Chelsea Piers
A sports-industrial complex built on stilts and piers that stretch out into the Hudson river, Chelsea Piers is a playground for Manhattan's adults large enough to hold a mid-sized city. The complex occupies four large piers between 17th and 23rd streets on the far west side of Manhattan, a warehouse-like behemoth that anchors the massive, city-directed redevelopment of the Hudson waterfront, which, over the past decade, has transformed the area from a neglected industrial backwater to a bucolic haven, replete with parks and playgrounds, running paths and concert spaces. The waterfront as a whole now functions as the de facto backyard for all the yuppies and younger professionals who have recently populated the eclectic, upscale lower West side neighborhoods--the Financial District, Tribeca, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Chelsea, and Hell's Kitchen. The complex itself is a cornucopic leisure time facility which offers a golf club (the driving range extends over the river), outdoor roller-skating and skateboard venues, a gym and fitness center, a spa, indoor rock climbing, a swimming pool, outdoor ice-skating rinks, a 40-lane bowling alley, batting cages, and (literally) anything else your athletic soul might possibly desire.
Under what circumstances would you jump into the garbage-bag green Hudson River?
photo by SSchultz