Did you know that New York City has 578 miles of coast, shared by 8 million people, more than 200 species of fish, 300 species of birds and countless aquatic wildlife?

Going Coastal seeks to provide visitors with consistent, free and easily accessible options to explore NYC’s waterfront, maritime heritage and enhance coastal tourism. We are currently searching for a suitable site for the Going Coastal Center.

There aren’t many well-kept secrets in New York City. If a gallery, a store, a restaurant or a museum is good, the crowds always seem to follow. That is, unless we’re talking about NYC’s waterfront. One of the city’s best kept secrets is that there is water all around and great ways to play in it. 

The Going Coastal Center is designed to facilitate education and access, while creating new opportunities for the public to be engaged in urban waterfront issues. It operates as a waterfront literature distribution portal to enhance exposure of water-related attractions, museums, marine centers, and activities. A community center that serves to revitalize the urban waterfront and explores the relationship between literature and the coastal environment. A maritime bookstore offering a large variety of new and used books on a broad range of topics, particularly strong in the areas of water themes, maritime history, environment, natural history.

Going Coastal established two pilot Going Coastal Centers in Hudson River Park at Piers 66 and 84 during the summer season of 2009. It served as a waterfront visitor’s centers reaching over 100,000 residents and visitors providing active promotion of the New York Harbor. The project was funded by a Hudson River Improvement Fund grant from the Hudson River Foundation.