Morningside Heights, Manhattan

Morningside Heights is a neighborhood of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City and is chiefly known as the home of institutions such as Barnard College, Columbia University, the Manhattan School of Music, Bank Street College of Education, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the Riverside Church, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and St. Luke's Hospital.

Morningside Heights is bounded by the Upper West Side to the south, Morningside Park to the east, Harlem to the north, and Riverside Park to the west. The streets that form its boundaries are 110th Street on the south, Riverside Drive on the west, 125th Street on the north, and Morningside Drive to the east. [Morningside Heights: A History of its Architecture and Development, Andrew S. Dolkart, New York, Columbia University Press, 1998] The main thoroughfare is Broadway. With the recent gentrification of Bloomingdale, the neighborhood immediately to the south of Morningside Heights, the southern boundary of this region is sometimes stretched to 106th Street and at times even 96th Street.

The neighborhood has also been referred to as the "Academic Acropolis," the "Acropolis of New York," "Bloomingdale Village," and, in the words of George Carlin, "White Harlem."

History

In the 17th Century the land that is now Morningside Heights was known as Vandewater's Heights, named for the landowner. [Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. "Morningside Heights." The Encyclopedia of the City of New York. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.]

On September 16, 1776, the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought in Morningside Heights, with the most intense fighting occurring in a sloping wheat field that is now the location of Barnard College. A plaque by the Columbia University gate on 117th Street and Broadway commemorates this battle.

Use of the name "Morningside Heights" for the neighborhood arose in the 1890s when development of the area commenced. Although the name "Bloomingdale" was used for the area about the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (located at the present location of the main campus of Columbia University), other names such as "Morningside Hill" and "Riverside Heights" were use for the area and no single name was commonly used for the neighborhood as projects began to construct the university campus, and also the nearby Teachers College, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and St. Luke's Hospital. In time two names gained the most use; "Morningside Heights" was preferred by the two colleges while "Cathedral Heights" was preferred by St. John's and St. Luke's. After about 1898, Morningside Heights became the most generally accepted, although the diocese at St. John's continued to call the neighborhood Cathedral Heights well into the 20th century. The term "Morningside" came from the park on the east flank of the plateau, which was lit up by the rising sun and which was called "Morning Side Park" in 1870 when the city parks commissioner recommended a survey of the land [Dolkart, Andrew S. "Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development". Columbia University Press, 1998] .

Many apartment buildings and rowhouses, amongst the first to use elevators in residential buildings, were built for New York's prosperous middle class in the first two decades of the twentieth century and most of these buildings are still extant. [Dolkart, Andrew S. "Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development". Columbia University Press, 1998] By the mid-20th century the increasing prevalence of Single Room Occupancy (S.R.O.) hotels led to attendant socioeconomic problems and a decline in the neighborhood. Jane Jacobs "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" presented the neighborhood as a key example of the failure of the urban planning techniques of the era.

In 1947 David Rockefeller became involved in a major middle-income housing development when he was elected as chairman of Morningside Heights Inc. by fourteen major institutions that were based in the area, including Columbia University. In 1951 the organization developed "Morningside Gardens", a six-building apartment complex to house middle-income families from all ethnic backgrounds.

The social problems in the area prompted Columbia to purchase much of the neighborhood's real estate, leading to accusations of forced eviction and gentrification. This process reached its nadir in 1968, when protests erupted in both the neighborhood and on Columbia's campus over the university's proposal to build a gym in Morningside Park. Residents alleged that the park's proposed separate entrance for Harlem residents on the lower level of the park was segregated, and that public park space was being annexed by a wealthy private institution. The university was eventually forced to abandon the plan, though it has still expanded its presence in the neighborhood markedly over the last few decades, and gentrification and urban renewal have proceeded apace. In January 2008 the university received approval from the City Council to expand significantly in nearby Manhattanville.

As the city grows and residents move in and out, neighborhood names change as well. Newcomers may consider Morningside Heights as an extension of the Upper West Side, though others hold onto the old name. In the last decade, some businesses in the area have started using the name SoHa (or "South of Harlem") to refer to the neighborhood. Examples of this include Max's SoHa restaurant and the former SoHa nightclub.

Academic Acropolis

The label "Academic Acropolis" has been used to describe the area, since it sits on one of the highest natural points in Manhattan and contains numerous academic institutions. Much of the neighborhood is the campus of Columbia University, and the university also owns a large amount of the non-campus real estate. Other educational institutions in the neighborhood include Barnard College, Union Theological Seminary, New York Theological Seminary , Jewish Theological Seminary, Manhattan School of Music, Teachers College, Bank Street College of Education, St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School, The School at Columbia University, Bank Street School for Children, The Cathedral School, New York, and for the younger residents, Columbia Greenhouse nursery school [Columbia Greenhouse, "one of America's oldest nursery schools." www.columbiagreenhouse.com] .

