Upper West Side, 95th Street from West End Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

At the corner of 95th Street, I glanced up and was struck by this house. It looked familiar. Could it be . . .? It turned out it was this house shot over two years ago. Look what they've done to it. Now I'll never get that night shot I was imagining.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 96th and 95th Streets

This afternoon I took a bag of clothes to the Salvation Army on West 96th Street. Afterwards, since I needed a short photowalk, I walked down West End Avenue to 86th Street, then back over to the subway on 86th and Broadway. Ten blocks isn't necessarily a short photowalk, but this being West End Avenue, I knew I wouldn't be dallying long.

It was a real November day, gray and bleak. Perfect for West End. See?


Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This shrouded building is the Emily Dickinson School, grades K-5.

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Washington Heights, St. Nicholas Avenue Between 182nd and 181st Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Okay, that's it. The subway's at the end of this block.

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Washington Heights, 182nd Street Between Audubon and St. Nicholas Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge

Continuing the cute buildings theme, isn't this the cutest church you've seen in a long time? The tree probably has something to do with it. When it gets big, maybe the building won't look so cute. By the way, it's the Prince of Peace Universal Tabernacle Spiritual Church.

Now I know you're wondering why I don't show you a long shot of all three buildings so you can see how they look together. Well, okay. But I don't think you'll find them so cute all bunched together. Here they are.





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Washington Heights, 182nd Street Between Audubon and St. Nicholas Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

Heading back to St. Nicholas and the subway home. Are these the cutest houses we've seen in a long time? In the first photo you need to know that the sunlit building is actually in back of the darker building, in fact, a block away. It's hard to make yourself see it that way, but you must try; otherwise the house is not cute but clunky.

Though not identical, they are basically the same plan and they both have that asymmetrical little pointy tower in a mirror image of each other. It's as if someone put real thought into the designs. Intriguing given that they are such modest houses.

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Washington Heights, 182nd Street Between Amsterdam and Audubon Avenues

down
down
Meanwhile on the other side of the street:



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

The last three photos are of the Annex to the Eleanor Roosevelt Junior High School. Time to replace? Past time? Never should have been built?

see

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Washington Heights, Amsterdam Avenue Between 181st and 182nd Street; 182nd Street Between Amsterdam and Audubon Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

After going as far east as I could go on 181st Street, I turned back, and here at Amsterdam Avenue, I spied my destination: the Eleanor Roosevelt Junior High School. I mean, a corner of my destination; it's there on the right side of the photo.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


Here it is. One block long. This one's for you, Gladys.




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This friendly student told me that, yes, this is the main entrance. It is a modest entrance for a block long building. She then said I should go in and turn left and walk down the hall to a room where they would answer all my questions. Okay. But once inside, it seemed more sensible to talk to the guard instead. I asked him my one question - did he know when the building was built. He said, I think the 60s. Or maybe the 30s. Hmm. When I went back out the friendly student showed me where the date was carved into the building: 1965.




Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge


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Washington Heights, 181st Street , approach to Washington Bridge

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

In this shot, I have crossed Amsterdam Avenue and I'm leaning on the fence looking down into Highbridge Park and an exit from the Manhattan Expressway or maybe the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. To the left is 181st Street east of Amsterdam. I don't know if it's still considered to be 181st Street or whether it's part of the bridge at this point.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

The teeny little black sign on the top of the tunnel says Highbridge Park. You'll just have to believe me.




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This seems to be the end of the road. However, can you see the sidewalk picking up to go across the bridge? You can walk across the bridge and the bridge is not out of Manhattan yet. This raises a question. Am I required to find that sidewalk and walk over the bridge until I get to the river?

Now go back to the middle photo. It looked like you could access the sidewalk by descending into the park and going across and back up, but you know what? I'm not leaving the safety of the New York streets to go through any dark tunnels plunked down in the middle of nature, picturesque though it may be. I'm the kind of person who if I were alone in a house and a voice said don't go into the basement, I definitely would not go into the basement. Say what you will.

Now I want to talk about the bridge. The Washington Bridge was built in the 1880s, as Washington Heights had grown significantly in the 1870s and the bridge was needed to take pedestrian and carriage traffic to and from the Bronx. In addition to broad sidewalks, it had a grassy strip down the middle! It was quite the thing. People made special trips to visit it. Now, tell the truth. How many of you New Yorkers knew about this bridge? If you did, it's probably because you drive.

Now, of course, rather than the main bridge to the Bronx, it has become merely an alternative to the very busy Alexander Hamilton Bridge, which opened in 1963 and is just south of the Washington Bridge.

Jag9889 on Flickr has a series of wonderful photographs of the Washington Bridge from all angles.

