living. (Though no Sephora.)

I think they flock to the High Line because it's rumored that one of the Sex and the City girls ate a Magnolia cupcake there one time ...

The Highline is cool. You guys are retards.

So I suppose number 11 is the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Nothing against the Highline, but I think marketing spin put it on a list it doesn't belong on with plenty of wishfull thinking.

"The Highline is cool."

What makes it "cool"?

Re: What makes it "cool"?

Well for one thing it's not in Washington Heights

Might as well be for how remote and inaccessible it is.

The only plus: it occupies the tourists and keeps them out of the more high-traffic areas.

About as remote and inaccessible as:

Pastis
Del Posto
Morimoto
Chelsea Market
Chelsea Piers
The Red Cat
Bottino
Spice Market
Cookshop
The Half King
London Terrace
Barbuto
Standard Grill
STK
Brass Monkey
Valbella
Fig & Olive
Artichoke Pizza
The Park Bar
Moran's
Don Giovanni
Trestle on Tenth
Dozens upon dozens of galleries
And thousands of high-end disirable coop and condo apartments that you can't afford but wish you could?

Certainly not the center of the universe like Washington Heights, with destination draws like:
bodegas
low-end retail
bottom of the barrel take-out
addresses not cab will take you to
cut rate coops
and did I mention bodegas?

can you imagine the highline 25 years from now?
No longer new and exciting..."look ma I'm on elevated train tracks looking into peoples apartments".
There was a time when Riverside Park was amazing and new...then it fell into disrepair became weird and very dangerous. Then later it got fixed up again.
Madison Square was so creepy in the late 70's and earily 80's. Now it's creepy and smells like shake shack.

"About as remote and inaccessible as:

Pastis
Del Posto
Morimoto
Chelsea Market
Chelsea Piers
The Red Cat
Bottino
Spice Market
Cookshop
The Half King
London Terrace
Barbuto
Standard Grill
STK
Brass Monkey
Valbella
Fig & Olive
Artichoke Pizza
The Park Bar
Moran's
Don Giovanni
Trestle on Tenth
Dozens upon dozens of galleries"

The High Line is an elevated sidewalk to nowhere. All of these places are out of the way from it.

***

And thousands of high-end disirable coop and condo apartments that you can't afford but wish you could?"

I could easily afford these allegedly "DEsirable" apartments, but I prefer instead to not pay five times what they're worth.

Re: All of these places are out of the way from it.

No, all of those places are right next to it.

"No, all of those places are right next to it."

Right. Just how apartments between Lexington and Third are "Steps away from Central Park!"

Matt I really think you need to get out more. Or, on second thought, stay in more and check out google maps.

Great Op-Ed on the High Line. After visiting this place once, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. It's a joke, what a disaster for the neighborhood. Couldn't agree with this column more...infuriates me that my tax dollars went towards this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/in-the-shadows-of-the-high-line.html?_r=1&hp

Couldn't have said it better myself.

uh top 10 is a super stretch but remote and inaccessible, holy crap this whole time i thought NYCMatt was in his 70s but even the nj geriatrics can find the meatpacking industry! how OLD r u man, u should walk more if u can still do it, there have been a lot of changes downtown since the days of normandy.

Going to have to firmly disagree.

First, I'm sick of anti-tourist BS. One of NYC's top industries is tourism. Tourism creates a lot of decent jobs, supports a lot of restaurants and hotels at all ends of the spectrum, brings shoppers to town, etc. It was a major cushion to the economic downturns of 2001-2003 and 2008-present. It also is part of what gives NY cultural and even political cache. The reason that NYC trends matter is that people see them and want to emulate them. Your favorite small business trend setter restaurant / artist / shop gets a lot more exposure when a cool kid from London or LA or even Milwaukee sees their store when in NYC then they would if they just read about it online... NYC with no visitors would be an echochamber with a lot fewer jobs and a lot less clout.

Second, the Highline's values are actually fairly unoffensive - they are a good example of how urban beautification can improve blighted areas without a ton of investment or destruction (the "natural look", integration with the industrial past, etc.). The old model of destroying a slum or industrial area now has a viable alternative to improve within the context of the place and without much bulldozing. While the increased property values and crowds have attracted the fashionable and expensive corporate type gallerists, restraunteurs, etc. to the area, the highline itself sells mainly food from local type places, drives traffic to chelsea market which is the epitome of high quality localism, and has a cool do it yourself vibe at times (see last summer's pop up foodtruck court and skating rink). Additionally, whether you like the architecture or not around the Highline, at least it is unique and provokes an appreciation (or at least discussion) among visitors which is a lot more than you can say for most tourist attractions.

Third, gentrification issues are complex, but I will say that in my opinion something that makes a neighborhood more visually appealing, cleaner / safer and more popular should not be an automatic negative just because property values go up. At the extreme, improving a school or cleaning up an abandoned lot is "gentrifying" since it makes property values increase and may push out existing businesses. But I think a few auto body shops having to move in order to create a lot more jobs (would be curious to see before and after employment in these zip codes) and to "clean up" the neighborhood a bit is a trade worth making.