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies is also located in the neighborhood, directly above Tom's Restaurant (see below) in a building owned by Columbia University.

ites

Non-academic landmarks in Morningside Heights include the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Grant's Tomb, Riverside Church, The Interchurch Center, International House, and St. Luke's Hospital.

. The interior shots most resemble the Broadway diner, found between 101st and 102nd street.

The West End Bar is another famous local restaurant, one which served especially as a meeting place for writers of the Beat Generation in the 1940s and 50s as well as one for student activists prior, during, and after the Columbia University protests of 1968. It has recently been absorbed into a Cuban restaurant chain, "Havana Central," and is now known as "Havana Central at the West End".

Famous residents

George Gershwin began composing his "Rhapsody in Blue" while living on 110th Street in Morningside Heights. Film director Cecil B. De Mille lived on 114th Street.

Comedian George Carlin grew up on 121st Street. In the comedy piece "White Harlem", which appears on his "" album, he said that younger residents would refer to the neighborhood as "White Harlem": "White Harlem" would likely be considered an intimidating locale by outsiders and give inhabitants thereof greater respect from outsiders, whereas conversely a young person from "Morningside Heights" would have a much greater probability of being abused simply by virtue of living in a locale called "Morningside Heights".

Morningside Gardens residents

Several famous neighborhood residents have lived in Morningside Gardens, an experimental co-op project built in 1957 between 123rd Street and LaSalle Streets, and Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues. Morningside Gardens was the result of Robert Moses' Morningside-Manhattanville urban renewal plan, and was successful in the sense that it combined the middle income Gardens with the NYCHA General Grant Houses to the East and North of it, and maintained a commercial strip along Amsterdam Avenue.

The Gardens prided itself on being an integrated community and for most of its existence, those selling their apartments were not allowed to take any significant profitcite web |url= http://www.kossarsbialys.com/times%20coop.htm |title= For Low-Cost Co-op, a Pricing Quandary: A Co-op Agonizes Over Price Ceilings |author= Nadine Brozan |format= html |work= The New York Times |date= 3 February 2002 |quote= ] until 2006, when the co-op voted to allow residents to sell their co-ops for 80% of market value, or 3x what the previous maximum sale price was, per apartment.

Many professional African-Americans moved to Morningside Gardens to maintain roots with the black community of Harlem and to enjoy the benefits of a safe and integrated community. Among those were Thurgood Marshall, first black justice named to the Supreme Court. Singer/songwriter Fiona Apple and science fiction writer Samuel Delany also lived in the complex as youths.

tudents

Numerous other famous people have resided in the area while attending or teaching at Columbia University. They can be seen under the List of Columbia University people.

Several, however, have had significant engagements with the neighborhood itself. While writing a master's thesis on William Blake at Columbia University, Thomas Merton attended [http://www.corpus-christi-nyc.org/ Corpus Christi Church] on West 121st St., where he formally converted to Catholicism.

The neighborhood is part of the Fifteenth Congressional District of New York, which includes all of Upper Manhattan. Traditionally, Morningside Heights has been heavily Democratic.

The neighborhood's ZIP codes are 10025,10026,and 10027.

In culture

Many films have been set or filmed on the campuses of Columbia, Barnard, and, especially, the courtyard of the Union Theological Seminary, and comedian George Carlin has referred to the neighborhood as "White Harlem". Specific entertainment references include the following:

*Cheryl Mendelson's 2003 novel, "Morningside Heights", profiles the area. Several books by Jack Kerouac were also set in the neighborhood, as well as "V", by Thomas Pynchon.

*NBC drama "Law & Order" frequently films in the neighborhood. The network once entertained a pilot episode for a sitcom entitled "Morningside Heights", about local religious seminary instructors (a rabbi, a priest, and an imam, although there are no Islamic schools in the neighborhood) who eat pizza together at the West End Bar.

*Tom's Restaurant has been featured on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld."

ee also

*West Side (Manhattan)

References

* Andrew Dolkart, "Morningside Heights", 1998 ISBN 0-231-07850-1.
* Hopper Striker Mott. "The New York of Yesterday: A Descriptive Narrative of Old Bloomingdale". 1908.
* " [http://nymag.com/realestate/articles/neighborhoods/morningside.htm Neighborhood Profile: Morningside Heights] ," New York Magazine Real Estate (online).

External links

* [http://www.morningside-heights.net/famous.htm Famous Residents of Morningside Heights]
* [http://www.preserve.org/mhhd/ Morningside Heights Historic District Committee]