The Executive Board of the Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library honoring Miss New Jersey, Lindsey Giannini with an Honorary Membership to the Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library.
You have probably wondered why I have not been as active on my walking project. I joined the Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library back in early September and immediately started a project (on top of many others) an event called “Celebrating Books: 150th Anniversary of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Below is the press release from the event. Check out our pictures and videos on YouTube shortly. It was a great event that many people including many of us ‘big kids’ enjoyed:
Miss New Jersey 2015 Lindsey Giannini visits Lodi Memorial Library
On October 22, 2015 Miss New Jersey 2015 Miss Lindsey Giannini visited the Lodi Memorial Library in Lodi, New Jersey. Miss Giannini was invited by the Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library and the Lodi Memorial Library as part of the special event “Celebrating Books: 150th Anniversary of “Alice in Wonderland” in honoring this classic novel.
Miss Giannini read an excerpt from the first chapter of the novel as Alice discovers the white rabbit and chases him down the rabbit hole. This was followed by a Question & Answer discussion on the novel by Lewis Carroll with the audience made up of many elementary and junior high students from Lodi. Miss Giannini discussed her love of the novel as a child and the influence it had on her growing up. She then engaged the crowd on how she became Miss New Jersey and her path to the Miss America competition this summer. The audience was fascinated on what it took in pageant competition to become Miss New Jersey.
After the Q & A, Miss Giannini asked for participation from the audience on a series of magic tricks (Miss Giannini is an amateur magician) and had the children and the adults performing magic tricks for the audience. She even had one parent participate on the time it takes to get distracted while driving and texting. Even the parents understood after the program how difficult it is to do two things at once.
The Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library with Miss New Jersey Lindsay Giannini
Miss Giannini’s platform for the competition is “The Dangers of Distractive Driving” and her participation in advocating in the hearings as part of People Against Distracted Driving became “Nikki’s Law” and was signed by the Governor in 2013. “Nikki’s Law” requires signage and variable message signs to warn against distractive driving. These signs are available in 17 states and 3 countries. Miss Giannini is a Junior at Rowan University with a 3.9 GPA in Broadcast Journalism and has received the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Scholarship, the Rowen University Trustee Scholarship and the President’s Education Award for Academic Excellence. In 2014, she was recognized by the Miss America Organization with a National Community Award. In 2015, she was named “Children’s Miracle Maker” by the Miss New Jersey Organization for being the contestant who raised the most money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, one of her passions.
After the Q & A and the magic tricks, Miss Giannini joined the crowd in picture taking with none other than Alice herself joining in with the fun. One of the Lodi teachers joined in the fun by dressing up as Alice to entertain and take photos with the audience. Miss New Jersey was presented with a proclamation from the Borough of Lodi by Deputy Mayor Patricia Ann Licata and an Honorary Membership to the Friends of the Library by President Judy Schroeder. An autograph session followed as the Friends of the Lodi Library sold copies of “Alice in Wonderland: to raise money for the library. Even the Lodi Women’s Tennis Team took a break from their match with Hawthorne High School to join in the fun. After that, everyone joined in a special “Tea Party” with foods from the book including cookies, fresh fruit tarts, freshly sliced fruits (lots of pineapple), fruit juice and water.
Miss New Jersey Lindsay Giannini with local Lodi children
Refreshments were continued upstairs as the crowd settled in to watch a double feature of the 1903 Silent version of “Alice in Wonderland”, the original film that was set to music. Most of the patrons had never seen a silent film so it was a treat and the second film was Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” starring Katherine Beaumont. It was a wonderland afternoon for those who were there of great food, engaging conversation, enjoyable movie watching and the excitement to meet Miss New Jersey 2015 Lindsey Giannini, who set by example the true meaning of community spirit through service. The Friends of the Lodi Memorial Library and the Lodi Memorial Library want to thank everyone who attended.
Enjoy this two part video of Lindsey’s visit to the Lodi Memorial Library!
Part Two of Lindsey Giannini’s visit to the Lodi Memorial Library.
After Lindsey’s visit, we showed the original 1903 version of “Alice in Wonderland” followed by the Disney version of “Alice in Wonderland”.
The Disney version of “Alice in Wonderland”
The original 1903 silent version of “Alice in Wonderland”
One of the most beautiful songs from a version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, “Can You Hear Us, Alice”
We got recognition from Web Junction in 2015 for the event through Facebook:
I never realized that walking around Washington Heights would take so long but there is a little secret to the neighborhood. It isn’t flat! I have never walked up and down so many hills. This part of the island reminds you that hills and rock formations still exist on the island of Manhattan. You just don’t see them that much in Midtown.
I started my day just getting into New York City. The buses run so funny in the morning. Then it was a grueling day at the Soup Kitchen that I volunteer at some mornings when I am in the city. Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen was buzzing away today with a chicken curry entrée that had people coming back for thirds and fourths and we did not close until almost 12:40pm. Then it was the trip uptown. It does take a while to get to that part of Manhattan and as usual there were a lot of surprises that awaited.
When you get out of the A Train at 190th Street, the tunnel leading to the street on both sides has the most colorful street art on all the walls. Really take your time to look at the ‘tag’ work. This is now considered an art form in the city (as long as it does not disrupt or damage property) and you really have to look at the fringe neighborhoods, like Red Hook and Bushwick, for the inspirations. This tunnel shows a colorful display of street art that is actually allowed in the station and look to both walls and ceiling for the creative juices of many of these artists. The work is just amazing with colorful symbols and letter adorning the entire tunnel on the way out.
191st Subway Station is ever changing.
My walk today consisted of the entire lengths of the avenues in eastern Washington Heights. I walked the entire lengths of both Audubon Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue and covered almost all of Amsterdam Avenue having to finally stop at 181 Street because it was getting dark, and my feet were killing me. I walked both sides of the avenues from the tip of the neighborhood at 192nd Street to the border of the neighborhood at 155th Street. Needless to say, it was a long trip.
190th Street and Bennet Avenue Subway Station
Looking down Bennett Avenue on a Fall day
The beautiful rock formations by the subway stop
Audubon Avenue is more residential with many pre-war buildings that are in the middle of renovations or have already been renovation. St. Nicolas Avenue is more commercial with small businesses and street vendors filling up most of the storefronts along the avenue.
My first stop was Esmeraldo Bakery at 538 West 181st Street (See review on TripAdvisor.com and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com), a small hole in the wall bakery that offers an array of sweets and hot snacks. I enjoyed a beef and rice croquet, which are well-known in many of the Dominican bakeries I have visited in Washington Heights and a large, twisted cinnamon sugar doughnut, which was a messy, sugary delight.
For the price of $2.00, this gem of a bakery is a reasonable place to fill up on carbs for the long walk around the neighborhood. The service is super friendly, and they speak both English and Spanish. Their selection is really good and take a few extras along the way.
The pastries at Esmeraldo Bakery are delicious and reasonable
Audubon Avenue offers some beautiful pre-war apartment buildings, many of which like the rest of the neighborhood are in the process of renovation. A lot of this neighborhood is under scaffolding. There are unique brownstones and townhouses to view on the way down the street in between the buildings.
Yeshiva University sits in the low 180’s and this area during the day is dominated by college students and professors, who are milling around between classes and a lot of the businesses in the area cater to this population with many nice restaurants and stores. When classes let out in the evening, you are on a very business campus and would not know that you are still in Washington Heights.
