There’s a Fairways grocery right next to this pier, so when we go there to shop we like to walk out on the pier and look around for a while. The view is amazing! The Fairways there is pretty cool too, by the way. They have a huge room that is completely refrigerated. It’s odd because it’s like walking down a normal grocery store aisle, but there’s yogurt and butter sitting on the shelf.
Downtown-facing View from West Harlem Piers
Anyway, there’s a great view of the New Jersey side of the river from the pier. The view of downtown isn’t as good as what you see from Riverbank State Park on 138th – 137th Street, and it’s certainly not as good as the view from the middle of the George Washington Bridge, but it’s nice. The breeze is nice, especially on the pier over the water, and there are shaded benches to sit down on.
Chinese man flying a homemade kite.
While we were there we saw two guys boxing. Some people were reading. Others were just passing through, like us. One really interesting old man was putting together a homemade kite using disposable wooden chopsticks (like from take-out) and a plastic take-out bag with the smiley face on it. It seemed to be working for him; he just couldn’t catch the breeze before we left to go to Fairways.
People sitting on the West Harlem Piers
I love how the city is installing these small parks all along the waterfront. Last year this section was closed off. You see, it’s part of the Hudson River Greenway, a long running and biking track that will eventually encircle the entire island of Manhattan and link up with bridge paths leading to other cycling and running trails in other boroughs. I also thought the historical information presented on plaques mounted on the railing of the northern pier was a nice touch. It gives a brief history of the area and how it was used as a market. I didn’t really understand the short phrases on what looked like chopped up road signs in the greenery right across the street from Fairways though. There’s not enough context.
Seagull sitting on a pylon at the West Harlem Piers
I’d really like to get bicycles for myself and my wife so we can spend an afternoon cycling around Manhattan, literally. Maybe next year. Summer is drawing to a close. We didn’t do as much as we wanted, but we did enough and we had fun, relaxed, and recharged.
Classes start again on Thursday. My first class of the semester is Friday, and then there’s a long weekend.
Another spot I enjoy walking to and in is Riverbank State Park. The park is an elevated, artificial park that is built onto the side of Manhattan island. To get to it, you have to walk over one of two bridges, or by walking up a few flights of stairs from the Hudson River Greenway below.
Riverbank Park has a pool, a track, tennis courts, indoor basketball courts, a roller skating rink, a restaurant and I think a cultural center. Kind of hard to believe it’s all built on an artificial, elevated platform.
Walking down there is about 2.25 miles. It’s a great place to stop, use the bathroom, and take in the sights before turning around and heading back home. I don’t know that I’d want to have a picnic there, though there are certainly facilities for it. I think Fort Tryon Park is a much nicer place to go for that. But, it would be a great place to sit down and read a book for a while. The breeze there is nice, since it’s over the water.
The ice cream truck. We each got a vanilla sugar cone. It was that kind of day.
A woman doing an oil painting of the scenery.
Jewish kids playing.
A view of the Hudson River.
The Cloisters.
My wife and I have been taking some time to go out for long walks while I’m not so swamped with classwork. Central Park is nice, but we live a lot closer to Fort Tryon Park, which is also an awesome place to visit. We can walk there from where we live and the park itself has some great views of the Hudson River and The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses a large part of the museum’s medieval collection.
We walked around there on a Saturday afternoon. Since it was a Saturday afternoon, the park was full of Jewish people relaxing for Shabbat. We saw families sitting on benches, walking together, taking in the view, and kids playing. There were groups of people on picnic blankets and some playing games.
My wife and I would like to go back and have a picnic. Maybe we can pull that off this weekend.
I’ve started taking long walks for exercise purposes. While I’m out, I usually listen to the news using a new app I found called Umano (which is pretty cool, by the way), but still, looking at the same scenery over and over gets old, so I’m always looking for new places to go. Normally, I walk down Riverside Drive and head south along the river, past Riverbank State Park. Saturday, my wife and I took a detour and discovered the Hudson River Greenway.
My wife and I had seen the Greenway before, from Riverbank State Park, which is completely elevated, but we didn’t know how to actually access the area. The Greenway is a route that follows the edge of Manhattan island and caters to cyclists, joggers and walkers. There are plenty of places to picnic and barbecue along the way, as well.
So, Saturday, my wife and I were walking down Riverside Drive when I saw a woman walking up a set of steps that led down towards the highway. We’d always wondered where those stairs go, but the area looks a little creepy, so we never went down to check. The woman told us the stairs lead down towards a park, so we decided to take a chance and headed down the steps. The path led to a set of metal stairs at the on-ramp for the Hudson River Parkway at 158th Street and at the bottom of the steps, we found the Greenway.
We went right, only because we were hoping for good views of the George Washington Bridge. We didn’t realize how long the path is, or how much stuff there is down there. There are parks, camp areas, tennis courts, basketball courts, and there are areas under construction that look like they’re going to be really nice sitting areas.
Kudzu (aka Japanese Arrowroot) killing flora in New York City. I didn’t realize this stuff had spread this far north. Common sight in Georgia.
The George Washington Bridge and New Jersey Shore
People on an outcropping of rock looking at the George Washington Bridge
The Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge
We didn’t leave for our walk until late. We didn’t expect to find an interesting trail to follow, and while we were down there, it started to get dark. It’s a little spooky down there when the sun starts to go down. There are places along the trail where the brush is hollowed out like people (or animals) are living there. I was really surprised at how many people there are using the trail, though, and how even after dark women were walking through there alone. I don’t think I’d want to walk there alone at night.
