This Abandoned Lot in Manhattan Turned Into a Dense Forest in Only Five Years

Located on the corner of 1st Avenue and East 78th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side, this abandoned lot has been sitting for five years. Using archived Google StreetViews and other photos, Instagrammer @crooknyc recently posted what has happened on the lot over the past half-decade:

An abandoned lot on 78th and first avenue slowly turning into a forest within in the time span of five years. “Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly...survives without sun, water, and seemingly earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many”