Everything about The Upper West Side totally explained
The
Upper West Side is a neighborhood of the
borough of
Manhattan in
New York City that lies between
Central Park and the
Hudson River above
West 59th Street.
Like the
Upper East Side, the Upper West Side is primarily a residential and shopping area, with many of its residents working in more commercial areas in
Midtown and
Lower Manhattan. While these distinctions were never hard-and-fast rules, and now mean little, it has the reputation of being home to New York City's
liberal cultural and artistic workers, in contrast to the Upper East Side, which is perceived to be traditionally home to more affluent
conservative commercial and business types. The neighborhood is rather upscale with the median household income in many areas exceeding Manhattan average to a considerable extent.
Geography
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's now sometimes considered to be
125th Street, encompassing
Morningside Heights. This reflects demographic shifts in Morningside Heights, as well as the tendency of real estate brokers to co-opt the tony Upper West Side name when listing Morningside Heights and Harlem apartments.
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 Square (aka Bloomingdale Square, at 107th Street).
Morningside Heights, just south of
Harlem, is the site of the
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine,
Columbia University,
Barnard College,
Union Theological Seminary,
Manhattan School of Music,
Teachers College and
Jewish Theological Seminary, 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 Morningside Heights. With the building of
Lincoln Center, 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.
History
Originally the name Bloomingdale (from the Dutch "Bloemendaal"), or the Bloomingdale District, applied to the west side of Manhattan from about
23rd Street up to the Hollow Way (modern 125th Street), and it contained numerous farms and country residences of many of the city's well-off. The main artery of this area was the Bloomingdale Road, which began north of where Broadway and the Bowery Lane join (at modern
Union Square) and wended its way northward up to about modern 116th Street in Morningside Heights, where the road further north was known as the Kingsbridge Road. Within the confines of the modern-day Upper West Side, the road passed through areas known as Harsenville, Strycker's Bay, and Bloomingdale Village.
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Upper West Side-to-be contained some of colonial New York's most ambitious houses, spaced along Bloomingdale Road. It became increasingly infilled with smaller, more suburban villas in the first half of the nineteenth century, and in the middle of the century, parts had become decidedly lower class.
Much of the riverfront of the Upper West Side was a shipping, transportation, and manufacturing corridor. The
Hudson River Railroad line
right-of-way was granted in the late 1830s to connect New York City to Albany, and soon ran along the riverbank. One major non-industrial development, the creation of the Central Park in the 1850s and 60s caused many squatters to move their shacks into the UWS. Parts of the neighborhood became a ragtag collection of squatters' housing, boarding houses, and rowdy taverns.
As this development occurred, the old name of Bloomingdale Road was being chopped away and the name Broadway was progressively being applied further northward to include what had been lower Bloomingdale Road. In 1868, the city began straightening and grading the section of the Bloomingdale Road from Harsenville north, and it became known as "The Boulevard". It retained that name until the end of the century, when the name Broadway finally supplanted it.
Development of the neighborhood lagged even while Central Park was being laid out in the 1860s and 70s, then was stymied by the
Panic of 1873. Things turned around when the elevated train's rapid transit was extended up Ninth Avenue (renamed Columbus Avenue in 1890), and with Columbia University's relocation to
Morningside Heights in the 1890s, using lands once held by the Bloomingdale Asylum. The Upper West Side was built in a boom from 1885 to 1910, thanks in large part to the arrival of IRT subway stations at 72nd, 79th, 86th and 96th Street after 1904.
In the early part of the 1900s, the Upper West Side 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 major part of the assault on
Cuba's
San Juan Hill in the
Spanish-American War. But by 1960, the area was a rough neighborhood of tenement housing and was used for exterior shots in the movie musical
West Side Story.
Urban renewal then swept through with the construction of the
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and
Lincoln Towers apartments during 1962–1968.
