FALL 2011
OPENING
SEASON
HIGHLIGHTS
RAIL
YARDS UPDATE
NEW HIGH LINE
ART
AUTUMN ON
THE HIGH LINE
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photo by iwan baan
photo by barry munger
THANK YOU Robert: Usually when you get a letter signed by both of us, if it is eloquent and well-written, it was probably written by Josh.
permanently in September. We are looking for new ways to create interesting programs on sites around the High Line.
Josh: When we started to write our new book, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky, which was just published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, I volunteered to write for both of us, but it felt weird to merge our voices. We decided to have the text alternate between my voice and Robert’s. We are doing the same with this letter.
Josh: Recently I walked on the rail yards section of the High Line. When we started our work in 1999, this part of the historic structure was covered with low-lying grasses. Now there are a lot of shrubs and trees. It shows how long we’ve been working to secure this final section. Our focus has begun to shift from advocacy to negotiations with other stakeholders, and this shows progress, but we haven’t won the battle yet. We have an update for you on Pages 8 and 9.
Robert: In 2009, before we first opened the High Line, we thought we’d be lucky to get 300,000 visitors per year. But after we opened the new section this summer, we saw 300,000 visitors in two weeks! We’ve had nearly two million visitors this summer alone. It sounds overwhelming, but the really busy times are usually limited just to Saturdays and Sundays. You can always enjoy a mellower High Line on weekdays, mornings, and evenings. Josh: You helped us double the length of the park this year. The number of plants has also doubled – from about 50,000 to more than 100,000. Our gardeners are on the High Line every day, in all weather, weeding, watering, and tending to the plants. Your support is what makes this possible. Robert: As we were planning to open the new section, we knew we needed something more exciting at the northern end than just a parking lot. So we asked The Related Companies and Abington Properties if we could borrow the site on the corner of West 30th Street and 10th Avenue for the summer, and we renamed it The Lot. To kick things off in June, we partnered with Tom Colicchio to open a family-friendly beer garden. At the same time we celebrated our opening season with Rainbow City, a public art installation (with bouncy houses!) presented by AOL. In July, we opened the High Line Rink – Made for All by UNIQLO. I was almost as excited to roller skate as I was to open the new section of the High Line. Sadly, The Lot closed
Robert: This summer we experimented with new food carts on the High Line. I loved the avocado popsicles from La Newyorkina. Our new beer and wine options at The Porch were popular, too. Next year we will add more savory options all along the High Line. We will also break ground on a restaurant under the High Line at Gansevoort Street. Renzo Piano is designing it, and we hope to open it at the end of 2013. Josh: When I walk on the High Line, I think about all the people who helped us build it, and all the supporters who help keep it open to the public, free of charge, 365 days a year. Thank you for being a Friend of the High Line. You’ve changed the face of New York City and made something that brings happiness to millions of people.
Joshua David Co-Founder
Robert Hammond Co-Founder
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BELOW In July, we
photo by liz ligon
photo by juan valentin
unveiled the High Line Rink – Made for All by UNIQLO, an outdoor roller skating venue below the High Line. The rink was always envisioned as a temporary amenity. It closed permanently in September to allow the site's owners to prepare for future development.
ABOVE We partnered
with Colicchio & Sons to turn a parking lot below the High Line into an outdoor beer and wine bar with food trucks, thanks to The Related Companies and Abington Properties. More than 400,000 visitors came to The Lot this summer, with approximately 13,000 people skating at the High Line Rink.
