Call it 'urban recycling': New York City's High Line makes a park out of a useless eyesore

Manhattan has taken an eyesore and turned it into a jewel. The High Line viaduct was built in the 1930s to lift freight trains off New York City's streets, where they were running people down. Thirty feet in the air, it winds its way down the Lower West Side, near the old wharves it once served. But for nearly 30 years, it hasn't been used. It carried its last cargo, a load of frozen turkeys, back in 1980. Since then, it offered nothing to the city except for rust, shadows, and pigeon poop. (For more pictures, click here!)

Last week, it all seemed like it had never happened. Mayor Bloomberg cut a new ribbon on the High Line, reborn as the country's most progressive park.