The 79th Street Boat Basin is a marina located in the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, within Riverside Park at the western end of 79th Street. Maintained and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is the only facility in the city that allows year-round residency in boats, so it is a hub for houseboats in New York City. [1] [2] The marina closed for rebuilding in 2021 and was still closed as of July 2024 [update] . [3]
During the early years of New York City, the current site to Riverside Park was largely undeveloped, consisting of rocky outcroppings and steep bluffs along the Hudson River shoreline. Prior to European arrival, Native Americans sparsely populated this rough terrain. [4] In 1846 the Hudson River Railroad laid tracks across the Hudson River shoreline to speed the transport of goods from Albany to Manhattan. In 1865, William R. Martin, a commissioner on the Board of Central Park proposed a scenic drive and park along the Hudson River. During the next two years New York City acquired land between the Hudson River Railroad and the bluffs along the shoreline, and in 1873 the New York City Park Board commissioned Riverside Park. The co-designer of Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, was named lead designer. His design, which was accepted in 1875, included a winding drive for horses and sight-seeing, as well as pedestrian walkways, both accessible from the neighborhoods to the east. [5]
The park was completed by Olmsted's successor Calvert Vaux, but was soon surrounded by coal bins, shacks and garbage dumps.
By 1921, Riverside Park had deteriorated to an expanse of mud. [5] Barbed-wire fences cut the citizens off from the waterfront. [5] In the early 1920s, the architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White had submitted a proposal with an elevated traffic circle, covering the railroad tracks beneath. The traffic circle was partially built, and portions of a highway were also under construction on Manhattan's West Side. This drew the attention of citizens and politicians to this neglected area. [6]
The City of New York announced the West Side Improvement Project in 1934. [6] [7] Robert Moses was at this time New York City's parks commissioner, and he took over the project. Moses expanded it into a grand architectural multi-level entry and exit from the Henry Hudson Parkway, all under the name of the "79th Street Grade Crossing Elimination Structure". [8] [9] The multi-level structure was designed by Gilmore David Clarke. Moses was able to raise $109 million to begin the project, [10] for which the Works Projects Administration provided the equivalent of $108.1 million in 2023.
Moses hired the architect and engineer Clinton Lloyd to work on the structural elements with the landscape architect, Gilmore Clarke, to work on the landscape. [11] The structure was built mostly from concrete, but the above-ground part is clad in cut stone. The initial McKim, Mead and White plan had called for rough-cut, dark stone to be applied to the exterior of the building, but Clinton Lyod modified their plan and used lighter, finer cut stone. The project created the Freedom Tunnel, an underground parking garage, a restaurant, and the marina. The rotunda was designed to hold the weight of the heavily used traffic circle that sits atop the building. The large support columns are visible inside the café. [12]
The 79th Street Rotunda and Boat Basin and the rest of the West Side Improvement Project were finished in 1937. [13]
By the 1960s, though the restaurant was long gone, the majority of slips were occupied by year-round boaters. [14] Year-round residents have included Mad Magazine writer Dick DeBartolo, who uses a boat as his office. Mario Puzo and Frank Sinatra have all used the basin to moor their boats. [14] In the 1960s, Roy Cohn docked his 95-foot (29 m) yacht at the basin and used it to entertain the city's political leaders. [15]
In 1979, the city sought to cancel a 1977 concession agreement with Nichols Yacht Yards to operate the marina, claiming that Nichols had underreported revenue and had acted as an "absentee slumlord". Boat owners would manage the marina until a suitable operator would be found. [16] Though Nichols obtained an injunction blocking the dismissal in December 1979, [17] the firm's operation of the facility ended in 1982, with Nichols having spent $250,000 in legal fees to battle the city and counter a rent strike by boat owners. [18]
In 1992, a five-year agreement was signed with boaters and the city, tying increases of nearly 25% in docking fees to improvements in facilities at the marina, such as new docks and electrical lines. By 1996, year-round residents had complained that the 18-month-long project, implemented at a cost of $1.4 million ($2.7 million today), had been done in shoddy fashion. [19] The city stopped issuing new year-round permits in 1994, seeking to make space available for seasonal boaters among the basin's 116 slips. After complaints were received, the Parks Department agreed to an increase to 52 year-round spots, which start at a yearly fee of $5,000, based on the size of the boat. [1]
By May 2009, the department was to require that all boats be seaworthy. As of February 2008 [update] , there were 19 boats that were considered unseaworthy and that would need to make operational "in case of an emergency evacuation". [14] By summer 2012, several boaters noticed that the basin was in a state of disrepair and asked the city to fix it. [20] [21]
