GEMS OF NYC
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO START HUNTING? 11 29 47 65 83
BRONX BROOKLYN MANHATTAN QUEENS STATEN ISLAND
There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die. Walt Whitman
MANHATTAN
GEMS OF MANHATTAN 11
Freedom Tunnel St Clair Place, New York
15 High Line Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
19 Secret Gardens Of Rockefeller Center 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111
High Line
Freedom Tunnel
Secret Gardens of Rockefeller Center
When you think of street art, the Upper West Side probably isn’t the first neighborhood that comes to mind. But the Freedom Tunnel, located underneath Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, has had an illustrious past and an even cooler present.
THE FREEDOM TUNNEL A HAVEN FOR URBAN ART
The Freedom Tunnel is the name given to the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. It got its name because the graffiti artist Chris “Freedom” Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork. The name may also be a reference to the former shantytowns built within the tunnel by homeless populations seeking shelter and freedom to live rent-free and unsupervised by law enforcement. The tunnel was built by Robert Moses in the 1930s to expand park space for Upper West Side residents – although Moses’s expansion of freeways in the area effectively blocked access to the river. After it was completed, the tunnel was used for freight trains until 1980, when regular operations ended. The railroad favored using yards in the Bronx and New Jersey, and increased use of trucking led to the demise of the West Side Line. The giant, manmade caverns became a haven for homeless people. At its height in 1994, nearly a hundred people lived in the tunnel. On April 4, 1991, the tunnel was reopened for trains of the Amtrak Empire Connection, and a massive eviction followed. The shantytowns were bulldozed and the tunnel was chained off. To this day, however, graffiti artists and urban explorers continue to visit the tunnel, while the homeless population has dwindled to almost zero. Over the tunnel’s years of disuse, its isolated nature allowed graffiti artists and street artists to work without fear of arrest, leading to larger and more ambitious pieces. The tunnel has unique lighting provided by grates in the sidewalks of Riverside Park above the space. The descending shafts of light allow graffiti art to be seen in the gloom, and artists would often center their projects under the light to take advantage of the spot-lighting effect, as if in a gallery. After achieving popularity in the book Spraycan art by James Prigoff and Henry Chalfant, graffiti artists began to flock to the Freedom Tunnel and gained access through a series of broken gates near 103rd Street and Riverside Park. Early artists who left their mark on the tunnel included Smith and his brother Sane (who died in 1991), Ghost, Twist, Cost, and Revs. It began as the West Side Line, an underground freight train route built by Robert Moses in the 1930s to accommodate the expansion of
Riverside Park for its Upper West Side residents. Regular operations ended for the West Side Line in the 1980s due to the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of trucking, which soon replaced the freight train as the most efficient method to transport goods. However, the demise of the West Side Line catalyzed the birth of a new phase in the life of the tunnel — the era of shantytowns. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the tunnel provided shelter and community to as many as one hundred homeless individuals from the New York area. The shantytowns of the homeless completely dominated the tunnel until it was reopened for use by Amtrak in 1991. But the trains did not ward off intruders for long. Until the construction of the Trump Riverside development, the south end of the tunnel terminated in a large open area. In the 1980s and 90s, a tent city with pirated electricity and hundreds, perhaps thousands of dwellers existed in the south end of the tunnel. [citation needed] Retired trains were also permanently parked near the south end of the tunnel allowing artists to cover whole cars with paint and murals, even if the cars themselves never left the tunnels. Works by “Freedom” remained mostly untouched and respected by taggers. A notable exception was the recreation of Goya’s The Third of May, which was defaced, but subsequently restored by Freedom.[8] In addition, there are numerous other murals on the walls in the “90s” and “100s” block areas of the tunnel; including a chiaroscuro style study of the Venus de Milo, and original portraits rendered with impressionistic splashes of color. The centerpiece of the tunnel is a mural painted in the style of a comic book that tells an abstract story that seems to reference the relationship of the former residents of the tunnel, the city, and the police. Other historical pieces range from Michelangelo to Norman Rockwell.
Chris Pape’s famous “Buy American” mural is still visible beneath a thin coat of gray paint.