Audubon Avenue stops at 165th Street to merge into St. Nicholas Avenue and a very busy shopping area. At the merger of St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Avenues, you walk past the C-Town grocery store to find the Sylvan Terrace, which is 20 identical homes that were once part of the entrance to the Morris-Jumel Mansion (See review on TripAdvisor.com and VisitingaMuseum.com), once home to Aaron Burr’s second wife, Eliza Jumel.
The Morris-Jumel Mansion at 65 Jumel Terrance
The Morris-Jumel Mansion gardens in the early spring
Sylvan Terrace was built in 1882 and was once part of the original Old Post Road from New York to Boston. The homes that now surround the street were built by James E. Ray between 1890 and 1902. The architect was influenced by the Queen Anne, Romanesque and Renaissance Revival influences and the homes are built with the Queen Ann style in mind (IloveWashingtonHeights.com).
These homes have been painfully restored back to their true glory and rumored to be going for about a million each. Their uniform painting and beautiful cobblestone streets leading to the mansion seem totally out-of-place with the rest of the neighborhood. So, climb the stairs and enjoy the walk down the street. This pathway was once part of the East Post Road that led to Boston.
At the end of the block is the Morris-Jumel Mansion (see review on TripAdvisor & VisitingaMuseum.com), which was unfortunately closed the day I was there, but I got to walk the ground and sit in the mansion’s colorful garden that had yet to give way to the fall season. There was still a bit of summer left in that afternoon and it was nice to enjoy it walking the flowery paths and stone benches.
It has a great view of the river and the neighborhood below as this area was once the summer and weekend homes of the wealthy downtown when upper Manhattan was still considered the ‘wilderness’. Another version of this you can see at the Gracie Mansion in the 90’s which I will also see in the future.
Morris-Jumel Mansion gardens in the summer months
Take some time to stroll these paths and then walk around the Jumel Terrace Historical District, which is lined with turn of the last century apartment buildings and classic brownstones that are starting to be decorated for Halloween. They have a classic Edith Wharton look to them. This neighborhood is an oasis for the rest of the area and is tucked into this small three block radius. I took some time to really see how everyone had renovated their homes.
As you walk out of the Historical district, at 157th Street, you end up in a dead-end street with the picturesque Bushman Steps, a staircase that leads to Edgecombe Avenue and the very edge of High Bridge Park. On a sunny afternoon, this little park offers much refuge to the warm afternoon and a beautiful view to boot. This pocket park really makes the street pop and gives it a feel of ‘Old New York’, lined with trees and flowers.
At the end of 155th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, there is a series of unique brownstones at various stages of renovation. This row of brownstones is in various stages of renovation but like the rest of the area will be highly desirable in the future. These homes really stick out amongst the more modern buildings. My goal to 155th Street was complete as another more modern building is on the other side of 155th Street showing that many changes are happening in this area.
On the way back up St. Nicholas Avenue to the other side of Audubon Avenue, the schools were letting out and students and parents alike to converging to the bakeries and fast-food restaurants that line the area.
My next stop was at El Manantial Bakery at 325 St. Nicholas Avenue (see review on TripAdvisor) for pastilitos and a guava empanada. The pastilitos were filled with both chicken and beef and the guava empanada was filled with a guava jelly that all were really good. The pastilitos had just been fried and they had that juicy greasiness that something gets right out of the fryer. Make sure to order the beef ones. You will need a snack by this point. I only spend about $3.25 for two pastilitos, one pastry and a coke. Quite a steal!
The walk up and down St. Nicholas you will see one of the most active shopping districts that will compare to 207th and 181st Streets. So many things can be bought and sold on this avenue. Some of the most interesting street vendors are located between 180th to 187th Streets selling ices, pastilitos, fried pork, fried pastries, dolls, books, household appliances and even Christmas ornaments.
El Manantial Bakery has a wonderful selection of goodies
People were out in droves when school let out and many children were begging their parents for a snack. This can be a very active Avenue with many interesting restaurants to try in the future. St. Nicholas Avenue buzzed with activity from one end of the avenue to the other, especially as you arrived back at the hospital point by 168th Street. Columbia Presbyterian is taking over all the blocks at this location, changing the demographics and buildings.
I revisited the area again during the Christmas holiday season and this neighborhood is very lively with all the restaurants and stores in full swing. The area is also nicely decorated with light displays and music. There are a lot of nice restaurant and shops to choose from along the 181st Street corridor from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue. Their merchant’s association did a nice job decorating the shopping corridor.
Washington Heights at 181st Street Shopping district at night during Christmas
The 181st Street Shopping district at Christmas time
My last part of the walk took me up and down the Amsterdam Avenue, which as it gets dark can get quite gloomy with its industrial feel to it. Parts of the it by High Bridge Park both by Fort George Avenue and between 181st and 170th Streets can be pretty, for the most part gentrification has left this part of the neighborhood alone.
By the time I rounded 155th Street and arrived at 181st, it was starting to get dark, and my feet and legs were ready to give out. Even the snacks did not help as I started to get hungry and with the dark started to come the fall cold nights. I have a lot more to walk in this neighborhood but just as much to explore.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I’m back in Washington Heights again traveling on the East side of Broadway and exploring all the side streets. I started my day walking along the length of 187th Street. I swear I find some great bakeries and restaurants in the neighborhood.
I started with a snack at the Grullon Bakery II at 575 West 187th Street. This local bakery has a wonderful selection of Dominican pastries and meat pies. The pastelitos here are really good. The chicken filling is spiced well and fried crisp. Their Cubanos’ stuffed pastries are wonderful as well. They are similar to the pastelitos but a different dough and a sweeten outside.
Grullon Bakery II at 575 West 187th Street (Closed 2021)
All of their meat pastries run around $1.00 so it makes a nice travelling snack. Also check out some of their sweetened pastries as well. I have to say one thing, the staff seemed very amused by me eating there. I figured they don’t see too many customers who are not Dominican.
I was able to walk the whole distance of Wadsworth Avenue before nightfall. Now that the days are getting shorter, it’s harder to walk the distance before it gets too dark. Wadsworth is lined with many beautiful pre-war apartments but one section that is really nice is by Fairview Avenue with buildings that are shaped by the curvature of the road. Take a good look up and really look at this building. Its design is really unique, and the look of the apartments inside must be interesting.
Walking down Fort George Avenue it seemed to me that everyone is obsessed with washing their cars. All up and down the street, everyone was power washing their cars and trucks so be on the lookout for streams of water. This is quite a walk up and down the hill passing the upper part of High Bridge Park which is loaded with trash in this part of the park. Even though this part of the park is loaded with interesting rock formation, it isn’t well taken care of and loaded with weeds.
I walked through Amelia Gorman Park off Wadsworth Avenue, which is unusual as the park starts on Broadway and you walk up the steps to the sitting area up above. It offers a nice view the surrounding area and the parks on the other side of the island. When you walk up the many flights of stairs, you will notice this park is also filled with weeds. The sitting area at the top of the park offers many benches and just as many nice views.
The park is dedicated to Gertie Amelia Gorman, a real estate investor at the request of her family. It is a nice place to relax after a long day of walking. Her daughter, Gertie Emily Webb gave the City Parks system $25,000 for the establishment of the park and a $50,000 trust to maintain it (NYCParks.com).
