Washington Heights

I had a chance to walk around Washington Heights the other day (after a visit to the must-see Cloisters). The area is a real gem. In particular, I loved the Hudson View Gardens. Built in the 1920s, it was the first major Tudor-style housing complex in Manhattan, and remains a beautiful stretch of architecture and greenery in the midst of the urban desert.

The commercial streets are vibrant and diverse. Inevitably, every neighborhood has its socio-economic divide (its 96th street so to speak) and up there it is Broadway. "Apartments are a lot cheaper on the east side of Broadway," said one real estate agent. And the east side of Broadway did have noticeably less flare and a lot more of those ugly discount department stores. But the human energy was still high, with neat little restaurants and eye-catching churches.