Finally, the people watching is outstanding (young, old, foreign, cool and profoundly uncool - all in one place).

Just my 2 cents, but I think the reflex negativity to anything that tourists like and that results in higher real estate prices is just unfair.

I used to frown on tourists, but then I realized that they are one of the reasons why the value of my condo in Dumbo hasn't crashed. Stupid tourists waiting on line for shitty pizza at Grimaldi's is helping maintain my property values.

Re: infuriates me that my tax dollars went towards this.

oh please

"Re: infuriates me that my tax dollars went towards this.

oh please "

OK fine, that may have been a little melodramatic.

I'm more upset that what was supposed to be a nice, elevated park intended to improve the neighborhood and capitalize on a historical piece of NYC has turned into an unpleasant, congested tourist attraction that is robbing the city of another one of it's affordable neighborhoods. I mean come on, where am I supposed to get my car serviced now?

Ok, in reality, I'm more pissed that we trecked down there thinking it would be a nice, pleasant stroll with our dog. Well, the stroll lasted about 2 minutes because 1) we could barely even move because it was overflowing with yes...tourists...and 2) they don't allow dogs...not even if you carry them. That's right, our 5 lb. Maltese was kicked off the high line by one of the hall monitors.

So yes, that's my last time ever visiting...

Re: robbing the city of another one of it's affordable neighborhoods.

Maybe more correlation than causation. The neighborhood changes were baked in long before the Highline opened. When the last bloody goo was hosed off West 14th that was it. Or maybe when tranny hookers stopped hanging outside the 10th Ave McDonalds? Nope, it was Bungalow 8!

I used to go for walks on the highline quite a bit. Is super nice, but super annoying when it is inundated with people walking so freaking slow in rows of four. So nice, but hardly a must see landmark. Like who says I'm coming to NY to walk the highline. Every time I have visitors they have never heard of it. Beyond that the list is moronic. Stuff in cities that Americans visit.

My best: Bagan, Myanmar.

I'm guessing I'd rather have a beer with the people who told the magazine they came to NYC to see the Highline than those who said they came to see the Empire State Building and who don't know what the highline is.

west34 don't forget lotus, makes me feel ancient!

Re: infuriates me that my tax dollars went towards this.

really? are we really going to talk about tax dollars being appropriated improperly? I can think of about 10 other things that get this city's tax dollars misappropriated more than towards a nice elevated park.

"First, I'm sick of anti-tourist BS. One of NYC's top industries is tourism. Tourism creates a lot of decent jobs, supports a lot of restaurants and hotels at all ends of the spectrum, brings shoppers to town, etc. It was a major cushion to the economic downturns of 2001-2003 and 2008-present. It also is part of what gives NY cultural and even political cache."

***

BS.

None of those "tourist" dollars benefit me.

>None of those "tourist" dollars benefit me.

Bring out the inflatable rat to protest.

I wouldn't mind going to see the High Line; until very recently it was nothing more than disused train tracks and now it's a way to pack some greenery into an area that's necessarily mostly asphalt and concrete.

Can you ride your bike on it? That would be a great way to get from one part of the city to another without any of those dangerous cars in your way.

It's also the first step into the city's grandiose future as seen in the movie "The Fifth Element", where buildings are hundreds of stories tall and there are elevated walkways and flying vehicles all over the place. The High Line today, the Higher Line tomorrow and the Even Higher Line after that. By 2100 nobody will be telling you what corner they're waiting on without saying how high up they are. People stuck in garden apartments will be like Morlocks, but maybe with the cachet of being able to say that they live on Level Zero. Should be fun.

Matt, nobody who buys real estate in your building or is your customer at work has affiliation with restaurant, entertainment, lodging or retail trade? How much more would your taxi cost if the drivers were running at 20% utilization to cover the same medallion and car payments? How about those sales taxes these people pay helping fund the city? You're delusional man

grumpy old fart, that dude

"How much more would your taxi cost if the drivers were running at 20% utilization to cover the same medallion and car payments?"

The same. Only it would be much easier to FIND a cab when you need one.

***

"How about those sales taxes these people pay helping fund the city?"

I suppose cops might have to tighten their belts and actually work until retirement *age* before they could retire on their fat pensions. Boo hoo.

"Can you ride your bike on it?"

No need to. That's where Hudson River Park comes in handy.

Also, I think Freebird makes an interesting point, especially given the anti-Wall-Street-nobody-has-a-job-real-estate-bubble-will-kill-us-all undertone on this board. A *huge* part of NYC's economy, like it or not, is tourism. Nobody is forcing anybody to go to the Highline.....or Times Square, for that matter. (And I believe I also witnessed a few tourists in Central Park.....and Eataly.....and the Met.....shall I keep going?)

If you don't like tourists, you're living in the wrong city. Try Akron or Louisville.