Beauty, briefly.

(thanks to the Roosevelt Islander for the pic)


The consideration of beauty is an elusive task. Sometimes it seems apparent to everyone, sometimes to just one person. Sometimes it hits you over the head. Sometimes it simply emerges like a Polaroid picture. Sometimes beauty is a memory that arises, with its edges soft and burry. Our own Roosevelt Island Tram enables us to experience beauty in two ways. The first as a soft focused view of two shorelines and the second as a memory of other views experienced from similar heights.


The beauty of the Roosevelt Island Tram does not lie in its physical make-up. The beauty arises from the views of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island as seen from 300 feet in the air. The tram facilitates the experience of beauty by allowing us to look at the terrain from such heights. The dirty detailed edges are blurred, a little fuzzy, like a memory.




Sneaking up on the Roosevelt Island Tram at 2nd Avenue from 59th street, one immediately notices a mechanical structure that is at odds with its east side Manhattan surroundings. But it is at odds in a good way. The whole contraption looks like an overgrown Tonka Toy, or for those of a younger generation, like an earlier, less sophisticated iteration of a Transformer toy.




Nonetheless, it has a very playful feel with its four bright red support arms, yellow barriers, red pedestrian gates and a giant yellow wheel that appears to run the whole thing (something I doubt it does). The gondola, at rest, is housed under a lovely blue protective roof. The Tram and its supportive mechanical structure is fun but it is not beautiful. If it weren’t for the bone-crushing mechanics of the whole thing, it would be a nice place to play.




The Roosevelt Island Tramway connects Manhattan to Roosevelt Island, travels at about 16mph and takes about 4 minutes to travel the 3100 feet across this portion of the East River. Originally it was to be used as a temporary means of travel while the subway line to the island was under construction. For New Yorkers who spent so much time traveling sub-surface, the tram’s popularity came as no surprise. It remained an option for travel to the island after the subway opened. This year New Yorkers and tourists were deprived of the experience for nine months as it was closed for modernization.





The trip over the East River goes by too quickly. If you squint, you can obliterate the less attractive buildings to the left and right and focus on the majestic aspects of the Queensboro Bridge as well as the Tram’s elegant support towers that seem at the same time fragile and stalwart. From the vantage point of the tram in mid-crossing, it is a view that reveals a breathtaking juxtaposition of the bridge’s substantial yet lacy steelwork set against sky and water.


The river below looks treacherous and hypnotic, a nice counter to the tranquil orderly edges of Roosevelt Island. Looking down from the air, the tidy, slim riverside park appears to be an inviting and peaceful place to sit and gaze at the skyline of Manhattan. On the trip back to Manhattan, it’s best not to look directly at the purely functional shoreline in front of you but distantly to the left where the view is more like a postcard.


The Roosevelt Island Tram invokes beautiful memories. Aerial tram carriages are charged with romantic images: first hand recollections of a ski gondola or second hand memories from movies or photographs. Trams have the thrill and sense of danger of a roller coaster and with hope, none of the sharp turns or deep plunges. At the same time one is struck with the awe-inspiring beauty of the landscape. Panic has the power to stamp beauty more firmly onto your brain.


A memory of a view is not unlike the actual view seen from those distant heights. The focus gets softer, blotting out many of the dingy details, making it more beautiful. The Roosevelt Island Tram takes us away from the sometimes overwhelming drudgery of city life and for a brief few minutes, reminds us that beauty exists.






(thx to rachelb.com for her pic of the Qboro bridge. for some reason i deleted most of my pics from the tram ride. guess i'll have to go back)