The Great Saunter 2014 - West Side

Last May 3 I joined the Shorewalkers group for The Great Saunter, a day long hike that explores Manhattan’s 32-mile shoreline, visiting more than 20 parks and promenades of Manhattan Island.

We walked along the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a foreshoreway for walking or cycling around the island of Manhattan. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists. There are three principal parts - the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways. This post features walking along the Hudson River Greenway, which covers the west side of the greenway.

The Great Saunter started with a registration at the Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan but I was late as there were a lot of changes to my train schedule due to the train derailment the day before. I got off at the City Hall Station and had this great view of the new and the old New York on a beautiful spring day.

I hurried to Battery Park City so I could join the group and passed by Tom Otterness' The Real World at the Nelson Rockefeller Park.

I joined the group as they turned north on the pedestrian path of the Hudson River Park. New Jersey was shining across the river that morning.

Near the Meatpacking District we passed by the New Whitney Museum which is still under construction. It is slated to open in spring of 2015.

For the 2014 Whitney Biennial, it's only offsite piece was The Artists Monument by Tony Tasset, which can be found just a little further from the museum's future home.

The multicolored acrylic panels that adorn Tasset’s Artists Monument are etched with the names of 392,486 modern and contemporary artists, ranging from Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol to emerging artists with a single exhibition to their credit. By building this pointedly horizontal monument in public space, with the artists’ names listed alphabetically and the colors arranged randomly, Tasset symbolically flattens the hierarchies that exist between lauded and unknown artists and instead celebrates the entire community.

We also passed by a ghost bike, a project of the New York City Street Memorial Project. Last April 6 was the 9th Annual Memorial Ride to honor the memories of those who died on the city's streets. 

I stopped near Pier 83 for a late registration for the walk. Pier 83 is home to Circle Line offering sight-seeing cruises and charters. I also featured Pier 83 in a previous post featuring my walk along the West Side Highway.

After the registration I got my participant number, a map, a cap and water .. all I need to continue with the Great Saunter. We were walking northbound and on our left running parallel to the West Side Highway is Hudson River Park, which was looking lovely that spring morning.

According to the park website an expansion of its northern end is currently underway which will help create an improved physical and visual connection with Riverside Park South on the Upper West Side. That is something to look forward to! 

Across the West Side Highway is the future Space New York —megaclub Space Ibiza‘s first U.S. outpost, the current structure features a huge mural by Spanish graffiti-artist Belin.

By the mid-morning we were at the southern end of Riverside Park South. Spring really brings out the best in the city's parks.

Our walk also caught the tail end of this year’s Model 2 Monument public art exhibit at the park, which was on view only until May 15. The exhibit is the third in a five-part partnership between the Art Students League and the New York Parks Department. Here's one of them Preservation: High and Dry by Anna Kuchel Rabinowitz.

The crabapple trees lining the Riverwalk path along Riverside Park were blooming, and I could see the George Washington Bridge in the distance.

The end of the Riverwalk marks the start of Cherry Walk, which is the northernmost part of the park.

The Cherry Walk extends along the river from 100th to 125th Street. In 1909 the Committee of Japanese Residents of New York presented 2,000 cherry trees as a gift to the City. Some surviving trees of the original planting of 700, part of the same batch of trees planted in Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin, can be found along this stretch of Riverside Park.

I have written about walking in spring along the Cherry Walk in two previous blog posts, it's always a lovely experience being surrounded by the pink and white blossoms as you walk along the greenway.

As we exited Cherry Walk, the pathway led to the West Harlem Piers Park. The public art installations in the park are by New York artist Nari Ward, the stainless steel mosaic sculptures reference the eyelet guide found on fishing poles.

Still going forward north, we walked along the street level of Riverbank State Park. I remember when I was here last year, at the upper level of the park, looking for the Sing For Hope piano. The upper level of the park has great views of the New Jersey Palisades and the George Washington Bridge.

North of the Riverbank State Park is Fort Washington Park which has a newly renovated playground. The park has one of the best views of the George Washington Bridge.

Under the George Washington Bridge is the Little Red Lighthouse. It is open only five times a year, every second Saturday of June to October. Here is a previous post about my visit to the lighthouse two years ago.

