On the First Roof Looking South

Just north of Little Island sits Pier 57. Until recently somewhat of a secret to the many who visit the waterfront infrequently. But inside it is alive with activity.

The first thing you see as you enter the building is a large neon Google sign.

How to Get There:

Subway: Any subway train that stops on 14th Street and of course, has an elevator, which is just about all of them. The exceptions are the Lexington Avenue lines—#4, #5 and #6. There are elevators at Union Square for all the other trains, but NOT the Lexington Line.

Bus: The M14D crosstown bus stops at 10th Avenue and then turns onto the West Side Highway and stops at 15th and 17th. It then loops onto 18th to 9th Avenue where it turns to head back onto 14th Street to head east to the FDR. I usually ride on 14th Street to 9th Avenue and pick it up there.

By Car: If you are coming by car, you can enter at 16th Steet for a quick drop off in front of the building.

View from inside at the end of the pier looking toward Little Island. Flowers are on the outside deck.

Restrooms:

Restrooms are available on the first floor just past the food hall. But as you can see by the picture, someone has to pull the door open and in these restrooms there is not enough room for me to drive my scooter in. I have to park it in the hall and walk in.

Accessible restroom on the first roof.

Upstairs on the first roof, the bathroom is easier to navigate and while the stall might accommodate my scooter, there is room to leave it outside the stall or outside in the hallway. It is a short distance to walk to the stall. As you can see by the photo, the stall is equipped with handrails and a changing table.

the Quiet Pier

Plenty of seating both indoors and out. Unfortunately, there are no outlets for charging.

Google employees and guests use the former truck ramp to reach second floor offices. It’s very cool made more so when you learn the history of the pier.

Just past the Google entrance, on the first floor you’ll find an international food hall curated by the James Beard Foundation. They also operate a teaching kitchen here. As of this posting City Winery operates a restaurant on both the ground floor and the first roof. A lighter menu is offered on the roof so if you decide to stay a while, you don’t have to go back downstairs.

The fun of this pier is the abundance of creative open seating just past the food hall and the double decker roof access with more seating and fabulous views.

Elevator to the First Roof

You’ll find one of the coolest elevators to the roof just before the seating section.

View from the First Floor Deck

Accessibility:

This pier is fully accessible. Parts of the food hall are elevated, but there is a ramp to get you up there.

Charging:

Unfortunately there are no outlets offered in the public space. They offered the garage as a possble place to charge the scooter if you needed it.

Planted Roof Gardens

Immediately next to the large elevator on the first roof you’ll see a smaller black door, which is the elevator to the top deck. The elevator door opens when it arrives on this level, but on the roof, you have to open it manually. Easy to do. I waited several minutes wondering why the elevator was taking so long to travel only one floor before I realized I had to open that door.

View of the Hudson River, Top Roof