Walkabout #1

The Edge, Hudson Yards, Hudson River Greenway, Chelsea Piers, Little Island, Chelsea Market, Highline

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/Welcome to my blog. Thank you for coming. I am overwhelmed by the warm response I’ve received from enthusiastic visitors to NYC who are searching for the REAL NYC experience, live like us locals live. i am putting this rough draft in my blog so that as i make improvements and additions you can see them and be notified. There are more walkabouts to come, the next is a Christmas In Midtown Walkabout. Subscribe to the blog and you’ll be notified when an update or new blog comes out. This is purely voluntary on my part, I’ll not try to sell you anything, i won’t sell your emails to some faceless soulless list company, you won’t get any spam from me. I’m just one native, (rude) New Yawkuh who is sharing my decades of local knowledge! I hope you enjoy what’s to come! Please feel free to look around the blog, there is a lot of NYC stuff interspersed with sailing and travel abroad. Thank you once again, and please enjoy and comment.

For PAID tourist attractions, like The Edge, I recommend to be the first one there in the morning so you don’t waste too much time standing on line (in NY we stand  ON line, not IN line*).

*If you start at The Edge, we can scope out with a photo with arrows (paid tour) where we are heading to.  If you end at The Edge, we can use the same photo to see exactly where we’ve been.

This Walk is 3.6 miles and takes 1 hour 23 minutes, if you don’t stop at anything.  It can take more than a day, more than a week really, if you really want to have a look at all of the sights.  There is a lot more to see in this area below the high line. Mentioned later.

MAP:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wuz29N8ds5W4yvEN9

After you’re done with the edge, walk due west (remember traffic on odd streets goes west) on either 33rd street or 30th street (doesn’t matter, whatever is easier).  *If you look down you’ll see why it’s called the HUDSON YARDS (that would be train yards). LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) and Amtrak trains park there.  When you cross 9^th avenue you will see the Jacob Javits’s Convention Center (*note, it is all glass, they only forgot two things when they built it, Air Conditioning and parking).

Keep going until you get to the Hudson River.  There you’ll find the Hudson River Greenway, which is a bike path and a pedestrian path.  The pedestrian path is closest to the River, the bike path is well marked and id advise pedestrians crossing it to look both ways, twice!  Walking on the bike path is not only rude, but dangerous.  If you’re walking on the bike path be prepared for the earned IRE of NYC  Bicyclists. It goes all the way down to the south end of Manhattan island, South Ferry, where you get the FREE Staten Island Ferry that goes by the Statue of Liberty (we’re not going that far on this walkabout). 

Make a LEFT and walk down/south on the greenway.  On the right you’ll see all kinds of interesting things you can meander to. The first thing you’ll see is the West 30th street Heliport which is usually pretty busy.  You can identify the Heliport because there will be helicopters taking off, landing or parked 20 or 30 feet from where you’re standing.

Continue down the greenway (south) Next on the right at pier 66 you’ll see “The Frying Pan” which is a lightship (we used to use them around here instead of lighthouses) which has been repurposed as a restaurant.

Next to the Frying Pan is the John Harvey, a historical fireboat.

As you continue downtown the Last building on the left before the park used to be The New York Times building.  Its claim to fame is that it has huge turntable elevators inside.  Tractor trailers used to bring blank paper inside and unload, then the turntable would rotate 180 degrees and load the freshly printed newspapers (old timer here) into the truck, Then leave.

Now Martha Stuart (and others) have their offices in the building and they drive their SUV’s inside onto the elevator and take it to the floor where their offices are.  So they essentially drive their cars into the elevator, take it to their floor and park their cars IN their offices.

As you continue south, it’s important to walk INTO the Chelsea piers.  You will be walking in and out of parking lots (it’s completely safe, it’s like a retail mall) and you will come across a gallery of huge, historic photos (you won’t find this in any tour books) of the history of the Chelsea piers – where our soldiers left and returned from two world wars.  It’s breathtaking and no one knows about it (i always bring people I’m showing around here).

