I saw the new 2021 remake of West Side Story last week, and it made me think of when they were shooting some exterior scenes in Harlem. This was in the “before times” – before COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions -in the summer of 2019, July 13 and 14th. It was hot when they were shooting “America,” with temperatures in the 90’s. They had (I believe) wrapped that scene earlier on July 14th, and it was shot on St. Nicholas Avenue between 111th and 113th. As with most shots on location, when not actively filming, you are free to be in the area and look at exterior sets and equipment.
Old-fashioned telephone booth.Partially covered set pieces; vintage magazine rack.Gorgeous old cars!How they get those fantastic shots zooming up over the dancers!Equipment.So difficult to shoot on location, but the result is worth it!
On E. 131st between Fifth and Lenox, there was signage about demolishing buildings to make way for Lincoln Center:
The film was enjoyable on so many levels, one of which being seeing so many Broadway stars on the big screen. Ariana DeBose (“Anita”), from the original company of Hamilton and on to A Bronx Tale and Summer; Mike Faist (“Riff”), from the original cast of Newsies to Dear Evan Hansen; even Brian d’Arcy James (“Officer Krupke” – unfortunately not a singing and dancing role!). with a long resume including Next to Normal, Shrek the Musical, Something Rotten!, and Hamilton. Sentimentally, my favorite was David Alvarez (“Bernardo”), who won a Tony Award in 2009 as one of the three original “Billys” in Billy Eliott the Musical. I remember taking my daughters, who were a little younger, to meet and have things signed by the three young men. It’s fantastic to see him giving such a vivid performance now as a grown man on the big screen.
Looking back on these photos, two-and-a-half years ago but feeling like much longer, it’s clear that the 2021 release of West Side Story involves not only time travel back to the time of the show but also to the time of the filming. Even now, with the film in theaters only, not everyone feels safe seeing it on the big screen with vaccines giving protection but a new variant of COVID-19 running rampant. When you can see this version of West Side Story, however, I do recommend you check it out as I greatly enjoyed it.
With the ongoing smash success of the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” there has certainly been an increased interest in learning about Alexander Hamilton (see my past blog post about this here) and the areas in NYC associated with him. What many may not realize is that the home that Hamilton built in what is now known as Hamilton Heights is now a National Park Service site. On a recent day, I decided to head up to Hamilton Heights and tour Hamilton’s home, The Grange.
Before heading to the Grange, my companion and I had lunch at a cool spot nearby called The Grange (just to set the mood!). The food and atmosphere were both really enjoyable.
Walking from The Grange to the actual Grange, we passed plenty of reminders that this is Alexander’s part of town.
Hamilton Heights is gorgeous, and these townhouses are still relative bargains compared to a similar home on the Upper West Side, for instance. Right now (end of March, 2018) there is a 4 bedroom/3.5 bath townhouse in Hamilton Heights for sale asking $2,700,000. Larger and more recently renovated townhouses in the area generally sell for between $3-4M.
The Grange is currently at 414 West 141st Street, within St. Nicholas Park. It has been moved twice before but still lies within the property that Hamilton owned. The home was built in an early Federalist style (very appropriate!) in 1802 (just two years before Hamilton’s unfortunate duel with Aaron Burr). Entrance to the Grange is free. There is a section of the Grange that functions as a museum, and you can also sign up for ranger-led tours of the upstairs rooms. Check out their website for details of hours, as they vary throughout the year. In less busy times of the year and during the week, the ranger-led tours can likely be joined close to time, but in busier seasons and weekend days, it is best to be there at least 30 minutes before the tour you wish to join to get added to the list.
In the museum section, there is a short film about Hamilton’s life.
Of course there is also a gift shop with plenty of Hamilton swag for purchase.
My favorite item in the gift shop was a small book of George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior.” Some of these seemed self-evident to me (“In visiting the sick, do not presently play the physician if you do not know therein.”) and others amusing (“Show nothing to your friend that may affright him.”). If you want to have a little fun, you can read them all here.