Riverside Park was conceived in 1866 and formally approved by the state legislature through the efforts of city parks commissioner
Andrew Haswell Green. The first segment of park was acquired through condemnation in 1872, and construction soon began following a design created by the firm of
Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed the adjacent, gracefully curving
Riverside Drive. In 1937, under the administration of commissioner
Robert Moses, 132 acres of land were added to the park, primarily by creating a promenade that covered the tracks of the Hudson River Railroad. Moses, working with landscape architect
Gilmore D. Clarke also added playgrounds, and distinctive stonework and the 79th Street boat basin, but also cut pedestrians off from direct access to most of the riverfront by building the
Henry Hudson Parkway by the river's edge. According to
Robert Caro's book,
The Power Broker on Moses, Riverside Park was designed with most of the amenities located in predominately white neighborhoods, with the neighborhoods closer to Harlem getting shorter shrift. Riverside Park, like Central Park, has undergone a revival in the last 30 years, largely through the efforts of
The Riverside Park Fund
, a citizen's group. Largely through their efforts and the support of the city, much of the park has been improved. The Hudson River greenway, that borders the river-edge of the park is a popular route for pedestrians and bicylcle commuters, and offers spectacular vistas. A dramatic new improvement to the greenway is the $13.3 million "Riverwalk" extension to the park's greenway being constructed between 83rd and 91st Streets on a promenade in the river itself. Riverwalk is due to be completed in the spring of 2009.
From the post-WWII years until the AIDS epidemic the neighborhood, especially below 86th Street had a substantial gay population. Theater people had been attracted to the neighborhood because of its proximity and easy transportation to the Theater District, and among these were many gay men. As the neighborhood had deteriorated it was affordable to working class gay men, and those just arriving in NYC and looking for their first white collar jobs. Its ethnically mixed gay population, mostly Hispanic and white, with a mixture of income levels and occupations patronized the same gay bars in the neighborhood, making it markedly different from most gay enclaves elsewhere in the city. The influx of white gay men in the Fifties and Sixties is often credited with accelerating the gentrification of the Upper West Side, and by the mid and late 70's the gay male population had become predominantly white.
Another component that brought about the eventual gentrification of the neighborhood were the recent college graduates in the late '70s and early '80s who moved in, drawn to the neighborhood's large apartments and cheap housing.
The Upper West Side is also a largely Jewish neighborhood, populated with both German Jews who moved in at the turn of the century, and Jewish refugees escaping Hitler's Europe in the 1930's. Today the area between 85th Street and 100th Street is home to the largest community of young Modern Orthodox singles outside of Israel.
In a subsequent phase of urban renewal, the rail yards which had formed the Upper West Side's southwest corner were replaced by the
Riverside South residential project and a southward extension of Riverside Park. The evolution of Riverside South had a 40-year history, often extremely bitter, beginning in 1962 with the first proposal made by the Penn Railroad itself. The most ambitious proposal, and the one generating the most opposition was
Donald Trump's "Television City" concept of 1985, which would have included a 152-story tower. In 1991, civic groups signaled that they were willing to accept a development about 40% smaller in scope than Trump proposed, and things finally started moving.
As of 2005 construction is well underway, but still to be resolved is the future of the West Side Highway viaduct over the park area.
The Bloomingdale district was the site for several long-established charitable institutions: their unbroken parcels of land have provided suitably-scaled sites for
Columbia University and the
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, as well as for some vanished landmarks, such as the
Schwab Mansion on
Riverside Drive, the most ambitious free-standing private house ever built in Manhattan.
The name Bloomingdale is still used in reference to a part of the Upper West Side, essentially the location of old Bloomingdale Village, the area from about 96th Street up to 110th Street and from Riverside Park east to Amsterdam Ave. The triangular block bound by Broadway, West End Avenue, 106th Street and 107th Street, although generally known as Straus Park (named for
Isidor Straus and his wife Ida), was officially designated Bloomingdale Square in 1907. The neighborhood also includes the
Bloomingdale School of Music and Bloomingdale neighborhood branch of the
New York Public Library. Adjacent to the Bloomingdale neighborhood is a more diverse and less affluent subsection of the Upper West Side called
Manhattan Valley, focused on the downslope of Columbus Avenue and
Manhattan Avenue from about 102nd Street up to 110th Street.
Transportation
There are two subway lines on the Upper West Side. The 1,2,3, (2 & 3 are express) run along Broadway making stops at 59th Street, 66th Street, 72nd Street (express stop), 79th Street, 86th Street, 96th Street (express stop), 103rd Street and 110th Street. The B & C trains run along Central Park West stopping at 59th Street, 72nd Street, 81st Street, 96th Street, 103rd Street and 110th Street.
There are five different bus routes that go up and down the Upper West Side, as well as crosstown buses at every major intersection.
M5: Up and down Riverside Drive from 72nd Street to 178 Street (limited bus available).