“New York is a city in which good things rarely happen easily and where good designs are often compromised, if they are built at all. The High Line is a happy exception, that rare New York situation in which a wonderful idea was not only realized but turned out better than anyone had imagined.” National Geographic “New York’s High Line,” April, 2011
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OPENING SEASON HIGHLIGHTS CELEBRATING THE NEW SECTION OF THE HIGH LINE
We are nearing the end of an important year for the High Line, filled with celebratory occasions to mark the opening of the new section of the park, and important advances toward our goal of transforming the High Line at the rail yards into public space. The new section has introduced visitors to a unique urban experience, marked by innovative architectural design, an inspiring horticultural landscape, and sweeping views of West Chelsea and the Hudson Yards. Nearly two million people have visited the park since the new section opened in June. All season long, visitors have found new opportunities to enjoy the public space in a fun and meaningful way. We opened The Lot, a temporary public plaza below the High Line at West 30th Street,
complete with public art installations, an outdoor roller skating rink, and a beer and wine bar with some of the city’s best food trucks. On the High Line itself, we added more public art and introduced six unique food vendors. We expanded our education program, using the park’s history, design, art, and horticulture to encourage families and young visitors to experience the park together through scavenger hunts, arts workshops, storytelling, creative play days, school field trips, nature walks, and more. Creating new events, programs, and activities like these build and sustain a vibrant High Line community, and keep visitors coming back to the park again and again. Featured here are images from some of our favorite moments from opening season. We hope you were able to visit the park in the past few months to see the extraordinary public space you helped us create.
BELOW A thin layer of
photo by iwan baan
water now skims the park's pathway as part of the water feature at West 15th Street, made possible by the Diller von Furstenberg Family Foundation.
photo by sarah sze
of the High Line features the Falcone Flyover, where the pathway rises eight feet above the High Line, allowing groundcover plants to blanket the undulating terrain below, and carrying visitors upward, into a canopy of sumac and magnolia trees.
photo by joe alfano
ABOVE The new section
ABOVE Artist Sarah Sze
installed a new work, Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat), which attracts birds and butterflies with feeding spots and perches.
visitors watched local teens perform during Step to the High Line, a week-long festival presented in partnership with Hudson Guild and Youth Step USA. Supported by the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation.
RIGHT The 2011 Spring
Benefit honored AndrĂŠ Balazs, Jennifer Padovani, and the High Line Design Team of James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
photo by patrick mcmullan
ABOVE Over 2,000
Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and other elected officials and supporters helped us open the new section of the High Line on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.
photo by joan garvin
photo by josiah lau
LEFT Mayor Michael
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“Ever since various dreamers on the West Side of Manhattan began to envision it, the High Line has signified New York’s future: a glimpse of where the metropolis might go if people dreamed, and schemed, hard enough.”
LEFT Keeping the 23rd
Street Lawn looking great has been a top priority this year. It requires daily maintenance by our gardeners to keep it thriving.
photo by kevin vast
photo by tim schenck
The New York Times “Walking On Air,” August 28, 2011
ABOVE We partnered with
the Trisha Brown Dance Company to present Roof Piece, an open-air dance performance on rooftops along the southern end of the High Line.
photo by joan garvin
LEFT With support from
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Edison Properties, we transformed the billboard next to the High Line at West 18th Street as part of Landscape with Path, a High Line Art installation featuring a series of large-scale images selected by Joel Sternfeld.
LEFT Based on your
photo by kat pesigan
feedback during our Food Open House in March, we introduced six new food vendors on the High Line, including People’s Pops at West 15th Street.
with more than 15,000 park visitors at the High Line Field Station, presented by Toyota Motor North America, Inc. Greeters are supported by REI.
photo by daniella zalcman
photo by joan garvin
LEFT Volunteers spoke
how insects help the park’s plants grow by helping us raise and release butterflies during Wild Wednesdays, presented by MetLife Foundation.
photo by yoon kim
ABOVE Local kids learned
ABOVE Every Tuesday at
dusk, visitors came to the High Line to gaze at the Moon, planets, and stars with the New York Chapter of the Amateur Astronomers Association.
photo by joan garvin
LEFT We brought
comedian Stephen Colbert and musician Jack White to The Lot on Tap, where they kicked off their performance by singing the National Anthem.
