In the Office

Boot-modeling at the Tenth Avenue Square.

To help our us get through the long, cold, and sometimes wet hours on the High Line this winter, the lovely folks at Swedish company Tretorn have donated several pairs of their warm and rugged rubber boots to our Maintenance & Operations and Administrative staff. According to their web site, "Tretorn celebrates a lifestyle largely lived outside." Whether we're shoveling snow, leading tours, or simply walking the High Line for some fresh air at lunchtime, we couldn't agree more!

Thanksgiving at the High Line. Photo by Auzelle Epeneter.

Yesterday, the High Line staff celebrated Thanksgiving early with a farewell potluck in honor of our seasonal staff (a sample of the myriad of delicious dishes is pictured above).  High Line gardeners Au'brey Gill, Meg Graham, and Maryanne Stubbs will part from us during the dormant winter months.

• Take a pain reliever before going out into the cold...it thins your blood so it flows better when cold.


• When you ball your hands in your pockets, don't make a full fist. Instead, leave air space so that the warm air generated by your body heat stays trapped in your cupped hand and helps your hands warm faster.


• Put Vaseline between your toes before putting on your socks and shoes. It helps your toes stay warm!


• Hats and hoods. Hats and hoods. That one's pretty obvious.

In preparation for the opening of the park in a few short months, Friends of the High Line currently has SEVEN positions open (with another to be announced shortly). These include several new positions in the Horticulture and Maintenance & Operations departments, in anticipation of the High Line's opening this spring.

The best way to keep in touch with our open positions, news of the park's opening, and other FHL tidbits, is through our e-mail newsletter. Subscribe here.

Friends of the High Line's office recently got a new addition: a 9 foot-by-18 foot aerial High Line wall map in our reception area. The map shows the High Line's design in context: the entire line is visible as it moves north from the West Village, through Chelsea, to the West Side Rail Yards.

The unusual view from above reveals the complex relationship between the High Line and its neighborhood. You can see the surrounding built environment as a series of blocks, streets, and related and unrelated structures, seemingly stitched together by the common thread of the High Line. You can see where the line literally passes through buildings, which familiar neighborhood landmarks it nears and touches, and how it parallels the Hudson River. Here at our office, we can't stop looking at it.

Download your own version of this map for your desktop!

Click the size you would like to download:

Small monitor: 800 x 600 pixels
Medium-size monitor: 1024 x 768 pixels
Large-size monitor: 1280 1024 pixels
Wide-screen monitor: 1680 x 1050 pixels

Instructions for downloading the wallpaper after the jump!

One of the High Line Co-Founders has a secret sister featured in the just-published cookbook, "Drag Queens Can Cook!" (sales benefit the Doctor's House, in Cherry Grove, on Fire Island, which provides medical care to residents and visitors alike). 

Tasty, healthy, and energy-efficient: Katie
and our new water-filter cooler

A while back, we got to thinking that our office operations should reflect the values inherent in the High Line itself, as well as our own staff's personal commitment to environmental conservation. Recently, two larger non-profits built themselves new LEED certified offices (NYC Audubon Society and the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment). We got jealous.

Patrick's sweet ride

Tomorrow, some of us at FHL will celebrate Bike Month NYC  and National Bike to Work Day by riding in to the office.