June 4, 2009 @ 3:51 pm
After decades of abandonment and years of development, The High Line is finally going to open its first section to the public on June 9, 2009. You can enter the elevated park at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th Streets.
The rest of The High Line from 20th Street to 30th Street is still under construction, but I bet there will be a way to get there once the first section gets open.
May 29, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
Of all of the years that I’ve lived in New York City, I have never once heard about Riverbank State Park, a sizable recreational park located above the North River Water Pollution Control Plant. For the first time today, I went there and it is such a great place! There’s a lot of basketball courts, tennis courts, a full-size oval track, a baseball field, and a good amount of open space that you would not think to find in the middle of Manhattan.
I didn’t see it, but according to the New York State Parks website, Riverbank State Park also houses an Olympic-size swimming pool that is housed under 5 separate buildings! Getting to Riverbank State Park is quite wonderful too because you have to travel across this pedestrian bridge which puts you right over the West Side Highway (and over the Amtrak train tracks that lead into the Freedom Tunnel).
It’s a nice place to sit and get a view of the Hudson River, so if you’re in the area (around 138th Street or 145th Street), I recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.
You can see a bigger version of the photo above at You’re My Favourite.
May 19, 2009 @ 10:59 am
On May 17th, the Hongqi Road of Zhuzhou City in Hunan province collapsed onto several vehicles below killing up to 4 people. There’s rumor going around that the number of dead is actually much higher because the accident happened at rush hour and there are buildings beneath the roadway that were used for public housing (meaning, lots of people live there).
See more pictures here.
December 27, 2008 @ 1:47 am
I came across this lovely photo of Herald Square on July 16, 1936 taken by Berenice Abbott (spelling?) and I couldn’t believe that the area had an elevated track at one point in time. For the most part, the area looks very much like it does today with the exception, of course, of the elevated railway. I get the impression from this photo that New York must have been a fun place to live in during the 1930’s.
December 12, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
Design Public has this neat but expensive pod pet bed for sale. It’s an elevated cave-like home ideal for a cat to sleep or rest in.
The Pod Pet Bed comes in 4 color variations (shown above) and each cost $115. If your cat doesn’t like enclosed spaces, you can take off the top cover and let it simply be an elevated bed (you can buy The Podium Pet Bed for the same price, but you’d be a fool to do that).
The inside of the pod is Sherpa fleece-lined and easily taken out for cleaning. Nice, but definitely not $115-nice.