Heading out for the ranger-led tour, it was wonderful to see this exquisite home beautifully renovated.
By “ranger,” I mean a real National Park ranger, complete with uniform, which seems a little incongruous in NYC.
This room was Hamilton’s study. The traveling desk he used was the portable laptop of the time, allowing him to write important messages on the go.
The living room featured a portrait of George Washington, and tables for card games.
The formal dining room was splendid. Because there was no electric light in that time, windows were as large as possible to capture daylight, and mirrors on the walls and on the table were used to reflect candlelight at night.
Toward the end of the ranger-led tour, there was a very entertaining film about moving the Grange. It was moved the first time because city streets were being built in the area, but the second place it sat was overdeveloped and it became hard to see the house properly. It was moved to St. Nicholas Park by literally being rolled down the street in the summer of 2008.
The Grange never directly references the popularity of Hamilton due to the Broadway musical. It cannot be escaped, however. While on the ranger-led tour, a young boy (perhaps 6 or 7) raised his hand and exclaimed, “I can name four of Hamilton’s friends – Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Lafayette, and Hercules Mulligan!” The ranger never cracked a smile, and continued his description of the room we were in. I could not stop smiling however, so delighted that a work of art that is so pleasurable can also inspire an interest in history.
Bust of Alexander Hamilton, flanked by portraits of Aaron and Theodosia Burr, in the New York Historical Society
In the incomparable new American musical, Hamilton, currently the hottest ticket on Broadway in New York City at the Richard Rodgers theatre, the Schuyler sisters are introduced to the audience as they sing joyfully about living in the “greatest city in the world.” This is my own bias as well, and I do consider myself to be “so lucky to be alive right now” and living in NYC. However, as a real estate agent, I know that being able to live in the city is often a struggle – quite often financially in terms of being able to afford living here, and even for those with the means, difficult in terms of limited inventory. Because of my love for the city, and my day-to-day immersion in the city’s residential real estate market, I have found myself thinking about the different neighborhoods mentioned in Hamilton in terms of real estate availability and value. I have already blogged about many of these areas in terms of taking a dérive, or an unplanned walk in an urban environment (see my initial explanation about this idea here), and I will link to those posts when possible.
Before getting into the fun stuff, a few technical notes about price per square foot measures mentioned below: All stats on sales price per square foot are from the Real Estate Board of New York’s third quarter 2015 report here. Condos and coops are listed separately, as the comparative ease of buying a condo versus a coop is reflected in generally higher prices for condos (20-25% more per square foot). Also, higher prices for condos often reflect differences in types of housing – newer developments tend to be condos. For reference, I will also mention current average listing prices found on streeteasy.com for the different neighborhoods, but keep in mind that listing price averages are always higher than closed sales averages, since half or more of all listings end up selling for less than asking price. Also, I am focusing on sales, although I may mention rentals in each neighborhood as well.
Financial District
When the Schuyler sisters sing about living in “Manhattan,” the area we now know as the Financial District (see my previous blog post here) was almost entirely the area considered to be the city at that time. This is quite fitting, since the Financial District as a business center and home to Wall Street owes a great deal to Alexander Hamilton, who as first Secretary of the Treasury provided much of the foundation for NYC as the financial powerhouse it is today. However, over time, the fashionable residential areas spread north, and this area as a residential neighborhood has only returned in force over the past 10-12 years. Walking these streets is an exciting mix between reminders of our colonial and revolutionary past, and the very new and modern development that is occurring now and transforming the neighborhood.
When Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, and Mulligan sing “The Story of Tonight” while drinking in a pub, it might well have been the Fraunces Tavern, since the Sons of Liberty (of which Hercules Mulligan was a member) met there and it was a popular pub at the time. George Washington gave his farewell address to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in 1783. From there, you are a short walk to New York Harbor where Hamilton stole the British cannons at the Battery (as described in “Right Hand Man”), or Trinity Church, where Alexander and Eliza Hamilton are buried near Eliza’s sister Angelica.