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INTRODUCING THE CHILDREN’S WORKYARD KIT A MOBILE CRATE OF MATERIALS FOR CREATIVE PLAY ON THE HIGH LINE
This year marked the debut of the Children’s Workyard Kit. The kit was created by Cas Holman, a Professor of Industrial Design at Syracuse University and a designer of play-things, with help from a child development and education specialist. We asked Cas to share her motivations and hopes for the kit.
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When you were a child, what were your favorite toys and play things? I grew up in the woods of Northern California, playing in tree forts and on muddy slopes with the family dog. I’d integrate Star Wars action figures into anywhere I played – the stack of firewood was an entire universe. Nature and imagination were the building blocks.
As you designed the Children’s Workyard Kit, what did you use as inspiration? The European model of an Adventure Playground is an ideal urban playground. We tried to allow for similar experiences children have in those spaces, by using a kit of parts to create a temporary, flexible space. It was important that the construction element didn’t overpower the kit’s ability to inspire the imagination. We didn’t want
kids to assemble a pulley contraption and call it done. The design needed to inspire continued evolution, so that the pulley contraption could turn into a robot, then an airplane towing an elephant, and hold children’s interest as they grow. What were your guiding principles for the kit? We continuously came back to the High Line’s materials, history, simple machines, industrial references, and work. In playing with the kit, I wanted as few rules and no right or wrong way to use it. There is a balance between abstraction and instruction. From concept to our first play test of prototypes to final design, we wanted to make sure the parts were intuitive to assemble, and allow for multiple interpretations by the child of what they are creating. Describe the kids’ reactions to the Children’s Workyard Kit. The variety of directions was striking— one boy made elaborate musical instruments. Two boys collaborated on a crane taller than they were and recruited others to load buckets. Two girls sat down on a burlap sack and began “cooking fish” with rocks, a metal spoon, and a pot. What role do parents play in kids’ experiences with the kit? Parents can support a child’s play by staying back ten feet while sneaking peeks for safety. Ask if the child might need an extra set of hands. Most importantly, parents should bring children back often. Through play, children develop skills over time, build confidence, solve problems, and collaborate. When children return regularly, we see them engage the Workyard Kit with an excited rigor, and they spend time with other kids sharing expertise, showing them how to do certain things they may not have discovered in their first visit. Looking ahead to the years to come, what are your dreams for play on the High Line? A designated, full-time space for children’s play would be incredible. Ideally, the Children’s Workyard Kit will interact somewhere that kids can build and tinker, climb through a tunnel, roll down a grassy slope, or lay on the ground watching clouds through the leaves of a tree. The High Line’s water feature is a huge success as a play feature, as well as beautiful and unobtrusive, so there is good reason to believe that more play areas will find their way onto the High Line in the future.
WORKING ON THE RAILROAD The wide variety of building materials in the Children’s Workyard Kit encourages kids to tinker and experiment. Drawing on the industrial history of the High Line, the kit includes wood planks, wheels, ropes, gears, pulleys, tools, found objects, and natural materials for kids to construct their own play and build their own visions. The finished wood planks are fitted with notches and holes that combine with over-sized nuts and bolts and a collection of retro-fitted vintage cranks, nobs, and metal odds and ends to allow for limitless possibilities. The kit was created by Friends of the High Line and industrial designer Cas Holman in partnership with a child development expert, educators, woodworkers, and architects. The
team followed the interests and suggestions of local children to develop the kit’s design. Through iterations of design prototypes and play tests, the kit was developed to facilitate children’s independent, self-directed building. The Children’s Workyard Kit will be placed in storage during the winter months. In the spring, the kit will return to the High Line during family programs. Family programs are made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, with additional support from the Altman Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston; The Concordia Foundation; and The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation.
