Kevin Bacon Talks the High Line

Picture Kevin Bacon in a black suit, white v-neck tee underneath, walking in slow motion down an overgrown High Line. It just seems fitting, doesn't it? That must be what the folks at Sundance thought, too, because here is that exact scene as part of the channel's High Line Stories series (which is online only and premiered today).

As the opening of the High Line approaches, the series aims to tell its story through profiling those involved in transforming the 1.5 mile elevated railway along the west side of Manhattan. "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." See more clips here, and (fingers crossed) the first section of the park is projected to open in June.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on May 26, 2009 3:03 PM

Comments [rss]

Kevin Walsh

Picture a group of train buffs, some in reflective orange vests, walking in slow motion down the abandoned LIRR Rockaway branch, which will never, ever be reactivated as a hi-tech park for millionaires...

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Rockaway%20Line/rockline.html

Sommelier

I came to the city in 1986 & worked at Windows on the World. The things you could see from 107 floors up that you didn't notice from the ground were amazing: I kept a pair of binoculars in my locker. I saw the Highline & asked about it. On a day off, I set out to walk it. Yeah, there were plenty of homeless people there and more than a few crackheads & junkies, but the Highline itself was amazing. "right smack dab in the middle of town..."

starrygordon

Now, anyone can walk down the High Line. It's just one more manicured excrescence of yuppitude. But before they found it, it was a pretty interesting place.

mikeaz

I fully agree. I walked the highline way before they decided to change it all, and it was just amazing to see something so unexpectedly natural, especially when the part of town it was in was so industrial. I went up there again recently to see the changes they made, and although it has a clean modern look to it, it's not personal. It doesn't have its own raw identity, and there's nothing stopping someone from building something just like it anywhere else in the world.