In June 2021, mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would collaborate with FEMA to overhaul the marina and rotunda; all existing tenants were required to leave by November 1, 2021. [22] [23] At the time, the basin had not been dredged since 1958, and many of the marina's structures were dilapidated. [2] Work was scheduled to begin in 2023 [23] [2] and cost $90 million. [24] [2] Manhattan Community Board 7 objected to the original design by Architecture Research Office (ARO), which called for a boxy 7,550-square-foot (701 m2) boathouse structure. [3] [25] ARO subsequently modified the plans, drawing up blueprints for a 3,800-square-foot (350 m2) structure on stilts, which Community Board 7 ultimately approved. [3] [26] Work on the new boathouse had still not started by July 2024. [3]
The Boat Basin is also used as a launch site for kayaks, canoes and sailboats. The Hudson River sloop Clearwater often docks here, as part of its mission of informing the public about environmental and pollution issues in the Hudson River. [27] As of May 2012 [update] , seasonal docking fees are $120 per linear foot (or a minimum of $3,000) for the summer (May 1 to October 31) and $105 per linear foot (or a minimum of $2,625) during the winter (November 1 to April 30). [28] Total dock fee revenue was over $240,000 in 2007, with more revenue taken in from the higher fees paid for part-time boaters. As of February 2008 [update] , there was a waiting list of 450 boaters seeking part-time docking privileges during the summer. [14] Fees were raised again in December 2011. [29]
A boat pump-out system connects directly to boats to allow for sewage disposal. Along with a fresh-water line system, the service is provided at no additional cost by the Parks Department. All other services, including electricity, telephone, television, and Internet access, must be paid for by boat owners, individually. [14]
Rules and regulations covering the 79th Street Boat Basin also apply at the Sheepshead Bay Piers and the World's Fair Marina. [28]
The 79th Street Rotunda, planned and built by former parks commissioner Robert Moses during the construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway is a roundabout that sits next to the boat basin. between the Hudson River and the parkway at the western edge of 79th Street. The rotunda was built to allow easy access and exit to and from the parkway. There are two ways to access the site by foot: one way is to walk along Riverside Park, and the other is to walk west on 79th Street. Drivers briefly drive atop the rotunda's roundabout as they exit the parkway or enter the parkway from 79th Street. The rotunda's interior, open-air courtyard is able to block noise and views of the parkway, while blocking noise and views of the highway for the park and boat marina below. Moses viewed the project with grand monumentality, while believing it would add to the grandeur and allure of New York City as viewed from across the Hudson River from New Jersey's Hudson River Palisades. The Rotunda was a core part of the project. [30]
The structure is constructed primarily out of concrete. Above ground, the concrete is clad in cut stone to give the structure a smoothened-out look. Below ground in the parking garage, however, the concrete is more roughened. The rotunda was built to serve the double purpose of a transportation corridor and a recreational area; the two uses are visually separated into two vertical levels. [5] The 79th Street Rotunda allows easy access and exit to and from the Henry Hudson Highway. It allows trains on the West Side Line to travel into Manhattan via a tunnel called the Freedom Tunnel. It provides an internal, sheltered parking garage for boat basin users. [31]
The granite and fieldstone open rotunda surrounded by a vaulted Guastavino tiled arcade overlooks the marina. In the 1970s, the rotunda was available to reserve for private parties through the city's Concessions Department for a $250 fee in addition to a cleaning deposit. [32] [33] It was later the site of the open-air Boat Basin Cafe from 1997 to 2019. [34] The internal courtyard and seasonal café were added after the fact of initial design and conception. [35]
The 79th Street Rotunda and Boat Basin remain intact and have changed little since their construction, and the marina and restaurant are still in operation. [36] As well as ongoing uses, the rotunda hosted occasional theatrical performances and art exhibits and has previously provided shelter at night for the homeless. [37] [38]
The Boat Basin has been a popular filming location. The Parks Department's web page for the basin lists details for obtaining film permits among things to do at the marina. [28] The 1986 film 9½ Weeks , starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, includes scenes shot at the marina and inside a houseboat moored there. [39] The 1998 film You've Got Mail has Tom Hanks and his relatives living on yachts in the basin. [40]
Riverside Park is a scenic public park on the waterfront of the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and Hamilton Heights neighborhoods of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The park measures 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 100 to 500 feet wide, running between the Hudson River and Henry Hudson Parkway to the west and the serpentine Riverside Drive to the east.