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HIGH LINE AT THE RAIL YARDS A PROGRESS UPDATE ON THE FINAL SECTION OF THE HIGH LINE Every day on the High Line, visitors are asking us what is happening with the High Line at the rail yards? The simple answer is this: we have come a long way, but there is still more work to be done. We wanted to take a moment to update you on what is happening. ADVOCACY
Still overgrown with wildflowers and grasses, a landscape made famous by photographer Joel Sternfeld, the final stretch of the High Line wraps around the Hudson Yards, located between West 30th and West 34th Streets, between 10th and 12th Avenues. The rail yards is an incredibly complicated site – one with a working rail yard filled with Long Island Rail Road trains, plans for the largest real estate development project in Manhattan in decades, and multiple stakeholders from the public and private sectors, all of whom have unique needs. Since the very beginning, our top goal has been to secure the entire High Line, including the High Line at the rail yards and the spur over 10th Avenue, and to transform it into public space. The High Line at the rail yards is still owned by CSX Transportation Inc., the railroad company that previously owned the entire High Line. The first step toward making the High Line at the rail yards a reality is for the City of New York to acquire it from CSX, just as it did south of West 30th Street. In the summer of 2010, we passed the 8
first regulatory hurdle. The City of New York completed the seven-month public review process, called the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. This was a major positive step that paved the way for the City of New York to begin negotiating the acquisition of the historic structure. Just like the High Line south of West 30th Street, the High Line at the rail yards passes above private and public property. Both for legal reasons and as a matter of policy, the underlying property owners are critical stakeholders in the acquisition process. These stakeholders include the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Empire State Development Corporation, and the Convention Center Development Corporation, as well as The Related Companies, which will develop a large portion of the site. Their specific needs – both concerning the current operations and the future development of these properties – must be addressed as part of the acquisition process. The good news is that we have succeeded in bringing all the stakeholders to the table. Together we are actively working through all the specific issues that need to be solved in order for the City of New York to move forward with acquisition. FUNDRAISING
To help drive this effort, we are now working to raise private funds to support the future design and construction of the High Line at the rail yards. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony in June, Mayor Bloomberg announced that The Tiffany & Co. Foundation has stepped forward
are closer than ever to securing the High Line at the rail yards, once and for all, and completing its transformation for public use. As always, we would be unable to do any of this work without the tireless efforts of our supporters. Since the very beginning, you have joined us at public meetings, wrote letters of support, and donated your time, energy, and money to help make the High Line a reality. Thanks to your vision, we were able to partner with the City of New York and others to open the first two sections to the public. The success of the park has made it easier to make the case for the High Line at the rail yards, but there is still more work to be done.
Rail Yards Programs are generously supported by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, the New York Community Trust—LuEsther T. Mertz Advised Fund, Greenacre Foundation, and, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
photo by joan garvin
photo by iwan baan
to play a leading role in this effort, pledging $5 million to launch the Rail Yards Challenge. Inspired by the Foundation’s leadership, long-time supporters of the High Line, Donald Pels and Wendy Keys have pledged an additional $5 million to double the challenge grant. These gifts will work in concert with a $300,000 operational challenge grant from The New York Community Trust—LuEsther T. Mertz Advised Fund, which is being matched by Greenacre Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and many individual contributors. This generous funding supports our ongoing planning, programming, and advocacy for the High Line at the rail yards, which allow us to keep people engaged as we work to preserve it. We hope to be able to announce more progress in the coming months and to begin the design process for what will become final section of the High Line. There are still open questions and steps to be taken, but we
Michael Kowalski, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, and Fernanda Kellogg from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation joined actor Edward Norton at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in June to launch the Rail Yards Challenge, a fundraising effort to help us open the final section of the High Line.
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Eryngium yuccifolium rattlesnake master Tall silvery stalks with large seed heads offer striking structure and form in the Washington Grasslands and the Chelsea Grasslands throughout the fall and winter months.
AUTUMN ON THE HIGH LINE 10
Autumn is a time of transition on the High Line. The weather begins to cool, the number of visitors on the High Line declines as the winter approaches, and the park's landscape undergoes a dramatic transformation. Working with the High Line design team of James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, planting designer Piet Oudolf
selected the High Line’s plants to provide seasonal variation throughout the bloom cycle. For Oudolf, the life cycle of a plant is an essential part of landscape design. As autumn arrives, the park’s foliage shifts to a palette of deep golds, warm reds, purples, and the dried seedpods and structure of the plants provide visual interest and texture.