As we followed the greenway from back to where it runs parallel to the Henry Hudson Parkway, I could see the retaining wall of Castle Village. It looked like it was recently tagged, although it boggles the mind where these street artists perched just so they can create their brand of art.

We also passed by the Pumpkin House, it got its name from the shape of its lighted windows and the orange glow of sunset so that it resembles a jack-o'-lantern especially at dusk.

A few yards later, we reached the Inspiration Point Shelter, looking pretty in white. I first saw it a couple of years ago after some research on the Fort Tryon arches. It has great views, too, of the palisades and the George Washington Bridge. For more photos of the shelter, check out my previous post about my walk to the structure.

A little further across the Inspiration Point Shelter, the arches of Fort Tryon Park stand out. If ever you're in the area, I am definitely recommending a visit to the park.

From the greenway, I could see the park at street level but there is so much more to see at the upper level. The gardens are beautiful, and aside from the arches, the park also houses The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.

We're now on the last leg of our walk along the Hudson River Greenway, I could see the road stretch out all the way to Inwood Hill Park where we had a break for lunch and a little rest.

From the parkway level, we had to go down to the local street level to access the park's southern section.

This was the scene I saw as we entered Inwood Hill Park, a great spring day should include kite flying.

I was busy looking at the pretty leaves of the trees and looking forward to resting my tired feet so I forgot to look for and take a picture of Shorakkopoch Rock in the park.  Good thing I wrote about it in a previous post.

Took this pic just before we reached our rest area in the park. Inwood Hill Park, like the other parks we passed earlier that day, was blooming in spring colors.

After lunch and rest, we resumed our walk this time along the east side of Manhattan. That walk is covered on Part 2 of this blog.

Did you enjoy walking along the Hudson River Greenway with me?

For the rest of my photos during the Great Saunter, here's the album on Flickr - The Great Saunter, 05.03.14 

Walking on the West Side Highway (34th to 59th Streets)

On the first day of this month, I walked from 59th Street down to 34th Street on the Hudson River Greenway. This bicycle and pedestrian path along this stretch of the West Side Highway is part of the Hudson River Park, which arose as part of the West Side Highway replacement project in the wake of the abandoned Westway plan

Hudson River Park is a waterside park on the Hudson River that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Bicycle and pedestrian paths, including the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, span the park north to south, opening up the waterfront for recreational use.

I started my walk at Clinton Cove, a small park named for former New York governor Dewitt Clinton. The park includes green lawns for picnicking, a boathouse holding canoes and kayaks and a giant bottle, Malcolm Cochran's Private Passage. 

Created by artist Malcolm Cochran, Private Passage is a distinctive sculpture consisting of a 30’ x 8’6” wine bottle resting on its side, within which is a representation of an interior stateroom from the ocean liner, Queen Mary. The exterior of the bottle is fabricated of bronze and zinc with a traditional green patina.

Looking through one of the portholes, this is what I saw. A bed fashioned from sheet metal, as well as a stove.

You can also view the interior through the larger circular windows in the mouth and bottom of the bottle. There's even a lavatory, it's a complete room inside a wine bottle.

Clinton Cove is also home to The Downtown Boathouse in Pier 96, which offers free kayaking lessons on weekends from mid-May to mid-October. There's still time for some lessons, if you're interested. You can learn more about this in the boathouse's FAQ page.

Pier 94 was closed when I passed by, it has been converted to a special event venue to host shows. 

Piers 92/94 is home to design oriented events such as The Armory Show, Architectural Digest Home Design Show, The Pier Antiques Show and leading fashion shows during New York Fashion Week. The facility also regularly host parties and product launch events for groups ranging in size from small charitable foundations to Fortune 500 companies.

Looking across the highway, I saw a structure with doric columns sporting a big H.  It is the gentleman's club Larry Flynt's Hustler.

A little bit further, I saw a colorful big ship which turned out to be the Norwegian Breakaway, the world's fifth largest cruise ship. She had her maiden voyage on May 2013.

Norwegian Breakaway is home ported at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal in Manhattan, making seven-night cruises to Bermuda (May thru Sept) and seven-night cruises to the Bahamas & Florida (October thru April). She is the largest cruise ship homeported year-round from New York City.

