Inwood, 215th Street Between Broadway and Tenth Avenue

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I have slept on it and I have decided to take it as it comes, just go with the flow as it were.  Tonight the flow led to this truck shot just down the block.  Tomorrow, who knows?

Inwood, 215th Street Between Broadway and Tenth Avenue

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The usual practice of this blog is to slog on through a walk, no matter how tedious, until it finally reaches its destination and can be filed away.  In a radical departure, I am interrupting the Ft. George Avenue walk to post a timely photograph, a snow photograph, taken today.  As most of us are aware, it has been snowing. 

The only thing I had to do today was go downtown to get a haircut, and that is the only reason you are getting a picture of snow.  This was taken on the way to the subway.  I wanted to show you how we shovel snow in Inwood -- look at those squared off sides.  When I got downtown and saw the sloppy shoveling, I had to sneer.  Inwardly, of course.  Outwardly, it was taking all my concentration to avoid falling into the lagoons at the curbs.

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I'm not sure where I'm going from here.  Should I go back to the Ft. George walk or abandon it?  I'll sleep on it.

Inwood, 207th Street Between Broadway and Cooper Street

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The destination and the last photo of this walk.  Alex Shoe Repair.  Bill (my son) arrived today and tomorrow we plan to walk on Ft. George Avenue.  Come back tomorrow to find out where that is.

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Inwood, Broadway Between Isham and 207th Streets

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Here is the shell of Dick's Hardware Everything for the Home, now closed for some weeks.  It was here, looking like it was a founding store, when I moved here in 1995, and I found it to be a useful store indeed.  Yelp has two reviews:  the first one vividly describes the store while it was still here; the other laments its demise and asks "When, oh when,will this stretch of Broadway EVER get itself together?"  Lost City hasn't discovered its demise yet, but in June 2009 posted an appreciation for its nice handpainted sign.  Included is a comment from NYC Momma with a little history.

Inwood, Broadway Between Isham and 207th Streets

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This is New York City!  Broadway!  But-but I thought it'd be bigger'n this.




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Inwood, Broadway at Isham Street

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Las stop, las stop.  You'll always get a seat on the A at the 207 Street Station.

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Inwood, Isham Park between 212th and Isham Streets

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There's Broadway below and the steps leading down and a giant ginkgo tree.  I thought I was going to be talking about how big this tree is, but research shows that the ginkgo tree is, in fact, a large shade tree.  I've seen them mostly on city streets and they don't let them get that big, I guess.

Many things to know about the ginkgo.  Two of them are:  it is over 150 million years old with no close relatives, and it is a member, the only member, of the class Ginkgoopsida.  For the rest of them (things to know), go to Wikipedia.

Oh yes, and notice how the branches attach to the trunk, just kind of awkwardly stuck out straight.  That's how you can recognize the tree when the leaves are gone.

Inwood, Isham Park

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Proceeding through Inwood Park, the shortest way to get to Broadway. 

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Inwood, Park Terrace East at Isham Park

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Having covered 217th Street pretty thoroughly, I proceeded to "downtown" Inwood to pick up my boots.  This is where Park Terrace East begins at Isham Park.

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Inwood, 217th Street Between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West

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Here we have the highly esteemed Park Terrace Garden apartments, a complex of 5 buildings surrounding a garden.  Try to overlook the garbage bags.

I have lived in or close to the cities of Washington, D.C., Chicago and St. Louis, and never saw garbage bags on the sidewalk.  That is because those cities were constructed with alleys to handle all the unsightly necessities of life.  The first time I saw garbage bags piled on the sidewalks was in Cincinnati and I thought it was a backward and provincial city.

So you can imagine my horror to discover that New York was just as backward.  I found the explanation in a footnote in Gotham:  "Nor, as was customary, had the commissioners provided service alleys through the center of blocks:  this maximized salable land . . ."  (This refers to the Commissioners Plan of 1811 which laid out the numbered streets and avenues of Manhattan.)  It was to maximize salable land.  Figures.




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Just thought I'd show you a little art deco detail and bits of shrubbery from their roof terrace.  All lovely . . . except for that band of paint over the brick at the top.  You should enlarge it to get the full effect of its ugliness.  They were covering up something?  Surely there was a better solution.  If only they would come to me first.

But to end on an upbeat note, you must check out Every Person in New York.