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West Side is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen to the south, Columbus Circle to the southeast, and Morningside Heights to the north.
North River is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and northeastern New Jersey in the United States.
The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), doing business as MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that operates seven toll bridges and two tunnels in New York City. The TBTA is the largest bridge and tunnel toll agency in the United States by traffic volume. It generated more than $2.4 billion in toll revenue from 335 million vehicles in 2023. As of 2023, its operating budget was $596 million; the budget is funded through taxes and fees.
The Little Red Lighthouse, officially Jeffrey's Hook Light, is a small lighthouse located in Fort Washington Park along the Hudson River in Manhattan, New York City, under the George Washington Bridge. It was made notable by the 1942 children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and The Great Gray Bridge, written by Hildegarde Swift and illustrated by Lynd Ward.
Riverside Drive is a north–south avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The road runs on the west side of Upper Manhattan, generally paralleling the Hudson River and Riverside Park between 72nd Street and the vicinity of the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street. North of 96th Street, Riverside Drive is a wide divided roadway. At several locations, a serpentine service road diverges from the main road, providing access to the residential buildings. Several viaducts connect the various segments of Riverside Drive, including the 2,047-foot (624 m) Manhattan Valley Viaduct between Tiemann Place and 135th Street. A disconnected section of Riverside Drive exists in Inwood, Manhattan. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the original section of Riverside Drive, between 72nd and 125th streets, as part of a scenic landmark that also includes Riverside Park.
The Cross Island Parkway is a controlled-access parkway in New York City and Nassau County, part of the Belt System of parkways running along the perimeter of the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. The Cross Island Parkway runs 10.6 miles (17.1 km) from the Whitestone Expressway in Whitestone past the Throgs Neck Bridge, along and across the border of Queens and Nassau County to meet up with the Southern State Parkway, acting as a sort of separation point which designates the limits of New York City. The road is designated as New York State Route 907A (NY 907A), an unsigned reference route, and bears the honorary name 100th Infantry Division Parkway.
The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a 5.42-mile-long (8.72 km) mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of maintenance, and was dismantled by 1989. North of 72nd Street, the roadway continues as the Henry Hudson Parkway.
The Henry Hudson Parkway is a 10.95-mile (17.62 km) controlled-access parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is in Manhattan at 72nd Street, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan. The northern terminus is at the Bronx–Westchester county boundary, where it continues north as the Saw Mill River Parkway. All but the northernmost mile of the road is co-signed as New York State Route 9A (NY 9A). In addition, the entirety of the parkway is designated New York State Route 907V (NY 907V), an unsigned reference route.