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Washington Heights, Amsterdam Avenue at 181st Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

See, I told you we were running out of city. We're in Illinois now. Just kidding. Those treetops you're seeing are growing up from Highbridge Park, which is a big, big park, I'm always surprised to see. And I'm a sucker for these late afternoon slanted light, dramatic clouds landscapes.

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Washington Heights, 181st Street Between Audubon and Amsterdam Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 …….. click to enlarge

Looking down the block, it looks like we're running out of city. And, yes, we are; after Amsterdam Avenue, there's nothing but the Manhattan Bridge which takes you across the Harlem River into the Bronx.

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Washington Heights, 181st Street Between St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues

Last
Last block I showed you four pictures of street vendors and people. I have photos of a different sort for this block, but I hope they give you a feel for the street. Here's four:



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge




Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

see

see

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Washington Heights, 181st Street and Wadsworth Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……… click to enlarge

What store has the all time ugliest shopping bag? Right, Duane Reade. It's the kind of bag you want to get rid of immediately so you don't have to look at it another second. Therefore, I'm surprised to see how beautiful their sign is. Or is it the sky? Maybe it's the photography.

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Washington Heights, 181st Street Between St. Nicholas and Wadsworth Avenues

181st Street is busy, busy, busy. Lots of street activity. Lots of sidewalk vendors. See below. They're selling tropical fruit as if they think it's still warm, but later on I saw a stand selling hot soup with many customers.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

see

see

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Washington Heights, 181st Street Between St. Nicholas and Wadsworth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I went on a new walk today, on a mission. It seems there is a homesick New Yorker, now living in Puerto Rico, who would love to see some shots of her old neighborhood. Today I went to find the Eleanor Roosevelt Junior High School on West 182nd Street. I took the No. 1 train to 181st Street, walked two blocks to Amsterdam Avenue, one block to 182nd Street, then back to St. Nicholas Avenue, to 181st and subway home.

It was my first winter walk of the season, in the 40s, bright sunshine and clouds, glove wearing weather.

The first thing I did was walk one block in the wrong direction. My instinct spins the old internal compass and most often reads it backwards.

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

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

(continuing from last night) Whereas on the east side of the street, we have these rather utilitarian buildings. They're in two groupings, but look so much alike in structure and materials that they must have been built by the same builder. But look how unfinished the first grouping looks compared to the second one. Not only does the second group have finished tops with architectural elements I don't know the name of, but it has decorative brickwork going down the corners of the building.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

And just look at the entrance! Embassy, no less.

Which has me wondering. Did they plan it this way from the start and charge cheaper rent in the plainer version? Or were they going to construct them identically and then something happened to prevent it? The war, for example. That's the Second World War to you youngsters. Like, uh, their decorative workers were drafted? They ran out of money? These are the questions I ponder.

And here's another one. Who named these streets? There's no 216th Street west of Broadway and there's no 217th Street east of Broadway. Did they have a certain number of numbers they had to fit in so that the last street in Manhattan was 220? Were they drunk?

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Inwood, Park Terrace East Between 218th and 217th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

On the west side of the street, there are lovely garden apartments. Please ignore the razor wire.

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Inwood, Park Terrace East Between 218th and 217th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Park Terrace East is one of Inwood's shortest vertical (loosely speaking) streets, running only three blocks, being stopped by Isham Park at one end and Baker Field at the other. It is also separated from Broadway, the next easterly street, by a steep hill, so no streets cut through. It would probably be a good street to defend should we be attacked.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Indian Road and Seaman Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is reserved parking for people attending the ACRC (Annual Convention of Red Cars).

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Indian Road and Seaman Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Now, having voted and drunk my wine and having sat at the open window long enough to get chilly, I'm on my way home.

Right next to Indian Road Café is Scavengers. Not Avengers. That would be an interesting store. But so is Scavengers. It is a small store crammed with antiques and collectibles. There is one narrow passageway through all the stuff and if another customer happens to be in the store, there's a bit of squeezing by each other to do. I've bought a few things there over the years, some dishes and a wooden chair among them.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Seaman Avenue and Indian Road

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

There across the street is my destination: Indian Road Café. I don't remember how long the sign was up announcing its coming, but it was a long time, and people were getting mighty impatient, then it finally opened in June this year. It's out here on the edge of nowhere but they seem to be doing a good business. I guess there's enough traffic from the park. By the way, it is NOT an Indian restaurant.

Everybody in the world who does not live in Inwood should understand that Inwood is not like the rest of New York. It has parks, not restaurants. So to have a restaurant AND a park is quite a thrill for us.

Anyway this was my Election Day celebration, when I was feeling pretty confident about Obama's chances, only the tinsiest bit nervous, and it seemed right to be here in the café, sitting by the open window, having a glass of wine and some olives and almonds.