Solidago ohioensis Ohio goldenrod Native wildflower with umbels of bright gold flowers located on the Diller – von Furstenberg Sundeck.
Aster oolentangiensis skyblue aster Field wildflower with skyblue petals and pale yellow centers found on the Northern Spur Preserve and Wildflower Field.
Nyssa sylvatica ‘Wildfire’ Wildfire black gum Native tree with fiery red fall foliage located alongside the 23rd Street Lawn and Meadow Walk.
Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ Shenandoah switch grass Blades turn shades of burgundy and gold in the fall, located in the Washington Grasslands and Chelsea Grasslands.
Aster oblongifolia ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ Raydon’s Favorite aromatic aster Shrub-like perennial with aromatic foliage and purple flowers in the fall, located in the Gansevoort Woodland, at the southern end of the Diller - von Furstenberg Sundeck, and in the Chelsea Grasslands.
Vernonia glauca New York ironweed
Helianthus salicifolius willow-leaved sunflower
Deep maroon stems with vivid purple flowers turn to golden seed heads, located in the 10th Avenue Square and Chelsea Grasslands.
Native, wild sunflower with bright yellow rays and dark brown centers located in the Wildflower Field.
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image by sue de beer
photo by sean walsh
Artist Sue de Beer is installing an interactive installation, called Haunt Room, on the High Line in the 14th
Street Passage, pictured above, just in time for Halloween. Pictured at right are sketches of the installation.
NEW PUBLIC ART COMING TO THE HIGH LINE AN INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION IN THE 14TH STREET PASSAGE
Sue de Beer is an artist who lives and works in New York City. Numerous venues have featured her work, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, PS1, the New Museum, the Kunst Werke in Berlin, and The Reina Sophia in Madrid. For the High Line, the artist has created Haunt Room, an interactive installation on view beginning in late October. Friends of the High Line recently had a conversation with the artist about her work.
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High Line Briefly describe the project you have conceived for High Line Art. Sue de Beer The working title is Haunt Room. It is an experimental structure designed to induce haunted feelings in the viewer, augmented by infrasound, which is an audio tone outside the range of human hearing. Visitors are invited to walk inside the structure to experience a 14-sided room with translucent white walls. The room is contained within a larger space constructed of transparent panels. Between the two
spaces, there are lights to create a soft glow and speakers to produce infrasonic sound. Haunt Room is inspired by multiple sources, among them the architecture of the Seagram building, The Beatles’ recording studios on Abbey Road, and a series of experiments, titled “Haunt,” conducted by designer Usman Haque in collaboration with the psychology department at Goldsmiths College. In recent years, I have become interested in the psychological and optical response of the human body to physiological prompts, for example, the Brion Gysin Dream Machine, or the way hypnosis can produce visions. Haque’s experiment sought to induce a
In Ghosts, your video installation exhibited at the Armory on Park Avenue in February, 2011, one of the characters is a hypnotist. Can you tell us about that project’s relationship with the Haunt Room? Haunt Room was a work developed side-by-side with Ghosts. The two works are connected. The research I did for the characters in Ghosts, using sensory deprivation tanks, or undergoing hypnosis, informs both projects. You often exhibit video works together with sculptural installations that somehow function as stage or setting for the projection. How does Haunt Room evolve this relationship between media? Is it the first time you are only focusing on sculpture? I just did my first solo show of sculpture at Marianne Boesky Gallery in February, titled Depiction of a Star Obscured by Another Figure. A large work in the show, a drop ceiling titled Ghosts took its form from the ceilings of the Seagram building. I have been sending the Haunt Room construction and design team images of Ghosts, so the two pieces must be strongly related. High Line Art Commissions are made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr., with additional support from Vital Projects Fund, Inc. This program is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
photo by kiersten chou
“haunted” feeling in the viewer through temperature, light, and sound. What I found most intriguing in Haque’s experiment was where he held it: in the living room of a row house owned by his mother. His holding the experiment there reminded me of the film Altered States with William Hurt, the way it was both reaching outside the realm of the ordinary, but filled all the time with the ordinary. I also find it fascinating the way that specific architecture can prompt memory or nostalgia, remind one of lost time or time passing. The Seagram building is like this for me. It is locked in time, and when you look at it, you look at a moment receding into the distance.
