It was the day the Highline Park opened and thousands of people began to walk along enjoying the vegetation and the views of the city three stories above the street.

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Tom Colicchio has assembled a makeshift space of picnic tables, good beer (including a slightly sweet Highline Elevated Wheat by Brooklyn Brewery) and popular food trucks, like Rickshaw Dumplings.

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"It got so crazy at times, I'd forget which schools I'd finished my applications for, and which ones I didn't, " said Genevieve Carrillo, a 17-year-old senior at Highline High School in Burien, Wash.

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On a balmy October evening in Manhattan, a crowd of philanthropic socialites has gathered at 1Oak, one of those lounges by the Highline that asserts its chicness by refusing to post its name in an easily noticeable location.

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But even as Mumiy Troll begins to lure some American "curiosity seekers, " as he described stateside listeners, the sold-out gig at the 700-seat Highline Ballroom underlined the band's dilemma: Is catering to the untapped American audience worth possibly losing some core Russian fans?

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