By the way, it is claimed that Indian Road is the only road in Manhattan. Or was that New York? Some day I'll check it.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Seaman Avenue and Indian Road

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


This is where the boathouses are for Columbia's rowing teams. And that body of water is what connects the Harlem River with the Hudson and what separates Manhattan from the Bronx. EXCEPT for Marble Hill which is part of Manhattan but is across the body of water. I'll get to the name of the body of water in a minute.

Marble Hill used to be attached to Manhattan and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was around its northern edge and separated Manhattan from the Bronx. Then some engineers figured out it would be more efficient to plow a water channel straight through Manhattan, so they basically chopped Marble Hill off and left it an island. Then they could get from the Harlem River to the Hudson 14 miles faster. Soon after, they filled in the Spuyten Duyvil Creek so Marble Hill was no longer an island, but was now part of the Bronx, geographically speaking. Legally, they're still in Manhattan.

So this body of water is officially called the Harlem River Ship Canal, but I think it's still casually referred to as the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. My map is silent on the matter. Go here for a more lengthy and official history of the area. And go to the wonderful Wikimapia to see the reality of this end of Manhattan. I should probably start linking to Wikimapia instead of Mapquest.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

218th Streets ends at Inwood Hill Park which you see there in the distance. I've written enough tonight, so I'll save the park for another day. This was the third flurry of runners who had thundered by me, I guess they're from Columbia, so I said, oh, all right, and took a picture of them.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Park Terrace West and Seaman Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……... click to enlarge

Now here, you can see a bit of the playing field, just past this darn tree that's blocking the view.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Park Terrace West and Seaman Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

And here is the Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. You can find out pretty much everything about the Baker Field athletic complex at the Washington Heights Inwood web site, including the fact that the first televised baseball game was held at Baker Field May 17, 1939. And the fact that Baker Field was named for George Fisher Baker, Jr. (1840-1931), who donated the funds to purchase the land, this fact putting to an end my belief that it was somehow connected with Bakersfield, California and The Girl With the Faraway Eyes.

However, what I'm immediately concerned with is the appearance this stadium makes backed up to the street. With what carelessness (or contempt) it exposes its bare bones backside to the neighborhood. What a view for the residents of this building across the street. Fie on you, Columbia!



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


I can only hope the people who live here love college football.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Now, to pick up the Election Day walk from Tuesday. As I mentioned, I discovered that there are no long lines on Election Day in Inwood if you go in the middle of the day. Feeling a little anticlimactic about the whole voting experience, I decided not to go right home, but to have a glass of wine at our new restaurant and wine bar, Indian Road Café. I could sip wine and read the book I brought with me to the polls in case I had to stand in line for hours. So I headed down 218th Street.

It was a nice fall day here in New York and here are the trees to illustrate it. To the left is the eastern side of Columbia's stadium – more about that tomorrow.

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Upper West Side, Columbus Avenue at 88th Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Here is Bella Luna. I must say it looks a bit more flashy in this photo than I remember it being. It's a longtime neighborhood pasta place, the waitress said 22 years, nothing exciting about it, but comfortable and reasonable.

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Upper West Side, 88th Street Between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Back to the Monday night walk when I was on my way to meet Barbara at Bella Luna.

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All I'm going to say about the election is I feel grateful to have been alive at this historic and thrilling moment.

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Inwood, 218th Street Between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

I seldom, if ever, interrupt a photowalk just because something is happening out there, but today I was so up about this election that I made an exception. I took my camera with me when I went to vote so I could photograph the record numbers of people waiting to vote, the lines out the door, down the block.

Uh. Well, apparently there were lines this morning.

One of the benefits of living in Inwood is that we don't have long lines for voting.

I'm posting this at 7:50 p.m. when not too many results are in yet, but it's looking good for Obama. But I won't relax until it's official.

By the way this is the Chrystie Field House, part of the Baker Field Athletics Complex of Columbia University.

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Upper West Side, 88th Street Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

What better way to commemorate the end of Daylight Savings Time than with this dark shot taken at 5:30 p.m.? I was on my way to meet Barbara for dinner at Bella Luna on Columbus Avenue, and as you know, I needed some new shots.

Remember to VOTE tomorrow.

I'm so scared.

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Hell's Kitchen, 46th Street Between Ninth and Tenth Avenues

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

Even with the extra hour of sleep we had today, I still didn't get out of bed in time to do a photowalk. What to do? Luckily I found a nice shot from my November 4, 2006 photowalk that I wasn't able to use then. So here it is, a two year old shot, good as new.

I also redid the first shot from that walk, so you can see how changing to Photoshop was probably a good idea.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……................................…. click to enlarge

Compare with the original one posted.

I'll do my best to get out tomorrow. But if not, there're a few more good ones from 2006 you haven't seen.


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