M104: Up and down Broadway
M7 & M11: Up Amsterdam and down Columbus
M10: Up and down Central Park West
Landmarks and institutions
Corporate
Cultural
American Museum of Natural History
Beacon Theater* Children's Museum of Manhattan
Lincoln Center
New-York Historical Society
Symphony Space
Education
Abraham Joshua Heschel School Lower School- West 89th Street
Abraham Joshua Heschel School Middle School- West 91st Street
Abraham Joshua Heschel School High School- West End Ave and W. 60th Street
Alexander Robertson School - West 95th Street off Central Park West
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy
The Anderson School PS 334 - (K-5 & 6-8), 84th & Columbus
Columbia University - in Morningside Heights
Bank Street College of Education and School for Children - in Morningside Heights
Bard Graduate Center at 86th and Columbus.
Barnard College - in Morningside Heights
Beit Rabban School
Bloomingdale School of Music
Booker T. Washington Middle School 54 - 107th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus
Calhoun School
The Cathedral School of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine - in Morningside Heights
The Center School - 70th between Amsterdam and West End
The Collegiate School
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
Columbus Academy
MS 44
The Computer School (MS 245)
Corpus Christi School - next to Columbia University and Teachers College (External Link)
De La Salle Academy
Dwight School
Ethical Culture Fieldston School Central Park West and 63rd Street
Fordham University Lincoln Center campus - Schools of Law, Business, Social Service and Education
Jewish Theological Seminary - in Morningside Heights
New York Institute of Technology - in the Columbus Circle proximity
Manhattan School of Music - in Morningside Heights
Manhattan Day School
Mannes College of Music, a division of New School University, on 85th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus
PS 75
PS 87, on 78th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue.
PS 97
PS 9 - 84th and Columbus
PS 163 (aka the Alfred E. Smith School) - West 97th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues
Rodeph Sholom School
St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School - in Morningside Heights
Teachers College of Columbia University, in Morningside Heights
Trevor Day School
Trinity School
Union Theological Seminary - in Morningside Heights
Yeshiva Ketana of Manhattan
York Preparatory School- Near Lincoln Center
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts - behind Lincoln Center
Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan
Food and gourmet
Amsterdam Avenue from 67th Street up to 96th Street is lined with restaurants and bars. Columbus Avenue is as well, to a slightly lesser extent. The following lists a few neighborhood institutions and famous places.
Barney Greengrass the Sturgeon King - gourmet grocery, Amsterdam Ave. and 86th St., founded 1908
Café des Artistes - 67th St. at Central Park West, founded 1917
Cafe Lalo - dessert cafe, 83rd St. at Amsterdam, seen in You've Got Mail
Cafe Con Leche - between 95th and 96th street & Amsterdam. Cuban and Dominican cuisine.
Candle Bar - Amsterdam btwn 75th & 74th. Oldest continuously operating gay bar in NYC, open as a gay establishment since the mid-60's.
Citarella - gourmet grocery, Broadway and 75th St., founded 1912 at 164th St. and later moved to UWS
Gray's Papaya - hot dog and juice stand, 2090 Broadway, at 72nd st.
Edgar's Cafe - dessert cafe, 84th St. at Broadway, so named because Edgar Allan Poe lived near this location during 1844-1845, where Poe allegedly composed "The Raven"
Fairway Market - market and grocery, Broadway and 74th St., founded c. 1950
Fine & Schapiro - famous kosher deli 138 w. 72nd Street (between Broadway and Columbus)
H&H Bagels - Broadway and 80th St., founded 1972
Sing & Sing Market - Columbus Ave. at 96th St., affectionately known as Sing Sing, bakery/greenmarket/deli on the ground floor of The Westmont selling kosher food.
Tavern on the Green - famous restaurant located in Central Park at Central Park West and West 67th Street, founded 1934
Tom's Restaurant - Broadway and 112th St. in Morningside Heights, founded c. 1950
Zabar's - gourmet grocery, Broadway and 80th St., founded 1934
Restaurants
Gabriel's - 11 W 60th St | Btwn 9th Ave & Bway $$$$
Manhattan Diner - 2180 Broadway | At 77th St $$$
Spiga - 200 W 84th St | Btwn Amsterdam Ave & Bway $$$$
Noche Mexicana - 852 Amsterdam Ave | Btwn 101st & 102nd St $$
Thai Market - 960 Amsterdam Ave | Btwn 107th & 108th St $$
Other historical sites
Grant's Tomb - in Morningside Heights
Columbus Circle - statue of Christopher Columbus on 59th St. and the intersection of Broadway and Central Park West.
Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument - on Riverside Drive at 89th Street.
The former East River Savings Bank at Amsterdam and 96th Street (Walker and Gillette, 1927) is a classical temple now housing a drugstore, locally termed "The Aspirineum" and "The First National Bank of CVS"
Religious
Advent Lutheran Church - Broadway/93rd.
Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church 71st Street between Broadway and Columbus Avenues. Interesting tapestries on display, modeled on 14th century French Gothic Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
The Carlebach Shul-305 West 79th Street, off West End Avenue
Lincoln Square Synagogue200 Amsterdam Avenue, on Broadway.
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine - in Morningside Heights, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, or at least it'll be, when it's finished. Suffered significant fire damage to the South transept in December 2001. The church was originally to follow a Romanesque design, but the builders switched to a Gothic design along the way. The church plans to replace the great dome with a massive Gothic tower, but this major construction project is likely to take decades, if it's ever completed.
First Baptist Church in the City of New York 79th Street at Broadway
The Church of St. Gregory the Great 90th Street between Amsterdam/Columbus.
Church of Sts. Paul and Andrew 86th Street West End Avenue. Center of strong community outreach programs to the disaffected.
Church of the Ascension (Catholic) 107th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam
Congregation Ansche Chesed אנשי חסד
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
Congregation Habonim
Congregation Ohab Zedek (OZ)
Congregation Shaare Zedek West 93rd Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam.
Congregation Shearith Israel
Congregation Rodeph Sholom 83rd Street/Central Park. Established the first Reform Jewish Day School in North America in 1970.
Congregation Ohav Sholom
Corpus Christi Church near Columbia University
Holy Name of Jesus R.C. Church - 207 West 96th Street, NW corner of Amsterdam. Built 1892-1900; restored 1998-2000.
Darkhei Noam
Holy Trinity Church 82nd Street betw. Broadway/Amsterdam, a fine example of Byzantine architecture with mosaics in the ceilings.
The Jewish Center
Kehilat Hadar
Kehilat Orach Eliezer
Kol Zimrah
Kollel Yisroel V'Shimshon of the West Side
Manhattan New York Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 65th Street and Columbus/Broadway, across the street from Lincoln Center.
New York Buddhist Church
Rabbi Besser's Shtiebel
Riverside Church - in Morningside Heights
St. Michael's - Welcoming, diverse community. Traditional Anglican and emerging church/Seeker worship services. Amsterdam Ave at W 99th Street.
St. Ignatius Episcopal Church Excellent example of Anglican "high church" architecture. 87th Street West End Avenue.
Society for Ethical Culture Also a classical music venue.
Trinity Lutheran Church- 100st/Am&Col
The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annuciation - 91st/West End Ave.
The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, (Carrère and Hastings, 1903); now housing the Crenshaw Christian Center
Society for the Advancement of Judaism
Minyan Ma'at (which is part of Congregation Ansche Chesed)
West Side Minyan
Manhattan Jewish Experience - 131 W. 86th Street
Residences
The apartment buildings along Central Park West, facing the park, are some of the most desirable apartments in New York. The Dakota at 72nd St. has been home to numerous celebrities including John Lennon. Other famous buildings on CPW include the Art Deco Century Apartments (Irwin Chanin, 1931) and the Majestic also by Chanin. The San Remo, Eldorado (300 C.P.W., with the highest sum of Democratic presidential campaign contributions by address in 2004) was the home of Herman Wouk's fictional Marjorie Morningstar, and The Beresford, were all built by Emery Roth as was 41 West 96th Street (completed in 1926). Along Broadway are several Beaux-Arts apartment houses: the Belnord (1908), the Apthorp (1908), the Ansonia Hotel (1902) and the Dorilton. Riverside Drive also has many beautiful pre-war houses and larger buildings, including the graceful curving apartment buildings—The Paterno and The Colosseum by Schwartz & Gross—at 116th St and Riverside Drive. The northern stretches of Columbus Avenue are graced by the post-modern landmarks, The Westmont and its sister building, the Key West.