The West Side Line, also called the West Side Freight Line, is a railroad line on the west side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Penn Station, from 34th Street, the line is used by Amtrak passenger service heading north via Albany to Toronto; Montreal; Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and Chicago. South of Penn Station, a 1.45-mile (2.33 km) elevated section of the line, abandoned since 1980, has been transformed into an elevated park called the High Line. The south section of the park from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street opened in 2009 and the second section up to 30th Street opened in 2011, while the final section to 34th Street opened in 2014.
Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly known as the FDR Drive, is a controlled-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpass, and runs north along the East River to the 125th Street / Robert F. Kennedy Bridge interchange, where it becomes Harlem River Drive. All of FDR Drive is designated New York State Route 907L (NY 907L), an unsigned reference route.
Hudson River Park is a waterfront park on the North River that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, a component of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, stretches 4.5 miles (7.2 km) and comprises 550 acres (220 ha), making it the second-largest park in Manhattan after the 843-acre (341 ha) Central Park.
Fort Washington Park is a public park located in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It runs along the banks of the Hudson River next to Riverside Drive and the Henry Hudson Parkway from West 155th Street to Dyckman Street. The George Washington Bridge crosses above the park; below the bridge is a small point of land called Jeffrey's Hook, which is the site of the Little Red Lighthouse.
79th Street is a major two-way street on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs in two major sections: between East End and Fifth Avenues on the Upper East Side, and between Columbus Avenue and Henry Hudson Parkway on the Upper West Side. The two segments are connected by the 79th Street transverse across Central Park, as well as one block of 81st Street.
The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, 32 miles (51 km) long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.
The Liberty Landing Ferry, officially known as the Liberty Landing City Ferry, is a commuter ferry service based at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. It provides service between Liberty State Park and Liberty Harbor in Jersey City and the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, Manhattan. It is one of several private operators of ferries, sightseeing boats, and water taxis in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Transportation in New York City has ranged from strong Dutch authority in the 17th century, expansionism during the industrial era in the 19th century and half of the 20th century, to cronyism during the Robert Moses era. The shape of New York City's transportation system changed as the city did, and the result is an expansive modern-day system of industrial-era infrastructure. New York City, being the most populous city in the United States, has a transportation system which includes one of the largest subway systems in the world; the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel; and an aerial tramway.
Pier A, also known as City Pier A, is a pier in the Hudson River at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was built from 1884 to 1886 as the headquarters of the New York City Board of Dock Commissioners and the New York City Police Department (NYPD)'s Harbor Department. Pier A, the only remaining masonry pier in New York City, contains a two- and three-story structure with a clock tower facing the Hudson River. The pier is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Plaza Lafayette is a 0.09-acre (0.036 ha) pocket park and surrounding streets in the Hudson Heights neighborhood of Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. Named after the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, the park is roughly trapezoidal in shape, and is bounded by Riverside Drive – originally called Boulevard Lafayette in this area – on the west, the westbound lane of West 181st Street – also called "Plaza Lafayette" here – on the north, the eastbound lane of West 181st Street/Plaza Lafayette on the south, and Haven Avenue on the east. The land was acquired by the city on February 23, 1918.
New Yorkers have lived on houseboats since the 19th century, docking across several boroughs. Historically, houseboat dwellers were typically men who worked on barges in the Hudson River. Since the 1940s, houseboat inhabitants have mostly chosen to live aboard for pleasure. Boats offer cheap housing, good views, and privacy. In 1999, it was estimated to be several hundred houseboats in New York City.
Notes
In the early 1960s, in his industrialist phase, when he had his 95-foot yacht Defiance berthed at the 79th Street Boat Basin, Mr. Cohn used to invite Carmine G. De Sapio and other Tammany Hall leaders out for cruises to talk over the perennial topics—who was in, who was out, who wanted what from whom.
Robert S. Bernstein, the president of Nichols Yacht Yards, which operated the boat basin from 1977 to 1982, said that his firm spent $250,000 in legal fees battling the city and tenants on the rent strike. 'It's the crummiest marina I have ever seen in my entire life," he said, blaming its deterioration on the city's refusal to raise rents to pay for improvements.'
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