110th Street (Manhattan)
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
and Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, it is also known as Cathedral Parkway.
110th Street is an eastbound street between First Avenue
First Avenue (Manhattan)
First Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Houston Street northbound for over 125 blocks before terminating at the Willis Avenue Bridge into The Bronx at the Harlem River near East 127th Street. South of Houston Street, the...
and Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue (Manhattan)
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square to the Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th Street. In doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side , Spanish Harlem, and...
. The small portion between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...
is westbound. West of Fifth Avenue, the road widens to accommodate two-way traffic.
A statue of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
stands in Duke Ellington Circle
Duke Ellington Circle
Duke Ellington Circle is a traffic circle located at the Northeast corner of Central Park at the foot of Fifth Avenue and of 110th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The traffic circle is named for the legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington....
, a shallow amphitheater at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the center of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The section of Fifth Avenue that crosses Midtown Manhattan, especially that between 49th Street and 60th Street, is lined with prestigious shops and is consistently ranked among...
, at the northeast corner of Central Park. Unveiled in 1997, the statue, by sculptor Robert Graham
Robert Graham (sculptor)
Robert Graham was a sculptor based in the state of California in the United States. His monumental bronzes commemorate the human figure and are featured in public places across America.-Biography:...
, is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, and depicts the Muses — nine nude caryatid
Caryatid
A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...
s — supporting a grand piano and Duke Ellington on their heads. Duke Ellington Circle is also the site of the future Museum for African Art
Museum for African Art
The Museum for African Art is located in the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. Founded in 1984, the museum is "dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of African art and culture." The Museum is also well known for its...
.
The portion known as Central Park North is notable for its incongruities; the Lincoln Correctional Facility stands just a few blocks away from new luxury condo developments.
Where 110th Street crosses Central Park West
Central Park West
Central Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States....
and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at the northwest corner of Central Park, is Frederick Douglass Circle
Frederick Douglass Circle
Frederick Douglass Circle is a traffic circle located at the Northwest corner of Central Park at the foot of Frederick Douglass Boulevard and of Cathedral Parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan...
.
The south edge of Morningside Park lies along West 110th Street between Manhattan Avenue and Morningside Drive
Morningside Drive (Manhattan)
Morningside Drive is a roughly north-south bi-directional street in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
.
The south edge of the close of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
is located along West 110th Street, known along this stretch as Cathedral Parkway, between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue. The street comes to a close at Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
before Riverside Park
Riverside Park (Manhattan)
Riverside Park is a scenic waterfront public park on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park consists of a narrow four-mile strip of land between the Hudson River and the gently...
.
Famous residents
George GershwinGeorge Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
lived in the apartment building on the northwest corner of 110th and Amsterdam Ave., where he composed his seminal piece, Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
.
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
lived there as a child.
Significant buildings and institutions
- Congregation Ramath OrahRamath OrahCongregation Ramath Orah is an Orthodox synagogue located in Manhattan's Upper West Side, close to Columbia University. It occupies a neo-Georgian building originally built in 1921 for the West Side Unitarian Church....
- Museum for African ArtMuseum for African ArtThe Museum for African Art is located in the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. Founded in 1984, the museum is "dedicated to increasing public understanding and appreciation of African art and culture." The Museum is also well known for its...
(under construction) - Duke Ellington CircleDuke Ellington CircleDuke Ellington Circle is a traffic circle located at the Northeast corner of Central Park at the foot of Fifth Avenue and of 110th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The traffic circle is named for the legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington....
- Avalon Morningside ParkAvalon Morningside ParkThe Avalon Morningside park is a luxury apartment building constructed in 2007 on a piece of land that formerly constituted part of the grounds of the Cathedral of St...
- Towers on the Park Condominium
- Frederick Douglass CircleFrederick Douglass CircleFrederick Douglass Circle is a traffic circle located at the Northwest corner of Central Park at the foot of Frederick Douglass Boulevard and of Cathedral Parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan...
- The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Transportation connections
The elevated IRT Ninth Avenue LineIRT Ninth Avenue Line
The IRT Ninth Avenue Line, often called the Ninth Avenue El, was the first elevated railway in New York City. It opened in 1868 as the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-hauled line. It ceased operation in 1940....
used to reach a great height at its 110th Street station
110th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)
110th Street was a station on the demolished IRT Ninth Avenue Line. It had two levels. The lower level was built first and had two tracks and two side platforms and served local trains. The upper level was built as part of the Dual Contracts and had one track that served express trains that...
and, according to Douglas (2004), was a popular site for suicide jumpers. In 1927, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that:
"the number of suicides from the 110th Street Station of the Sixth Avenue elevated is ruining the business of the merchants with shops below, according to [the merchants].... According to [a spokesperson] there were eleven suicides from that station in the past year, and the effect has been such that potential customers prefer to walk a little farther rather than risk seeing a person hurtle from above."
