WHERE: The East River waterfront promenade from East 63 Street to East 96 Street, Manhattan
SUBWAY AT START: Lexington Avenue - 63 Street (F, Q; fully accessible)
SUBWAY AT FINISH: 96 Street (Q, fully accessible)
DISTANCE: 2.5 miles (4.0 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl
I dedicate this post to my friend and fellow stroke survivor David, who while not a city person always likes to see a new post on this blog; to my physical therapist Dave, who always pushes me to do more; and to my friend and barber Mark, with whom I’ve bonded in a shared determination to live fully despite physical disability.
Route of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.
After my most recent stair streets trip (see the post “East River Ramble” under “The Stair Streets of New York City”), I was interested to go north from the same starting point, along the East River. This was a brisk, cloudless day, perfect for this trip. A lot of walkers, runners, cyclists, and dogs were out enjoying the day.
The portion south of East 81 Street is called the John Finley Walk, which opened in 1941 together with the East River Drive (later the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive) and is named for John Huston Finley (1863 - 1940), a president of City College of New York and later of the University of the State of New York, who often walked the perimeter of Manhattan. In the past two decades it has been enlarged and improved. All access to the walk is now by ramps, a surprise as I didn’t know the long staircase at East 81 Street had been replaced. Much of the path is wider than it was, the result of Rockefeller University, Weill-Cornell Medical Center (New York Hospital), and the Hospital for Special Surgery all having expanded their campuses over the FDR Drive.
This was the first time I walked the John Finley Walk, and remember biking it only once.
Profile of today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.
The namesake of Carl Schurz Park (1829 - 1906) was a German revolutionary, an American journalist and reformer, U.S. Senator from Missouri, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The promenade sits atop two levels of the FDR Drive, and at its north end is Gracie Mansion, since 1942 the official residence of the mayors of New York. It was built in 1799 by Archibald Gracie, a prominent architect. The Gracies and the Roosevelts became related along the way, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s baby brother was Gracie Hall Roosevelt (who, thankfully, went by Hall). Continue north onto the Bobby Wagner Walk, named for Robert F. Wagner Jr. (1944 - 1993), son of three-term mayor Robert Wagner and a leading figure in Manhattan politics, to 96 Street and the short walk to the Second Avenue Subway.
I’ve biked the Bobby Wagner Walk and through Carl Schurz Park many times but don’t recall walking this route before. It’s a different experience on two feet versus two wheels.
Across the river from this walk is Roosevelt Island, a thin strip of land in the middle of the East River that I’ll walk around and describe in an upcoming blog post.
While the ramp up to Carl Schurz Park is long, this whole trip, subway to river to subway, was wheelchair-accessible.
Left: the power station built by the Manhattan Railway Company in 1900 for the electrification of its elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx. Coal delivered from barges at the river fired boilers that powered huge reciprocating engines, which in turn drove electric generators. Before electrification, trains on the elevated lines were pulled by small steam locomotives. Con Edison still uses this facility but the big engines are long gone. Right: the start of the ramp leading up to the terrace at East 81 Street. This ramp replaced a long set of stairs two blocks farther north.
Clockwise from top left: one of a few John Finley Walk signs dating from 1941 (at 81 Street); obligatory selfie in Carl Schurz Park; view of the footbridge to Wards Island at left, and the Hell Gate Bridge and RFK (Triborough) Bridge on the right; Gracie Mansion in the distance, built 1799 and the official residence of the mayors of New York since 1942. An upcoming walk across the Triborough Bridge from Queens to the Bronx will be the subject of another post on this page.
Left: the parabolic concrete structure at center was built by the city in the 1940s as an asphalt plant. Today it is part of the Asphalt Green Recreation Center. Right: smart signage on a decorative lamppost; “91” indicates East 91 Street. The structure on the right is part of a garbage transshipment facility that was opposed for years by the community, which didn’t want garbage (except theirs) being hauled through their nice neighborhood.
The Second Avenue Subway is notable for its high standard of design and for the art work in each of its stations. These images are from the Lexington Avenue - 63 Street station and evoke the Second Avenue Elevated, service on which ended in 1940, and street life in its shadows.