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Washington Heights NYC

Washington Heights is a residential neighborhood around the I-95 crossing in Upper Manhattan. It is NYC’s Little Dominican Republic. Sub-neighborhoods include Hudson Heights and Fort George.

Washington Heights Neighborhood

The neighborhood’s boundaries are generally:

Inwood
Dyckman St
Hudson River ✦ Harlem River
155th St
Hamilton Heights/Harlem

The neighborhood is named after Fort Washington which defended the upper Hudson River during the U.S. Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

“The Heights” part of the name comes from the hill of Manhattan schist (bedrock) that rises on the western side of Upper Manhattan. Manhattan’s highest natural point is a rock outcropping in Bennett Park at 265 feet (81m) above sea level.

Washington Heights is the neighborhood where the “In the Heights” Broadway play and movie are set.

Events

  • Medieval Festival

Landmarks

  • 27 de Febrero Way
  • Audubon Ballroom
  • Audubon Terrace
  • Dyckman St
  • Fort Washington Ave Armory
  • George Washington Bridge
  • GW Bridge Bus Terminal
  • Harlem River Drive
  • High Bridge
  • High Bridge Water Tower
  • Hispanic Society
  • La Cabaña Salvadoreña
  • La Casa Del Mofongo
  • Little Red Lighthouse
  • Met Cloisters
  • Morris-Jumel Mansion
  • National Track & Field Hall of Fame
  • New York Presbyterian
  • Polo Grounds (former)
  • United Palace Theatre

Parks

  • Bennett Park
  • Fort Tryon Park
  • Fort Washington Park
  • Highbridge Park (mountain bike trails)

Schools

  • Boricua College
  • Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • Yeshiva University

Government

  • Manhattan Borough President
  • Manhattan Community Board 12
  • NYC Mayor
  • NY City Council District 10
  • NY State Senate District 31
  • NY State Assembly Districts 71 & 72
  • US Congress NY District 13

Washington Heights News

Annette A. Aguilar in 2023 (courtesy)

Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans Celebrate the Release of “In the North” at the United Palace

UNITED PALACE, Washington Heights, Manhattan 🇳🇮 🇧🇷

Continue Reading Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans Celebrate the Release of “In the North” at the United Palace

November 2022

The 11th Dominican Film Festival New York 2022 is at the United Palace and Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center in Washington Heights, Cinépolis Chelsea, and the Copacabana in Hell’s Kitchen, for one week Tuesday-Wednesday, November 1-9, 2022. 🇩🇴


Visit Washington Heights

The neighborhood is divided by the heights up on the Manhattan schist and the eastern low land. Fort Washington Ave is the main street up to the Heights. Broadway is the main street down below. Dyckman St on the northern border is also a main street. It is very Dominican.

I-95 crosses the neighborhood. The West Side Highway runs along the western border. Harlem River Drive (which becomes the FDR) is on the eastern border.

The GW Bridge Bus Terminal provides connections to New Jersey.

Subways
(A) 155th, 163rd, 168th, 175th, 181st, 190th, and Dyckman St
(1) to 157th, 168th St – Washington Heights, 181st, and Dyckman St

The (A) provides fast access to downtown because it runs express. The (1) local follows Broadway to Midtown.


United Palace is Upper Manhattan's big performing arts center (courtesy)

United Palace is Upper Manhattan’s Performing Arts Center

Sin Bandera “Frecuencia” Tour 🇦🇷 🇲🇽
“Faith in Blackness” movie 🇺🇸
Annette Aguilar & String Beans “In the North” album release party 🇳🇮
Buunni Community Open Mic 🇳🇵🇪🇹
Enrique Guzman “Inmortales del Rock n Roll” 🇲🇽
“The Chevalier” the Joseph Bologne film 🇫🇷 🇬🇵
El Rubio Acordeón merengue 🇩🇴
Jesús Adrián Romero “Terrenal Tour” Christian 🇲🇽
Héctor Acosta “El Torito” merengue & bachata 🇩🇴
“Mariposas de Acero” Mirabal Sisters musical theatre 🇩🇴
Myriam Hernandez “Invencible Tour” pop 🇨🇱

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan

Continue Reading United Palace is Upper Manhattan’s Performing Arts Center

New York Comedy Festival (Rido/Adobe)

The New York Comedy Festival Will Make You Laugh at Yourself

IT’S ALL OVER ~ Funny people come out of the woodwork from NYC and across America. 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇮🇳 🇮🇹 🇵🇭 🇵🇷 🇷🇼 🇻🇪

Continue Reading The New York Comedy Festival Will Make You Laugh at Yourself

Dominican Film Festival New York (Valentin Valkov/Adobe)

Dominican Film Festival New York 2023 Gets to the Heart of What it Means to Be Quisqueuyan

Great new films made in the Dominican Republic and by the Dominican Diaspora.

UNITED PALACE in Washington Heights
REGAL E-WALK in the Times Square Theater District

Thursday-Sunday, November 2-5, 2023

🇩🇴

Continue Reading Dominican Film Festival New York 2023 Gets to the Heart of What it Means to Be Quisqueuyan

Celebrate Mexico Now (Lukas/Adobe)

Celebrate Mexico Now Festival 2022 Brings Contemporary Mexican Culture to NYC

November 14-27, 2022
CENTER FOR FICTION
BAXTER ST CAMERA CLUB
ALIANZA DOMINICANA
PANGEA
SOBRE MASA
AMERICAS SOCIETY
LA NACIONAL
MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
Fort Greene, Little Italy, Washington Heights, East Village, East Williamsburg, Upper East Side, Chelsea, Astoria

Continue Reading Celebrate Mexico Now Festival 2022 Brings Contemporary Mexican Culture to NYC

Dominican Film Festival New York 2022 (Valentin Valkov/Adobe)

Dominican Film Festival New York 2022

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 1-9, 2022
UNITED PALACE
ALIANZA DOMINICANA CULTURAL CENTER
CINÉPOLIS CHELSEA
COPACABANA
Washington Heights, Chelsea, & Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan
🇩🇴

Continue Reading Dominican Film Festival New York 2022

A still from "In the Heights" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

A Bodega In the Heights Becomes a City of Dreams

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
THEATERS & HBO MAX
Thursday, June 10, 2021
🇩🇴🇵🇷

Continue Reading A Bodega In the Heights Becomes a City of Dreams


In the Heights

Washington Heights is going to be famous forever as the setting for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights Broadway play and movie.

