Elizabeth Soychak stood in a vintage ‘50s dress on Patty Heffley’s fire escape–above Heffley’s laundry that was draped over the railing–and sang the lyrics, “April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom.” A crowd of about 40 people watched from the newly opened High Line park on a recent Monday.

On a recent evening, Elizabeth Soychak performed above the High Line and some laundry. Photo: Neill Corlett.

Never mind that it was actually a rainy New York night in June. And never mind that Heffley is angry.

Since the High Line park opened on June 9, Heffley and Soychak–friends of four years–have been staging performances on Heffley’s fourth-floor fire escape. The metal stairway overlooks the northernmost point of the first completed section of the new park. Heffley and Soychak call themselves the Renegade Cabaret.

Once the park opened, Heffley, 55, found herself staring out the window of the apartment she’s occupied for 31 years. To her surprise, some park visitors were staring right back. She wanted to find some way to protest the park’s visitors’ ability to see directly into her home from the High Line.

“It’s just a response to this invasion of privacy in an artistic way,” Heffley said. “We’re not celebrating the park, we’re exploiting it.” Once Soychak started singing, a surprised crowd in rain ponchos gathered to watch the performance and to snap photos.

“There’s a natural stage out there,” Heffley said. “I called Elizabeth and said we should do something for the people who are in the park. Elizabeth said that she could sing. I had never heard her sing, and I definitely didn’t know she could sing like that.”

Heffley emceed the 40-minute show, and Soychak did the singing. She sang songs that had been performed by Judy Garland and others that were written by Ira Gershwin.

“What an opportune residence,” said Jill Raynor, who watched from under a large umbrella. “There’s a ready-made audience here.”

Soychak, who gives her age as “perpetually 39,” said she has been a street performer for years. “I love that element of surprise,” she said. “And hopefully it’s a good surprise. It’s very powerful to make that kind of contact with other people, and New York is one of the places where you can do that really easily.” The performance was the Renegade Cabaret’s fourth. They always perform after 9 p.m., when the sun has set.

“A show on a fire escape. How great is that?” Mark Bergamini said. “It’s so impromptu. I love it.”

Between Soychak’s songs, Heffley spoke out against the High Line with her slogan of “31 years of privacy removed.” Heffley, a former photographer of punk rock bands who moved to 20th Street when trains still ran along the High Line, laments how the neighborhood has changed.

“The Renegade Cabaret reminds me of the old days when there was something going on in Manhattan,” Heffley said. “Something that was kind of different, something that wasn’t commercialized, planned or organized.”

Soon, Soychak might be joined by other entertainers. “We know a lot of artists,” Soychak said. “So now we’re just telling people, here’s the forum, what do you want to perform?”

Tom Murphy, the manager of Moran’s Restaurant and Bar, rushed back and forth on a recent Wednesday night welcoming couples in from 10th Avenue and leading them back to tables that were being set by the busy waiters inside.

Moran’s Restaurant and Bar sits just across 10th Avenue from the High Line. Photo: Jake Rosenwasser.

“We’ve been here since 1958, and we’ve been waiting for the High Line to open,” Murphy said.

Since the first section of the High Line park opened on June 9, foot traffic is up significantly on the streets and avenues surrounding the elevated park. Many Chelsea restaurants are seeing sales increase as a result.

“Lunch business has increased 20 to 25 percent,” said Murphy, whose restaurant is at 19th Street and 10th Avenue. “The High Line is bringing hundreds of people into the neighborhood.”

In fact, Jody Fisher, a spokesman for the High Line, said that the park has drawn more than 100,000 visitors since it opened on June 8.

The first section of the High Line – a park built on an old, converted railroad track – runs from Gansevoort to 20th streets, spanning nine blocks. The park is open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The walkway sits three stories above street level and gives visitors a unique panoramic view of the buildings and streets below.

“Everyone who walks the High Line is coming in and telling us that they never even knew we had a garden on the second level,” said Jose Lopez, manager of The Park night club and restaurant, which is on 10th Avenue between 17th and 18th streets. “We have such a beautiful garden up there and now everyone who walks the High Line can see for themselves.”

Lopez said that business was up since the High Line opened, but he did not have the official numbers yet.

“We’ve had to print more cards and menus to leave out front because people keep walking by and taking them,” Lopez said.

The High Line is one of many ongoing construction projects in an area of the city that is developing quickly and changing rapidly. Modern, luxury condominiums are popping up all along the High Line and throughout Chelsea, changing the character of the industrial neighborhood. Streets that were once empty at night are a little busier now.

Older eateries like Moran’s, which boasts on its Web site that it served patrons back when the “neighborhood was bustling with tall ships and longshoremen,” and newer restaurants like Cookshop – which prides itself on utilizing local farmers and cooking with humanely raised animals – are benefiting from the attraction of the High Line.

Late on a recent Wednesday, Cookshop, which is located on 10th Avenue at 20th Street, right at the northernmost exit of the park – did not have an empty table or an open seat at its bar.

“More people are around, especially on the weekdays,” Justin Morel, Cookshop’s general manager, said.

The second section of the High Line park – spanning from 20th to 30th streets – is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

The first two sections of the park cost $152 million, Fisher said. The Friends of the High Line raised $44 million for construction and an endowment to generate revenues for ongoing maintenance and operations. The city is paying the balance of the costs.

Jasmin Zafaran, the manager of Il Bordello, a Mediterranean restaurant on 23rd Street and 10th Avenue, is eagerly anticipating the increased foot traffic.

“I can’t wait,” Zafaran said. “There’s an access point right across the street.”