New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [78]
To get oriented, head to the David Rubenstein Atrium on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd streets. There you can get schedules and buy tickets (there’s a special TKTS-like booth for same-day tickets at 25%–50% off full price). In addition to having free Wi-Fi, a sandwich shop, and lots of seating, the Atrium is the site for free performances every Thursday at 8:30 pm. | W. 62nd to W. 66th Sts., Broadway to Amsterdam Ave., Upper West Side | Subway: 1 to 66th St. | 212/546–2656 | www.lincolncenter.org.
WORTH NOTING
Columbia University.
Wealthy, private, and Ivy League, New York’s first college has a pedigree that has always attracted students. But for a visitor, the why-go resides within its campus, bucolic and quietly energetic at once.
The main entrance is at 116th Street and Broadway, site of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. To your left is the Miller Theater (www.millertheater.com), which brings an impressive roster of classical and early-music performers to the school. After walking past the “J-School” on your right, follow the herringbone-pattern brick pathway of College Walk to the main quadrangle, the focal point for campus life. (When you eventually leave, exit through the quad’s south gate to West 114th Street’s Frat Row, where brownstones housing Columbia’s frats display quirky signs of collegiate pride.)
Dominating the quad’s south side is Butler Library (1934), modeled after the Roman Pantheon, which holds the bulk of the university’s 8 million books. Looking north, you’ll see Low Memorial Library, its steps presided over by Daniel Chester French’s statue Alma Mater. Low is one of the few buildings you can enter (on weekdays), to check out the former Reading Room and marble rotunda, to pick up a map, or to take a campus tour at the visitor center. (Alternatively, you can visit Columbia’s Web site ahead of time for a podcast and map covering architectural highlights.)
North of the quad (near a cast bronze of August Rodin’s Thinker) is the interdenominational St. Paul’s Chapel, an exquisite little Byzantine-style dome church with salmon-color Guastavino tile vaulting inside. This same design can be seen in Grand Central Terminal and many other buildings throughout the city. Right across Broadway from Columbia’s main gate lies the brick-and-limestone campus of women-only Barnard College (212/854–2014), which also gives tours. | Morningside Heights | 10027 | 212/854–4900 | www.columbia.edu | Visitor center weekdays 9–5. Tours begin at 1 weekdays from Room 213, Low Library | Subway: 1 to 116th St./Columbia University.
The Dakota.
One of the first residences built on the Upper West Side, the château-style Dakota (1884) remains an architectural fixture with its lovely gables, gaslights, copper turrets, and a central courtyard. Celebrity residents have included Boris Karloff, Rudolf Nureyev, José Ferrer, Rosemary Clooney, Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Gilda Radner, and Connie Chung, but none more famous than John Lennon, who in 1980 was shot and killed at the Dakota’s gate by a deranged fan. Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, still live there. | 1 W. 72nd St., at Central Park W, Upper West Side | 10023 | Subway: B, C to 72nd St.
Grant’s Tomb (General Grant National Memorial).
Walk through upper Riverside Park and you’re sure to notice this towering granite mausoleum (1897), the final resting place of Civil War general and two-term president Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. But who’s buried here, as the old joke goes? Nobody—they’re entombed in a crypt beneath a domed rotunda, surrounded by photographs and Grant memorabilia.
Once a more popular sight than the Statue of Liberty, this pillared Classical Revival edifice feels more like a relic of yesteryear, but it remains a moving tribute. The words engraved on the tomb, “Let Us Have Peace,” recall Grant’s speech to the Republican convention upon his