The New York Passenger Ship Terminal consists of Piers 88, 90, 92 and 94 on the Hudson River between West 46th and West 54th Street. Ships now dock at Piers 88, 90 and 92 while Pier 94, as I mentioned above, is now used for exhibition space. In 2003, the terminal handled 900,000 passengers, and the city is forecasting that 1.5 million will use the terminal by 2017.

This was Pier 92 when I passed by.

Here's a little tidbit about the piers:

The West Side Highway takes a small jog east from the piers to below West 42nd Street because when the terminal was built land had to be taken away from Manhattan to allow for longer piers. The US Army Corps of Engineers, who control the waterfront dimension, would not extend the pierhead line farther into the river, so the city extended the pier by cutting away at the land.

The overhead design for Pier 88.

Next to Pier 88 is Pier 86, once used by United States Lines, it is now home to the USS Intrepid. The aircraft carrier has been decommissioned and turned into a museum ship.

Plans originally called for Intrepid to be scrapped after decommissioning, but a campaign led by real estate developer Zachary Fisher and the Intrepid Museum Foundation saved the carrier, and established it as a museum ship. In August 1982, the ship opened in New York City as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. Four years later, Intrepid was officially designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Over the years, Intrepid has hosted many special events including wrestling events, press conferences, parties and the FBI operations center after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.

At the northern part of the pier lies the submarine Growler, the only American diesel-powered strategic missile submarine open to the public. It offers museum visitors a firsthand look at life aboard a submarine and a close-up inspection of the once "top-secret" missile command center.
 

Near the entrance to the museum is one of the aircraft carrier's four propellers. It weighs approximately 27,000 lbs or the equivalent of ten automobiles.

Looking back at Pier 88, I could see what looks like a ramp. I'm guessing this is the automobile ramp for the open rooftop parking at Pier 92.

This is the front side of the museum facing the West Side Highway. There is a sign that says Space Shuttle Pavilion Now Open. This refers to the space shuttle Enterprise which went on public display last year but sustained damages from Hurricane Sandy. The exhibit reopened just last July.

The Intrepid is so big it could hardly fit in the camera screen. On the pic below the 18-deck Norwegian Breakaway sails behind the carrier.

Adjacent to Pier 86 is Pier 84, the largest public pier in Hudson River Park. There was an enclosed water feature for kids to play around.

Near this is an interactive science-themed playspace where you could pump water to make sculptures spin, and raise and lower sluice gates to operate a miniature canal. However, there was no water when I was there and I saw some kids trying to coax something out of the pumps. I'm sure this is one enjoyable part of the park when it is in use.

Pier 84 also has great views of the various aircrafts on exhibit at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space museum.

The pier is also home to the New York Water Taxi terminal. The company offers water borne transportation, sightseeing tours, and private event charters.

Pier 83 is the Circle Line terminal, New York’s oldest and largest provider of scheduled and chartered sightseeing and special event cruises.

Pier 79 is a modern building opened in 2005. The West Midtown Ferry Terminal serves ferries along the Hudson River in New York City and northeastern New Jersey. Midtown west looks great when viewed from the ferry terminal.

Pier 78 is the terminal for Gray Lines which also offers sightseeing cruises.

The buses which ferry people to these cruise ship terminals are parked near the piers. They are a moving advertisement for the various shows on Broadway.

Pier 76 currently serves as a tow pound operated by the New York City Police Department. It also houses the headquarters of the NYPD Mounted Unit. Near the fence of the compound is a statue of a horse standing on its hind legs, painted in the colors of the US flag. 

A close-up of the design on its belly states:

City of New York Police

In memory of those
who gave with honor and valor
09/11/01

By the time I reached 34th Street it was nearly 5 pm and I had a previous commitment to go to so I hurriedly snapped a quick pic of 34th Street from 12th Avenue before leaving the West Side Highway.

Hopefully in the near future I'll come back and resume my walk along the West Side Highway, this time from 34th Street going south. 

For the rest of my pics, here's the album on Flickr - Along the West Side Highway

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to sail on the Hudson River aboard the fireboat the John J Harvey and took pictures of these piers as viewed from the river. 

The pics are in my Flickr album Along the Hudson River