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
Walking down 181st Street, you will see the most beautiful views of the George Washington Bridge and of the Hudson River. On a sunny clear day, it is spectacular.
The Castle Apartments
The Castle Apartments on 181st Street
The Castle Village Apartments on 181st Street
The view at the bottom of East 181st Street
The view of the George Washington Bridge
The Plaza Lafayette at the end of 181st Street
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.
Walking down Broadway by Isham Park
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:
My walk today took me all over the lower park of Inwood. My all day walk took me from the northern border of 207th Street to the Harlem River covering both sides of Dyckman Street to Inwood Park and the Marina area covering Payson Avenue and the lower part of Seaman Avenue. My legs were killing me at the end of the day but the sites I saw were amazing.
Walking through the back of the park on Seagram Avenue
I started at the 207th Street stop and walked up 207th Street walking both sides and peeking into the small businesses that lined the street. There are still a lot of Mom & Pop stores in this area catering to the local clientele.
On a recent visit to the neighborhood, I had both breakfast and lunch at G’s Coffee Shop at 634 207th Street (see reviews on TripAdvisor and DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com). The food is so reasonable (their breakfasts are delicious) and the service is very friendly. You feel like you are part of the neighborhood here.
G’s Coffee Shop burgers at 634 207th Street are excellent
I walked both sides up and down Seaman Avenue lined with pre-war apartments and sprinkled in with some small houses. Then I back tracked to walking the side streets of 204th Street, Cooper Street, Academy Street, Beak Street and Cumming Street admiring all the buildings and pocket parks along the way. I doubled back to Seaman Avenue and walked Payson Avenue which lines Inwood Hill Park.
Payson Avenue during the Spring of 2026
The apartment buildings that face the park are offered spectacular views of the flora and fauna of the park and paths leading into the park are just steps away. It is interesting that taking some of the paths off Payson Avenue lead you right into the interior of the park and takes you into the interior of a forest right on Manhattan Island.
Once you exit Payson Avenue to Dyckman Street, walk the stretch of Inwood Hill Park to the end. You will pass a very active playground which on the weekend seems to be one long birthday party.
Walking to the pier at the end of Dyckman Street offers some of the most breathtaking views of the Hudson River both looking up the river to the Palisades and down the river to the George Washington Bridge.
The view of the Hudson Restaurant and looking down the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge
At the end of Dyckman Street on the Hudson River side you will find the very edge of Inwood Park that leads to La Marina Restaurant (now called the Hudson Restaurant in 2026) at 348 Dyckman Street on one side that offers sweeping views of Hudson River and the Palisades on the New Jersey side.
Looking up the Hudson River from the pier at Dyckman Street offers
The entrance to the Dyckman Beach Cove
The other side of the street leads to the soccer fields and to the Dyckman Street pier and next to it a small, picturesque beach and rock formation. It offers some of the best views of the Hudson River and who knew that there was a beach in this part of Manhattan. On a sunny day, it is the most relaxing place to relax on the benches and just look at the view of the Hudson River and the cliffs across the river.
The Dyckman Beach attracts more than just people on a warm day.
The ducks on the beach
After a long rest, I walked back down Dyckman Street to cover the area between that and Riverside Drive which opens to Fort Tryon Park. These streets have a row of pre-war apartment buildings that offer great views of the park and as you exit, more small pocket parks and playgrounds are on both sides. Dyckman Street between Payson Avenue and Broadway is lined with upscale eateries making it the ‘Restaurant Row’ of Inwood with more on the way.
Walking through Heather Garden during the early Spring and Summer is a very colorful and engaging experience. The gardens are so well attended to and so beautiful in season.
Walking through the Heather Garden
Walking through The Heather Garden
Walking through the Heather Garden
The other side to Heather Park
I took the walk to the other side of Dyckman Street that led to Fort Tyron Park and from the hill offers another view of the Hudson. I relaxed in two smaller parks that are part of this sea of green on Dyckman Street.
The entrance to Ann Loftus Park in the Fall of 2025
The very active Ann Loftus Playground, named after a local neighborhood leader, had all the rambunctious charm that a playground should have with kids playing on the swings, jumping through an active fountain and climbing on the jungle gym, which I thought had been outlawed since the 80’s. Parents chatted with one another while kids ran all over the park.
The Ann Loftus Playground just finished their renovation
The park again in November 2025 when I walked through to enjoy the foliage
The park was not as busy on a cool November afternoon in 2025
Enjoying the views during the Fall of 2025
Sidewalk Art in the park
Another park across the street, the Lt. William Tighe Park Triangle, which is named after a prominent Inwood resident and veteran of two World Wars, was locked in the day but I could see the colorful plantings and small benches that lined the park. This park sits across from the Dyckman Street ‘Restaurant Row”.
