Spires of Billionaires – New York, New York

The fantastic thing about the New York City subway system, despite its current challenges, is that a short train ride will take you from a humble neighborhood to the ritziest.

With the clock ticking before my flight home, I wanted to document one more scene in NYC. So, after lunch at Katz’s Deli, I took the subway back up north. I went from the Lower East Side, a gentrifying but still rough neighborhood, to one of the swankiest in Manhattan.

I got off at 57th street, taking a 15-minute ride on the F Train. I saw this as I arrived at street level — a few of the growing collection of super-skinny Billionaire’s Row towers from ground level. They look even more impressive from this angle than from 30 Rock.

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