How affordable is the Financial District (F.D.)? All city prices would seem unbelievable to those living here at the time of the American Revolution, but for downtown Manhattan, it is relatively affordable. The most recent REBNY numbers showed condos in the F.D. averaging $1207 per square foot (compared to $1593 overall for all of Manhattan, and nearby areas Soho at $2021 and the West Village at $2323 much higher per square foot). Coops average $906 per square foot in the F.D. (compared to $1218 for all of Manhattan, $1509 for Soho, and $1629 for the West Village). I recently did a rental search for a friend wanting to move from Tribeca, and showed her that she could either save about a third in rent if she kept the same size and quality of apartment, or get another bedroom for about the same price or even a little less.
Hell’s Kitchen
Yes, you can call it Clinton if you like, but I think the name “Hell’s Kitchen” is one of the coolest in all of New York City and when I move there I will state the name proudly. No, this area is not mentioned in the musical Hamilton and in fact would not have been populated much at all at the time, but it is very near the Richard Rodgers theatre, currently the home to the musical. The proximity to the theatre district keeps prices down a bit, but would be a plus to me (see my previous blog post about Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen here). There are blocks in Hell’s Kitchen that look just like quiet leafy Chelsea blocks – but at a fraction of the cost – as well as new condo high rises with every amenity and the prices to match.
The REBNY report is for Midtown West, which encompasses a bit more than just Hell’s Kitchen, but lists the average price per square foot at $1734 for condos and $1230 for coops.
Stage door at the Richard Rodgers
The Upper East Side
Statue of Alexander Hamilton in Central Park
Again, not mentioned in Hamilton (although a family with the wealth and connections of the Schuylers would have certainly moved to Fifth Avenue along with the robber barons in the early 20th century), but mentioned because of the statue of Alexander Hamilton standing proudly among the trees behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in our beloved Central Park (not created until long after Revolutionary times).
The Upper East Side has long been a bastion of wealth, and areas to the west of Lexington Avenue still command a premium due to proximity to Central Park (see one of my many blog posts about the park here, and another about the value of a park view here). However, the far east side (east of Second Avenue, particularly the area called Yorkville, see my post here) still has value, in part because of its perceived remoteness and the construction mess due to the building of the Second Avenue Subway. While overall the Upper East Side averages $1764 per square foot for condos and $1234 for coops, Streeteasy listings show the difference in listing prices for Yorkville ($1693 per square foot, all types) versus Lenox Hill near the park ($2667 per square foot, all types). Rentals in Yorkville are particularly well priced compared to other areas of Manhattan, except for areas of upper Manhattan that will be discussed next.
Harlem and Upper Manhattan
There are plenty of references to Harlem in Hamilton, from Washington’s “run to Harlem quick” in “Right Hand Man, ” Hamilton’s wooing of Eliza with a plan to “get a little place in Harlem and we’ll figure it out” in “Helpless,” and “the Hamiltons move uptown” in “It’s Quiet Uptown.” Moving to Harlem in those days before motorized vehicles and the subway was the equivalent to moving to the remote countryside, and even King’s College (later renamed Columbia, sorry again, King George) was at that time in lower Manhattan, not in its current spot in Morningside Heights (see a previous blog post here). Hamilton Heights, an area of Harlem I wrote about in this blog post, is named for the location of Hamilton Grange, and the Hamilton home can still be seen there (although not in the exact location, still within the farmland owned by the Hamiltons). Even farther north than Harlem is Washington Heights (see previous blog post here), home of the Morris-Jumel mansion – once Washington’s headquarters (and then the British government’s), later the home of Aaron Burr, and most recently the site used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to work on composing Hamilton. This historic home hosted many other notable figures who also live on in the musical by reference or as characters – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and yes, Alexander Hamilton.
