BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC, WITH PHOTOS BY JENNY RUBIN | The third section of the High Line opened officially on Sun., Sept. 21. The new segment is either: A. exactly like the other two, B. nothing like the other two, or C. a distinct part that fits with the whole. If you choose C, you’ve won free admission to the park!
Okay, the park is always free — but the new and final section, dubbed the High Line at the Rail Yards, offers singular panoramas and features, such as the Pershing Square Beams, which makes one wish they were smaller to fit into the neon green accented square openings that ramp down into the structure, allowing entrance into a secret world that no adult will ever experience.
Or the Interim Walkway that blooms on one side with wild plants and flowers that beat out Mother Nature to blossom in gravel. The Interim Walkway follows the original train tracks along a curve that allows one to hear the Hudson singing and forget for an instant the city that surrounds it — until, of course, the dissonance of hammers pounding, the “zzz” of a construction saw, and horns blaring make one realize they’re not on a pier at a beach.
“It’s definitely a lot more open,” said James Petty, 31, a Hell’s Kitchen resident. He and another Hell’s Kitchen resident, Michael McGrattan, 30, faced out towards the rail yards — the many trains looking like the arms of an ancient god reaching out while cranes near buildings yearned for sky — and contemplated the Hudson Yards construction. “It’s very exciting to see the whole thing finally done,” said Brandon Warshofsky, 24. He and Esther Ryang, 23, both of Newark, New Jersey, were late for the Climate March and ventured for pickles and the High Line instead. They also enjoyed the High Line’s artwork.
An installation by Adrian Villar Rojas titled “The Evolution of God” populates the new section. Twelve cubes were spaced perpendicular to the Interim Walkway on the side lush with vegetation and used random materials — socks, clothes, ropes and shells — to create layers within the blocks. Some already had foliage growing out of them.
Like the bees that could not stay away from the flowers, neither could the people. The Friends of the High Line were keeping count at half-hour intervals and by 5 p.m. 9,300 people had visited.
Fanfare, fun and frivolity marked the ribbon-cutting ceremonies on a balmy Saturday before the opening. A processional included several community members and groups as well as the resplendent Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band, whose dancers shook while the band slapped down the beat. Each group had its own color and flags — bright pink and green along with gray and white — and each carried a huge rail yard signal that highlighted the neighborhoods: a cow with its parts delineated for the Meatpacking District, multicolored lips, drag queens, Little W. 12th, clothes and ships were also featured. Huge puppets with frames that seemed to move like jelly had different heads and colors to represent the various groups.
The wind joined the celebration, caressing the foliage as it swayed and the community’s medieval-like flags that waved while electeds and Joshua David, the co-founder of the High Line, spoke.
