The High Line continues to be a hit here in NYC. This summer the park’s popularity has been enormous and will only continue to grow if these guys keep doing fun, innovative things with the space. Case in point was yesterday’s launch of High Line Art, which is a series of commissions and creative partnerships sponsored by the Friends of the High Line. The works will be be featured on the High Line, around the park, or inspired by the High Line.

The debut was last night and featured the artists Lisa Sigal and Paul Ramírez Jonas. Their installation, Specials, is a mobile unit constructed of vendor carts and a wall. On the wall side various artworks are hung. On the reverse side is an actual taco stand, serving free tacos to art connoisseurs and the many randoms passing by. It’s pretty genius in that it presents art (and tacos) in a very different way.

Last night the cart feautured works by Fiona Tan and Regina Silveira and a potato and corn croquette with red cabbage and avocado taco. Anyone make it over for dinner?

The end of August is always a slow season for news–and nowhere is that more evident than in the New York Post’s extensive coverage of the Chelsea Standard Hotel “controversy.”

This past Monday, the Post ran a story on a recently discovered feature of New York’s newly opened High Line park. In addition to offering stunning views of the waterfront, the park also offers a view of the Standard Hotel–and the amorous action going on behind the hotel’s floor to ceiling windows.

A worthy story indeed (particularly for parents who might not want to expose their children to such a sight)–but the Post didn’t stop there. On Tuesday, the paper returned with a follow up story discussing the eager peepers who head to the park to check out the Standard; on Wednesday, they fleshed things out with a penetrating look at the hotel’s employees attitudes about the situation (they’re pro-nudity). Perhaps Thursday will grace us with an exhibitionist’s eye view of the situation?

We know sex sells–and that in these trying times for print, every sale matters–but really, doesn’t the Post have anything better to write about?

High Line is a Lust Cause [nypost.com]
Eyeful Tower! [nypost.com]
High Line Hotel Encourages Nude Clientele [nypost.com]

Turns out the High Line isn’t the only green space reclamation project going on in New York City: on Staten Island, the Department of Parks and Recreation, along with a host of other city and state agencies, is getting started on transforming the Fresh Kills landfill into a park. When completed in 2036, Freshkills Park “will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years.”

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Joshua David (L) and Robert Hammond (R) with High Line supporter, Ethan Hawke

Sundancechannel.com recently caught up with the very busy co-founders of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond and Joshua David, whose vision is captured in the Sundance Channel Original Series HIGH LINE STORIES.

The beautiful High Line is now open (see New York Times Architecture Review) and in Part 3 of our conversation (click here if you missed Part 1 and Part 2) Robert and Josh detail the mission of the Friends of the High Line going forward.

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If HIGH LINE STORIES has you searching out other innovative reclamation projects, you’re not limited to railroad easements, parking spaces, or even the United States. The closing of the Thyssen blast furnace works in Duisburg Meiderich, Germany, in 1985 led to some creative thinking on the part of the Duisburg City Council and other local leaders.

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Had a chance to watch HIGH LINE STORIES yet? If so, you’ve witnessed not only how abandoned infrastructure can be transformed into useful green space, but also how community activists, officials, and even celebrities can come together and organize a project of this magnitude. The contributions of all players provide a model for empowering other budding change agents.

But what if you simply don’t have the time, or other resources, to spearhead an effort like the High Line? Creating change in your community doesn’t have to involve months or years of full-time work… in fact, it may be as simple as claiming a parking space.

That’s the idea behind Park(ing) Day, an initiative created by San Francisco-based art collective Rebar in 2005. The premise is simple: on a single day, citizens transform metered parking spaces into Park(ing) spaces, or “temporary public parks.” While these parks only last for a day, the idea is to get people discussing green space in their communities… and how parking is often a bigger priority than parks.

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Robert Hammond and Joshua David with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (then New York Senator) on the High Line in 2006

Sundancechannel.com recently caught up with the very busy co-founders of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond and Joshua David, whose vision is captured in the Sundance Channel Original Series HIGH LINE STORIES.

In Part 2 of our conversation (click here to read Part 1 if you missed it!) Robert and Josh recount their crash course in preservation, legal action and grass roots organization during their efforts to follow through on re-purposing the High Line.

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If you’ve had a chance to check out HIGH LINE STORIES, you’ve seen how a group of creative people devoted to their community can turn blight into beauty.

Missouri’s Katy Trail is one of the crown jewels of US “rails to trails” projects. Running from Clinton (about 75 miles from Kansas City) to St. Charles (about 25 miles from St. Louis), the Katy Trail follows both the old MKT railroad line, and, in part, Lewis and Clark’s path along the Missouri River.

Like the High Line, the Katy Trail has not only provided reclaimed green space across the state, but also contributes to the economies of many of the small towns through which it passes. Towns such as Rocheport have revived themselves as tourist destinations, and numerous wineries have sprung up in close proximity to the trail. You could easily plan a biking and wine tasting trip of several days, with stops in Augusta, Hermann, Sedalia, and other small, picturesque communities.

Learn more about the Katy Trail…

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Robert Hammond and Joshua David, co-founders, Friends of the High Line

In conjunction with our new digital shorts series HIGH LINE STORIES, Sundancechannel.com caught up with the very busy co-founders of Friends of the High Line, Robert Hammond and Joshua David and learned more about how two citizens of New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, who had never previously met, joined forces to save and re-purpose the High Line.

Learn the transformation of this elevated railway as New York City reinvents the urban oasis.

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Sundancechannel.com is excited to present HIGH LINE STORIES as part of our original programming in Digital Shorts. The series tells the story of the High Line in New York City, profiling those involved in transforming this 1.5 mile elevated railway along the west side of Manhattan into a park in the sky. From celebrities to City officials, from artists to architects, each episode explores their relationship to the High Line, what it means for New York City, and how it represents an example of taking a derelict post-industrial site and making it green and beautiful.

The episode line-up for HIGH LINE STORIES features:

1.) Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker
2.) Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, New York City Dept. of Parks & Recreation
3.) Amanda Burden, Chair, New York City Planning Commission
4.) James Corner, landscape architect for the HIGH LINE, and Piet Oudolf, planting designer for the HIGH LINE
5.) Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer
6.) Liz Diller and Ric Scofidio, HIGH LINE architects
7.) Ethan Hawke, actor
8.) Joel Sternfeld, photographer
9.) Robert Hammond and Joshua David, Co-Founders, Friends of the HIGH LINE
10.) Kevin Bacon, actor

LEARN MORE:

Watch HIGH LINE STORIES

HIGH LINE photo gallery

Get Involved with Friends of the HIGH LINE