I walked the whole length of Wadsworth Avenue and back and then I started the length of St. Nicholas Avenue when night fell. I just walked one side of the road on the way back to the subway station. There is a lot of hustle on the avenue with street vendors hawking their wares and small food vendors selling ices, juices, pastelitos and fresh fruit. The stores that line this section of the block are loaded with life as everyone is rushing around either looking or buying.
For dinner that evening, I stopped at El Malecon Restaurant at 4141 Broadway. I passed the restaurant many times on the walk up and down Broadway and it offers a very interesting menu of Dominican, Caribbean and Spanish dishes. I had their chicken quesadilla there was served with fresh guacamole, which were freshly fried and bursting with flavor and then had the Shrimp with Garlic Sauce with a mound of rice and a side of beans.
The portion sizes are very big so come prepared with a big appetite. The service can be a little rough if you don’t speak Spanish that well, but they will try to help you with the menu. The place should not be missed when travelling up this way.
Their Shrimp with Garlic Sauce was excellent
On the way back to the subway, I noticed that people are still outside in the cool night air playing dominoes and cards. Even in the cool weather, the island way of life still rings true in this neighborhood, and it feels a whole lot safer.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I took a walk on Riverside Drive today, completing the west side of Broadway from 181st Street to 153rd Streets, on a beautiful sunny day. Being a little humid did not help but as the day wore on it got cooler and nicer to walk. Riverside Drive breaks into breaks into two sections around 161st Street with one section ending at Broadway and another part aligning the park. I decided to take the long route first and walk down to about 143rd Street, enjoying the views of the park and stopping to look at the views of the palisades in New Jersey There are lots of scenic spots to view from.
Riverside Drive if full of interesting architecture
I stopped for lunch at George’s Pizza at 726 West 181st Street, a well-known pizzeria that has been around since 1960. They have a great lunch special of two giant slices and a can of soda for $5.00 and the pizza here is really good. The pizza maker makes a nice sauce, and it has a rich flavor to it. It was a nice lunch.
The pizza was perfectly cooked and with the size of the slices, I did not need any dinner. It is a small hole in the wall place that is popular with the locals and was very busy that afternoon. You really need to check it out when in the neighborhood. The pizza cook is a really nice guy to boot.
The pizza is delicious!
The slices are so generous
The inside of George’s Pizza
I doubled back up Broadway to about 156th Street and started the walk-up Riverside Drive from here. What’s nice about this section is the stone wall along the pocket park that lines this section of the drive.
The Cemetery in the summer of 2025
They make a nice bench for conversing with people as many residents seem to take advantage of during the day. There were lots of people socializing on this sunny afternoon.
Audubon Park and the cemetery is the border of Washington Heights and Harlem
What’s nice about the little park between the streets is the rock formations similar to the one you will see around 190th Street harking back to a time that this area was dominated by rocky hills not paved smooth by roads and housing developments. There is a natural beauty to this park.
The West 181st Street shopping district
The brownstones that line this area are surrounding by potted plants and window boxes, showing a colorful display of seasonable flowers and plants. They accent the buildings very well. I was able also to finish all the side streets between Riverside and Broadway noticing that a lot of these buildings are now under renovation. I just crisscrossed the streets between Riverside Drive and Broadway going up and down hills.
The end of West 181st Street by the George Washington Bridge
More and more of these buildings are going from rentals to condos and you can see the money that is going into upscaling them. You can see it from the lobbies that you can view from the street to the new windows and sandblasting that is going on in the front of many of these buildings. This part of the neighborhood is going through a major transition.
I doubled back down Broadway to look over the selection of restaurants that were closed the last time I walked this part of the street and took a long walk on 155th Street down to the bridge. It really is a funny thing about 155th Street, how much it changes from one side of Manhattan to another.
The Polo Grounds Apartments are on West 155th Street
For some reason, you really can feel the difference from one side of the street to the other. By Riverside Drive, it is all brownstones and pre-war housing that is being renovated. This housing stock had been built during the turn of the last century and is much different from tenement housing in the middle of the neighborhood.
By the other side by the bridge, it is a large public housing complex. The Polo Ground Housing Complex I found out later on is one of the most dangerous in the City and I had walked all over the complex to see what it was all about. I could not believe that because I did not see anyone around. It is not the most attractive place to live as it looks very generic.
I headed back to Audubon Terrace that afternoon, but the gates were then locked and both museums and the college located there were closed at the time I visited.
Audubon Terrace is on one side of East 155th Street at Boricua College
On a break it was back to the lady who sells the shaved ice for a rainbow ice cup. I really look forward to those two scoops of rainbow ice. It must be all the years that I lived in the islands myself. I still am trying to find the elusive Guamanian treat of a combination of soft serve, shaved ice and lining it with fruit syrups. Now that was heaven on a hot day.
Do not miss the Rainbow ices at these small vendors
The last part of the day was spent walking up the east side of Broadway. Not knowing when I started on this side of the street, I walked from 155th Street to 207th Street. It didn’t take as long as I thought but my feet reminded me it was a distance. It was interesting to see all the restaurants I tried, all the stores I entered and all the bakeries I had to stop in, all delicious and very reasonable. There are many great business owners up here. I made it to 207th Street when it got dark.
Walking along Broadway
The outdoor cafes of Dyckman Street were in full swing that evening with such a warm night and everyone was out eating dinner and just enjoying the first warms days of the Fall. New York really comes alive at night, especially in this area where people are still in Fort Tryon Park jogging, walking or just out playing dominoes. You see that side of people that enjoy living in this neighborhood. All the restaurants were packed on this warm evening.
The restaurant scene along Dyckman Street in Inwood just keeps growing.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I decided to take a break from the usual route and again got into the city late again (all those errands) and didn’t start the journey until 1:15pm. I started the trip on the number One Subway and walked down 207th Street to the A Subway at 207th Street. I took the over hour ride from the beginning of the A line to the end of the A line at 116 B in the Rockaway Beach area. This was my first trip to the Rockaway Beach in all the time I have lived in the New York City area.
My goal was to go to Rippers at 8601 Shore Front Parkway, a beach side hamburger stand that had been heavily written up all over the internet and taste the perfect hamburger. I had to see what the raving was all about.
By 2023, having walked over half of Manhattan and the weather being glorious that afternoon, I wanted to head back to Ripper’s again before it closed for the season. I had been on a walking tour of Chelsea Market and the new Little Island with my classmates from NYU that morning and decided that I wanted to end the day with a Ripper’s hamburger and a walk on the Boardwalk before it got too cool to come out here.
It was a long trip by subway. I sat and read the paper as the various stops passed by with the inter-changing people getting on and off the subway. I have never seen so many guys under the age of 30 with scraggly beards with backpacks and untucked shirts. I swear I think I am seeing a clone of a person with no personality on their way to a 9:00am class. Guys tuck your shirts in already. It isn’t cool!
This will better explain what the Rockaways are all about now.
I finally got to Rockaway Beach stop 116 in about an hour and a half. I got out of the subway to stretch before getting back on the subway and took the line to the 90th Street stop and got off. It is a scary stop with all the projects surrounding the stop. By 2023, the area had vastly improved and much of what I had seen since Hurricane Sandy had been knocked down and rebuilt. The are looked so much nicer.
