On the Reading Viaduct, Philadelphia. Photo by Rick Darke.
I’m a lifelong New Yorker and lover of the city’s parks. When I was born my family lived on 106th Street and Riverside Drive. We played in the park every weekend and I remember my father taking us down to the old railway tracks along the Hudson River where we would hunt for all kind of treasures. Today there’s a park there too — Hudson River Park — and a giant locomotive from the New York Central Line sits at around 62nd Street.
When I was six we moved to the east side, just a block from Central Park. Since returning from college I’ve lived all over the city, including in the West Village and on the Upper West Side, across the street (again) from Central Park, but this time in a position to catch the sun rising, not setting, across the treeline.
Today I live just a stone’s throw from the High Line, a totally different — but completely enchanting — park where freight trains of the New York Central also ran, between 1934 and 1980.
See here for information about my book, On the High Line: Exploring America’s Most Original Urban Park.
My book Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions, was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2020. More info. here.
I also serve as Chair, Board of Trustees, of the Waterfront Museum in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Read here about the fascinating history of the Lighterage Era and the transportation system that was the engine of commerce in New York City in the years before tunnels, trucks, planes and the Interstate Highway System changed everything.
For a full professional bio see here. For articles about subjects not related to the High Line, see the Articles page.
I give slideshow lectures about the High Line and conduct private walking tours to groups of all ages. If you’re interested, please email me via the contact form.
Articles
The Wall Street Journal, “Home on the High Line, Where Tourists Roam,” interview with Pia Catton [note, if you’re not a subscriber you can read the article by Googling Annik La Farge+ Wall Street Journal and follow the link]
hey there you…was so impressed to find this and then reading it is wonderful. you’re a great and engaging writer! hope all is well with you…beany
Hi Annick,
I just saw your photo of a Peregrine Falcon on the High Line web site, which I loved, and followed the link to your blog, also wonderful. I’ll be visiting here often!
Your photos are striking for many reasons. When I’ve lived in the country I’ve marked the seasons by the comings and goings of birds — from hummingbirds to hawks — and when I’ve lived in the city I’ve always been thrilled to learn about falcons and hawks nesting here. I used to watch the uptown Red Tails from Central Park, and now I can watch the Ketsrels and Falcons from the Highline, which I already love.
I’ve also done a lot of writing about conservation — urban and rural — and it’s always a pleasure to find another voice telling stories I’ve never heard.
Thanks for these pages and your photos!
Best wishes,
Chris
thank you for the kind words, Chris. I’d love to see some of your photos — if you have a blog where you post them please send me a link via the contact form. I think this is a marvelous feature that Friends of the High Line is doing and I hope they’ll make it a regular one. I learned a lot about the birds of New York from Erika Harvey’s first piece.
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