Skylines From Far Far Away Thread

[Nouvellecosse]

Just imagine living in a place with that view! I can't imagine it ever getting old.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Crawford

That vacant site on the above photo is an upcoming major residential project.

The photo illustrates the region's topography, which is pretty dramatic for Eastern U.S. standards. I still don't get why people think the NY region is flat.

Most people who visit New York will spend their entire time in the area between Central Park and Brighton Beach and never see so much as a hill during their stay. Topography isn't a feature of a typical tourist New York City experience like it is in San Francisco or LA.

The exception is maybe for those flying into Newark and driving through the Lincoln Tunnel. I remember coming off the top of the hill in New Jersey and getting my first real view of Manhattan there when I was a kid.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Most people who visit New York will spend their entire time in the area between Central Park and Brighton Beach and never see so much as a hill during their stay. Topography isn't a feature of a typical tourist New York City experience like it is in San Francisco or LA.

That makes sense. The region's core is fairly flat. Manhattan is mostly a gentle northward slope for 8 miles, then the hills get dramatic. Brownstone Brooklyn has a somewhat steeper slope, but not many tourists head to Park Slope.

And there are no SF- or Pittsburgh-style rollercoaster hills in the core parts. The Bronx, Westchester, and Northern NJ, yeah.

[suburbanite]

Even walking around Park Slope I find it can be hard to get a feel for the terrain since the streets are fairly narrow and tree lined and so you can't really see ahead for more than a few blocks to notice the gradual incline.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Even walking around Park Slope I find it can be hard to get a feel for the terrain since the streets are fairly narrow and tree lined and so you can't really see ahead for more than a few blocks to notice the gradual incline.

it's definitely WAY more subtle than "in your face" hilly cities like SF or pittsburgh, but coming from a truly pancake flat city like chicago, i am sensitive to the gentle rises and depressions of the land in parts of manhattan and brooklyn.

it's nothing dramatic or anything, but there are some discernable "hills" and slopes here and there, at least in comparison to the city i'm most familiar with where we truly don't have any hills at all (outside of those down in FAR SW corner of the city and some small man-made ones in parks)

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it's definitely WAY more subtle than "in your face" hilly cities like SF or pittsburgh, but coming from a truly pancake flat city like chicago, i am sensitive to the gentle rises and depressions of the land in parts of manhattan and brooklyn.

it's nothing dramatic or anything, but there are some discernable "hills" and slopes here and there, at least in comparison to the city i'm most familiar with where we truly don't have any hills at all (outside of those down in FAR SW corner of the city and some small man-made ones in parks)

Ya you can notice it as it gets slightly more tiring to walk up a certain street. There's very rarely a point where you turn a corner and have a vista open up in front of you though.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

There's very rarely a point where you turn a corner and have a vista open up in front of you though.

totally. it's obviously nothing at all like the open vistas you can get looking down the streets of san francisco, but spending my whole life in chicago, one of the flattest major cities anywhere, i'm acutely sensitive to rises and falls in the landscape, even when they're very gentle, because it's such a novel thing for me. i would not characterize manhattan and brooklyn, overall, as terribly "hilly" places, but they're not really a pancake flat type of topography either.



i mean in chicago, this gentle little ridge created by a pre-historic lakeshore is considered a major hill around here because, unlike 99% of the city, the land actually goes up a little bit. its very strange and out of place.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0052252,...K_9Jsi5A955CXXAWR5O5A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

you can ride your bike in chicago for 5 miles and measure your total elevation delta in inches. it is painfully F-L-A-T.

[MonkeyRonin]

Is New York stereotyped as being flat? The hills of upper Manhattan and the Bronx are a pretty essential characteristic of the landscape, and certainly feature prominently in popular depictions of these places. Eg, anything set in the Bronx seems to have these stairs:


https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-conte...traction-new-york-5dafff9b6c4a2__700.jpg


On the other hand, most of the rest of the city isn't especially hilly aside from the area around Sunset Park and some parts of outer Queens (and Staten Island, but who cares).

[chris08876]

Northern Manhattan is very hilly. Once did a walk from the 220th Street to Battery Park along Broadway and the Inwood/Washington Heights was probally the hardest part (hills).

