Filming The High Line: Rain Or Shine On The High Line

-A lone girl under umbrella cover surveys the city at 10th Avenue Square.

-Just outside the Chelsea Market Passage, this couple from Florida stopped to read the High Line plant guide. They’ve come to New York to visit his parents who live in the Village.

Undaunted by the rain, High Line devotees stroll on crossing over 20th St. The Friends of the High Line offices are just below.

Some weather reports predicted that the rain would hold off til the evening, so despite the early morning clouds, we started our day optimistically, just north of the Chelsea Market Passage. Our goal was simply to capture end of summer broll of the High Line all the way to 30th Street. It looked promising at first. Glimmers of sunshine filtering through the clouds. The usual morning crowd of folks heading to work, their coffee and folded umbrellas in hand. The tourists. The joggers. We were looking for beauty shots. The ones that say “an oasis of wilderness meandering through the city.” The close up of the last of the summer blooms. The summer grasses waving wistfully in the wind.

When we felt the first drop, we forged on. We had barely made it to the Maple Grove at the 10th Avenue Plaza when the rain started coming down in earnest. Videographer Joe Lipari and audio tech José Santamaria snatched up the gear and headed for cover. To my surprise, as we were heading into the elevator, a throng of High Line gardeners was heading out, pushing carts filled with big bags of gardening stuff. They seemed excited to be going to work in the rain and mud. Hmmm. Not I.

-Two young women on a High Line overpass watch the rain wet the city below, a view only seen from trains crossing the bridge in the past.

-On Thursday, Great Museums photographer, Joe Lipari, finds a moment between rain showers to film near the Maple Grove at 10th Ave. Square.

The Chelsea Market is a great place to while away the hours while waiting for the rain to stop. Girls with umbrellas I had a really great chicken salad sandwich at Friedman’s and eyed the goodies at Sarabeth’s, but did not indulge. A couple of hours later, in the early afternoon, the rain had calmed enough for us to go back up to the High Line. So we did. And there we saw people. Plenty of people. Carrying on as if the weather weren’t threatening. Kids jumping and playing. Mothers strolling babies. More tourists. More joggers. More gardeners. More workers, this time returning to the office after lunch. So we carried on too, covering our camera gear with umbrellas to protect it from the periodic drizzles. Life on the High Line carries on rain or shine and so shall we.

-Thursday afternoon, yellow slickers identify these men as High Line gardeners. They are heading to a meeting on Hurricane preparedness. Irene is expected to bring high winds and torrential rains to the city. The plants must be protected!

By 4:00 pm, we found ourselves sitting out the rain again, while eating sorbet at 10th Avenue and 20th Street. But suddenly the sun was back. Glory, hallelujah. We raced back to the top and got those beauty shots all the way to 23rd Street. Tomorrow morning, we’ll pick up there at 8:00 am and hope to reach 30th by noon.

We did film the weekly Thursday Arriba Dance event at 7 pm, but the earlier rain had forced a relocation from under the Standard to the 14th Street passage. Not quite as scenic as the Standard Plaza but great music and good fun for all who attended.

Joe Lipari-Chesney Doyle, Co-Executive Producer