There was a free art show in 2023 in William Tighe Triangle Park
In 2023, the park gates were finally open (in the nine years I have been doing this project, they have never been open), they were having a small art show, so I was able to walk around the garden. The artwork was nothing interesting, but the park is so beautifully maintained and landscaped that it was fun to walk around and take a quick break from the walk to see it. This is why it took so long to leave upper Manhattan, there was so much more to see and do that not been open before.
In 2026, the garden gates were open for the afternoon as volunteers were maintaining the park and cleaning up the remnants of the Winter months. They called the garden “Jardin Abierto”.
The Jardin Abieroto in the Tighe Park
The garden in Spring
The gardens in the Spring
The gardens in the Spring
I made my first pit stop of the day at McDonald’s for one of their new frozen Strawberry Lemonade ($2.00). I have been swearing off McDonald’s for a while, but this is something so perfect and wonderful to have on a hot humid day. It is so sweet and tart it will quench your thirst while you are walking around the area. It is the perfect fast-food drink.
Dyckman Avenue shopping district
I made my way down Dyckman Street on the other side, passing many family-owned businesses catering to the neighborhood and a few national chains proving that this area is very up and coming. I covered the lower parts of Sherman, Post and Nagel Streets lined with their apartment buildings and businesses until I passed Fort George Avenue and the start of High Bridge Park.
Named after the High Bridge, the city’s oldest standing bridge, Highbridge Park was assembled piecemeal between 1867 and the 1960s, with the bulk being acquired through condemnation from 1895 to 1901 (NYCParks.org).
Although widely known for its important landmarks, the Highbridge tower and formerly mentioned bridge, the park offers natural beauty and recreational fun that serve as reason enough to visit. The park boasts the city’s first mountain biking course and a world class skate park. Open vistas and an unusual geologic makeup greet visitors who stroll the pathways north and south through the park, while pedestrians and waterside cyclists on the greenways cherish its magnificent cliffs and large rock outcroppings. The Highbridge Recreation Center and Pool have kept active New Yorkers busy since 1936, and several playgrounds and ballfields have been constructed throughout the park over the last century (NYCParks.org).
The Dyckman Houses at the end of Dyckman Street in the Spring of 2026
In 2015, along the stretch of Dyckman Street the park while rustic was full of trash. It wrecked the effect of the high hills and large boulders with their small paths. In the Spring of 2026, this part of High Bridge Park had been fully renovated and the park thoroughly cleaned. It was like a whole new park with an updated playground and a dog park.
Once passing 10th Avenue, I reached the entrance of Harlem River Drive and the beginning of High Bridge Park with the lush greenery and small parks and gardens within the larger park.
High Bridge Park is unique in itself that there are many smaller parks that are part of it. As I walked into the park on a busy weekend day, it seemed that every family in the area was either having a barbecue or a birthday party as people were cooking in every part of the lawn that was open.
As you enter the park and walk down the path off Harlem River Drive you find the quiet and secluded Sherman Cove Park with its well-tended paths and natural preserve appearance along with beautiful views of the Harlem River. These winding paths will take you through the back woods and offers nice places to sit and chat.
High Bridge Park at West 190th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
In 2026, I finally left Sherman Cove Park after walking all the paths under the cool trees and made my was down the path paralleling FDR Drive. It is a straight run from East 207th Street to East 155th Street. The views of the East River are breathtaking.
The pathway between the East River and FDR Drive
The pathway with the Polo Ground Houses looming in the distance
I finally reached East 155th Street by the Polo Ground Apartments.
I then walked up 10th and 9th Avenues crisscrossing the side streets up to 207th street. At the end of each side street from 201st through 207th there is a small park at the end of the block that the park system runs. Again these parks, as small as they were filled with families having small parties. Each little park was called Sherman Cove Park, and all offered nice views of the Harlem River.
Sherman Creek Cove Park at 3703 Harlem River Drive
It was a nice place to rest after a long day of walking. I finished my walk on this side of Inwood with a grape soda at the Community Food Store at 2893 Broadway. This bustling store offers everything you need for a day in the park or to run a small business.
Sherman Cove by the East River with new grass regrowth
My last stop of the day when I doubled back down 207th Street was a snack at Dichter Pharmacy and Soda Shoppe at 4953 Broadway. This Pharmacy is a throwback to the old Woolworth stores with the things you need to buy in the front and an ice cream parlor and lunch counter to the side. I saw their sign for ‘the best ice cream sundaes in New York’, so I had to test their claim. I was not disappointed. I had a vanilla and blueberry sundae that hit the spot after a hot day and was tempted with an order of Mozzarella sticks but decided to be good (they did stop making the hot food in 2023).
They have a full menu of lunch and dinner items, and it is worth checking out this unique spot (in Spring of 2026, most of the menu was cut and it now serves just ice cream and snacks. No more hot food). It is worth it just to sit back and chat with the soda jerk. So many great things to see today though my feet were killing me.
Check out my other blogs on walking around the Inwood neighborhood:
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