High Line at the Rail Yards. The final section of railroad tracks.
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The High Line is a public park that sits along a historic freight railroad line elevated high above the streets of New York City on the west side of Manhattan. In the early 20th century, the rail line was used to transport valuable freight and enjoyed a long period of high activity. It was abandoned in the 1980s after it ceased to be used for its original purpose and nature took over in a rather dramatic way. It is currently owned by the City of New York and maintained by a wonderful group called Friends of the High Line who have fought hard to preserve and nourish the space opening it up to the city to enjoy and care for.
The final section of the High Line is known as High Line at the Rail Yards. I read that it was possible to get a guided tour of the untouched railroad tracks and of course, I happily jumped at the opportunity. My first tour was cancelled due to rain but I was able to get another chance yesterday. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful evening to walk alongside the historic railroad tracks which were surrounded by fresh spring vegetation.
As the sun dipped lower in the sky, it felt like I was transported to a post-apocalyptic New York City. The tour guides were absolutely awesome. I was not allowed to take photos of the still-active rail yards that sit below the final section of the High Line since it is considered a federal offense to do so. So, regretfully, I was not able to capture the tracks and wildlife against the gorgeous Chelsea skyline. However, I did take quite a few photos with my Sony A99 of the view to the west and south towards the Empire State Building.
These are a few photos of what I saw yesterday evening exploring the High Line’s last section. Enjoy :)
View this set over on Flickr here:
High Line at the Rail Yards - Final High Line Section
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View my photography portfolio here, email me, or ask for help.
“At fifteen you had the radiance of early morning, at twenty you will begin to have the melancholy brilliance of the moon.”
The World’s Most Beautiful Museums
“In poetically well built museums, formed from the heart’s compulsions, we are consoled not by finding in them old objects that we love, but by losing all sense of Time.” - Orhan Pamuk
In honor of International Museum Day, we assembled a list of our favorite museums around the world. Museums house the world’s treasures—be they artistic, scientific or historical—and in turn they are often designed to reflect or enhance the collections they host.
See more museum photos from across the Instagram community by browsing the location pages for these museums below.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York City, United States
- Museo Guggenheim - Bilbao, Spain
- The J. Paul Getty Museum - Los Angeles, United States
- State Hermitage Museum (Госуда́рственный Эрмита́ж) - St. Petersberg, Russia
- New Museum (@newmuseum) - New York City, United States
- Museum of Islamic Art - Doha, Qatar
- Jardines et Musée de Claude Monet - Giverny, France
In honor of the recently-realease “The Great Gatsby”, Tanqueray is featuring these five prohibition-style cocktails. Even if you can’t enjoy them in West Egg, they’re still some of the classic cocktails every drink enthusiast should know how to make.
Cheers, sport!Gin Rickey
Said to be the preferred pour of F. Scott Fitzgerald, this simple serve is best imbibed on a hot summer day. Don’t forget the chunky ice cubes.
- 1.25 oz Tanqueray London Dry gin
- 1 oz lime juice
- 5 parts soda water
Build in a highball glass, stir, top with soda water. Drag to mix and garnish with a lime wedge.
French 75
This snappy little champagne cocktail’s claim to fame is that it’s the only drink in the classic canon created during Prohibition.
- 1.25 oz Tanqueray Ten
- 0.5 oz simple
- 0.5 oz lemon juice
- Top with champagne
Shake and strain into a rocks glass and top with champagne.
White Lady
Introduced in the late 20’s, The White Lady was born from the drink the “Delilah,” which included crème de menthe. The Savoy’s Harry Craddock replaced it with orange liqueur and it became an instant classic.
- 1.5oz Tanqueray London Dry Gin
- .75oz orange liqueur
- .75oz lemon juice
Pour all of the ingredients into a shaker, fill with ice, shake and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
The Southside
The Southside is the signature cocktail at the legendary former speakeasy the 21 Club. It’s also said to be the favorite drink of notorious Prohibition-era bootlegger Al Capone and his gang.
