High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky [Paperback]

Joshua David (Author), Robert Hammond (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011

How two New Yorkers led the transformation of a derelict elevated railway into a grand—and beloved—open space

The High Line, a new park atop an ele-vated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side, is among the most innovative urban reclamation projects in memory. The story of how it came to be is a remarkable one: two young citizens with no prior experience in planning and development collaborated with their neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders of burgeoning movements in horticulture and landscape architecture to create a park celebrated worldwide as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, ecologically sound public space.

Joshua David and Robert Hammond met in 1999 at a community board meeting to consider the fate of the High Line. Built in the 1930s, it carried freight trains to the West Side when the area was defined by factories and warehouses. But when trains were replaced by truck transport, the High Line became obsolete. By century’s end it was a rusty, forbidding ruin. Plants grew between the tracks, giving it a wild and striking beauty.

David and Hammond loved the ruin and saw in it an opportunity to create a new way to experience their city. Over ten years, they did so. In this candid and inspiring book— lavishly illustrated—they tell how they relied on skill, luck, and good timing: a crucial court ruling, an inspiring design contest, the enthusiasm of Mayor Bloomberg, the concern for urban planning issues following 9/11. Now the High Line—a half-mile expanse of plants, paths, staircases, and framed vistas—runs through a transformed West Side and reminds us that extraordinary things are possible when creative people work together for the common good.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This lushly illustrated volume showcases the range of imaginative designs [Joshua David and Robert Hammond] explored and, in some cases, rejected. In recounting their decade-long experiment, they provide an inspiring primer for grass-roots urban planning.” —Sam Roberts, The New York Times

“This account by the founders of the nonprofit responsible for the groundbreaking reclamation project chronicles the struggles and successes that led to the realization of what was deemed a far-fetched dream—and resulted in a new Manhattan landmark.” —Travel + Leisure

“A fascinating first-person tale.” —The New York Observer

“The High Line is not only a great work of design—surely the most important addition to the public realm of New York in this century; it is also a great saga. In this book Robert Hammond and Joshua David, who led the grass-roots movement to rescue the High Line from demolition, tell with energy, passion, and refreshing candor the story of how this industrial artifact became, against all odds, a magnificent park.” —Paul Goldberger

“This book is the record of a bright and in fact heroic part of New York City’s history. The story of the struggle, against very long odds, by two young men to create the High Line is a story of perseverance, determination and courage, and the photographs which accompany it show the brilliance of their achievement.” —Robert A. Caro

“This is a fundamentally uplifting story of two young men with a dream who scythed through red tape and skepticism, summoning a village to help reimagine what a park could be in the twenty-first century. Thanks to their vision, and to the dedication, enthusiasm, and brilliance of their collaborators, a walk in the park has been transformed into an exhilarating urban experience that helps all of us to see our extraordinary city with new eyes.” —Anna Wintour

“If God is in the details, then few projects can be more divine than the High Line. Christo, the man who wraps bridges and the Reichstag, once said that for him the creative part of his work is not the finished product but the seemingly frustrating process of getting all those permits and raising funds and convincing ecologists and city planners. This careful account of how the High Line came to exist despite all the odds proves just how creative and suspenseful realizing a plan can be; it’s a real cliff-hanger.” —Edmund White

“The story of the High Line is one of the great encouraging improbable stories of New York life in the past few decades. This book should read by anyone who cares about New York, or green and urban life.” —Adam Gopnik

“There is no more miraculous and important and gratifying piece of new American urban design than the High Line. What’s more, how it was conjured into existence is a compelling story, and here’s that story—with pictures!—told lucidly and charmingly by the two extraordinary ordinary guys who pulled it off.” —Kurt Andersen

About the Author

Joshua David and Robert Hammond cofounded Friends of the High Line in 1999. David has written for Gourmet, Fortune, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper, and other magazines. Hammond was awarded a Rome Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2009. In 2010 they were awarded the Jane Jacobs Medal for their work on the High Line.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: FSG Originals; First Edition edition (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374532990
• ISBN-13: 978-0374532994
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Landscape
  • #9 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Urban & Land Use Planning
  • #15 in Books > Professional & Technical > Architecture > Drafting & Presentation

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for true New Yorkers October 20, 2011