In film, television, and the arts
The Upper West Side has been a setting for many movies and television shows because of its pre-War architecture, colorful community and rich cultural life. Ever since Edward R. Murrow went "Person-to-Person" live, the length of Central Park West in the 1950s, West Siders scarcely pause to gape at on-site trailers, and jump their skateboards over coaxial cables and it seems that one or another of the various Law & Order shows is taking up all the available parking spaces in the neighborhood. Woody Allen's film Hannah and Her Sisters captures that quintessential Upper West Side flavor of rambling high-ceilinged apartments bursting at the seams with books and other cultural artifacts.
Movies
American Psycho (film) (2000), The main character, played by Christian Bale, named Patrick Bateman, apparently lives in the American Gardens Building on West 81st street.
The Apartment (1960)
Black and White (1999), has scenes of Central Park and Columbia University
(2006) Early on in his trip to America, Borat is seen in Columbus Circle in front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower
Cruel Intentions 3 (2004), takes place at an Upper West Side prep school
(1995), includes a scene set outside the subway station at 72nd Street and Broadway, featuring a public phone that was in fact only a prop.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) The characters played by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman live in an apartment on Central Park West.
Fools Rush In (1997) Several scenes, including the 72nd St. & Broadway Subway station and CPW
Ghostbusters (1984), at the opening of the movie, the three ghostbusters are shown as being ousted professors on the Columbia University campus, and the building where Sigourney Weaver's character lives is 55 Central Park West, at 66th St.
Ghostbusters II (1989) Janosz says he's from the Upper West Side.
Heartburn (1986) finds Meryl Steep's character taking refuge in her father's spacious apartment at the Apthorp on 79th Street and Broadway after her marriage to the character played by Jack Nicholson fails; author Nora Ephron, on whose novel the film was based, was an Apthorp resident at the time.
(1992) takes place in Central Park, and in a townhouse on 95th St. as well as other locations throughout New York.
The House on 92nd Street (1945), though set on the UES at 92nd/Madison, the movie is based on the true story of Nazi spies operating out of an Upper West Side boarding house on 90th Street between Amsterdam/Columbus.
Keeping the Faith (2000), various church locations (External Link)
Kissing Jessica Stein (2002)
Little Manhattan (2005), includes various scenes from the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, Broadway / 72nd Street, and Septuagesimo Uno (the smallest NYC public park located on West 71st street between Amsterdam Ave and West End Ave).
I Am Legend (2007), Will Smith, re-work of the Charlton Heston film "the Omega Man". The now disused Red Cross Hosiptal on 66th and Amsterdam was used for many of the indoor "zombie" scenes
Margaret (2006/6), currently under production with Matt Damon.
Music & Lyrics (2006), with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. all set around 72nd Street which forms the backdrop for the apartment that Hugh Grant lives in. The restaurant scene was shot at La Fenice at 69th and Broadway
New York Minute (2004) features Ashley Olsen's character making a speech at Columbia.
Night at the Museum (2006) is set in the Museum of Natural History and areas adjoining it
Panic Room (2002) takes place on West 94th Street
The Panic in Needle Park (1971), starring Al Pacino, is set in Sherman Square, at the intersection of Broadway and 70th Street
The Pawnbroker (1964), One of the final scenes is at Geraldine Fitzgerald's character's apartment in Lincoln Towers
Prime (2005) Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. Uma Thurman gets her nails done at Pinky's on 89th Street
Rosemary's Baby (1968), apartment building in movie is The Dakota
Single White Female (1992), apartment building in movie is The Ansonia
Spider-Man (2002), Low Library and College Walk of Columbia University
Spider-Man 2 (2004), Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History
Take the Money and Run (1969) Virgil and Louise are seen at the fountain in Lincoln Center
Vanilla Sky (2001), car accident at center of movie happens in Riverside Park, near 96th Street (External Link)
Wall Street (1987) In one of the final scenes, after being punched in Central Park by Michael Douglas for being unloyal, Charlie Sheen walks into the Tavern on the Green where, in the men's room, he provides an indicting wiretap of the conversation between the two to federal agents, implicating Douglas in federal security fraud.
The Warriors (1979) The Warriors emerge from the 72nd street subway station (Baseball Furie's Turf) and run to Riverside Park, where they easily defeat The Baseball Furies.
West Side Story (1961), takes place in tenements where Lincoln Center is today, around 66th Street
You've Got Mail (1998) used many UWS locations, such as the park at 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. The DVD of movie includes an interactive tour of the neighborhood. The storyline is also in some degree appropriate to the area because two well-loved UWS independent bookstores, Shakespeare & Co. and Eeyore's, were driven out of business in the late 1990s when they were sandwiched by two branches of a national chain bookstore. Another amusing sidelight relating to the local character of the movie was the scene in which the two principals enter a movie theater. The multiplex exists, and the sub-theater in which they go to watch the movie later showed You've Got Mail.
