ON THE HIGH LINE -- BOOK REVIEW -- PART 8

EXPLORING AMERICA'S

MOST ORIGINAL URBAN PARK

Chapter Six 26th -- 30th Streets

The author has this to say about Hell's Kitchen, which is touched by the High Line:

"The WPA Guide To New York City pronounced Hell's Kitchen 'one of the most dangerous areas on the American continent.'"

"The neighborhood took its name from the Hell's Kitchen Gang, an 1860s organization of gangsters and hoodlums whose specialty was raids on the New York Central Railroad, which operated many of the trains that ran at street level along Tenth Avenue."

"To combat the mayhem and robberies the railroad organized a special police force in 1910 and , after much violence that included clubbing and shooting, it finally broke the back of the gangs."

"The name remained, but today the neighborhood, which begins at 34th Street, is quickly gentrifying."

High Line book review continues tomorrow, October 26 

ON THE HIGH LINE -- BOOK REVIEW -- PART 7

EXPLORING AMERICA'S

MOST ORIGINAL URBAN PARK

Chapter Five: 23rd -- 26th Streets

Water Towers seen from the High Line are explained:

"The newsman Charles Kuralt was a big admirer of the water towers that grace so many of New York's rooftops."

"The city requires that every building above a certain height -- around six stories -- must have them, both to regulate water pressure throughout the building and to help firefighters by providing a reliable source of water."

"To this day Manhattan's water tanks, which hold between 5,000 and 10,000 gallons each, are hand-crafted from wood and iron by one of two companies that have been making them here for more than a century."

"Wallace Rosenwach was one of those coopers; his grandfather started the business in 1896."

"While walking around the city one day with Kuralt, Wallace looked up and said 'that's our skyline.'"

"'We helped create it.'"

High Line book review continues tomorrow, October 25

ON THE HIGH LINE -- BOOK REVIEW -- PART 6

EXPLORING AMERICA'S

MOST ORIGINAL URBAN PARK

Chapter Four: 20th -- 23rd Streets

The HL23 building is detailed:

"The metallic, curving building at 23rd Street and Tenth Avenue is (somewhat pretentiously) known as HL23,which makes it the first, but by no means the last, piece of architecture to be named after the park."

"It was designed by Los Angeles Architect Neil Denari, and it's a rare building in that it gets wider -- by as much as 40 percent -- as it rises above its much smaller street-level footprint."

"This design, the result of New York's strict zoning laws, allows it to lean over its namesake."

"As the architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times put it: 'HL23 behaves like a flower planted along the park's underside that manages to grow up and out over its urban host.'"

High Line book review continues tomorrow, October 24