Photo Credit: Roving Rube. Viewpoint: Eastern end of 51st St., looking back west; 4/6/02 9:23 AM.
Notes (Roving Rube): At the far end of 51st St. is this footbridge which goes across the East River Drive and connects with a park along the East River, on which you can walk or jog all the way up to Gracie Mansion.
Once the Rube was jogging here in the early morning and came across a mini-drama with EMT guys trying to restrain a homeless man from jumping over the railing into the river. It would be only a three foot drop into two feet of water at this point, but still not recommended. It is also where the original "dead end kids" would go swimming, as seen in the old movie "Dead End", "which dealt with the conflicts between the wealthy of Beekman Place and the very poor of the tenements on the adjoining dead-end streets." (Source: New York: Walking Tours of Architecture and History, by Gerard R. Wolfe)
Below this bridge is a private park for the use of the bordering apartment houses on Beekman Place. and show the views to the north side at the other end of the bridge, where a redbud and daffs on a terrace brighten this early spring day.