Various Woody Allen movies
- Annie Hall (1977) featured two movie theaters. The scene where he and Diane Keaton are in line for tickets and pulls Marshall McLuhan out of thin air to silence a boorish rant - was shot in the lobby of The New Yorker movie theater (89th & Broadway), the second scene is a shot of the Thalia Theater at 95th and Broadway. The last scene in the film is shot from a recently closed restaurant on 64th and Broadway, facing Lincoln Center. The Upper West Side is also mentioned by name in Annie Hall, when Allen meets a college student at a political rally and describes her as an "Upper West Side" liberal.
- Manhattan features an arty scene in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.
- In Mighty Aphrodite, Woody Allen's character is told that his adopted son's mother is a sex worker as he stands in a doorway on the north side of West 72nd Street, just east of Amsterdam.
Television
Law & Order - often uses Upper West Side and Morningside Heights locations near Columbia University for filming.
Seinfeld - Jerry in the series lived at 129 West 81st St., though the establishing exterior shots were of a building in Los Angeles; the series used authentic exteriors from locations such as Tom's Restaurant and H&H Bagels. Jerry Seinfeld himself is an owner of an apartment in The Beresford at 81st Street and Central Park West.
Sex and the City - used many locations, including Gray's Papaya, Zabar's, and Charlotte's (275 CPW) and Miranda's (250 W. 85th) apartments.
Will & Grace - Will lives in 155 Riverside Drive, Apartment 9C. Jack lives in 155 Riverside Drive, Apartment 9A.
Mad About You - From (External Link) : "When they met [1.11], Paul was living at 129 West 81st Street, and Jamie was living nearby at 142 West 81st, so it's understandable that they met at a local newsstand. They moved in together on Valentine's Day, 1991. Before moving into his own apartment on West 81st, Paul stayed for a while with his cousin Ira at 196 West 93rd Street [3.22], before Ira booted him out [3.16]. The actual building used for the exterior shots of their apartment together is located at the corner of East 12th St. and Fifth Avenue. We don't know for sure, but exterior shots for the registration episode [2.21] were filmed at Columbia University. The building with the columns where registration takes place is Ferris Booth Hall (which has since been replaced by Alfred Lerner Hall), while the student centre and the outside shot after that's on one of the lower campus paths, looking south, with Ferris Booth to the right, Butler Library to the left, and Carman Hall in the background right, with Carman Gate in the background. The message kiosk is in the foreground right."
30 Rock - Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) lives at 160 Riverside Drive
How I Met Your Mother - Ted, Marshall, and Lilly live in an apartment at 75th and Amsterdam.
Music
"Classical Rap" - This parody by Peter Schickele, on his album "P.D.Q. Bach: Oedipus Tex & Other Choral Calamities", describes the travails of living on the Upper West Side, as a Yuppie chants hip-hop lyrics to a classical instrumental background.
Tom's Diner - A song by Suzanne Vega focusing on a woman on a rainy morning at Tom's Restaurant at 112th and Broadway.
"Lazy Sunday" - A parody rap on the late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (December 2005), performed by Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell about their day going to see and getting cupcakes (at Magnolia Bakery, located in Greenwich Village). The song's lyrics mention that they see the movie at a theater on 68th Street and Broadway. While there's indeed an AMC movie theater on that corner, the video shows them at a ticket booth for an entirely different theater (on 84th and Broadway).
Famous comedian George Carlin grew up on 121st, and has drawn heavily upon his New York City roots on a number of his comedy albums, perhaps most memorably on, where he says he and his friends called their neighborhood "White Harlem... because it sounded tough. Its real name was Morningside Heights."
Electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos made her classic 1968 album Switched-On Bach in her West End Avenue apartment, which she'd converted into a makeshift home recording studio.
Jazz legend Lynn Oliver had his recording studio sandwiched next to the New Yorker Bookshop (External Link) and Benny's (External Link) on 89th and B'way. The likes of Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, and Stan Getz could be seen ducking into his alley-like studio to practice and hangout. An arranger and drummer, Oliver's credits are found on more than a few classic cuts from the 60's.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Upper West Side'.
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