The Bridges of New York County Part 11 - Nooks and Crannies

There's a lot of ways to cross the Manhattan Bridge. You can walk it, bike it, drive it - even ride over it on the back of a subway if you want, although that's certainly not recommend as a regular means of transverse.



At about the 24 second mark you can see one of the nooks and crannies of the bridge - a short abandoned tunnel that used to connect the north tracks to the uptown Broadway Express line before the completion of the Chrystie Street Connection in 1967. Out of all the bridges, the Manhattan is the one that seems to have the most of these nooks and crannies to explore. A constructed, but never used Second Avenue Subway station below its Manhattan approach. A narrow passage that lets you squeeze inside the globes that crown its Brooklyn-side tower. Perhaps the most interesting is a small nook inside the entrance colonade that houses a time capsule to be opened in 2009. And there's a few others that have either been closed off, or like the formally unused North Walkway, since opened up to the public.



Unused Second Avenue Subway tunnel - photo by Danielle Plamondon

Getting cozy inside one of the globes

Time Capsule Nook - South part of the Manhattan entrance colonade

North walkway - 2003

And out of all the bridges I've climbed, it's the most ephemeral to be on top of. There's none of the stone solidity of the Brooklyn, or the web-like heavy iron of the Hell Gate. Even being on top of the hollow sheet metal of the Williamsburg or see-through platform of the Queensboro feels stable by comparison. The top of the bridge is perhaps five and a half feet wide - narrow enough that you can lie down on the top lengthwise and touch either end with each hand. There isn't even a guardrail, unless you count the tension wires that run across the top of each tower.

The first time I climbed the Manhattan was with an Aussie friend of mine, who captured the essence of the escapade (as well as some great photos) in one of one of my favorite essays. To anyone who truly wants to understand why we do this stuff: this is required reading.

The Bridges of New York County Part 10 - What's Better than the Mile High Club?

Disclaimer: If you're my Grandmother you might want to skip this one.

I don't remember when I first got it in my head I wanted to have sex on a bridge. I think it was around my 2nd or 3rd bridge climbed. It seemed so logical - climbing bridges is fun, sex is fun, so sex on a bridge must be really fun. I even had the perfect candidate - the Williamsburg Bridge.

I don't think I'm giving that much away anymore when I say the Williamsburg's the easiest bridge to climb in New York (although it's unfortunately been a bit more secure up top since this summer). Stories have been on the internet, artists have put their work up there, it's even had an article in (of all papers) the Financial Times. But, of course, don't get caught doing it. I'd personally been up there at least half a dozen times already.

Double Guns! - photo by Steve Duncan

Now, having sex is a two person operation. And finding someone to have sex on top of a bridge is tougher than you might think. The sex part wasn't tough, the heights part wasn't tough, but as soon as I mentioned "listen, there's a small but realistic chance we might get arrested..." the conversation usually ended there. Most people I know who've had date nights up on the bridge usually just stay away from the topic altogether, but I wanted everything to be totally up front.

So where do you turn when nobody in real life will suffice? Craig's List of course. Unfortunately, I cannot find my original ad (entitled - "Need a 'best place you've ever done it' story?"), but I can tell you it was sufficiently brilliant that it got two responses. The first was this:


Hey. 41 yo female 6'2" rock climber, liberal radical, ready for some Civil Disobedience. Would love to assist in your endeavor, as well as hang a sign that says Make Love Not War sometime on our entanglement on the bridge. Currently fighting a rap upstate, so maybe have to wait til it is resolved, have biners, and slings, harness, but no rope. Willing to purchase to belay you and you set up a TR at the top. Enclosing pic. Peace my brother,

This one I didn't write back. The second response was pretty normal (considering the circumstances), and while we met up and resolved to do it, she always ended up backing out last minute.

Eventually though, I was in luck. A lovely lady who I was actually quite fond of ended up not only being as excited, but also as risk-averse about the prospect as I. And as it turns out, I'm very glad I went with her instead of a random Craig's Lister. Because even on a beautiful spring night, it's still cold as hell on top of the Williamsburg Bridge. I won't say it wasn't fun, but it certainly would have made for an awkward moment or two on a first date. Here's her take (from old Facebook chats with a friend):

...I have no clue how moe got himself over it without any help. After that it was just a bunch of stairs. The view was soooo crazy pretty. I felt like I had vertigo climbing up the stairs though cause they are those scary stairs with holes and gaps in between each stair.

Once we got to the top we looked out for a bit then Moe took me to this other part that is like a large utility room with windows. We put down all our stuff and said hooray! I was a little nervous and felt awkward about starting anything physical. But moses just started kissing me and everything felt normal after that.

I had found out that there was more to the plan than the room. Moe's plan was start things up in this room and then we would have to climb AGAIN up these beams and out the window to the actual top of the bridge. That part felt crazy, but fun. To be climbing around this thing all serious and scared about falling, while in my underwear. It felt so ridiculous but I also felt like the coolest gal at the same time.

So we got up to the top and there were some cold winds-a-blowin' we both got undressed. But we couldn't really continue fooling around. We took a minute to soak in the view and headed back for the room. It was so nice to see the city and the water and feel the wind (in my face not like being naked in the wind-that felt awful and cold), and see it all totally uninterrupted. No glass windows or wire gates and you could turn around full circle and see everything it was sooo beautiful.

We went in to the room and were totally happy with ourselves. We warmed up started fooling around again and so we tried the top again and it was a success! There was even another top top and moe wanted to go so we did.

So that was it...surprisingly the sex itself wasn't awkward, which is a testament to us since we were in a VERY awkward situation. It was actually a really great time and at first I thought I was doing it for him and that the part for me would be that I got an amazing view and kind of conquered a fear...but it turns out that everything was really awesome climbing and sex included.

Sex or not, climbing the Williamsburg - or any bridge - is one of the best dates in New York City. And if you go full Monty, and want to join the club, the bragging rights are way, way better than the Mile High Club. Heck, you might even get written up in Time Out New York.