The area has vastly improved since my trip to Rockaway in 2015 and the whole neighborhood is going through a revitalization.
There is even a different mood at the beach.
Once you cross the street and get past the strip mall and closer to the beach, the area gets nicer. The Boardwalk and beach are really nice, but it was a very windy day and tough to sit on the beach for any length of time.
When I arrived on the last day of August in 2023, it was a wonderful sunny and warm day. The perfect day to visit the beach and have a hamburger. I am so glad that I came to the shore. I needed a good burger and Ripper’s was so good the last time.
Rippers 8601 Shore Front Parkway at Rockaway Beach
Rippers was worth the trip. The food and service were excellent. The staff could not have been nicer and friendlier. I had a cheeseburger and fries with a Coke and thoroughly enjoyed it. According to the Village Voice, the restaurant is a joint venture between Roberta’s, a pizzeria in Bushwick, Brooklyn and the Meat Hook, a butcher in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The burgers are perfectly cooked and flavorful.
After so many bad burgers on this walk, this one finally tasted like a freshly ground burger with the right seasonings. It had a rich beef flavor to it. The French Fries are freshly cut and have been dipped in flour and then flash fried seasoned with black pepper, paprika and salt. They have a salty richness to them as well. The portion sizes are very generous, and I did not need dinner that night.
Ripper’s inside
The best was the wonderful opera music that the staff was playing which I thought was a very nice touch and really made for a festive atmosphere even though the ladies at the next table made it clear that they did not appreciate opera music. They were playing ‘The Masked Ball’, which was very enjoyable. With the wonderful music, sounds of the waves in the background and the salt air on this sunny yet windy day made for the perfect lunch. The main reason I went today is that they close next week at the end of September and will not open again until next Summer.
In 2023, I had a very interesting conversation with a slightly drunk older patron and it was one of the most thought provoking and interesting conversations I had had in a long time. The guy made me really think about the last eight years of my life. Still I was here for the burgers and the shore and took a seat overlooking the beach.
Yes, the Ripper Burger was worth it!
The burgers and fries are amazing!
After a nice lunch on the picnic tables outside and a great conversation with staff, I walked over to the beach. It was not a day to lounge on the beach with all that wind and the waves were pretty rough.
In 2015, I saw a couple of brave souls swimming although the red flags were out. I was able to put my feet in the ocean one last time which was nice after such a long trip and the quick on the boardwalk was pleasant after being cooped up on a subway all afternoon. Then it was back to the subway for the trip back to Inwood.
The beaches were much more active my second time to Rockaway Beach.
When I returned in the summer of 2023, the surfer culture was alive and well on this beautiful late summer day. The surfers were out in full force and people were swimming and walking along the beach and the boardwalk area. I was watching them and surfing has become really popular out here.
Rockaway Beach in the summer of 2023
The surfer culture is alive and well out here.
Note to all subway riders, take a good look on each station after you leave the Broad Channel stop and get on the local S train. At each station stop from the 90th Stop to the 116th Stop, there is a stain glass display by each subway sign. Take a good look at the colorful and beautiful work by artist Michael Miller done in 2010.
Located at the Beach 90 Station in Rockaway Beach, the artist, who is a graduate of New Mexico State University and the School of the Art Institute Chicago, was given the commission by MTA Arts in Transit and created this piece using the inspiration of his paintings to make these glass creations. These were created between 2009-2012 and can be seen at all the stations. Try to see them on a sunny day when the sun reflects into the glass.
Subway Station 90 “Surf Station 90” artwork by Michael Miller
“Surf Station 90”
The brilliance of the work when the sun hits it.
I stopped in Broad Channel, a subway stops and small island beach community off the Rockaways’. Broad Channel has a nice homey feel about it with all the kids playing in the playground by the school and library, all the American flags up and down Cross Bay Boulevard and several people saying hello to me. I thought it had a down home feel to it.
I can still see the effects of Hurricane Sandy from three years ago as some homes have still not been rebuilt while others have redone their homes. Walking the boulevard was a nice way to walk off lunch, see the neighborhood and look at the shoreline and the very distant view of Manhattan.
When I came back in 2023, the whole area looked so different. There were many newer homes and the old ones had been renovated and the whole neighborhoods looked refreshed. It still looked homey with lots of neighborhood spots but it looked rejuvenated. I got there rather late so it was getting dark when I arrived. Still it was a nice trip and I got to walk the whole downtown area to Adrienne’s, a new contemporary Italian restaurant I had read about.
Then came the long trip back to Inwood, I dealt with the on again off again passengers and a large group that came on at the airport stop. For those of you who are flying into New York City and want the cheapest transportation into Manhattan, the A train can be beat. It is a little longer but still a great way to travel.
The beautiful late summer sunset over Rockaway Beach and Broad Channel.
I got back to 207th Street by 8:15pm, seven hours late and an interesting way to spend the afternoon in search of the perfect hamburger. 207th Street back to the Number One Subway was alive with people. Many of the outdoor cafes on Broadway and on the beginning stretch of 207th Street were in full swing on this nice but cool night.
207th Street ‘Restaurant Row’
While 207th Street was not the outdoor flea market like it is on the weekends, it was still lively with people shopping and eating out. I then took the long train ride on the One Train downtown. I got home by 9:30pm. It was a nice trip to the shore.
For those of you who are the adventurous sort, take one of the subway lines from beginning to end. This trip was an eye opener to a part of the city I hadn’t ever visited in all my years coming into New York.
From A to A starts at the 207th Street stop to Rockaway Beach.
My recent paper in my Data Analytics Class on Rockaway Beach:
Okay, I did not make my goal of walking the whole city by the end of the Summer but when work, book edits, fire and ambulance calls and life in general get in the way, there is not much you can do but keep on walking. I started my walk today at the 165th Street subway station. At least I am moving down the subway lines.
Exiting the subway, I took the long walk down Broadway towards 155th Street to 153rd Street the traditional border of Washington Heights and Harlem. For all the reputation that these neighborhoods have to the rest of the city, they are really nice especially west of Broadway by the Hudson River. I concentrated on the west side of Broadway today, making 153rd Street my border until I start the eastern part of Broadway. At 84 degrees, the Summer has not let go yet and it was a beautiful sunny day to venture into the city.
I started down the hill on 153rd Street at the Trinity Church Cemetery, which is advertised at the ‘only active mausoleum’ on the island of Manhattan. By the time I got into the city at 3:30pm, the cemetery was closed for the day, but people were still walking around the sides of it, jogging, walking, biking and just enjoying the day.
The entrance to the cemetery at West 145th Street
The cemetery in the summer of 2025
By the wall on Broadway, I read a plaque that said this was the line of defense for General Washington against the British during the Revolutionary War. Many people forget how much Manhattan played a role during the war. If General Washington were only to see the neighborhood now, he would be pretty shocked. That is just about the sticker price on an apartment in the area as this area is getting more costly.
As I walked this section of Broadway, I ventured into the Sweet Life Pastry Bakery at 3887 Broadway for something to munch on to keep the sugar high. I had one of their fresh Concha pastries that is a type of sugary sweet cake. For a dollar, it quite a bargain for this red topped sugary pastry.
