Hudson Yards Subway Station Plaza

The last thing I expected when we headed to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center the other evening was to discover a new park. But there's a new plaza by the new Hudson Yards subway station, a station that opened last Sunday, though not without some squabbling. Little remarked in all the news coverage of this long-awaited extension of the 7 train was the new plaza, which, while it may not have a name, sure resembles a park.

On the north side of 34th Street, across from the fancy new station entrance, the fountains were attracting small crowds.

I took these photos the very day the station opened after a decade of planning and a two-year delay. It will serve the future commercial and residential communities of the huge Hudson Yards development, a gaggle of large buildings rising atop the train yards, as well as attendees of Javits Center events.

Later that evening on the way home we rode the 7 train from here, just so we could say we'd used the station on its first day.

The station entrance itself, on the south side of 34th, has parklike landscaping too, with little trees, curved walkways – even benches, for crying out loud.

(I mean that literally. I'm certain people will sit on those benches and cry out loud. People having huge public fights with their significant others. People who are homeless and/or mentally disturbed. People who just spent a whole day going to panel discussions at a convention at the Javits Center.)

Even without a new subway, the Javits Center surroundings have always offered dramatic sunsets. For crying out loud.

In closing, let me suggest that if the plaza really doesn't have a name, we should dub it Odyssey Park or Odyssey Plaza in honor of the blog you are reading right now. Smile and nod if you agree.

Clement Clarke Moore Park

As it's named for Clement C. Moore, author of the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (popularly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"), it's only fitting that the name of Clement Clarke Moore Park is itself a micro-poem:

Clement Clarke
Moore Park

There, you see? And who says a poem needs a verb?

Moore's family estate, which includes what is now the General Theological Seminary, was once a farm. Moore's grandfather, Captain Thomas Clarke, bought the property in 1750 and named it Chelsea, the name borne now by the whole neighborhood.

So I figure this little corner park, though mostly just playgrounds, is worth a mention because of that connection to the history of the area. Also, the surrounding trees sure do look nice in bloom in the spring.

Stopping by again on a warm summer afternoon, I found all the gates mysteriously closed, and all but one locked – yet there were people inside, a scattering of tiny children and their caretakers. Feeling unwelcome, I stayed outside the iron fence.

Just across Tenth Avenue you can see the High Line. But there's no serenity on the street. Although we're several blocks south of the tremendous Hudson Yards development now under construction, the traffic backups make Tenth a noisy crawl of trucks, buses and cars all day long.

It's hard to imagine the Hudson River is just one further block west. But maybe that's just what this spouting seal is doing. Though surrounded by colorful offerings left him by the local toddlers, he pines for the open water.

High Line, Northern Section

In September we happened to visit the High Line on the weekend the northernmost section opened to the public for the first time. Though the final transformation still awaited some finishing touches, the change from the overgrown trackbed we'd toured in the summer of 2013 to landscaped park was mostly complete.

We headed north and approached the westward turn at W. 30th Street:

Then the view opened up into the guts of the Hudson Yards development, where a whole new mini-city is going up on the West Side of Manhattan – right in the flood plain, of course. Though I don't suppose the waters of the next Superstorm Sandy will reach up to the height of the High Line's glorious bed.

We walked west towards the Hudson River:

The railyard will be completely covered over when Hudson Yards is complete.

The old elevated rail line swings north again for the High Line's final couple of blocks.

This newest and final section of the High Line has a different flavor from the rest. To the south the park spears between buildings and over city streets. Here it's open to the sky and the river.

Finally, the intrepid walker is treated to an excellent view of the picturesque Javits Center.

Now more or less complete, the High Line is and will remain one of New York City's most celebrated, and weirdest, parks.