HALLOWEEN ON THE HIGH LINE AUTUMN ALSO MARKS A NEW SEASON OF FREE AND LOW-COST PUBLIC PROGRAMS FOR VISITORS OF ALL AGES.
This year, thanks to your support, we offered a busy season of walking tours, public talks, food workshops for kids, composting sessions for adults, and much more, including our Halloween program with Public School 3, Public School 11, and Public School 33. The Halloween program is one of several initiatives to strengthen our partnerships with the neighborhood public schools, and teach kids about the industrial history of the High Line through fun, interactive, handson activities. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, Friends of the High Line School and Youth Program Manager Emily Pinkowitz and puppet master Ralph Lee are working with three classrooms – one at each of the public schools – to design a giant freight train made of found materials. On Friday, October 28, classmates and
families are invited to the High Line to watch the students bring the train cars together for the first time. The train will then be brought back to the High Line on October 30, where it will be used to lead the family Halloween parade down the High Line. Join us on Sunday, October 30 from 12:00 to 3:00 PM for the parade, dancing, arts activities, snacks, and more. Don’t forget to come in costume! School partnerships are made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, with additional support from the Altman Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston; The Concordia Foundation; The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS
This spring, we asked supporters to take an online survey about the High Line, and we received an incredible number of responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share your thoughts about the High Line, and the important work your support makes possible. Your input on this survey will help shape priorities in the coming years, while also developing programs that we hope you will enjoy. With your guidance, we can make the best possible use of your membership support, and make it go further toward keeping the High Line safe and beautiful all year round. Here are some of the things that you said were most important: PROTECTING THE PARK’S FUTURE Specifically, supporters want to ensure that the High Line remains a free, public park for everyone to enjoy and to preserve the West Side Rail Yards, fully realizing the vision of the High Line park. MAINTAINING THE HIGH LINE Making sure that we are able to keep the park open, beautiful, and safe is very important for most supporters. CREATING COMMUNITY Supporters see the potential for the High Line to be not just a “backyard,” but also a gathering place for the entire community. SUPPORTING URBAN PRESERVATION Friends like you also wanted to demonstrate support for the cause of urban preservation and adaptive reuse, and see the High Line as a new focal point for the urban preservation movement.
Thank you again for everything that you do for the High Line. This has been such an exciting year for the park, and we are so grateful to have you with us. 14
photo by tim schenck
THANKS FOR SHARING
MEET THE STAFF ENVER KORENICA, MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN THE HIGH LINE HAS UNIQUE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS CHALLENGES AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO KEEP THE PARK THRIVING. MEET ONE OF THE STAFF MEMBERS WHO HELPS KEEP IT RUNNING SMOOTHLY.
When the new section of the High Line opened in June, the park doubled in length. Your continued support has helped us hire several new staff members to maintain and operate the additional half-mile of the High Line at the highest standards possible. One of the new staff members to join us this spring was Enver Korenica, a soft-spoken maintenance technician with an inspiring ability for tackling the most complex
mechanical challenges at the park. Since his hiring in May, Enver has quickly mastered the High Line’s mechanical systems, which range from a mile-long system of LED lighting, to a multifaceted water feature, to electric roll-down gates and public elevators at access points. He has also proven to be a resource when unexpected technical glitches occur, and a critical team member on special projects, such as the recent sound art installation in the park’s water fountains, elevators, and bathroom sinks. Enver developed his mechanical and land management skills on a family vineyard in Kosovo, where he was responsible for troubleshooting faulty pumps and piping in the irrigation system, taking apart and rebuilding motors in the farm tractors, tackling electrical projects, building fences, and cultivating and harvesting a hundred acres of grapes each year. In 1998, Enver fled his hometown in Rahovec when war erupted, destroying everything around him in a week’s time. He went to London, England, where he met his American wife, Sharlene. They moved to the United States together in 2002, and today they live in Staten Island, with their one-year-old son, named Dardan, and another baby on the way. Next time you are on the High Line, stop by and say hello to Enver, an essential new member of the Friends of the High Line team.
MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS
PREPARING FOR WINTER
photo by marcin wichary
FROM WARM SUN TO COLD WINDS, A LOOK AHEAD AT WINTER ON THE HIGH LINE
As the nights turn cold, and the days become shorter, our staff will be busily preparing the park for the winter season. There are already signs of the colder months ahead. Our staff has pulled from storage the ensemble of High Line sweatshirts, vests, and coats that keep them warm as they maintain the park in the cold weather. High Line Food vendors have new offerings to match the season, including hot cocoa, soup, and pressed paninis. The water feature, where children have splashed all summer on the Diller – von Furstenberg Sundeck, will close in mid-November, at the same time the drinking fountains are turned off, and the park’s drip irrigation system is shut down. Our snow removal efforts will double this winter now that the new section of the park is open. Behind the scenes in our storage area, we are swapping out our electric lawn mower and gardening gear for a fleet of walk-behind motorized snow brooms and a heavy-duty snow shovels. As Thanksgiving approaches, an end-ofseason potluck meal with all staff will celebrate the completion of a successful summer. We will say goodbye to our seasonal staff for the months ahead, noting the camaraderie and powerful sense of community that has been built over the past months of maintaining the park together during its busiest times. When December arrives, visitation will decrease and the park’s daily hours will shift to 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. We will focus on the many long-term planning, repair, and creative projects that have been on the back burner during the busy time of year. We look forward to seeing you on the High Line following our first snowfall, and we hope you enjoy the quiet, contemplative feel on the High Line this winter. 15
Image by R enzo Piano Building Workshop and Beyer Blinder Belle
COMING SOON TO THE HIGH LINE
HIGH LINE HEADQUARTERS Elevated 30 feet above the street, the High Line presents many unique maintenance and operations challenges. To help us keep the park thriving, we are developing the High Line Headquarters, a new structure that will serve the High Line’s staff, as well as the park visitors with a new elevator, an information center, volunteer facilities, public bathrooms, and a public meeting room. Thanks to your support, we expect to begin construction before the end of the year. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Beyer Blinder Belle, the High Line Headquarters will be located at the southern end of the High Line. The four-story building is designed to be a modern version of the historic warehouses that surround the High Line. The façade will feature masonry 16
on the lower levels and glass and steel on the upper levels. On the roof, exposed steel girders will echo the steel structure of the High Line itself. At street-level, the High Line Headquarters will extend under the park to create a restaurant with outdoor seating. The space is to be a glowing glass pavillion that is completely transparent. Large, operable doors will open up in good weather, letting in light and fresh air. The High Line Headquarters will be located next to the new Whitney Museum of American Art, which is also being designed by Renzo Piano. Both projects will be great additions to the southern end of the High Line.
