Life's an (Urban) Beach

The High Line

NY, NY- I was inspired to start this blog because of my love for urban farms and gardens-  but what about urban beaches. I’m not talking about Miami Beach or San Diego. I took a trip to Manhattan recently  to see the High Line, a public park which opened in 2009 on the old elevated freight rails on the West Side and it got me thinking about urban beaches.

Urban beach, as defined by Wikipedia (so it must be true): urban beach, or urbeach, a space that includes an intellectually, artistically, or culturally sophisticated water feature that is also an aquatic play area, and is located within a culturally or artistically significant area of a city



Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Area

At the High Line, there’s a section of the park with built-in wooden chaise lounges and benches called the Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Feature, that looks out to the Hudson River. For the summer, water seems to come out of the rocky earth itself and visitors can remove their shoes and take a barefoot stroll for several yards. As the park can be a sensory overload, it takes a while to pick up on all of the well-planned features that exist along this stretch of urban heaven.

View from the High Line looking up

For all of the people and things happening at the High Line, I was almost shocked at how relaxed the native New Yorkers and tourists seemed to stroll through the park. It was a true delight, and while not my first time there- I was just as impressed. This makes a great day trip to the city dweller or the suburban warrior. Bonne chance!