We followed the trail under the George Washington Bridge, where it doubled back on itself and headed up to street level, and then we headed back home through the city. The walk was really fun and not too tiring at all. And, we discovered that the neighborhood around the George Washington Bridge is really, really nice. We saw a few new restaurants we’d like to try. I suppose that’s one of the great things about going out for walks. It helps you discover cool stuff in and around your neighborhood.
Years ago, the fireworks show on July 4th used to be held on the East River. I remember going there and standing on the elevated highway. The view was amazing! It was also real close to where my mother’s apartment is. If we wanted to, we could have just gone to the roof, but going to the river and watching it with the crowd was a lot more exciting.
This was my wife’s first 4th of July and I wanted to make sure we got a chance to see some fireworks. I was excited too. The websites and news reports I’d seen said that 40,000 fireworks were going to be shot off, total. I imagine that includes the ones that don’t really go up and pop, but look like they’re spraying upwards from the boat. Anyway, it sounded like it was going to be awesome, so we planned to spend the day out in the city and end the day with fireworks.
The Pond at Central Park (Yes, “The Pond”)
We did a little shopping and then bought some water before walking through the lower portion of Central Park and heading over to the river. We were in high spirits until we saw the way the crowds were being managed for fireworks viewing. To be blunt, it was done in an obscenely stupid way that left me with the impression that the city didn’t care if the average resident or tourist could see what was going on; it was set up to make everything as convenient as possible for VIPs who paid upwards of 200 dollars for private parties on the piers and in the park that runs along the riverfront. You know, that area where people normally jog.
The ‘view’ at 59th Street. The viewing area was placed behind the row of trees that divides the highway, instead of on the side closer to the river, and behind the pier structure which blocks the skyline.
We started out at 59th street. To get down to the river, you have to go through a checkpoint on the previous block where your bags are searched. Then you can go down to highway. The problem with the 59th street area is that the pier is built up into a huge two story structure and there is absolutely no view. While we stood there, dumbfounded by the fact that it seemed like people were intentionally being herded into the worst viewing areas, I could hear a DJ saying, “Ya! Put your hands together! VIPs!” coming from somewhere beyond the trees and high building in front of us, likely from one of the piers.
Somewhere around 56th Street. Shortly after this, we had to go back to 11th Avenue and reenter the viewing area through another checkpoint. Roads were blocked off for VIP access to the piers.
Also, the cops had different viewing areas sectioned off with barricades. Instead of being able to walk down the highway, we had to go back up to 11th Avenue and walk down that way, then go through another checkpoint to get back down to the river to see if the viewing was any better. At the second point, we wound up being behind the USS Intrepid and the row of trees. There was practically no clear line of sight.
The Intrepid, blocking our view.
When we tried to leave, the police tried to stop us. One cop told us that going to the fireworks “is not just about seeing the fireworks; it’s the experience.” I told him there’s no experience if we can’t see the fireworks. What’s the point of spending the afternoon and evening in a crowd, looking at the butt end of an aircraft carrier? When I argued with the guy, another cop told me that if we left, “That’s it, you won’t be able to come back in.” Uhh? What? As we walked away, I heard him telling another woman that the fireworks are free, but the view might not be free if she wanted a good one. The whole time, we could hear the thumping music of a VIP party coming from the riverfront.
We walked down a bit further but still couldn’t see. Our view was blocked by trees.
Crowds at 34th Street
We walked down to 34th street and saw the massive crowds. We decided the whole thing wasn’t worth the trouble anymore, had something to eat, got some sundaes at the McDonald’s there and then stood in the street and waited for the fireworks to start. We figured we’d just see what we could see and the rest we’d catch on YouTube later. We weren’t the only ones with that idea. As many people as we saw walking down to the river all day, until just before the fireworks started, just as many were walking back into Manhattan, annoyed and complaining about how the barricades were set up and how there wasn’t a good view anywhere. Also, there were NO PORTABLE TOILETS. There were thousands of people heading to the fireworks event, but we didn’t see a single portable toilet set up to accommodate people. That seems like a gross oversight by the city government.
I think it was the better choice. We’d have been annoyed if we’d stayed behind the Intrepid, or behind a line of trees that blocked our view. As it was, I had to wonder what the city government was thinking saying the view would be good from 59th street down to 14th street. From where we were standing on 34th and 10th Avenue, which is admittedly a narrow field of vision in terms of seeing the waterfront, it looked like we were seeing the north-most fireworks, because we didn’t see any flashes of light from further up the river. I couldn’t help but wonder if the people at 59th street were able to see anything at all. At least we saw some fireworks head on.
If you’re reading this and thinking that it sounds like I’m doing nothing but whining, or that I’m hating on “VIPs” that are willing to shell out large sums of cash to stand on a pier, maybe I am. There’s a reason for it though. I remember being able to stand on an elevated highway with a clear, free, perfect view of the fireworks. I heard the excuse for moving the fireworks to the Hudson River was because of concerns about the bridges that go over the East River, but I call bullshit. It seems more likely to me that it was done to give preference to people with money and create new opportunities for monetization of what’s supposed to be a national holiday. The 4th of July is supposed to be about patriotism, pride and unity as Americans, but it has been warped into a business opportunity that emphasizes class struggle, not to mention the fact that it pisses off tourists that come here and are not be able to see anything. That’s embarrassing. Or at least it should be.
I’m not saying people should be able to stand on private piers for free; I’m saying the show was better done on the East River and should be moved back. At the least, the people should be put on the side of the highway that’s closer to the river, rather than right behind a row of trees. As it is now, the view of the fireworks from the ground is disappointing. Very disappointing. Unless you pay for a VIP ticket to stand on a pier or maybe go to New Jersey and view it from their shore, then it’s not even worth it. You’d be more comfortable sitting at home and watching it on TV.
Bradley Farless 