- 1.25 oz Tanqueray Ten
- 0.5 oz lime juice
- 0.5 oz simple
- 2 sprigs of mint
- Soda
Muddle one mint sprig with lime & simple. Add Tanqueray and shake well. Pour into glass over crushed ice and stir until the outside of the glass frosts. Top with soda and garnish with sprig of mint.
The Franklin
Let’s not forget Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously celebrated the end of Prohibition with a dirty gin martini. Whether it was with Tanqueray – one of the few gins today that was in production in the 30s – or not is lost to history, but this classic cocktail ushered in a new era of American drinking.
- 1.5oz Tanqueray London Dry Gin
- 1tbsp dry vermouth
- 2tbsp olive juice
- 2 olives
Fill a mixer with all ingredients including the olives. Cover and shake hard 3 – 4 times. Strain contents of the mixer into the cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive.
Architectural Density in Hong Kong
With seven million people, Hong Kong is the 4th most densely populated places in the world. However, plain numbers never tell the full story. In his ‘Architecture of Density’ photo series, German photographer Michael Wolf explores the jaw-dropping urban landscapes of Hong Kong. He rids his photographs of any context, removing any sky or horizon line from the frame and flattening the space until it becomes a relentless abstraction of urban expansion, with no escape for the viewer’s eye. Infinite and haunting.
Editor’s Note: Co-signed.
Albert Einstein’s Office in Princeton on His Last Day
Albert Einstein died on April 18th, 1955. Photographer Ralph Morse was allowed to take the last snapshot of Albert Einstein study in Princeton as Einstein left it.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
( daringtofocus.tumblr.com )
Obsessed with this whole line.
Something to aspire to →
“For me, it took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less.”
Lovely weekend of dinner partying and essay writing/dog watching through big coffee shop windows. Most memorably, I wielded a blow torch with delicious results, and as an added bonus, did not burn the building to the ground.
Spring is coming! I can (almost) feel it from the depths of my soon to be packed away giant puffy jacket.
Gluten Free
(via oregano roasted brassicas with maple dijon dressing » The First Mess)
100 years. Really neat exhibit! (at Grand Central Terminal)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MONeQfnHllE
Harmony is so powerful.
Frank Gehry & Vlado Milunić’s Dancing House (Tančící Dům)
If you ever visit Prague, the famous Nationale-Nederlanden building, nicknamed Dancing House (Tančící dům) or “Fred and Ginger,” is hard to miss. It sits in the middle of a densely built section of Prague, surrounded by other structures that are nearly all the city’s standard Baroque or Art Nouveau styles.
It was designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić and Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot of great historical significance. Its site was the location of a house that was destroyed by the U.S. bombing of Prague in 1945 during World War II. The plot and structure lay decrepit until 1960 when the area was cleared.
The building’s deconstructivist dancing shape is supported by 99 concrete panels, each a different shape and dimension. On the top of the building is a large twisted structure of metal nicknamed Medusa. To see more photos of the quirky architectural marvel, visit the Tančící dům | Dancing House location page.
The Making Of: @arielealasko’s Repurposed Wood Furniture
The Making Of… Know any other Instagrammers doing something unique with their hands? Send us a note through Tumblr.
In the heart of Brooklyn, Ariele Alasko (@arielealasko) builds custom furniture out of repurposed materials and shares the process on Instagram. Originally from Monterey, California, Ariele moved to New York City to study sculpture and was soon drawn to woodworking. “I have always had a propensity for making sculptures that fit into houses…It felt great to start making things that people needed, wanted, and could use in their daily lives.”
Sharing photos of her woodwork on Instagram and documenting her processes on her blog allows Ariele to quickly share her work with audiences far from her studio in Brooklyn. “I love being able to share my building process in a quick moment without having to really stop what I’m doing,” she says. “Instagram has been a great way to feel connected to the outside world while I’m holed up in my shop, and it gives me a reason to document and share things that I may not have otherwise.”
Want to see more? Be sure to follow Ariele on Instagram: @arielealasko
Birthday throwback. From the archives of M’s phone