Harlem and much of upper Manhattan is rapidly appreciating in value, but still represents a relative bargain in Manhattan. The REBNY numbers separate Harlem only by East ($748 per square foot for condos, no figures for coops) and West ($713 for condos, $996 for coops), not a very practical demarcation. Streeteasy listings show average prices as $829 per square foot for trendy Central Harlem (all types), $667 for East Harlem, $661 for Hamilton Heights, $721 for Morningside Heights (the Columbia effect), and $638 for Washington Heights.
There are other areas in NYC mentioned in Hamilton, some vague (“British take Brooklyn” in “Right Hand Man” – likely Brooklyn Heights) and others specific (“abandoning Kips’ Bay,” also in “Right Hand Man”) and those will be future places for my dérives and the subsequent blog posts.
At a recent social event, a friend and I were talking about getting together more often, and I said, “Well, you know how to find me.” Her husband responded, “Yes, at the Hamilton lottery!” (clearly he is following my Facebook posts) and my friend asked what the show was about. After explaining that it is a hip-hop musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, and she replied, “You know, that sounds like the craziest thing I have ever heard!” Well, crazy good . . . Yes, finding a place to live in New York City is frustrating, you will always end up spending more than you hoped (even those with more financial resources but especially those with fewer), and it will likely take longer than you want and you will end up compromising, but how lucky we are to be alive right now, in a city filled with creativity and the arts – truly, the greatest city in the world.
The hottest ticket in New York City this year is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new musical, “Hamilton,” currently at the Public Theater on Lafayette Street but moving to Broadway this summer. Coincidentally the day after I was fortunate enough to see it, while searching for a new apartment for a couple, I found a possibility for them in Hamilton Heights. Of course I had heard of the neighborhood in upper Manhattan and had been there before, but the connection to Alexander Hamilton didn’t fully register until that moment. I decided that my next dérive (an unplanned walk in an urban environment) would take place in Hamilton Heights, while the soundtrack to “Hamilton” was still freshly ringing in my head.
Hamilton Heights lies between 135th and 155th Streets to the south and north, and between Edgecombe Road and the Hudson River to the east and west. This puts it just south of Washington Heights (location of Miranda’s “In the Heights”) and just north of Manhattanville and Morningside Heights. Why all the “heights” in upper Manhattan? Take a walk in any of these neighborhoods, and you will see – the elevation in this part of the island is considerable, and some streets are quite steep, particularly rising from the Hudson. Alexander Hamilton’s farmland in the last two years of his life before the infamous duel with Aaron Burr was roughly in the part of the neighborhood between 140th and 146th Streets.
Public transportation options are good in Hamilton Heights. The 1, A, B, C, and D trains all make stops here, and it is possible to get from 155th Street to Times Square in about 15 minutes. For my dérive, I took the C and emerged at St. Nicholas Avenue and 135th Street. St. Nicholas Park rises steeply to the west of St. Nicholas Avenue here, and the majestic neo-Gothic tower of Shepard Hall of the City College of New York can be seen rising from the ice-age Manhattan schist that was used to construct the iconic campus buildings. CCNY was the first public institution of higher learning in the United States, and the beauty of its campus holds up to the private colleges and universities that predated it. Ten Nobel Prize winners have graduated from CCNY, the most recent alum winning for Medicine in 2014.
Just to the north of the main quad of CCNY sits Alexander Hamilton’s home for the final two years of his life, named Hamilton Grange after his ancestral home in Scotland. This location in St. Nicholas Park is not where he lived, however – the house itself has been moved three times, but has settled in this location, not too far from its original spot. The Grange is a National Park Service site, and has been restored to reflect its appearance during 1802-1804 when Hamilton lived in it.
