Streets by Air Ep 13 - Morningside Heights - Manhattan, New York City

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS - Streets By Air (Ep. 13) Sitting on a high plateau on the west side of Upper Manhattan, rests Morningside Heights; one of the three neighborhoods that make up West Harlem. Located between Morningside and Riverside Parks, the area was hard to access until the late 19th century. Native Americans settled throughout Manhattan, but the nearest settlements were in Central Park, because of the area's steep terrain. It wasn't until Broadway completed its extension in 1703, that the area even had a route connecting to the rest of Manhattan. Large-scale development didn't start until the 1890s. By the 1900s, the neighborhood's first subway line provided a quicker connection to Lower Manhattan, "the city's economic center at the time." Morningside Heights soon began turning into a residential neighborhood. Jewish and Italian developers most notably led the influence of the area's early-20th century development. "A large portion of Morningside Heights is part of the campus of Columbia University...[and] numerous other educational" and religious institutions, and landmarks. Even the city's oldest Korean church, the Korean Methodist Church and Institute, has been in the neighborhood since 1927. "Through the 1930s, many residents were white and middle-class professionals like academics, engineers, doctors, lawyers, and businesspersons who worked in industries such as the garment trade." After WW2, many white residents left the neighborhood, giving way to a growing Black and Latin demographic. After a period of decline, Morningside ended up gentrifying in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the neighborhood feels like a quiet college town. Most of the businesses and residences are catered around the educational institutions, especially Columbia. Located a few blocks down Broadway, is the notorious Tom's Restaurant; widely recognized by it's corner neon exterior, from the hit-television show, "Seinfeld". The streets, shops, bars, and cafes are filled with students, artists, academics, working professionals and children, making up a community of families and intellectuals coexisting in the neighborhood that Morningside Heights was always meant to be.