New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [75]
Within the gates of the Columbia or Barnard campuses or inside the hushed St. John the Divine, New York City takes on a different character. This is an uptown student neighborhood—less hip than the Village, but friendly, fun, and intellectual.
PLANNING
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
Broadway is hands down the most walkable and interesting thoroughfare on the Upper West Side, largely because of its broad sidewalks and aggressive mix of retail stores, restaurants, and apartment buildings. If you head north from the Lincoln Center area (around 65th Street) to about 81st Street (about 1 mi), you’ll get a feel for the neighborhood’s local color, particularly above 72nd Street. Up here you’ll encounter residents of every conceivable age and ethnicity either shambling or sprinting (New Yorkers wouldn’t know a medium pace if they tripped over it, quite literally), street vendors hawking used and newish books, and such beloved landmarks as the 72nd Street subway station, the Beacon Theater, the produce mecca Fairway (the cause of perhaps the most perpetually congested block), and Zabar’s, a food spot that launches a memorable assault on all five of your senses—and your wallet.
Should you venture farther uptown, you’ll encounter a high concentration of apartments and the families that complain about outgrowing them, along with a smattering of decent and enduring restaurants. If you’re intrigued by having the city’s only Ivy League school close at hand, hop the 1 train to 116th Street and emerge on the east side of the street, which puts you smack in front of Columbia University and its Graduate School of Journalism. Pass through the gates and up the walk for a look at a cluster of buildings so elegant you’ll understand why it’s an iconic N.Y.C. setting.
GETTING HERE
The A, B, C, D, and 1 subway lines will take you to Columbus Circle. From there, the B and C lines run along Central Park, stopping at 72nd, 81st, 86th, 96th, 103rd, and 110th streets. The 1 train runs up Broadway, making local stops at 66th, 72nd, 79th, 86th, 96th, 103rd, 110th, 116th, and 125th streets. The 2 and 3 trains, which also go along Broadway, stop at 72nd and 96th.
FODOR’S CHOICE
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
Lincoln Center
TOP EXPERIENCES
Walking along Broadway—and stopping to sit on a bench in its median or a chair in the pedestrian-only sections that run along it
Grabbing lox and cream cheese and a cup of coffee at Zabar’s
Strolling through Riverside Park past the boat basin
Standing below the gigantic blue whale at the Museum of Natural History
Watching performers and students rushing to rehearsals and classes at Lincoln Center
Taking in the Gothic mood of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Standing in awe at Grant’s Tomb
TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES
LIVE LIKE A NEW YORKER
The upper 70s and lower 80s of the Upper West Side present a very livable, bourgeois New York. Families and young couples settled here, attracted to the peaceful side streets and broad avenues combined with the best accessories of urban living: museums and performance centers, plentiful stores, restaurants, gourmet markets, and parks.
You could shop and eat your way up and down this stretch of Broadway and Columbus Avenue for hours, turning along tree-lined side streets of gorgeous brownstones. Museum lovers should stroll right up Central Park West—passing the Dakota and other elegant residences—to reach the New-York Historical Society and the American Museum of Natural History. Need a rest? Go for a spot of tea at Alice’s Teacup (102 W. 73rd St. | 212/799–3006) or assemble a picnic from what some say is the city’s best gourmet market and place to get a bagel and lox, Zabar’s (80th St. at Broadway), and take it to Central Park or farther west to Riverside Park.
TAKE A TRIP UPTOWN
Feeling a world