Walking north on Hamilton Terrace from St. Nicholas Park, it is easy to forget that you are in Manhattan. This is a very quiet, residential neighborhood with rows of townhouses or brownstones on tree-lined streets. Hamilton Terrace goes on for blocks without any intersections, and most of the townhouses here date from the 1890’s. Hamilton Terrace runs into Convent Avenue, and continuing north, the sub-neighborhood of Sugar Hill reveals stately rowhouses that once were the residences of famous New Yorkers such as Cab Calloway, W.E.B DuBois, Duke Ellington, and Babe Ruth (when he was an infant). Nicknamed Sugar Hill because it was where wealthy residents of Harlem moved in the 1920’s to enjoy the “sweet life,” the area holds large pre-war apartments that are still affordable, by current New York City standards.
The Billy Strayhorn standard, “Take the A Train,” most familiar as an instrumental version performed by the Duke Ellington orchestra, does have lyrics, and they give you clear directions about how to get to this charming affordable neighborhood in upper Manhattan:
You must take the A Train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the A Train
You’ll find you’ve missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now, it’s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming (All Aboard!)
Get on the A Train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem
Bounded by Manhattan Valley to the south, Harlem to the north, Morningside Park to the east, and Riverside Park and the Hudson River to the West, Morningside Heights is an area with a long history (an important Revolutionary War battle was fought here) and many illustrious former residents (F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Cecil B. deMille, Fiona Apple, Thurgood Marshall, and Barack Obama among them). Recently I have heard of a trend to call the area “SoHa” or “south of Harlem” – but other than the names of a few places in the neighborhood, have not actually heard anyone use this term! Recently I took a winter stroll through the area to get a feel for what Morningside Heights has to offer.
To begin my dérive (an unplanned walk in an urban environment), I walked along Central Park West until I hit 110th Street, and turned west. Dominating the horizon almost immediately is the fourth largest Christian church in the world, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Also known as “St. John the Unfinished,” it was designed in 1888 and begun in 1892, but was interrupted by two world wars and is still being fully completed. The Cathedral takes up a huge swath of land on Amsterdam Avenue between 110th and 113th Streets. A pleasant mix of secular and religious, the interior features sculptures of figures representing great thinkers of different centuries: representing the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are William Shakespeare, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. In 2001 the 20th century representatives were completed with a group of four: Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Susan B. Anthony, and Mohandas Gandhi. A center for the arts, Philippe Petit (the French high-wire walker who was the subject of Man on Wire) is the Artist in Residence.
When I stopped by on this dérive in late December of 2014, one of the largest pieces of sculpture ever exhibited in the US, Phoenix (by Chinese artist Xu Bing) dominated the nave, two enormous birds suspended in air, looking at the Rose Window. The Cathedral’s Halloween celebration is a “don’t miss” (unless you fail to get your tickets early enough and are shut out) – a screening of an old silent horror movie accompanied by live organ music, followed by the Procession of the Ghouls, a parade of costumed performers and enormous spooky puppets. There are so many reasons to visit the Cathedral – the Feast of St. Francis procession that could include animals as diverse as a kangaroo, a camel, or a yak; the wild and wonderful Winter Solstice celebration – that living in proximity to it would be sufficient to make someone want to be a resident of this neighborhood, in my opinion.
However, walking west from the Cathedral along 113th Street, the quiet nature of these side streets provides yet another reason to live here. Although Broadway is bustling with places to eat and shop, the side streets are largely residential. Continuing west, I ran into Riverside Park, gorgeous year-round. Walking north, I treasured the magnificent buildings along Riverside Drive that face the Hudson River and the park, and their wonderful old-world elegance.
Turning to walk east along 116th Street, I appreciated the banners representing Barnard College – Transforming women and the world for 125 years. One thing people don’t generally think of when they think of New York City is that in fact it is a “college town.” There are over 600,000 students enrolled in the city’s 120 colleges and universities – more than any other city in the United States (yes, more than Boston!). Continuing up 116th Street to Broadway, I entered the campus of NYC’s own member of the Ivy League, Columbia University. It is the fifth oldest institute of higher learning in the US, and one of only nine “Colonial Colleges” founded before the American Revolution. Originally named King’s College and located at Trinity Church in lower Manhattan, it moved (under its post-Revolution name, Columbia College) to midtown for about 50 years in the 1800’s and then to its current spot (as Columbia University) in Morningside Heights in 1896. Although the campus was designed along Beaux-Arts principles, neo-classical styles abound, including its grand library, named one of the most beautiful in the United States.
