The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West Side is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Hell’s Kitchen to the south, Columbus Circle to the southeast, and Morningside Heights to the north.
Like the Upper East Side opposite Central Park, the Upper West Side is an affluent, primarily residential area with many of its residents working in commercial areas of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. Similarly to the Museum Mile district on the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side is considered one of Manhattan’s cultural and intellectual hubs, with Columbia University and Barnard College located just to the north of the neighborhood, the American Museum of Natural History located near its center, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School located at the south end.
The long high bluff above useful sandy coves along the North River was little used or traversed by the Lenape people. A combination of the stream valleys, such as that in which 96th Street runs, and wetlands to the northeast and east, may have protected a portion of the Upper West Side from the Lenape’s controlled burns; lack of periodic ground fires results in a denser understory and more fire-intolerant trees, such as American Beech.
Geography
The Upper West Side is bounded by 59th Street, Central Park to the east, the Hudson River to the west, and 110th Street to the north. The area north of West 96th Street and east of Broadway is also identified as Manhattan Valley. The overlapping area west of Amsterdam Avenue to Riverside Park was known as the Bloomingdale District. Top HVAC NYC
Enclaves
In the 1900s, the area south of 67th Street was heavily populated by African-Americans and supposedly gained its nickname of “San Juan Hill” in commemoration of African-American soldiers who were a significant part of the assault on Cuba’s San Juan Hill in the Spanish–American War. By 1960, it was a rough neighborhood of tenement housing, the demolition of which was delayed to allow for exterior shots in the film musical West Side Story. After that, urban renewal brought the construction of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Lincoln Towers apartments during 1962–1968.
Restaurants Nearby
- Playa Betty’s is located at 320 Amsterdam Ave, New York City, NY
- Maison Pickle is located at 2315 Broadway, New York, NY
- The Milling Room is located at 446 Columbus Ave, New York City, NY
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