Is the High Line Gay?

Erik Piepenburg speak with Friends of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond about the celebrated park's connections to gay culture in New York City.

1 minute read

February 6, 2012, 9:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Cutting across and over neighborhoods and destinations that have historic, and continuing, connections to gay life in Manhattan, and with a core group of early supporters from the gay community, Hammond contends that, "the High Line is totally gay."

Hammond connects that early support to an ability of gays to, "see beauty in places other people might find repellent or unattractive. It was easier for gays to see potential in the High Line. They were more willing to support a crazy dream. It goes back to Richard Florida and his concept of the creative class, this theory that gays are vital to neighborhoods because they see something special in them that real estate agents may not."

Friday, February 3, 2012 in The New York Times

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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