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Most people who visit New York will spend their entire time in the area between Central Park and Brighton Beach and never see so much as a hill during their stay. Topography isn't a feature of a typical tourist New York City experience like it is in San Francisco or LA.

The exception is maybe for those flying into Newark and driving through the Lincoln Tunnel. I remember coming off the top of the hill in New Jersey and getting my first real view of Manhattan there when I was a kid.

When I went to Google Earth, I was able to find elevations of nearly 400 ft on Staten Island across from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Imagine the views from those hills.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

When I went to Google Earth, I was able to find elevations of nearly 400 ft on Staten Island across from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Imagine the views from those hills.

The North Shore of Staten Island has some dramatic hills, from sea level to 400 ft. in very short distance. Those hills often have gaudy or modernist homes on the edges of ridges, kind of an East Coast version of what you see in the wealthy hillside areas of Southern CA. Lots of infinity pools and Manhattan and harbor views.

The estate in The Godfather wedding scene was on one of those hills.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

The North Shore of Staten Island has some dramatic hills, from sea level to 400 ft. in very short distance. Those hills often have gaudy or modernist homes on the edges of ridges, kind of an East Coast version of what you see in the wealthy hillside areas of Southern CA. Lots of infinity pools and Manhattan and harbor views.

The estate in The Godfather wedding scene was on one of those hills.

Didn't know that about The Godfather!

I forgot to mention that when I spent time in Ramsey, N.J. when I was a kid, we would go up on the roof of my cousin's house and take in the NYC skyline. At that time, the Empire State Bldg was the tallest and the WTC construction had not started. Ramsey is in the suburbs to the north. The elevation at his house was about 450 ft.

[chris08876]

Best bang for the buck continues to be NJ's gold coast.

If you get the right unit in the right apartment complex, you can have world class NYC views for a fraction of the cost that one would see across the Hudson (where you'd probally be facing a brick wall).

Portions of Hudson County, as you get closer to Union City offer nice topography. Can get quite hilly over there with the elevation grades.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

When I went to Google Earth, I was able to find elevations of nearly 400 ft on Staten Island across from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Imagine the views from those hills.

Todt Hill on Staten Island is apparently the highest point on the Atlantic Coastal Plain.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Best bang for the buck continues to be NJ's gold coast.

If you get the right unit in the right apartment complex, you can have world class NYC views for a fraction of the cost that one would see across the Hudson (where you'd probally be facing a brick wall).

Portions of Hudson County, as you get closer to Union City offer nice topography. Can get quite hilly over there with the elevation grades.

You can get some very good views in Queens as well, even deep in around Jackson Heights. They have apartment buildings with uninterrupted line of sight to Manhattan.
Some high rises and old co-ops in mid Brooklyn as well, since you get to look over Prospect Park/Greenwood cemetery, but the lower Manhattan/JC skyline is not as dramatic as the midtown from Queens, and a bit further away. Bay Ridge also has very good views.

[M II A II R II K]

NYC Skyline from Yonkers, NY by June Marie, on Flickr

[M II A II R II K]

Don’t know if that’s some kind of optical illusion since the skinny towers appear much taller than even the tip of the WTC.

[MAC123]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Don’t know if that’s some kind of optical illusion since the skinny towers appear much taller than even the tip of the WTC.

Pretty sure Midtown has a higher average elevation than downtown. Also even though it is "taller" that's only because of the spire, which makes it look a lot smaller than it really is. (While 57th St may be "super skinny supertalls" they are much thicker than the spire on top of 1WTC). For example look at the Chrysler Building, it may be a supertall but due to the top portion being extremely skinny it looks much smaller, especially because of the behemoths around it.


Though in reality it's probably just because the Pic was taken closer to them and 1WTC was farther away, making it seem smaller. So yeah an optical illusion

[Hudson11]

the Ground level of Downtown is below the horizon formed by Upper Manhattan, which can be eyeballed using the 4 towers in the midground which are roughly adjacent to the George Washington Bridge. It's pretty much a consistent descent from the Taconics down to the Battery.

[M II A II R II K]

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