"We are building the High Line Headquarters to support all of the vital activities of the High Line. The facility is a pure expression of function. Its windows, brickwork, and support structure are strong and utilitarian, like everything about the High Line and the industrial buildings of the neighborhood." Renzo Piano
JUST PUBLISHED: OUR NEW BOOK ON THE HIGH LINE “This is a fundamentally uplifting story of two young men with a dream who scythed through red tape and skepticism, summoning a village to help re-imagine what a park could be in the twenty-first century. Thanks to their vision, and to the dedication, enthusiasm, and brilliance of their collaborators, a walk in the park has been transformed into an exhilarating urban experience that helps all of us to see our extraordinary city with new eyes.” Anna Wintour High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky is the first comprehensive book about the High Line that tells the story of the project, and documents its history and the completed park in photographs. In their candid narrative, Friends of the High Line Co-Founders Joshua David and Robert Hammond tell the story of how a seemingly impossible dream in 1999 became a reality in ten years. The story of how it came to be is a remarkable one: two young citizens with no prior experience in planning and development collaborated with their neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders of burgeoning movements in horticulture and landscape architecture to create a park celebrated worldwide as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, and ecologically sound public space. The book hit stores on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Proceeds from sales of the book support the ongoing maintenance and operations of the High Line. To purchase your copy, visit your local bookstore, online book retailers, or www.thehighline.org.
“This book is the record of a bright and in fact heroic part of New York City’s history. The story of the struggle, against very long odds, by two young men to create the High Line is a story of perseverance, determination and courage, and the photographs which accompany it show the brilliance of their achievement.” Robert A. Caro
HOURS The High Line is open daily from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM in the fall. Winter hours will begin December 1, with the park closing earlier, at 7:00 PM. CONTACT For more information or to ask a question, call (212) 206-9922 or email info@thehighline.org. Follow us on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube to stay connected with the High Line. www.thehighline.org www.facebook.com/thehighline www.twitter.com/highlinenyc www.flickr.com/friendsofthehighline www.youtube.com/friendsofthehighline BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joshua David, Co-Founder, Robert Hammond, Co-Founder, John H. Alschuler, Chair, Philip E. Aarons, Founding Chair, Karen Ackman, Bruce A. Beal, Jr., John Blondel, James F. Capalino, Kristen M. Dickey, Bryan Eure, Lisa Maria Falcone, Philip A. Falcone, Jan Farber, Alexandre von Furstenberg, Gary Handel, Hermine Riegerl Heller, Wendy Keys, Catherine Marron, Gifford Miller, Donald R. Mullen, Jr., Edward Norton, Mario J. Palumbo, Jr., Steven Rubenstein, Jason Stewart, Darren Walker, Joanne Wilson, Peter Wilson, Bronson van Wyck EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Patricia E. Harris, Robert K. Steel, Adrian Benepe, Amanda M. Burden EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS Vishaan Chakrabarti, Christopher Collins, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Olivia Douglas, Elizabeth Gilmore, Robert C. Greenhood, Michael O’Brien, Richard Socarides, Alan N. Stillman. We are grateful to the following individuals and organizations for their visionary leadership support of the Campaign for the High Line: The Diller - von Furstenberg Family Foundation; Philip A. Falcone and Lisa Maria Falcone; Donald Pels and Wendy Keys; The Tiffany & Co. Foundation; The Pershing Square Foundation; Sherry Brous and Douglas Oliver; Hermine and David Heller; Michael and Sukey Novogratz; Elizabeth Belfer; Goldman Sachs; Google; The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation; Adam and Brittany Levinson; Christy and John Mack Foundation; and Catherine and Donald Marron. We gratefully remember the late Peter Obletz, railroad aficionado, community leader, Chelsea resident, and champion of the earliest movement to save the High Line. Design: OCD Programs on the High Line are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
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Some Other Person 529 West 20th Street, Suite 8W New York, NY 10011 photo by laurie rhodes
FIRST FULL SEASON OF FOOD ON THE HIGH LINE Before it was transformed into a public park, the High Line played a critical role in delivering food to New Yorkers by connecting the city to the country’s agricultural land. Today the High Line is connecting visitors to the region’s sustainable farms through High Line Food, a program that brings food and beverage and related public programming 18
to the park. This year, we partnered with L’Arte del Gelato, Blue Bottle Coffee, Melt Bakery, La Newyorkina, People’s Pops, and The Green Table to offer food and drink to park visitors. As the cold weather arrives, the vendors will serve autumnal treats until they close for the season. Visit www.thehighline.org to learn more.