Columbia’s presence remains a stabilizing force in Morningside Heights, but doesn’t dominate the neighborhood. Residential prices in the area are more reasonable than the Upper West Side, but with abundant public transportation it’s still an easy trip into midtown or downtown. Where else can you confirm who is buried in Grant’s Tomb (Riverside at W. 122nd) or search for peacocks wandering in a garden behind a grand unfinished cathedral? Morningside Heights is a wonderful destination, whether you are an occasional visitor or decide to become a resident.
I have written previously about the value of a view of nature – how our animal selves need to connect to plants or animals even within New York City’s urban jungle. While not NYC’s largest park (that would be Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx), Central Park is an amazingly large green space within the relatively small island of Manhattan. The increase in value a view of Central Park, or even proximity to it without a view, delivers to an apartment in New York City is well established. Most tourists only see, or even think about, the south end of the park, closest to Midtown, However, the northern third of the park is equally beautiful, and the price of an apartment on Central Park North (110th Street) is a fraction of that on Central Park South (59th Street). I enjoy taking unplanned walks around the city (dérives) and decided to walk along the edge of Central Park, starting on Central Park West and 86th Street, crossing the top of the park at Central Park North, and then heading south along Fifth Avenue, stopping at 86th Street.
At the corner of Central Park West and 86th Street, you stand flanked by Central Park to the east, facing a row of Central Park West’s grand prewar apartment buildings to the west. Many of the east-facing apartments in these buildings in the upper 80’s/low 90’s have wonderful views of the Jacqueline Onassis reservoir (living on Fifth Avenue, she was well known for using the jogging path around the reservoir). Continuing north, large outcroppings of ice age Manhattan schist can be seen, forming a natural cliff at the edge of the park. I was struck along this section by the Eldorado, the most northern of the several “twin towered” buildings along CPW (the San Remo, the Majestic, and the Century being farther south).
When you walk to the Northwest corner of CPW and 110th Street (which is called Central Park North for obvious reasons between Central Park West and Fifth Avenue), a statue of Frederick Douglass can be seen, gazing up the Avenue bearing his name. His is a fairly new statue, only being revealed in 2010. Turning east on Central Park North, it is clear that this section of park-facing apartments is a mixture of older tenement-styled buildings, and a few spectacular new development properties. It seem that this is only the beginning of the development of this stretch of real estate, with the potential for views south encompassing the entire length of Central Park as well as the Manhattan skyline. I have seen the spectacular view that apartments facing north on Central Park South have, but so far can only imagine how amazing those same views are from the north with the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and new icons like One57 and 432 Park rising up behind the park.
Within the north section of Central Park, beautiful and serene Harlem Meer (“meer” is simply a “lake” in Dutch, New York City’s first language) anchors the recreational possibilities for this area. Catch-and-release fishing are available (yes, people can actually fish in Central Park), and Lasker Rink provides ice skating in the winter but is transformed into a swimming pool in the summer. There is a Harlem Meer performance festival every summer, well worth visiting regardless of where you live in the city.
At the Northeast corner of Central Park North and Fifth Avenue, a statue of Duke Ellington (complete with piano) honors his importance in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s. A committee led by cabaret singer Bobby Short raised the money for this statue in the 1980’s. Turning onto Fifth and heading south, One Museum Mile, a new residential development designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects signals the change to what some call “Upper Carnegie Hill.” Passing the lush and elegant Conservancy Gardens, the Carnegie Mansion (home to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum), and the Guggenheim, Fifth Avenue slowly evolves into the street we imagine, stately apartment buildings side-by-side facing the park.