Today, there are four New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
stations on 110th Street:
- Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street at BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
serving the train - Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street at Central Park WestCentral Park WestCentral Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States....
serving the trains - Central Park North – 110th Street at Lenox AvenueLenox Avenue (Manhattan)Lenox Avenue / Malcolm X Boulevard is the primary north-south route through Harlem in the upper portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. This two-way street runs from Farmers' Gate at Central Park North to 147th Street. It is also considered the heartbeat of Harlem by Langston Hughes in...
serving the trains - 110th Street110th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)110th Street is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located in Spanish Harlem at the intersection of 110th Street and Lexington Avenue, it is served by the 6 train at all times, the <6> train weekdays in the peak direction and the 4 train during late...
at Lexington AvenueLexington Avenue (Manhattan)Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated by New Yorkers as "Lex," is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street...
serving the trains
110th Street is served by the M2, M3, and M4 NYCT Buses
MTA New York City Transit buses
New York City Transit buses, marked on the buses MTA New York City Bus, is a bus service that operates in all five boroughs of New York City, employing over 4300 buses on 219 routes within the five boroughs of New York City in the United States...
.
Popular culture
Like 96th Street96th Street (Manhattan)
96th Street is a major two-way street in East Harlem and the Upper West Side, which is a part of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from the East River at the FDR Drive to the Henry Hudson Parkway at the Hudson River...
, 110th is seen to symbolically divide New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by wealth, class and race, particularly on the East Side
East Side (Manhattan)
The East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the West Side....
. On the West Side
West Side (Manhattan)
The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side. The major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper...
, west of Morningside Park especially, 125th Street
125th Street (Manhattan)
125th Street is a two-way street that runs east-west in the New York City borough of Manhattan, considered the "Main Street" of Harlem; It is also called Martin Luther King, Jr...
is a more salient marker.
- The street is also known from the Bobby WomackBobby WomackRobert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
song "Across 110th Street" and from the 1972 movieAcross 110th StreetAcross 110th Street is a 1972 American crime-drama film starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Anthony Franciosa, and directed by Barry Shear...
of the same title (starring Yaphet KottoYaphet KottoYaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...
and Anthony QuinnAnthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
). The song also was used later in the 1997 film Jackie BrownJackie Brown (film)Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films....
and the 2007 film American Gangster. This song is also featured in the playlist for the game True Crime: New York CityTrue Crime: New York CityTrue Crime: New York City is an urban sandbox-style action-adventure videogame published by Activision and developed by Luxoflux for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube consoles and Windows based computers. It is the second game of the True Crime series, released after True Crime: Streets of LA...
. This song is also used for the closing credits of S2 E3 of TV Show How to Make It in AmericaHow to Make It in AmericaHow to Make It in America is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on February 14, 2010. The series follows the lives of Ben Epstein and his friend Cam Calderon as they try to succeed in New York City's fashion scene...
. - The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big BandThad Jones/Mel Lewis Big BandThe Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was a jazz big band formed by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis around 1965. The band performed for twelve years in its original incarnation, and included a 1972 tour of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The band won a 1978...
released a highly regarded jazz album in 1969 entitled Central Park North. - In the film Die Hard with a Vengeance, black character Zeus Carver tells John McClaneJohn McClaneJohn McClane is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Die Hard film series, portrayed by Bruce Willis.-Development and description:...
not to bother him with the antics of terrorist criminal Simon Gruber unless he crosses 110th Street. - The street, as well as other New York landmarks, is given as one of the boundaries for areas of drug distribution with respect to the rivalry and turf issues of Hollywood Nicky (Sean CombsSean CombsSean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...
), the Mafia family run by Artie Bottolota (Burt YoungBurt YoungBurt Young is an American actor, painter and author. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Sylvester Stallone's brother-in-law and friend Paulie in the Rocky film series.-Personal life:...
), and Carlito's crew in the 2005 feature Carlito's Way: Rise to PowerCarlito's Way: Rise to PowerCarlito's Way: Rise to Power is a 2005 direct-to-video prequel to Brian De Palma's 1993 film Carlito's Way, based on the novel Carlito's Way by Judge Edwin Torres...
. - It was the billed hometown of professional wrestlingProfessional wrestlingProfessional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team Harlem HeatHarlem HeatHarlem Heat was a professional wrestling tag team made up of two real-life brothers, Booker and Lane Huffman. Booker Huffman took the ring name of Booker T, and Lane Huffman took the ring name of Stevie Ray...
. - George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
wrote Rhapsody in BlueRhapsody in BlueRhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
at 501 West 110th Street where he and his brother Ira lived from 1924 to 1929.
Sources
- Douglas, George H. (2004): Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-2030-8. (110th St station popular for suicides: p. 170).
- "Merchants Complain Suicides Hurt Business; Seek Way to Guard 110th St. Elevated Station" - New York Times, January 31, 1927, p. 19
- "Mixed-Income High Rise Takes Condominium Form" - New York Times, June 30, 1985http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/30/realestate/mixed-income-high-rise-takes-condominium-form.html?scp=5&sq=Towers%20on%20the%20Park%20Condominum&st=cse
- "A Housing Renaissance Sweeps Central Harlem" - New York Times, August 27, 1989 http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/27/realestate/a-housing-renaissance-sweeps-central-harlem.html?scp=4&sq=Towers%20on%20the%20Park%20Condominum&st=cse
- "In Frederick Douglass Tribute, Slave Folklore and Fact Collide" - New York Times, January 23, 2007 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EED81F30F930A15752C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=4&sq=Frederick%20Douglass%20Circle&st=cse
James Baldwin references 110th Street in his short story "Sonny's Blues" which takes place in Harlem.