Les secrets de la Ville de Lumiere

One of the current cause celebes of the Downtown Brie and Chablis set is the High Line. Abandoned since 1980, this former rail line runs about a mile and a half down the West Side of Manhattan, and currently enjoys a quiet life about 20 feet above the streets a bit west of 10th Avenue. It’s an interesting enough walk - not that much more interesting than the other abandoned rail lines scattered throughout New York, but it has a certain appeal. And for some reason, the highbrow crowd has absolutely fallen in love with thing - just check out some of the “prominent individuals” on this list. Martha Stewart’s 8th from the bottom.

Pretty soon though, it’s not going to be the “remote natural habitat” described in this article. The City of New York is starting construction to turn it into a landscaped walkway, patterned after the Promenade Plantee in Paris. I decided to take a walk up there to see what the High Line’s going to end up looking like in a few years.

It starts off as a viaduct near the Plaza Bastille. I climb up the stairs and head under these gates up onto the walkway. It continues east above the streets for a while, has a short section at street level, and then goes through a couple tunnels into and open cut. It ends at this staircase, where I climb back up onto the streets near the edge of Paris.

Here I find another abandoned - and unrenovated - rail line built in the late 19th century, the Petite Censure. This is actually part of the same line that we walk along to get into the catas. The southern part, where we get in and out of the catas, is an open cut occasionally going through some tunnels (one of which contains an entrance to the catacombs). The eastern part, near the end of the Promenade Plantee, is slightly elevated. I find a way on, and it’s remarkably like the High Line as it exists now. I’m tempted to start walking, but I know I’ll just end up where I started - after circumnavigating Paris. The Petite Censure (little belt) is a ring railroad running just inside the city borders. So instead I take a few shots of the graffiti and hop back down. By the way, if someone could translate this piece, I’d appreciate it.

If you want to visit the High Line that resembles the Petite Censure, and not the Promenade Plantee, do it now. And I’ll tell you exactly how: go to 33rd street between 11th avenue and the West Side Highway (closer to the West Side Highway). Walk through the gate on the north side (it’s always open) into a truck parking lot. On the other side of the lot, the tracks slope downward. Head on over and hop on. It’s that easy. I’ve gone in broad daylight with a cop parked across the street. You have to slide under one metal barrier (as seen in this goofball picture), but that’s about the only tricky part. I actually tried to organize a snowball fight on it not too long ago, but only one other person showed up.

The High Line is one of those “technically off-limits” places that really shouldn’t be - especially now that it’s owned by the City of New York and not a private railroad company. Yet the highbrow folks (who somehow all manage to go visit themselves) still parrot the official line of “please do not trespass” (to which I wrote this response to the Village Voice article - third letter down), without giving anything close to a reason why not. Because, of course, there is none.

Don’t get me wrong: I understand if the authorities don’t want random people climbing bridges or running around subway tunnels - although I think controlled tours, similar to the Sidney Harbor Bridge Climb, or the tours of the old City Hall Subway Station the Transit Museum used to conduct are great ideas. But the High Line? It’s not dangerous, and it’s certainly not any kind of terrorist target. I’m guessing the only reason for any sort of disclaimer at all is because of lawyers being concerned about liability.

In fact, during Open House New York (a great idea that I’m in no way discouraging), the good folks at the Committee for a Free New York decided to pull a little Highline Hijinks by heading up there and attaching a few banners where they’d be seen at the “viewing spot.”   Hey - just because you and I don’t know Martha Stewart doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get to see what we want to see - in Paris, New York, or anywhere else.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2006 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Around. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.