Miranda was raised in Inwood, on the north side of Dyckman St, the northern border of Washington Heights. He wrote many of the hit songs of Hamilton in Aaron Burr’s room at the Morris-Jumel Mansion.

The GWB, George Washington Bridge from In the Heights (Miahi Andritoiu/Dreamstime)

In the Heights

Continue Reading In the Heights


Culture

The New York City street is a culture all its own.

Hispanic Society NYC, El Cid (Demerzel21/Dreamstime)

Hispanic Society

Continue Reading Hispanic Society

Met Cloisters (Haoran Zhang/Dreamstime)

Met Cloisters

Continue Reading Met Cloisters


Parks

Fort Washington Park runs along the Hudson River. Highbridge Park runs along the Harlem River. Fort Tryon Park is the big park. A rock in Bennett Park is the highest natural point in Manhattan. J. Hood Wright Park has bridge and river views.

Fort Tryon Park NYC (Byelikova/Dreamstime)

Fort Tryon Park

Continue Reading Fort Tryon Park


Libraries

Libraries are important repositories of knowledge and places to study with internet access. Please don’t take away our libraries.

New York Public Library branches include the Washington Heights Library and the Fort Washington Library.

Private libraries include the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library (Columbia University Irving Medical Center) and Russell A Hibbs Memorial Library (Columbia University orthopedic library).


Barrio Life In Washington Heights

Washington Heights, New York City (Evgeniia Ozerkina/Dreamstime)
Washington Heights, New York City (Evgeniia Ozerkina/Dreamstime)

The neighborhood is gentrifying, but is still a barrio. Barrio life is unique. The suits are track suits. Spanish is more common than English. The air is filled with the sound of merengue, bachata, salsa and reggaeton – at all hours and often loud enough to knock you off your feet and wake the dead.

There is more street life because we live in small apartments (although Washington Heights has bigger apartments than most of Manhattan). Kids do wheelies down the street on their bicycles and motorbikes. They like to set off fireworks in the wee hours. Beauty salons and barber shops are open late and busy all night.

The markets are piled high with viandes (root vegetables) and Caribbean products. Plantains are cheaper in Washington Heights than they are in Puerto Rico. The smell of restaurants cooking Latin food brings memories of home. You can still get a nice meal without breaking the bank. In New York City, that’s important.

Early in the morning men gather on the street to gossip before work. Even the streets are a workplace. There is a lot of mobile car repairing, washing and detailing – just like in the Caribbean.

To outsiders, an open fire hydrant might suggest lawlessness, but to the community, it represents love. New York moms know that when the water is running, the kids are safe. Running water puts everyone into play.

That’s life in The Heights.


Upper, Manhattan

Primary Sidebar

Mexican Opera in Spanish

Ailyn Pérez in "Florencia el el Amazonas" (Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

Mexican Opera “Florencia en el Amazonas” Stars Ailyn Pérez in Spanish at the Metropolitan Opera

Dominican Alternative + Haitian Afrobeats

Yasser Tejeda Dominican Alternative (Harlem Stage)

Yasser Tejeda and DJ Sabine Blaizin Get Everyone Dancing at Harlem Stage

Puerto Rican Bomba & Plena, Cuban Jazz Holidays

Arturo O'Farrill and Juan Gutiérrez "Navidad Nuyorkina" (Hostos Center)

Los Pleneros de la 21 Celebrate 40 Years with Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra “Una Navidad Nuyorkina” at Hostos

Puerto Rican Holiday Jazz Parranda

Papo Vázquez (artist/Hostos)

Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours Play a Puerto Rican Holiday Jazz Parranda at Hostos Center

Mexican Holiday Folkloric Ballet

Ballet Nepantla "Nacimiento" (Nina Galicheva/BN)

Ballet Nepantla “Nacimiento” is a Holiday Folkloric Ballet About The Birth of the Mexican People From Indigenous and Spanish Roots

Cuban Son Musical

Buena Vista Social Club™ musical (Atlantic Theater Company)

Buena Vista Social Club™ is now a Saheem Ali musical about a band of retired Cubans who made the whole world dance again, at the Atlantic Theater Company

Theatre Professionals ~ Theatre Employers Network

Find your next project. Discover your next team. Do it on RISE.

Things to Do in NYC

Things to do in NYC in November 2023

Things to do in NYC in December 2023

Things to do in NYC in January 2024

Sponsored By The Best Of New York

2023 Sponsors 🙏🏽

92nd Street Y, New York

Atlantic Theater Company

Ballet Hispánico

Ballet Nepantla 🇲🇽

Calpulli Mexican Dance Company 🇲🇽

CCCADI Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute

Carnegie Hall

Harlem Stage

Hostos Center

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Parade

Marco Orsini Documentary Filmmaker 🇵🇷

Metropolitan Opera

New York City Center

RISE Theatre Directory

Robert Browning Associates

Teatro Real, Royal Opera of Madrid

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