A Tale of Two Parks: The Contrast between Coney Island and the High Line
After visiting both the High Line, (for the first time) and Coney Island (after years of not visiting), I learned that the only similarity between these two sites is that of course, they are both parks in New York City. Otherwise, the differences between the two parks are immense and the images are much different.
Right after visiting the Fluxus art exhibit, I walked to the High Line for the first time with two classmates. On my way to the High Line, I was able to observe the surrounding neighborhoods of the High Line, which primarily consisted of art, usually in the form of graffiti and murals and eateries. The neighborhood of the High Line represents the epitome of the stereotypical New York culture, one that is dominated by what people know best about the city: the art and the food. Adding to the New York City image, the neighborhood, although being the residence of more privileged New York dwellers, has more of a grunge-y image to it. This image, on the other hand, contrasted with the High Line of itself, since the High Line is absolutely beautiful. The other contrast with its surrounding area is that it is a place of peace in such a busy neighborhood. “The most peaceful high place in New York right now is a stretch of viaduct called the High Line”(Gopnik The New Yorker 2001) However, despite its beauty, I honestly did not see the High Line as having much excitement to it at all. As cited by a visitor to the High Line in the article in the New Yorker, the High Line is “more of a path than a park”, due to it being easy, too easy in fact, for it to be truly explored. The High Line is too structured, too planned, with everything in its place. However, what did amaze me about the High Line was that it, unlike most parks, even Central Park, the most popular park in New York City, originally consisted of railroad tracks down Manhattan’s West Side, which still are incorporated within the park today. Another aspect about the High Line that I like is that it isolated me from the noise of the city, while not taking me completely away from the city itself, considering that the park allowed me to have an amazing view depicting the life of New York City. In general, I have mixed opinions on the High Line; although it is not particularly interesting, too small and should not truly be considered as a park, it is a unique site that represents the uniqueness and eccentricity of New York City.
“Coney Island is a fetal Manhattan.” Koolhaas, the author of delirious New York says about Coney Island. I have to strongly disagree with this statement. Although Coney Island was discovered slightly before Manhattan in fact, and as well, has a lot of cultural significance and even before, a connection to Manhattan, the image of Coney Island will never match one of Manhattan, making it much different from the High Line, which is both away from the city and incorporated into the city. In fact, Coney Island is anti-Manhattan, or perhaps a rebel of society’s image of Manhattan, which makes it only the more interesting. Instead of urban graffiti, Coney Island uses paint extremely often for its artwork, whether on the walls or on the trash cans, something that in Manhattan would be unsophisticated and out of place. Instead of restaurants, Coney Island has food stands, which I bought a corn-on-the-cob at one of the stands, as well as the famous food place, known as Nathan’s, which popularized hot dogs and other finger foods that would never be eaten in a Manhattan restaurant. The neighborhood, otherwise than surrounding stores by Coney Island, consists primarily of public housing buildings, and consists primarily of racial and ethnic minorities. And does Manhattan have any amusement parks, consisting of the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel, or a beach and boardwalk? I did not think so.
Ever since I was little, I never was too much into amusement park rides, which is why my favorite aspects of Coney Island is not the Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel, or the Parachute Jump. It is in fact, the beach and the boardwalk, which being created in 1938 by Commissioner Robert Moses, took away the urban-ism of Coney Island once and for all. Maybe I especially like the boardwalk and the beach, because it did what the High Line could never do, serve as an escape from the bustling, busy image of the city, especially during the late summer, the time I visited Coney Island.