Venture inside for many other delicious sweets. Munching on the cake and walking around the other side of the cemetery at 155th Street, at the end of the street there is a series of steps that takes you to a set of stairs that leads to a small patch of Riverside Park with the most breathtaking views of the river and Fort Lee, New Jersey.
It’s nice on a sunny day to take in the view and the way the sun shines off the water and the river rushing by creates a very inviting and relaxing place to take in the views of the park. I sat and watched the joggers, bikers and people just walking and talking pass by enjoying their afternoon. Then it was back up the steps to continue up Riverside Drive.
As I walked down the side streets between Riverside Drive and Broadway, there are many pockets of small sites to see and enjoy. At the end of the stretch of 158th Street, there is a row of townhouses with different designs, all sitting in various stages of renovation, with a few still boarded up.
There are not many places in the city where you are going to see much of this. I was pretty surprised that two or three were still in bad shape. I don’t give it that much time before someone passes these homes and snatches them up for a new home. Still, they look genuine. Like the people that live there have seen the good times and the bad times of the neighborhood.
At the start of corner of 157th Street and the beginning of Riverside Drive at 811 Riverside Drive, there is the most unique home sitting next to an apartment building with similar architecture, but it looks more like a Gothic house that was once someone’s mansion until it was turned into apartments. This now two-family house looks almost like a frat house but kept in the utmost care. It is worth the wait to stare at from the street.
The house was built in 1922 for clothing manufacturer, Nathan Berler and was supposed to be part of a bigger development of duplex homes. It was the only one that ended up being built. This unique home sits amongst the buildings known as the Audubon Terrace (Untapped Cities).
Another is a pocket park on Riverside Drive West which mergers into Riverside Drive. What I have found is that when these communities ban together, they can create small, picturesque parks for all the neighbors to enjoy. Their form of community gardening has created a place for seniors and their caregivers to relax and kids to run around in without fears of cars. It is a nice place to sit on a bench and watch the world go by. The start of Riverside Drive off 158th Street and Edward Morgan Place offers another beautiful patch of hilly park space on two levels of stone wall with a staircase in between.
Many people were sitting on the wall chatting away enjoying the day, not noticing the trees still in full form and several brownstones with potted plants and window gardens decorating their fronts. These colorful displays accented the brownstones’ and almost brought the park to the front of their homes. A black cat followed me up the street, my first companion on this walk. After a block, it meowed and walked back down the street.
I walked all the side streets between 158th Street to 164th Street, admiring the pre-war buildings and watching the families outside setting up tables and chairs and talking to their friends and families or just playing dominoes or cards. These folks seriously pay attention to what is going on around them. My walk up and down Riverside Drive will complete this side of Broadway in Washington Heights.
The front of the Hispanic Society Museum at 613 West 155th Street
The main gallery of the museum
I stopped one day to visit the Hispanic Society Museum & Library at 613 West 155th Street (see my reviews on TripAdvisor & VisitingaMuseum.com) on one of the rare days that it was open. It is a wonderful place to admire Spanish art from different eras. Take time to admire the murals towards the back of the museum and then some of the Medieval art in the middle of the museum.
Hispanic Society Museum & Library in the main gallery
I ended my day with a soda and some freshly fried chicken Pastelitos at La Terraza at 3881 Broadway. This little restaurant displays their selection of entrees in the window. The pastelitos they in big demand as they disappeared quickly from the window display, and I lucked out with ones that just came out of the fryer. They were the best with spicy shredded chicken squirting out with every bite. That with a Coke is a nice way to end the day.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I finally finished the area on the western side of Broadway from 178th Street to 164th Street. It was a long day of walking. I also covered the entire lengths of Haven Avenue and Fort Washington Avenue past Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, which pretty much dominates over this area. There is a pretty distinct line in the neighborhood once you cross over 180th Street and you get to 165th Street, which is the border of the ever-changing Dominican neighborhood and the Hospital neighborhood. Things become much more commercial and a little upscale below 165th Street as it caters to the hospital staff.
Even the housing stock changes. The area around the hospital you can tell caters to the staff and the guests and once over the 168th Street border, it goes back to Dominican neighborhood. Between Yeshiva University and the hospital, this area you can see is going through a rapid flux. The streets are full of such beautiful, classic housing stock and if it were in the lower 90’s on both sides would be snatched up for more than double the price.
The corner of West 181st Street and Broadway
The stonework along on some of the buildings with pillars and statuary brings almost a European feel to this area. I call the changes the ‘new window’ theory. Whenever you see new window frames in an older building, you know the area is changing. The gentrifying cliché of white people walking their dogs or jogging rings so true around here. I see the looks in the faces of the guys playing dominoes in the park and their eyes roll.
I got up today as classes were letting out at PS 173 across from J. Hood Wright Park. The streets were lined with well-dressed students yelling and screaming at one another all over the street. The school is very impressive looking almost like an Ivy League school with its beautiful stonework and pillared entrance. It complements the park very nicely.
J. Hood Wright Park, the former estate of banker and financier, J. Hood Wright is located between 176th Street to 173rd Street and has gone through an over two-million-dollar renovation. The park was full of action this afternoon.
People were walking their dogs, sunbathing by the rock formations and reading on the backside park with the most spectacular views of the George Washington Bridge. The park has a dog walk in the back, a baseball and basketball court and walking paths that wind the whole park.
The rock formations at Hood Park
The best was all the street vendors outside the school. You had your choice of soft serve ice cream, shaved flavored ices, freshly fried Pastelitos (meat pies) and fresh fruit. The shaved ice is the best on a humid day. I had a mango-strawberry ice that was so refreshing. You can also get three very sweet peaches for a dollar.
The Mango ice is so refreshing on a hot day
The park in the summer of 2025
It was nice to just sit in the park and relax, watching kids chase each other around the playground and eating their snacks while dog walkers compared notes.
The views of the George Washington Bridge from the park
The lawn by the rock formations
The gardens by the dog walk in the park
The gardens in Hood Park in the summer of 2025
I stopped by Mambi Steak House at 4181 Broadway at 177th Street, a Dominican restaurant that is very popular in the neighborhood. The fresh Pastelitos are great and there is a nice selection of other takeout items as well.
The Mambi Steakhouse at 4181 Broadway at 177th Street
On the hot line, there are all sorts of lunch specials such as beef, chicken and codfish stew, pepper steak, eggplant and lasagna. Wonderful smells wafted through the entire restaurant. With two Pastelitos and a coke in hand, I walked the lengths of Haven Avenue and Fort Washington Avenues and the side streets from 164th Street to 178th Street. The streets were lined with the most amazing pre-war apartment buildings and a lot of rebuilding and renovations especially around the hospital.
I concluded my walk at La Dinastia Restaurant at 4181 Broadway on the corner of Broadway and 171st Street, a Dominican-Chinese restaurant. This restaurant is wonderful and the pictures on the window of the place don’t do it justice.
I had a boneless chicken crackling with a special fried rice. The chicken cracklings had a breading that was a cross between a tempura and fried chicken with spices and the special fried rice was full an array of ingredients such as shrimp, ham, chicken, sausage and vegetables.
The Chicken Cracklings and Fried Rice is one of their specialties
The meal was huge. They gave me about eight large pieces of chicken with almost a pint of fried rice. It was a meal you cannot finish at one sitting, and it made almost three meals. The restaurant is well worth the trip with the combination of flavors and fusion of Spanish and Chinese cuisine. It will be worth a second trip.