By High Line Fan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I considered myself to be in-the-know on the history and creation of The High Line, after 13 years of living in Manhattan and reading endless press in Time Out NY, New York Mag and The NY'er. Now that I've finished reading "The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky", I realize how little of this remarkable story I actually knew. We are so often promised "behind the scenes" glimpses into famous people and pop-culture storylines yet are left disappointed by lackluster revelations and glossier-than-actual trips down memory lane. I found this book to be a brutally honest tale of two regular guys who lacked experience, resources and time yet somehow managed to keep their partnership and dream alive in spite of repeated challenges, fights and, what seems like, an entire city of naysayers.
In addition to sharing a great story in candid, often hilarious voices, the photos in the back half of the book are worth the $19 price tag alone. I suspect the next time I walk along The High Line, I'll recognize it even more as the greatest gift to New Yorkers, and all Americans, since the Statue of Liberty.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating, fun read November 15, 2011

By michelle

Format:Paperback

This book is a compulsively readable and surprisingly (at times shockingly) honest account from the two guys, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, who took on the High Line project and saw it through over the last 12 years. It begins with the chance meeting of the project's co-founders in 1999, and is written in their own voices as they give a loosely chronological account of the project up to the opening of the first section of the park in 2009.

Along the way, the book gives a truly "insider" perspective with plenty of juicy details. What did Edward Norton think of the High Line when he lived in the neighborhood? Who do you have talk to to get in front of designer Diane von Furstenberg? What does a property owner who traded swords with Arnold Schwarzenegger have to do with the High Line? How did Friends of the High Line almost lose a staff member over an Aeron chair? And why did Jean-Claude (of Christo and Jean-Claude, the famous artists) scold Robert over his formatting of a letter? All these questions (and many, many more) are answered in this "who's who" of New York activists, officials, architects, powerful figures, and neighborhood characters.

This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the High Line, but also anyone who's interested in New York, urban planning, architecture, or the way cities change over time. Even people who know "everything" about the High Line will be surprised by some of the revelations! I could also see this being an essential road map for people who have "big ideas," as it explains all the steps that Robert Hammond and Josh David took to make the High Line "dream" into a reality. There's enough information here to be a school textbook for anyone who wants to be a planner or a social entrepreneur - but, unlike a textbook, it's actually fun to read.

Also - the second half of the book is full of incredible color photographs, including photos of the High Line under construction, historical photos, and beautiful landscape shots of the converted park. The visual story presented by the photographs is just as compelling as the text.

I think this would be a good holiday gift for anyone who likes the High Line park, or also anyone on your gift list who already owns these: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (50th Anniversary Edition) (Modern Library) The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture Joel Sternfeld: Walking The High Line Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark AIA Guide to New York City Designing the High Line: Gansevoort Street to 30th Street Steve Jobs Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nine Reasons to Read High Line November 20, 2011

By Annik La Farge

Format:Paperback

There are as many reasons to admire this book as there are entries to the High Line. So I'll give you nine.

1. It's inspirational: a true David and Goliath story, set in post 9/11 New York City, featuring two guys who admit quite charmingly in these pages that they had no idea what they were doing. And they won.

2. It's spot-on, Zeitgeist-wise: if you're even remotely interested in the movement of urban landscape design that is sweeping major cities around the world, David & Hammond have just given you the playbook. This book tells the full story of how these two young men, with lots of help from a wide variety of people and over a ten year period, navigated the neighborhood, city, state, corporate, and Federal politics to create this park.

3. If you love New York...: this a book that will help you understand how and why it works as well as it does under the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg.

4. It has that magical element that non-fiction readers love: voice. These two guys, in alternating paragraphs, each come across as distinct personalities and as they tell their story we come to know them as individuals. There are other key characters who come alive, including Gifford Miller and the extraordinary Amanda Burden, a woman who has done something I will always be grateful for: she has made New York a better city.

5. It's unsparingly honest. Serious readers know when they're being jollied along, and these guys give us everything, warts and all: their disagreements and crises of faith and plenty of unpretty moments, like a hangover that could have derailed an important meeting.

6. Marvelous, excruciating detail. Example: Hammond provides the color swatch for the Sherwin-Williams paint color of the High Line's railings: SW6994. It's called "Greenblack," and you too can use it in your own kitchen, just as he did.

7. The photos are gorgeous.

8. It's a cautionary tale: on every page you marvel that the thing actually got built, that these men didn't get derailed.

9. The High Line, the glorious "park in the sky." What's not to love? Here's a book that celebrates both the creation -- in all its gritty, gnarly detail -- and the end result: a park that always inspires, always leaves room for dreaming.

I've been writing about the High Line for three and a half years on my blog, LivinTheHighLine.com, and I was surprised that I learned something on just about every page of this book. It's a great story.