New York City has a wonderful new "attraction."  It is something that involves beauty, nature, urban design, history, culture, fashion and fun.  I'm talking about the "High Line" which I recently visited both by day and by evening.  The High Line is a six-block garden walk created on an old elevated railway track in the Meatpacking district.  It runs from 14th street to 20th street over 10th Avenue.  The original tracks at street level were elevated 30 feet in 1934 because so many accidents occurred between street level traffic and the trains.  Train traffic over the High Line stopped in the '80s and it was scheduled for demolition when a group was formed to preserve the High Line. A design competition was held and construction began in 2006 and it officially opened June 2009.

I can tell you first hand that everyone who lives in New York should go walk the High Line.  It is thrilling to find a beautiful, seemingly wild garden in such an urban and industrial area.  The design of both the structures and the landscaping is at once elegant and casual.  It almost looks as though grasses and wild flowers have just sprung up amongst the old neglected tracks.  But of course anyone who has any experience with gardening and urban architecture and design knows that there is some very high level designing going on!  It is not easy to create a space that has every detail perfect, but which feels effortless and natural, easy and right.  The materials, the little social gathering spaces, the plantings, the walkways and at night, the lighting, are just exquisite yet understated. (Make sure you notice the chaise lounges that are on wheels on the old tracks so they can be pushed together for a little romance!)  And it all takes place at a vantage point (elevated above the highway, streets, Hudson River and at near eye level with huge billboards and roof gardens and neon signs and apartment windows) that offers a unique perspective on downtown New York life.  And then there is the people watching!  I was there on a sunny, hot Sunday afternoon and a drizzly Thursday night, and both times there was such a joyful, relaxed spirit.  I'm sure that tourists will enjoy the High Line, but I think that for New Yorkers, it is an unexpected, magical little jewel to be treasured.  - Meg