After settling in, our first two weeks here were filled walking and exploring our neighborhood; from Greenwich Village to the north down to the Financial District (FiDi) in Lower Manhattan, from the Meat Packing District on the Hudson to the Lower East Side on the East River.
As some of you know, I have this compulsive habit to record things. Like a diary, but more graphic and statistical. It started when I was 16 and my brother and I drove 9000 miles cross country; from San Francisco, CA to his job in Montclair, N.J. via Canada, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mexico, New Orleans, and Natchez. To track our progress I highlighted each highway and county road on my Rand McNally Road atlas. I continued this for all my driving trips around the US over the decades and now have a very dog-eared, but colorful atlas of all 50 states. When I started traveling internationally, I saved each boarding pass and recorded each flight, to/from destination, and air miles (over 2 million of them). Each location marked with a pin on a world map, and road marked on a European Atlas. So without thinking, when we started walking NYC I marked our path on a map to be sure we took a new route if possible each time.
To our NW is Chelsea and the Meat Packing district. Chelsea was originally (after early settlement as an estate and then vacation property) a multi-family residential district with english style row houses. It evolved into manufacturing in the nineteenth century with good access to the harbor on the Hudson and retained some residential as tenements for the Irish workers. Most famously here was the Nabisco Baking Co. (NBC) and it was here that the Oreo cookie was created. The NBC building has become the famous Chelsea Market - a repurposed multi-use building with office and a food court on the main level. This is not a food court of fast food like a shopping mall, but upper end deli and specialty foods. Great place to shop, though a bit far, and expensive, for us for regular groceries.
To transfer goods to and from the industrial area of Chelsea after the civil war an elevated freight railroad was built along the shore to deliver goods from the harbor or other cities to the mid level of the manufacturing buildings reducing congestion at the street level. In the early/mid twentieth century the area fell into disuse as manufacturing declined, and the railroad was abandoned. After years debating whether to tear it out and redevelop it, community activists petitioned to save the elevated railroad and turn it into a park - the Highline - completed in 2009, is now being expanded. It it the organizing feature around which new multi-family high-rises are being developed. The same design firm that did the Highline designed Seattle's new Waterfront to replace the Viaduct. James Corner Field Operations of NYC.
At the south end of the Highline is the new Whitney Museum of American Art. A fantastic modern building with fabulous collection that displays how Americans at first emulated the European tradition and over time broke away into their own distinctive style. Interestingly, the Whitney also broke away from the location of the more european focused museums on Museum Mile on the Upper East side (to be discussed later) to this revitalized Meat Packing district. We look forward to multiple visits to this great institution.
Next Post: The 'hood Part 2
As some of you know, I have this compulsive habit to record things. Like a diary, but more graphic and statistical. It started when I was 16 and my brother and I drove 9000 miles cross country; from San Francisco, CA to his job in Montclair, N.J. via Canada, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mexico, New Orleans, and Natchez. To track our progress I highlighted each highway and county road on my Rand McNally Road atlas. I continued this for all my driving trips around the US over the decades and now have a very dog-eared, but colorful atlas of all 50 states. When I started traveling internationally, I saved each boarding pass and recorded each flight, to/from destination, and air miles (over 2 million of them). Each location marked with a pin on a world map, and road marked on a European Atlas. So without thinking, when we started walking NYC I marked our path on a map to be sure we took a new route if possible each time.
Map of walks in first two weeks
To our NW is Chelsea and the Meat Packing district. Chelsea was originally (after early settlement as an estate and then vacation property) a multi-family residential district with english style row houses. It evolved into manufacturing in the nineteenth century with good access to the harbor on the Hudson and retained some residential as tenements for the Irish workers. Most famously here was the Nabisco Baking Co. (NBC) and it was here that the Oreo cookie was created. The NBC building has become the famous Chelsea Market - a repurposed multi-use building with office and a food court on the main level. This is not a food court of fast food like a shopping mall, but upper end deli and specialty foods. Great place to shop, though a bit far, and expensive, for us for regular groceries.
Chelsea Market
To transfer goods to and from the industrial area of Chelsea after the civil war an elevated freight railroad was built along the shore to deliver goods from the harbor or other cities to the mid level of the manufacturing buildings reducing congestion at the street level. In the early/mid twentieth century the area fell into disuse as manufacturing declined, and the railroad was abandoned. After years debating whether to tear it out and redevelop it, community activists petitioned to save the elevated railroad and turn it into a park - the Highline - completed in 2009, is now being expanded. It it the organizing feature around which new multi-family high-rises are being developed. The same design firm that did the Highline designed Seattle's new Waterfront to replace the Viaduct. James Corner Field Operations of NYC.
Visiting Friends Aaron and Kate on the Highline
View down on Highline from the Whitney with new Residential built over.
At the south end of the Highline is the new Whitney Museum of American Art. A fantastic modern building with fabulous collection that displays how Americans at first emulated the European tradition and over time broke away into their own distinctive style. Interestingly, the Whitney also broke away from the location of the more european focused museums on Museum Mile on the Upper East side (to be discussed later) to this revitalized Meat Packing district. We look forward to multiple visits to this great institution.
Whitney Museum and end of Highline in Meat Packing District
Next Post: The 'hood Part 2
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