Inwood, Park Terrace West at 217th Street

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We're looking at Park Terrace West at the end of 217th Street.  How do you like that second floor porch?  Just imagine a soft summer evening sitting out there on your glider with your gin and tonic, just watching the traffic go by.  Not a care in the world.

Inwood, 217th Street Between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West

Here they are, three actual houses with yards and driveways, right here in Manhattan.



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A visitor sent me an email (thank you!) with this information about these houses:

The houses on W. 217th Street all date from 1934 and were developed by a single builder - most share similar floorplans. According to the original notice of construction in the New York Times, they were designed by Benjamin F.V. Driesler, an architect who was very active in the residential parts of Brooklyn (many of his buildings are now in historic districts there). The Park Terrace Gardens apartment complex began construction soon afterwards, in 1938, replacing the old Seaman-Dwyer mansion. Note that the street was at one time also known as Park Terrace North but eventually that name fell out of use.

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Inwood, 217th Street Between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West

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Here is 217th Street, 1 block long.  See those buildings that look like real houses?  They are real houses with driveways and yards and many people covet them. Tomorrow I'll show them to you up close.  It's too late to do that tonight.

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Inwood, Park Terrace East Between 215th and 217th Streets

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Suspense over.  It wasn't so bad outside, but at the same time, it wasn't that good, so I stuck to my neighborhood and photographed 217th Street, one block long, between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West.  But before I got there, this scene caught my eye.  It's hard to believe there's anything behind that wall, but I'm pretty sure there is.

See comment for answer.  Thanks, Dhalgren.

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Inwood, Broadway Between 220th and 219th Streets

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And now, safely back in Manhattan, we're walking back home. Thiss is one side of the block.




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And this is the other.



Damn you Google Maps.  It won't even come close, no matter what address I put in.

Don't see map.

Inwood, Harlem River Ship Canal

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Here we are in Marble Hill looking back at the tippy top of Manhattan Island.







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And here's this thing. There were several of them on both sides of the bridge. What are they for? Does anyone know? It looks like a miniature High Line with natural things growing on it. Perhaps we'll have some tiny parks up here. I've left it in its giant enlargement size so you can examine it.



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Inwood, Harlem River Ship Canal

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Here's my boundary. But we walked across anyway, because I wanted to return on the other side of the street.



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Inwood, Broadway between Ninth Avenue and 225th Street

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Now we're on the Broadway bridge. Or is it the Harlem River Bridge?  Whatever you call it, it's not one of New York's loveliest.







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And there's the Manhattan bound No. 1 train.



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Inwood, Broadway at Ninth Avenue

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Okay, everybody, we're at the tippy top of Manhattan Island! Pretty exciting, huh? Back there on the left, behind the man's shoulder, is the pedestrian entrance to the Broadway Bridge. We'll go there. Across the bridge is . . . Manhattan! That's why I keep saying Manhattan Island.

I've mentioned before there's a little piece of Manhattan, Marble Hill, which was originally part of the island of Manhattan, but is now part of the mainland. How can that be, you wonder?

1. A canal was dug, cutting Marble Hill off from Manhattan.
2. It lived a while as an island.
3. The other older river bed was filled in between Marble Hill and the Bronx. Easy!


But when I say I'm walking every street in Manhattan, I mean the Island of Manhattan. That's part of the appeal to me. The clear boundaries.

I hesitate to bring up another confusing issue, but it must be done. If you could read that street sign, you would see that it says Ninth Avenue. Ninth Avenue crossing Broadway. It doesn't sound right.

I did a little rant on Ninth Avenue about 3 years ago, and stated wrongly that it ended at 208th Street. It does look like it ends there if you're standing there, but all you have to do is look at your map to see that it jumps the subway yards and picks up again at 215th Street. Then it comes to the end of the island, turns sidewise, and stops at Broadway. How it can call itself an avenue is beyond me.


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Inwood, Broadway Between 219th and 220th Streets

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This group may have just come from the Allen Pavilion.




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The Allen Pavilion is part of New York Presbyterian Hospital, but much handier. To me, anyway.  It was built in 1988 before I moved here.  I wonder if they bought the land from Columbia University.

Right after I took this shot, a guard came out and told me I couldn't photograph the hospital. Okay, I said, but why? Because it's private, he said, it's not city. But why? I asked, why do they care? I don't know, he said, but they care, so I care. Okay, then. So I photographed it from across the street.