Continue south out of the Chelsea piers (past the golf and batting range and piers with private transient boats) and you’ll find pier 54 and “Little Island”.  Pier 54 is the pier that The Titanic never made it to. you’ve probably seen photos of horses and buggy’s crowded around it waiting for news.  Go onto little island and check it out.  It’s AMAZING.  A manmade beach on the Hudson built on huge concrete tulips.

At this point i would cross the west side highway/west street, and double back (walk north) up LEFT 10th avenue to the Chelsea market.  It’s easy to miss because while it’s HUGE, the double doors just north of 15th street kind of hide the entrance.  As you enter you’ll see repurposed street gas lights from pre-electricity days welcoming you.

The first place you’ll see in the Chelsea market is Miznon.  You can get a great meal there quickly.  But I’d check out the whole market first ‘cause there’s so much variety to eat and see there.  Don’t forget to go downstairs before you decide.

Oreo Cookies  were invented at the Chelsea market when it was called “United Baking” (now it’s NaBisCo – National Biscuit Company), there is a small historic display on the north side of the market which most people miss.

When you’re done with the Chelsea market i suggest you go out the door on the 9th avenue side so you can see alternate sites on your walk.

As you exit the Chelsea market on 9th avenue, to your left is Buddakhan an excellent expensive Asian restaurant, across the street is google headquarters (used to be the port authority of NY), and to your right is the oldest continuously operating steakhouse (since civil war days) in the USA “The Old Homestead” (they have a cow on the roof)./

The Old Homestead is one of my favorites,  you won’t find tourists in there, just in-the-know New Yorkers.  Make a right/south/downtown out of the Chelsea market and walk past the Apple Store (which is a repurposed factory).  Make a right at the Apple Store (westbound) on 14th street, a left on Washington street (southbound) and you’ll walk past all of the meat lockers which have been repurposed as famous boutiques.  On the right you’ll see Diane von Furstenburgs building (it has a wild-ass dodecahedron skylight over her office which you can see from the street).   It’s the building with a regular suburban garage door.  If you’re lucky and it’s open you can see her Bentley parked there (A Bentley’s is like a Rolls Royce’s, but they are for people who don’t want to be too extravagant). You are now in the heart of the Meatpacking District. Those metal overhangs in front of the doors were once used to slide cattle carcasses on hooks into the meat lockers which are now high end retailers.

You’ll walk by the standard hotel (which i recommend people stay at for the location), during the winter they have a little ice skating rink out front. The Standard Hotel while fairly new, has a short and storied history, and you’ll come upon a high tech stairway on your right, probably no sign, walk up that and you will find yourself on The Highline. Before you go up to The Highline, does this area look familiar? 25 Years of “Law and Order” 24×7 episodes have been filmed here. this is the area where they often find the bodies.

The Highline requires no explanation, read about its history (i was there) and enjoy the experience.

You can walk the highline all the way back to the Hudson yards.

There are tons more things above and mostly below to see and do.  I often incorporate this walkabout with a Bleecker street walkabout for foodies, An independent Art Gallery walkabout for those interested which includes the space that was Andy Warfhol’s “The Factory”.

Feel free to DM me.  I love the way you asked the question and i like writing up the tours I’ve given to my friends.

What’s nearby……

Private Art galleries in Chelsea (Andy Warhols “The Factory” is still there)

Whitney Museum of American art – Greenwich Village Waterfront

The location where many Law and Order TV episodes were filmed.  You walked right through it before going up the stairs to the Highline.

The Chelsea Hotel – many famous people lived there.

Barbuto – Jonathan Waxmans Flagship Restaurant

If you have any requests, questions or suggestions please don’t hesitate to make a comment or email me at dan@iknowthecow.com. I’m one Native New Yorker trying to share my lifetime of experience about this small island off the east coast of the USA, with you.