Recent work by You Go Girl
Chris “Freedom” Pape’s version of Goya’s Third of May, Photo by Jake Dobkin via Gothamist
It’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share. You can, too!
When dodging people on Fifth Avenue and at Rockefeller Center, you probably don’t have time to look up and ponder what secrets may lie in the tourist trap. But atop the Art Deco infused Rockefeller Center are some great garden rooftops, some slightly more accessible than others.
SECRET GARDEN OF ROCKEFELLER CENTER DON’T FORGET TO LOOK UP
For the last 75 years, the Rockefeller Center has maintained impeccably manicured shrubs, flowers, and lawns, making their gardens some of the oldest in the city. Access to the gardens is rare - mostly reserved for Rockefeller employees - but their secrecy only lends to their allure. We’ve gathered a collection of stunning images of the gardens, so feast your eyes here while you wait for this rooftop haven to open to the public again. The gardens, located atop the British Empire Building, the Maison Francaise, and the setbacks of other central buildings, were planned and built when the Center was first erected. Developer John R. Todd and architect Raymond Hood wanted the buildings’ design to be aesthetically pleasing for the tenants and passers-by, and they felt that the formal gardens would be a special treat for the thousands of employees working in the Center. Originally, they had an even more elaborate idea in mind, envisioning the network of rooftop gardens connected by pedestrian bridges, likening them to the hanging gardens of Babylon. Just by looking at these images, you can tell that these are not rooftop gardens that were just thrown on top of a building. Created by landscape architect Ralph Hancock, the gardens’ elaborate fountain pools, stone planters, and vegetation are most definitely not the types of structures you see on rooftop gardens today. To support the thousands of tons of extra weight from the pipes, soil, and pumps, the Rockefeller Center’s roofing was reinforced with extra steel. Like we said before, the gardens are closed to the public, but for a few years running, they were opened for the Open House New York weekend, during which many of these pictures were taken. Unfortunately, they have not been a part of OHNY for the last couple years, and it doesn’t look like they will be this year either. But, companies pay a pretty penny and invite the public into the gardens. They can also be rented for weddings and private events, but we can’t even begin to guess how much that would cost. NewYorkology unearthed a history book of Rockefeller Center, which revealed that the gardens were originally open to the public, and the operating costs lost the Center $45,000 every year.
You won’t be able to see the secret gardens unless you go to the Top of the Rock or another lofty vantage point, but there are five rooftop gardens atop La Maison Francaise, the British Empire Building, and the setbacks of other central buildings. These meticulously planted and maintained oases were by the famed landscape architect Ralph Hancock and were opened to the public in 1935. According to the Hancock estate, 3,000 tons of earth, 500 tons of bricks, 20,000 bulbs, 100 tons of stone, 2,000 trees and shrubs made their way up 11 floors either via a service elevator or block and tackle to create the sanctuary. The estate reports that the first seven months the gardens were open, they attracted more than 87,000 visitors who paid $1. Despite their beauty, they closed in 1938, and their design has changed significantly over the years. These days, mortals are not generally allowed to stroll the verdant paths, so take an extra-long look from above as it’s likely the only one you’ll get.
Night time roof top of Rockefeller Center.
Night time roof top of Rockefeller Center.
Day time roof top of Rockefeller Center.
INDEX
GEMS OF BRONX 11
Gould Memorial Library St Clair Place, New York
15 The Bronx Hall of Fame Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
19 Thain Family Forest 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111
GEMS OF BROOKLYN 22 Brooklyn Navy Yard Center St Clair Place, New York
25 East River State Park Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
28 Transit Museum 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111
GEMS OF MANHATTAN 32
Freedom Tunnel St Clair Place, New York
35 Little Free Library Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
38 Secret Gardens Of Rockefeller Center 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111
GEMS OF QUEENS 40
Gantry Plaza State Park St Clair Place, New York
43 Station Square Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
45 Unisphere 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111
GEMS OF STATEN ISLAND 47
Fort Wadsworth St Clair Place, New York
49 September 11 Memorial Bennett Park, Washington Heights New York, NY 10033
52 Snug Harbor 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111