Aim High: The High Line Park Reaches a New Goal

Millions of visitors have now gone high in New York.
On the High Line, that is: New York’s High Line Park, which opened last June, welcomed its two millionth visitor yesterday. A 12-year-old boy from North Carolina holds the honor. He and his sister, 9, participated in tree-planting ceremony to celebrate the event.
The park has proven far more popular than originally anticipated, with many originally scoffing at its existence. The High Line runs on Manhattan’s west side from Gansevoort Street in the meatpacking district to 20th Street, for about a half mile. It currently includes walkways, plantings, seating, and lighting. (Caveat animal lovers: No dogs allowed.) By next spring, the park will see an expansion up to 30th Street. The new part of the park will feature an elevated walkway running through an area of trees; the park will be about a mile and a half long. Access from street level will be every two or three blocks.
Starting today, the park will be open from 7 am to 10 pm into the fall.
The High Line was originally built in the 1930s as a way of getting freight trains off Manhattan’s streets. (Fact: So many accidents occurred with freight trains and street-level traffic that 10th Avenue was known as Death Avenue.) Trains stopped running there in the early 1980s; the last one carried frozen turkeys.
In 1999, a group called Friends of the High Line was formed to prevent the structure from being demolished. An open competition was held to solicit ideas for the area’s renovation, with 720 teams from 36 countries entering. The ultimate winner, James Corner Field Operations, a landscape architecture firm, was among those chosen for the area’s redesign.
Visit thehighline.org for more information, or call 212 500-6035.

Union Square Gears Up For Spring With a New Playground and More

Union Square is no longer just for market vegetables and artisanal breads.
The Parks Department and the Union Square Partnership officially opened a new 15,000-square-foot playground this week, just in time for spring.
This playground is three times larger than the previous one. And play equipment (including swings and climbing rocks) is just the beginning—certain features will make their debut when it gets (even) warmer.
The new playground has three separate “rooms” dedicated to different age groups and equipment. Toddlers get swings and climbing platforms; school-age kids are offered play equipment and a spray shower; and the last area offers more of a free-for–all experience with monkey bars and a tube slide. Landscaped gardens surround the area.
In addition, the whole north side of the park will be renovated: A newly overhauled pavilion will offer a district office, a recreation space and perhaps a café starting in early summer.
The Greenmarket itself is also gearing up for spring with a wider selection of fruits and vegetables as the weather warms up. (In coming weeks, expect asparagus, new potatoes, and perhaps artichokes.) The Market is open for business Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 8 am – 6 pm.
Want to know more about the square and its origins? Free walking tours depart every Saturday at 2 PM; they leave from the Abraham Lincoln Statue near 16th Street. Participants will explore the social, political, and architectural history of the area--expect plenty of discussion along the way. (Reservations are required for groups, but not individuals.)
And, oh yes, perhaps the best news of all for patrons? Five new bathrooms will be added, three of which will make their debut next month in the new comfort station.