Roosevelt Island – RDZ Photography

With a trip for work to New York City I had little time for sightseeing, but my wife didn’t! This is her photo blog of a 4 hour New York Architectural Society (almost) circumnavigation of Manhattan. I say almost, since there was a bridge on the Harlem River in a down position so they had to backtrack back around.

They set sail from a pier in Chelsea.

And headed for the harbor…

Passing by Jersey City…

The trip was actually offered for college credit, so there was an instructor on board whom reportedly spoke ‘constantly’. The trip took them past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, which I wouldn’t think would need any dialog to explain.

It was time to head up the East River…

This carousel in a park in Brooklyn came from a defunct amusement park in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.

Nearby was a jet ski school!

As you make you way up the East River you go past many areas that are undergoing gentrification.

An interesting view of Roosevelt Island, and the 59th Street (Queensboro) Bridge.

The United Nations Building

Roosevelt Island was once home to a Tuberculosis Hospital, but now is home to thousands in new apartment buildings.

A great view of the bridge and the Roosevelt Island Tram.

A series of bridges on the far end of the East River, where they ended up turning around.

If you have plenty of money ($850 one way for a 30 minute plane ride) you can get from Manhattan to the Hamptons in a hurry on a seaplane.

Or a helicopter…

The cruise continued back down the East River

The late afternoon sun made a interesting view of the Staten Island Ferry with the statue in the background.

The World Trade Center from the Hudson River

One of the many New York Waterway ferries.

Finally some interesting new architecture along the Hudson.

I think you will agree her photos were great – I am so jealous I had to work, it looks like it was a great cruise 🙂

Roosevelt Island is a long narrow island in the East River, between Manhattan and Queens. For much of the history of the island it was used for hospitals, earning the name Welfare Island

In 1976 the Roosevelt Island Tramway was built, connecting the island to Manhattan next to the 59th Street (Queensboro) Bridge.

Our ride to the island at 6 PM was packed with tourists and commuters. The island is now home to over 10,000 people, many of which use the tram for their daily commute.

Once on the island we headed south under the bridge.

The Smallpox Hospital was opened in 1856 and abandoned in the 1950s. The building remains as a reminder of what Roosevelt Island used to be like.

At the southern tip of the island is Four Freedoms Park, dedicated to FDR.

Looking south along the East River towards the Williamsburg Bridge.

The Long Island City/Hunters Point area in Queens has had substantial growth.

The apartment buildings in Queens have great views of Manhattan, as well as the iconic Pepsi sign.

The UN Building. The reason we were on the island is access was restricted to the UN Building area because of ‘UN Week’, so we opted to go to Roosevelt Island instead.

Returning back to the tram station provided different views of the bridge.

Roosevelt Island is a popular destination when ‘Manhattanhenge’ occurs. On this day though, we were nowhere near one of those dates, and it was cloudy.