Coney Island and The High Line
Conceived more than 100 years apart, Coney Island and the High Line are two New York City sites which are both products of their times, reflecting different ideas about recreation, culture, and society. The two locations are very difficult to compare, because I believe that they are somewhat different.
Both of these attractions offer its visitors an escape from the world around them. The High Line takes its visitors above New York City, giving them a bird’s-eye view of New York. It contains a handful of artwork dispersed throughout the walkway. The High Line also includes benches along both the edge of the el and near the old train tracks, now overgrown with foliage. It also contains a viewing gallery, where people can sit and overlook the New York traffic as it drives by underneath them.
Coney Island takes its visitors away from the busy streets of Brooklyn and propels them into an entirely different world. Coney Island houses the boardwalk, a peaceful walkway along the Atlantic Ocean. The area also contains parks, ballparks, and amusement parks, and notably an aquarium. It’s the home of the original Nathan’s Famous and also is the end of the line for five of New York’s MTA subway lines.
“The most peaceful high place in New York right now is a stretch of viaduct called the High Line.” (Gopnik). This is the way that Gopnik described the High Line, as opposed to the way that Gorky described Coney Island as a place where people “become a particle in a [gigantic] crowd.” (Koolhaas 68). My personal experiences have brought me to believe that, today, these descriptions are reversed. According to what I saw, Coney Island is a peaceful place to go; whereas, the High Line is a place where one gets lost in an enormous crowd of people, and peace is the last thing one can find.
I found that when I was at Coney Island, most of my time was spent on the Boardwalk. I went on a Saturday afternoon, and I found the Boardwalk to be a very peaceful, relaxing place to be. I was intrigued by the old parachute jump outside of MCU Park, due to its immense size and finding that it was composed of symmetric and repeated geometric shapes. I feel that it is like the Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn.
I found that while I was on the High Line, most of my time was spent shielding myself from other people and tourists around me. The High Line was anything but peaceful. It was jam-packed with people, trendy and rude locals and tourists alike. I felt like I was playing touch football, I would get slammed into from the left and as I was flying right, I would get slammed into from behind. It was so full of people that I could barely walk unencumbered. I do feel, however, that the High Line would be a potentially calm place to be, less the immense crowd.
Both the High Line and Coney Island were the opposite of what I expected to find. Perhaps my off-season visits gave me a wrong impression of the sites. Reading articles and seeing pictures of the High Line, people expect it to be an empty, peaceful place. Maybe the High Line is different on a Saturday afternoon than at other times. Likewise, people expect Coney Island to be a jam-packed, boisterous place, with crowded beaches and the hugely popular Mermaid Parade. But in late September, it is a calm, fun place to be, with thinning crowds. I hope to one day return to the High Line to find that empty, peaceful place, and to go to Coney Island during the peak of Summer and be greeted by a large, rambunctious, but fun crowd of Brooklynites.
Gopnik, Adam. “A Walk on the High Line.” The New Yorker May 21, 2001: 44-49. Print.
Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. New York: Monacelli Press, 1994. Print.
