# @kirstenalana on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BVuQxdmFPOF
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2430295-kirstenalana-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/acb8213c50.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-06-24T12:47:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kirsten Alana (@KirstenAlana) — https://gondola.cc/KirstenAlana

## Caption

The other night during a @furla party and later a @humanityunified event, the @highlinenyc was visible below. I saw it from two sides within the span of a few hours and it brought back such fond memories of my early days living in the City. I used to lead tours there for a local company. In that role I told the story of how in 1847, street-level railroad tracks were installed down Manhattan's West Side to ship freight between all the docks on the Hudson River and the warehouses in what became known as The Meatpacking District. It was so dangerous to have trains, pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages and other traffic all together that the railroads hired men to ride in front of the trains on horses, waving flags. Eventually known as the "West Side Cowboys" they were not successful enough to keep Tenth Avenue from being known as "Death Avenue" and the city created the elevated rail line in 1929 as a way to separate industry from every day. But by the 1980s due to the growth of interstate trucking and air freight, the elevated rail line was no longer being used. We owe the current park system to Joshua David & Robert Hammond who organized the Friends of the High Line in 1999, proposing the abandoned structure be converted in a manner similar to the Promenade Plantée in Paris. Perhaps it is that connection to my favorite French city, or perhaps it is my own bent toward preservation over new construction -- that makes me feel a particular affection for this landmark. I've watched it change so much since I first arrived, when only the first portion of the High Line was open and half the apartment buildings here were just plans on paper. As I gazed down on it the other night, it was like reacquainting myself with an old friend! • #kaNYguide #thehighline #boomerangvideo #newyorkbynewyorkers #takewalksny #HappyBirthdayHighLine

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,886
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## Tags

newyorkbynewyorkers, thehighline, happybirthdayhighline, takewalksny, kanyguide, boomerangvideo

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