Top of the Rock or ESB?

If you had to to choose between visiting Top of the Rock and ESB, what
it would be?

I haven't been to ESB and the observation deck is 60 meters higher than
TOR but I was appalled by the photos of the ESB deck. It is all
surrounded with metal bars and crowded... How long do you have to wait
in line before you can look through the binoculars?

TOR seems to be more up-to-date with safety glass but do you feel being
outside, i.e. is it roofed? Is it a glass room with no fresh air?

Thanks for your comments.

On 4 Jun 2006 10:26:59 -0700, "Fiance" wrote:

If you had to to choose between visiting Top of the Rock and ESB, what
it would be?

Rolling Rock and an Extra-Special Bitter? I'd take the ESB any day.

If that's not what you mean, how about posing your question in a more
explanatory manner? The US and Canada cover a lot of turf.

-- Larry

If you had to to choose between visiting Top of the Rock and ESB, what
it would be?

... how about posing your question in a more explanatory manner?
The US and Canada cover a lot of turf.

If you have to ask, you probably can't answer it.

Observation decks on tall buildings in New York. (But I can't answer
myself, because I've only done the ESB and the WTC there.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "I seem to have become a signature quote."
-- David Keldsen

Fiance wrote:
If you had to to choose between visiting Top of the Rock and ESB, what
it would be?

I haven't been to ESB and the observation deck is 60 meters higher than
TOR but I was appalled by the photos of the ESB deck. It is all
surrounded with metal bars and crowded... How long do you have to wait
in line before you can look through the binoculars?

TOR seems to be more up-to-date with safety glass but do you feel being
outside, i.e. is it roofed? Is it a glass room with no fresh air?


I've been to the top of both, and I would definitely opt for "Top of the
Rock". The waiting times are much shorter, and I believe it's less
expensive as well (about $14, I think). There are several different
viewing opportunities and the view gets successively better with each
one: first, an enclosed, glass-walled room, then an area that's open to
the sky but with large plexiglass windbreaks surrounding it, and
finally, at the very top, a level that's completely open with just a
waist-high guardrail around it. We were there on a completely
spectacular, 55 degree January day and got some fabulous photos...we
went up in the late afternoon and stayed through dusk until the sky was
dark and all the buildings illuminated. It seems to me that many of the
postcard photographs one sees of Manhattan were taken from the top of
the Rock. The Empire State Building, in particular, looks amazing from
there. One small quibble is that the Chrysler Building, a particular
favorite of ours, is mostly obscured by the Met Life building from this
vantage point.

The best shots of the Chrysler Building we were able to find were from
the ground, walking west on 42 Street from the UN area. Others may have
better suggestions. The Chrysler building is also worth a look inside;
though there is no observation deck the lobby is very fine.

I wish that I had been able to visit the observation deck at the top of
the WTC. A friend told me it was very interesting, with etchings on the
glass to show you the names of the landmarks you were looking at.

On Sun, 04 Jun 2006 19:21:27 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

If you had to to choose between visiting Top of the Rock and ESB, what
it would be?

... how about posing your question in a more explanatory manner?
The US and Canada cover a lot of turf.

If you have to ask, you probably can't answer it.

I don't *have* to ask -- I grew up in Jersey, and used to work summers
in Manhattan.

I simmply thought it was kinder and gentler to ask that way than to
say "You dumb ****,why don't you state what state and city you're
talking about for all the group's readers' benefit?"

-- Larry

raše:
the sky but with large plexiglass windbreaks surrounding it, and
finally, at the very top, a level that's completely open with just a
waist-high guardrail around it,

It's hard to believe, with the current safety concerns in the US, that
a WAIST-high guardrail is the only safety measure on the Top of the
Rock at 260 meters (?) and visitors are actually allowed to go close to
the rail.

Perhaps only the staff is allowed to go to the vantage point? Are you
sure access is not restricted now?

the sky but with large plexiglass windbreaks surrounding it, and
finally, at the very top, a level that's completely open with just a
waist-high guardrail around it,

It's hard to believe, with the current safety concerns in the US, that
a WAIST-high guardrail is the only safety measure on the Top of the
Rock ...

I presume it's like the way the WTC observation deck used to work: if
you climbed or fell over the guardrail you'd only drop a few feet to the
roof, but inside a second barrier (on the WTC it was an electric fence)
that was placed below the observation-deck sightline. Note the roof
edge visible in this picture, which would fit with that design:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...kViewNorth.jpg
--
Mark Brader "We can get ideas even from a clever man." ...
Toronto "Yes, I think you can. Even ideas you should
have had yourselves." -- John Dickson Carr

Mark Brader wrote:
the sky but with large plexiglass windbreaks surrounding it, and
finally, at the very top, a level that's completely open with just a
waist-high guardrail around it,

It's hard to believe, with the current safety concerns in the US, that
a WAIST-high guardrail is the only safety measure on the Top of the
Rock ...


I presume it's like the way the WTC observation deck used to work: if
you climbed or fell over the guardrail you'd only drop a few feet to the
roof, but inside a second barrier (on the WTC it was an electric fence)
that was placed below the observation-deck sightline. Note the roof
edge visible in this picture, which would fit with that design:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...kViewNorth.jpg

Yes, that's right. You wouldn't plummet down 70 stories, you'd just
fall a few feet to the next roof level.