What I have learned from exploring Central Park and the streets facing it is that the Park is truly a kind of miracle – such an oasis of multi-layered nature surrounded by our great city. Living in close proximity to the park is a gift, and one with a price. However, the price is lessened on the north section of the park, and offers great value for those looking to live near this green jewel within the island of Manhattan.
The line between Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side and Spanish Harlem, or El Barrio, once seemed carved in stone. Generally speaking, El Barrio stretches north of 96th Street, from Central Park to the East River. East Harlem was New York City’s first “Little Italy,” hence the famous Italian restaurants still in the area, like the original location of Patsy’s Pizzeria and Rao’s. After World War I, a large influx of Puerto Rican immigrants began the transition of this neighborhood to Spanish Harlem. Regardless of the name, the area along Fifth Avenue north of 96th Street (now sometimes called “Upper Carnegie Hill”), has certainly undergone a transformation over the past decade.
For this dérive (an unplanned journey through an urban environment; see my previous blog posts), we start at Fifth and 96th, walking north. For several blocks, Fifth Avenue is dominated by Mount Sinai Medical Center, a dominant presence in this neighborhood. Just north of Mount Sinai, beautiful apartment buildings, pre- and post-war, emerge. Some of the apartments in these buildings with views of Central Park are being sold for prices that would have been unimaginable ten years ago!
Looking at the Central Park Conservatory Gardens (Fifth Avenue between 104th and 106th Streets), one can easily see the value of such a view. The entrance to the Gardens is a massive iron gate, built in Paris in 1894 and once the entrance to the Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth and 58th Street. The Gardens is divided into three spaces with different styles: Italian, French, and English. During the spring and summer, all sections of the Conservatory Gardens are lush and colorful, and of course in the autumn the entire park is overtaken by red, orange, and yellow foliage.
This area along Fifth Avenue also houses a few museums here at the top of “Museum Mile.” On either side of 103th Street on Fifth sit the Museum of the City of New York and El Museo del Barrio. The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 to educate the populace about the past, present and future of the city. It was originally housed in Gracie Mansion (see my blog post on Yorkville) but a dedicated building was constructed on land donated by the city, completed in 1932. Interesting artifacts housed in the museum are as diverse as original manuscripts by Eugene O’Neill, a man’s suit worn to George Washington’s Inaugural ball (which took place in NYC, the nation’s capital at that time), and a dollhouse containing an original miniature work by Marcel Duchamp. Founded 40 years ago, El Museo del Barrio celebrates the art and culture of all Latin Americans in the United States, and hosts concerts, educational events, and exhibitions.
Strolling east on Fifth, there is a quiet nature to the neighborhood that does perhaps justify the term “Upper Carnegie Hill.” Turning east on 106th Street, however, things become more vibrant, with abundant dining opportunities once you reach Lexington Avenue. Heading south on Lex, you can’t miss Duffy’s Hill at 103rd, one of the steepest grades in New York. Whoever Duffy was, he was certainly out of breath! There is a 6 subway stop right at 103rd before the hill begins, if it looks too daunting. However, a little cardio and some stretched calf muscles will reward the walker with several blocks of interesting places to eat and a few new condo residential buildings. Lexington between 104th and 99th Streets has been called a new “restaurant row.” On Lexington between 99th and 100th Street, check out Lloyd’s Carrot Cake (http://www.lloydscarrotcake.com/). The first time I had a Lloyd’s carrot cake, I was at a friend’s party and the cake had been bought from the original location in Riverdale. If this location is more convenient than Riverdale (as it is for me), you can try a slice before purchasing an entire cake. On the corner of Lexington and 97th is ABV (http://www.abvny.com/), a casually sophisticated place to eat and drink, with great tapas, interesting cocktails, and live music on Monday nights.
Ending up at Lexington and 96th Street, the 6 subway or a crosstown bus can take you quickly where you need to go elsewhere in the city. Whether or not East Harlem is the “next Williamsburg,” as has been touted, it’s a neighborhood with good value and plenty to offer as a place to visit or to live.
Julie Brannan, NYC residential real estate 