The Upper West Side is bounded on the south by 59th Street, Central Park to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Its northern boundary is somewhat less obvious. Although it has historically been cited as 110th Street, which fixes the neighborhood alongside Central Park, it is now sometimes considered to be 125th Street, encompassing MorningsideHeights. This reflects demographic shifts in MorningsideHeights, as well as the tendency of real estate brokers to co-opt the Tony Upper West Side name when listing MorningsideHeights and Harlem apartments. The area north of West 96th Street and east of Broadway is also identified as ManhattanValley. The overlapping area west of Amsterdam Avenue to RiversidePark was once known as the Bloomingdale District.
From west to east, the avenues of the Upper West Side are Riverside Drive (12th Avenue), West End Avenue (11th Avenue), Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue (10th Avenue), Columbus Avenue (9th Avenue) and Central Park West (8th Avenue). The 66-block stretch of Broadway forms the spine of the neighborhood and moves diagonally across the avenues at the bottom of the neighborhood and above 72nd Street moves parallel to the avenues; it enters the neighborhood at its juncture with Central Park West at Columbus Circle (59th Street), crosses Columbus Ave. at Lincoln Square (65th Street), crosses Amsterdam Ave. at Verdi Square (72nd Street), and then merges with West End at Straus Park (aka Bloomingdale Square, at 107th Street).
Morningside Heights, just west of Harlem, is the site of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Columbia University, Barnard College, Bank Street College of Education, the National Council of Churches, Union Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music, Teachers College and Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as well as Grant's Tomb and Riverside Church.
Traditionally the neighborhood ranged from the former village of Harsenville, centered on the old Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and 65th Street, west to the railroad yards along the Hudson, then north to 110th Street, where the ground rises to MorningsideHeights. With the building of LincolnCenter, its name, though perhaps not the reality, was stretched south to 59th Street. With the arrival of the corporate headquarters and expensive condos of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, and the Riverside South apartment complex built by Donald Trump, the area from 59th Street to 65th Street is increasingly referred to as Lincoln Square by realtors who acknowledge a different tone and ambiance than that typically associated with the Upper West Side. This is a reversion to the neighborhood's historical name.
LOCAL PARKS & ENTERTAINMENT
RiversidePark 72nd to 159th Streets [ between Riverside Dr. and the Hudson River ]
Central Park 50th to 110th Street
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts West 62nd to 66th Streets
[ between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue ]
* This includes the MET opera house and the New York City philharmonic
Time Warner Center-Columbus Circle Broadway [ between 58th and 60th Streets ]
RESTAURANTS
Asiate 80 Columbus Circle, 35th floor, 60th Street and Broadway
Bar Masa 10 Columbus Circle, 4th floor, 60th Street and Broadway
Tiaheem Byrd Lic Associate Broker at Compass is committed to the Fair Housing Act under the New York State Human Rights Law. To learn more about it, please click here.