The walk concluded the area from 164th Street to 178th Street west of Broadway. The next part will be the area east of Broadway from 193rd on down. I hope for good weather.
Street art off Broadway and 172nd Street
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I continued my walk in Washington Heights in the middle of the neighborhood west of Broadway when the heavens opened up. Thank God it did not last forever. The sun did come out later that afternoon and did cool down a lot. It was the perfect weather to walk around the neighborhood.
I took the subway back up to 181st Street and walked past the rock formation again that abuts the surrounding buildings. I can’t believe that someone would want to blast this away to build something but it looks like its under construction. This is such a focal point in a neighborhood filled with pre-war apartments.
My start point 181st Street Station in the Fall
The view of the side of the street
Looking down the street from the subway stop in the Fall of 2025
My first part of the walk took me down the 181st Street shopping area and maybe I missed it the first time but there is a Starbucks on the corner of 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue. This is the tale tell sign that the neighborhood is changing again. This part of Washington Heights west of Broadway is really beautiful with its rolling hills, pocket parks and tree-lined streets and the most amazing view of the George Washington Bridge from the corner of 181st Street and Pinehurst Avenue.
West 181st Street by the George Washington Bridge
The West 181st Street shopping district is much quieter in the western side of Broadway than the eastern side
The street slopes down and you have a view of Riverside Park in the distance, a tree lined street and the pocket park next to the dead end of Pinehurst Avenue. This is a perfect place to take pictures and climb the stairs to relax on one of the many benches that line the walkway. Toward the top of the stairs, the fence is lined with modern art that is festive and unique. As I said on a previous day, this part of the neighborhood reminds me of the marina area in San Francisco.
The end of West 181st Street near Riverside Drive
Street sculpture in the West 181st Street shopping district
When you climb the stairs at Pinehurst Avenue, you are greeted by the Hudson View Gardens Apartments, a mixture of stone and Tutor apartments landscaped to match the adjoining parks. This attractive apartment complex lines the streets of the west side on Pinehurst Avenue, across the street from James Gordon Bennett Park, a staple that attracts families from all over the neighborhood. The courtyards of the complex are colorfully planted and match the stonework of the buildings. The whole affect with the park across street is quite striking.
The Hudson View Gardens Apartments in lower Inwood
James Gordon was a newspaper publisher who launched the New York Herald in 1835. He donated this land which was part of his property. The land sat on the site of the original Fort Washington that had been part of the Revolutionary War battles. The park opened in 1929 and the unique aspect of the park is that is that the west side of the park site an outcropping of the ‘Manhattan Schist’, the layer of bedrock in which is the core of the island and how all the skyscraper’s are built on the island. This part of the schist is the highest point of Manhattan (Wiki).
James Gordon Bennett Sr. founder of the New York Herald Newspaper
I spent time in Bennett Park at West 183rd Street watching kids climb rocks, frolic around the playground and play with their parents, who were enjoying the park just as much as the kids. It gives me faith that raising children in New York City has changed over the last twenty years. I am seeing more and more young parents in the city staying put and bringing life back to New York establishing their roots here and not in the suburbs.
James Gordon Bennett Park at West 183rd and Fort Washington Avenue
Bennett Park offers a lot. There is lots of equipment in the playground to keep any child occupied. There is a area for soccer, kite flying, rock climbing and even a cannon to climb on. Kids were flying planes, throwing balls with their parents or chasing one another without a cellphone in sight. That gives me faith in the next generation.
This is noted to be the highest point in Manhattan in James Gordon Bennett Park
Leaving Bennett Park and walking up the length of Pinehurst Avenue, I stopped at the little triangle park to rest and take a phone call. The Paterno Trivium, at the corner of Cabrini Boulevard, Pinehurst Avenue and West 187th Street is another small pocket park run by the NYC Park system. It was a perfect place to converse with local seniors on the current status of New York City, happenings in the neighborhood and recommendations of restaurants on the small restaurant row on 187th Street. There is a little bit of everything in this area.
The Paterno Trivium at Pinehurst Avenue is perfect for relaxing
The park was named after Charles V. Paterno, a developer who was responsible for developing most of the Fort Washington section of Manhattan. He developed the Hudson View Garden Apartment complex, the Gothic apartment buildings near Fort Tryon Park in 1923-24. The park opened in 2000 and has become a Greenstreet site (NYCParks.org).
Castle Village Apartments around West 181st Street
After walking both sides of Fort Washington Street and finished the upper western part of Washington Heights, I walked down 181st Street towards Broadway and made my way down Broadway to 165th Street following the western perimeter of the neighborhood.
The West 181st Street shopping district by Broadway
Make note of this shopping district around 181st Street on both sides of Broadway which is loaded with reasonable restaurants and stores all along the street and down Broadway, St. Nicolas Street and parts of Audubon Avenue. It was especially vibrant during the holiday season when all the overhead Christmas lights were up.
The West 181st Street shopping district at Christmas time
The shopping area again in the early Fall of 2025
I then walked around the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital complex with dominates the 165th Street from Broadway to the Hudson River. All the housing surrounding the complex has been updated obviously for the staff of the hospital and in the later evening staff from the hospital was walking all over the neighborhood, conversing, walking their dogs and eating out.
There is a distinct change in the neighborhood once you cross 169th Street on Broadway. It goes from a Dominican neighborhood to a more college oriented one, lined with chain stores, upscale restaurants and gourmet shops and businesses catering more to the college and hospital staff then to the neighbors slightly to the north. Honestly though, I see plenty of young Hispanic professionals in the restaurants.
I had enough time to walk all the side streets between Broadway and Haven Avenue and the first three blocks up, the housing looks strictly for the hospital staff changing again around 172nd Street. I ended my walk for the evening walking the edges of J. Hood Wright Park, watching everyone walk their dogs through the park and the last playground stragglers leaving the park for the evening.
The entrance to J. Hood Wright Park in Washington Heights
J. Hood Wright was a wealthy banker and financier who owned a mansion on the site and donated heavily to the local Washington Heights branch of the library (NYCParks.org).
I stopped at La Nueva Empanadas Monumental at 3772 Broadway for some empanadas to munch on way back to the subway station. I had the chicken and cheese and the chicken. Not bad but a little doughy and be prepared to speak your broken Spanish if you unless you speak the language.
Most everyone is a Spanish speaker in the restaurant and some of the patrons seemed a little shocked that I walked in. To me, it’s a nice place for a quick, reasonably priced snack.
Their empanadas are really good!
I will be finishing the rest of this side of Broadway in the coming days.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I finished the remainder of my walk of the lower part of Fort Tyron Park today. What a scorcher of a day at 95F and the humidity was not great either. The initial part of this walk started at the middle of the park at the 190 Street station. Take the elevator from the subway station to the top floor and exit through the park. You will be in front of the Margaret Corbin Circle, a beautifully landscaped cul-de -sac at the lower end of the park, where the buses drop everyone off. In season, the flowers are a colorful bouquet of different varieties with the green of the trees in the background.
