Are you cheering during a game of kayak polo or getting free outdoor salsa lessons with hundreds of others? Watching the sunset atop a floating garden or dining in a historic Coast Guard ship? Hudson River Park is a pick-your-vibe place, a 4-mile sliver off the concrete jungle of Manhattan’s West End. Its 550 acres, established under a 1998 state law, reflects a private-public partnership to create an estuarine sanctuary and boost recreational access to the Hudson. Where sanitation depots, slaughterhouses and crumbling factories once reigned, more than 24 piers have been rebuilt and re-imagined over the past two decades: a human-made beach, free concert venues, boathouses, an old train bridge, five dog parks, the Intrepid battleship museum, and education sites, including an aquarium of river denizens, with Hudson River water piped into their tanks.
This waterfront destination has been charged under the law with a task: restore and manage 400 acres of the New York Harbor for oysters and other life that were once bountiful. This summer, park officials hailed the first sighting of a fiddler crab, a sign of healthier waters. The park offers fast, casual, upscale and historic dining.
The park is open 6 a.m. to 1midnight daily during the summer, hudsonriverpark.
org . For fast but tasty eats, go to the Market 57 food court at Pier 57, where there’s seating inside, outside and on the roof, a sunset hot spot. The options reflect the city’s diverse cuisine and independent chefs.
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