On the High Line: Exploring America's Most Original Urban Park, Revised and Updated Edition

In this edition, updated for the High Line's five-year anniversary, blogger-turned-author La Farge takes readers on an engrossing tour of the elevated park that quickly became one of New York's top destinations when it opened in 2009. The High Line, on Manhattan's West Side, was once a bustling rail line that brought meat and produce to the city. As industry gave way to art galleries and condominiums, the elevated tracks fell into disuse, and the land ceded to wildflowers and weeds (not to mention graffiti artists and squatters). The park's architects paid homage to these previous iterations in their design for "this generation's Central Park." Bursting with insights on history, botany, geography, architecture, and the arts, La Farge takes readers on a tour of the park from the "Slow Stairs" at the southern end to the Tenth Avenue Spur. Gorgeous full-color photographs by Scott Mlyn, Juan Valentin, and Rick Darke enhance the view on nearly every page. This will serve as a marvelous guidebook for visitors and readers interested in New York City history or urban planning. 400 illus. (May)