The Margaret Corbin Circle by the entrance to Fort Tryon Park
I walked around the Stan Michels Promenade past the Heather Gardens. It is such a great place to stroll and look at the various plantings. I was floored when I saw crocuses blooming this time of year when they are a Spring flower. The Heather Gardens to the side of the promenade was in full bloom and I took the time out to see what was planted. All sorts of birds, butterflies and bees make this their home so be on the lookout for things flying around.
The entrance to the Stan Michels Promenade
The Heather Gardens in the Stan Michels Promenade
The Heather Gardens in the Spring of 2024
The Heather Gardens in bloom
I stopped for lunch at the New Leaf Café at 1 Margaret Corbin Drive (Closed in January 2020). This pretty little restaurant is as you enter the park and a short walk from the subway terminal. I have to admit that the restaurant is just beautiful with a great location and the view from the patio is pretty spectacular, but the food doesn’t match it. The cheeseburger I ordered nicely cooked with no flavor, the fries were standard, and the dessert menu was pretty boring. It can be pricey on the lunch menu so stick to the sandwiches.
The New Leaf Café in Fort Tryon Park (Closed January 2020)
The service is friendly and attentive. The waiter I had, Sarah, was explaining to me how she was training in some new people and was a little distracted. I thought she was perfectly fine. I told her I loved the view and the restaurant, but the meal did not match the atmosphere. She explained that they are still working on the dessert menu and new things are being added. It is a place to visit for the view alone. (Note to readers: You can see all my restaurant and attraction reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com).
Fort Tryon Park gardens and paths
I relaxed after lunch on the Linden Terrace, a stone terrace that has views of the park and in the distance, the Hudson River. It is a great place to relax in the shade on a hot day and read a book or the paper. I plotted my game plan of the neighborhood and took the elevator back down to Broadway and walked from 190th Street to 177th Street. It was a nice walk on a hot day.
The bench area in Fort Tryon Park
The beautiful flowers by the benches
Fort Tyron Park has an interesting history. The park is named after Sir William Tyron, the last British Governor of the Providence of New York. It was donated to the City by John D. Rockefeller Jr in 1935 after buying the old C. K. G. estate and employing the firm of the Olmsted Brothers, who created Central Park, to redesign it into a park.
The Fort Tryon Park plaque right by the bench area
The Battle of Fort Washington was fought here during the Revolutionary War and the first women to fight in Battle here, Margaret Corbin (who the road is named after) was wounded here. The park had fallen in hard times in the 70’s and 80’s and has now received a full restoration (Wiki).
Walking under the George Washington Bridge is something new for me. You never realize how busy that bridge is until you walk under it and around it. I was surprised by all the construction around the bridge. It seems that they are building retail space under the bridge. Who knew you could develop upscale shopping under the George Washington Bridge?
As I walked around 177th Street on the west side of Broadway the one thing I noticed was the classic housing stock around Cabrini and Haven Avenues. It is really beautiful with elegant entrances and pillared fronts. The buildings do need some work, but this area has interesting housing stock.
I took an interesting detour around the playground and under the bridge off Haven Avenue. When you walk up the crumbling steps to the walkway around the entrance and exit to the George Washington Bridge, it takes you around a spiral path around the streets through mountains of household garbage that the homeless must discard, places where these people must sleep, or gang members meet. The worst part is when you finish following the path, you must turn around and go back the way you came because the path is blocked off at the other end by a wooden door as the stairs on the other side is being repaired. This little side trip is not for the faint hearted as you do not have much room to walk around and to any passerby by car, they would have their own thoughts of why you are up there.
The street art around the playground at 177th Street is very interesting and if you decide to take the walk around the bridge area, check out the painting along the cement rail of the three faces. It really is a unique piece of artwork. Walking up the hill on 181st Street, there are some great shops and restaurants and the view walking up the hill is quite a site. It looks like a street in San Francisco.
My path took me up Cabrini Avenue past the Castle Village Apartment complex, a series of buildings with a spectacular view of the Hudson River and nicely landscaped yards around the buildings. The details along the buildings really make the complex seem like a series of medieval buildings and from what I could see from the street level a very nice place to live. The path up the road lead me right back to Fort Tyron Park, fitting from what I saw on the way up the road.
On my way back down the avenue, I crisscrossed the side streets at 190th, 187th, 181st, 180th and 179th, looking over the various restaurants and stores in the area. All around me I can see signs that the neighborhood is in the process of changing as the smaller low scale establishments are being replaced with more updated restaurants, shops and coffee bars.
Some of the true neighborhood stores you can tell are keeping up by changing their signs and frontage displays to cater to the newcomers. There is a real change going on in this part of the area and local merchants are starting to cash in on their new clientele while keeping the old ones happy. I stopped by a vendor selling shaved rainbow ice for $1.00. These little ice vendors are a pleasure on a hot day and are located at various spots on Broadway.
I double backed on Broadway and walked up Overlook Terrace and believe me, there is a reason why they call it that. You really have to walk up a hill and by time you reach the top by the hospital, you really have a nice view of the neighborhood. I took this to 190th Street right back up to Fort Tyron Park. You’ll find that all the roads on this side of Broadway lead back to the park. I walked the side streets back down and made the turn making Bennett Avenue my final part of the day.
Fort Tryon Park overlooking the Hudson River
Bennett Avenue like the other streets in this part of Washington Heights is dominated by natural rock formations that line pockets of the streets. Bennett Avenue is no exception as there are beautiful formations of rocks and trees that line the sides of the road on the western part of the street. Halfway up make sure to stop at the Bennett Rest, a pocket park near the rock formations to take a rest. It was a long day of the walking, and this little park is right near a Gothic looking Lutheran Church that was having a Farmers Market. A nice distraction from looking at all the apartment buildings.
This part of upper Bennett Avenue must cater to the families working and attending Yeshiva University on the other side of Broadway as many Jewish families were walking around the neighborhood after work and relaxing in the parks in the neighborhood. The street is filled with classic looking pre-war apartments, some with doorman and chandelier foyers.
I complete my walk today walking back down Bennett Avenue. Note the beautiful rock formation that faces you walk down 192nd Street from Broadway. It is quite the site and reminds you that not all of Manhattan was blasted away to build things. I crisscrossed all the side street from the edge of Bennett to the beginning of 181st Street, noting all the businesses that faced Broadway and the restaurants that started to fill up for the evening. Note to walkers, there are some interesting restaurants around the 187th Street between Cabrini and Fort Washington Avenues to check out as well as some nice stores.
By nightfall, I was walking up the west side of Broadway from 179th Street to the Dyckman Street A Train entrance passing Fort Tyron Park for one last time that day. People still walk in this park at night, and I saw joggers exiting. It is obviously an active park at all hours of the day. Ann Loftus Playground was still going strong even in the dark with little kids running around at 8:30pm.
The subway station by the Fort Tryon Park entrance
Note: Avoid the McDonald’s on Broadway and 180th Street. The service is terrible, and they mix up your order.
For all the things people say about Washington Heights, you have to see it to believe it. It really is a nice neighborhood.
Please read my other blogs on walking Washington Heights. It was a big area to cover:
Day Twelve: Walking West of Broadway to West 170th Street:
I wanted to get off the beaten track of the streets today, especially since it was so hot out and explore the paths of the parks in the area. Inwood has so many beautiful parks, rock formations, valleys and peaks that when you walk the remote paths to the middle of Inwood Hill Park, with the exception of a train passing by you would never know that you were in Manhattan and not in the middle of the wilderness.
