Travels in the 2nd half

I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I was a city boy, living in an apartment building sixteen stories tall. Many people have asked me if I missed not having a back yard. They believed that growing up in NYC meant that I only had concrete playgrounds and streets. There is some truth to that. I spent a lot of time in playgrounds, and had countless football and punch-ball games on the sidewalk, but the truth is I also had a huge backyard – Riverside Park. Riverside Park stretches from 72 nd street to 158 th street along the Hudson River in Manhattan. Its history is an early example of a city taking back waterfront space that had been cut off for decades by the New York Central Railroad’s Hudson Valley line. The rail line was built in 1846 to connect New York City and Albany NY. The rail line sits at the bottom of a cliff along the river. During the 1860’s a plan was developed to create a park at the top of the cliff, and this part of Riverside drive was b...