Inwood Hill Park by the Hudson River
I started the day at 218th Street and started my walk of Inwood Hill Park (See review on TripAdvisor). I walked the Muscota Marsh at 218 Indian Hill Road (See review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum@Wordpress.com) part of the Columbia campus, again at low tide and observed the many birds that call the marsh home. More people were enjoying their day at the park and all over the ball fields and lawns people were enjoying baseball games, soccer and picnics. There was a lot of activity at the upper end of the park and as you start the walk up the hill into the paths leading to the woods, you really are transported to another world.
Muscota Marsh at 218 Indian Hill Road near the Columbia Stadium
As I walked the paths to the upper reaches of the park, I was reminded that once upon a time when Manhattan was all wooded and what the Dutch must of thought of Manhattan when they arrived. It is quite the experience walking around the park in the middle of the afternoon and no one is around this part of the park. For the all the ballgames and soccer games below, it is peaceful, relaxing and a sense of tranquility is the feeling you get as you walk along the hills and valleys of the park. These are things that you don’t see from the apartment buildings and streets below.
Muscato Marsh in the summer of 2023
The upper paths of the park offer logs to sit and relax on, the view of Indian Caves, beautiful rock formations and dozens of types of wildflowers along the paths. When walking this part of the park, wind down multiple paths before reaching street level. There is lots to see in the middle of the park and if you want to be by yourself this is the part of the park you want to be in.
As you exit the park by Dyckman Street, make a left and head back to the pier and little beach at the end of the street. It is a nice place to relax after a long walk around the park. Enter the park from the lower side of Dyckman Street and enter the ball fields. On a busy Saturday, I watched a soccer game that had the intensity of an Olympic match. It was the Mexicans vs the Mexicans and you could feel the pressure from the fans. There were loads of families watching the game and picnicking by the river. What was nice was the food carts offering all sorts of Mexican food choices at very reasonable prices.
Inwood Hill Park up by the Hudson River paths
The paths of Inwood Park
The paths of Inwood Park during the “Great Saunter”.
The rock formations in Inwood Park.
Rock formations in Inwood Park
A special note when walking this section of Inwood is that there are lots of choices of places to go to the bathroom. You have the public bathrooms under the bridge, you have the public bathrooms in the playground on the corner of Dyckman Street and Payson Avenue and at the local library by the corner of Dyckman Street and Broadway.
Inwood Hill Park Rose Garden
I crossed Dyckman Street and walked into the Fort Tyron Park. At the beginning of the park is Lt. William Tighe Park Triangle. This park was open today and offered much relief from walking around Broadway. The park was named after William Tighe, a decorated veteran of two wars and a local resident (NYCParks).
William Tighe Park at Dyckman Street and Broadway during a recent art show
This little gem of a park reminds us of the positive benefits when a neighborhood of volunteers bans together to create a little park so magical and polished. There is a little pool full of golden fish to the back of this little pocket park, colorful flowers and small benches perfect to relax and read a book.
The inside of William Tighe Square Park in one of the rare days it was open
William Tighe Square Park during the art show
The reflecting pools at William Tighe Square Park
I walked through the extremely busy Anne Loftus Playground again. It was some afternoon trying to avoid all the kids running all over the playground, splashing in the fountain area and chasing one another up the jungle gym while parents chatted amongst themselves or read books. This well-laid out playground is very popular with the locals at all times of the day because as I passed it one night late in the evening, the kids were still running around the park. Kids of all ages, shapes and sizes play together and they show real neighborhood unity by watching out for one another.
The Anne Loftus Playground is really popular in the late Spring and early Summer
The Anne Loftus playground was named after the District Manager and Community Board Leader for District 12, who tirelessly fought for improvement in the parks and the neighborhood. The park was name after her in 1990 when it opened. It has currently received a face lift and is being enjoyed by children and families from all over the neighborhood.
Anne Loftus Playground at Broadway and Dyckman Street
I was able to tour the Cloisters and walk around the upper reaches of the park before nightfall. The Cloisters (see review on TripAdvisor and VisitingaMuseum@Wordpress.com) is a small medieval museum located in the Fort Tyron Park on Park Drive and is run by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you like this type of art, it is one of the best of its kind. Do not miss the courtyard area to sit and relax amongst the flowers and the patio area to overlook the park.
‘The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries’ at the Cloisters Museum
One of my favorite exhibits is the ‘Hunt of the Unicorn’ tapestries. These world renown tapestries show the pursuit and capture of the mythical unicorn. The artwork and detail are breathtaking considering the age of these works. You can spend as little or a lot of time here, but it is a small museum.
The Cloisters at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive in Fort Tyron Park
I ended my day back in Inwood Hill Park and stopped at the Indian Road Café at 600 218th Street #3 (Now Inwood Farm Restaurant-See review on TripAdvisor) a farm to table concept restaurant for dinner and a history lesson. First off, this restaurant is amazing. It is small and cozy and I was lucky to snag a table by the screen on ‘History Night’.
Indian Road Cafe at 600 West 218th Street food is excellent (now called ‘Inwood Farm’)
The restaurant is now named Inwood Farm since 2020
The speaker from the Museum of Natural History, who had just given us a talk on Inwood Hill Park, was there talking about the history of the neighborhood and you would be floored by the number of adults hanging on every word. The gentleman discussed the history of the area with details on the amusement parks that were once here, the trolley and bridge systems and the progression of development in Inwood. The food was fantastic that evening.
I had the Cuban Panino sandwich with an iced tea that I really enjoyed. The restaurant is a ‘farm to table’ concept and you can see it in the taste and freshness of the entrée. The pork was perfectly cooked and sandwich combination worked. The salad was the right amount with a light dressing.
For dessert, I had a Blueberry Cobbler that was more of a dump cake with fresh blueberries baked inside. The whole meal was wonderful, and the service was friendly and not rushed. I sat back, ate my dinner and enjoyed my lesson on the history of Inwood. Check out the restaurant’s website for other special events and I have read many reviews on their wonderful weekend brunch. It was a nice way to end my evening touring the parks.
Even during Christmas time, the area is really beautiful. There is also lots to do as the parks have their own Christmas trees, holiday celebrations, farmers markets and holiday traditions.
The Christmas tree in Washington Heights/Inwood.
The holiday celebration on Dyckman Street.
The Christmas tree in William Tighe Park during the holidays.
The Inwood Farmers Market during a Summer of 2025
The vendors are more plentiful during the summer
The beautiful produce in the summer months
Even the Cloisters was decked out for the holidays and for the Epiphany. I have taken museum tours on the history of “Three Kings Day” and the use of plants and greenery during the holidays in the Middle Ages. The museum always have great walking tours during the holidays.
The inside of the Cloisters at Christmas time.
The greenery at the Cloisters at the holidays.
The Pagan symbols of the Christmas holidays that the Catholics adopted into the holiday.
The beautiful plants that decorate the Cloisters during the holidays.
One of the artifacts at the Cloisters for the talk on “Three Kings Day”.
This is what I love about the neighborhoods in New York City. You don’t have to go to just Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree. There are many around the City and they are beautiful in their own way. This is what makes a neighborhood as neighborhood.
mywalkinmanhattan 