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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

Fashion Designers of Latin America ~ FDLA (Hrubaru/Dreamstime)

Fashion Designers of Latin America (FDLA) 2025 are the Latin Side of New York Fashion Week

CANOE STUDIOS, Starrett-Lehigh Building, Chelsea, Manhattan
UNITED PALACE, Washington Heights, Manhattan
INNSiDE NEW YORK NOMAD, Chelsea, Manhattan
🇺🇸 🇨🇴 🇩🇴 🇲🇽 🇵🇪 🇵🇷 🇪🇸 🇻🇪

Continue Reading Fashion Designers of Latin America (FDLA) 2025 are the Latin Side of New York Fashion Week

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.


Nélida Tirado Flamenco Arte 718 (Lisa Greenberg)

Nélida Tirado “Dime Quién Soy” is Traditional Flamenco About The Many Identities We Carry in Our Heritage

ABRONS ARTS CENTER, Lower East Side, Manhattan 🇪🇸 🇵🇷
CHEZ MESSY, Washington Heights, Manhattan (Wednesdays) 🇪🇸 🇵🇷

Continue Reading Nélida Tirado “Dime Quién Soy” is Traditional Flamenco About The Many Identities We Carry in Our Heritage

National Puerto Rican Artisans Fair (Ana L. Alicea/PRIDA)

National Puerto Rican Artisans and Authors Fair Offers Great Artisanal Holiday Gifts and Family Entertainment

HISPANIC SOCIETY, Washington Heights, Manhattan 🇵🇷

Continue Reading National Puerto Rican Artisans and Authors Fair Offers Great Artisanal Holiday Gifts and Family Entertainment

New York Comedy Festival (Rido/Adobe)

New York Comedy Festival Makes America Laugh Again

IT’S ALL OVER Chelsea, Midtown, Times Square Theater District, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Washington Heights, Manhattan
Flatbush, Williamsburg, Brooklyn 🇺🇸 🇨🇻 🇨🇴 🇩🇴 🇭🇹 🇮🇳 🇯🇲 🇲🇽 🇵🇪 🇵🇭 🇵🇷 🇪🇸 🇻🇪

Continue Reading New York Comedy Festival Makes America Laugh Again

Dominican Film Festival New York (Valentin Valkov/Adobe)

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

UNITED PALACE, Washington Heights, Manhattan 🇩🇴
QUAD CINEMA, Greenwich Village, Manhattan 🇩🇴
SYMPHONY SPACE, Upper West Side, Manhattan 🇩🇴
AARON DAVIS HALL, City College, Manhattanville, West Harlem, Manhattan 🇩🇴
ALIANZA DOMINICANA, Washington Heights, Manhattan 🇩🇴

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

Mano a Mano NYC Day of the Dead Celebration (Juan Aguirre)

Day of the Dead, Día de Muertos, Comes to Life at Mano y Mano’s Community Altars

HISPANIC SOCIETY, Washington Heights, Manhattan 🇲🇽
ST. MARK’S CHURCH IN-THE-BOWERY, East Village, Manhattan 🇲🇽
DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM, Lincoln Center, Manhattan 🇲🇽
FLATIRON NORTH PLAZA, Flatiron District, Manhattan 🇲🇽

Continue Reading Day of the Dead, Día de Muertos, Comes to Life at Mano y Mano’s Community Altars

Met Expert Talks en Español ~ Met Experto Charlas en Español (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Met Expert Talks en Español ~ Met Experto Charlas en Español : La magia de los colorantes naturales en la Edad Media

MET CLOISTERS, Fort Tryon Park, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Manhattan ~ La magia de los colorantes naturales en la Edad Media

Continue Reading Met Expert Talks en Español ~ Met Experto Charlas en Español : La magia de los colorantes naturales en la Edad Media

Shakespeare in the Park "Comedy of Errors" (Peter Cooper/Public Theater)

Shakespeare in the Park 2024 Goes Mobile with Free Streaming, a Mobile “Comedy of Errors,” a Block Party, and a Movie in the Parks

MANHATTAN, BROOKLYN, QUEENS, THE BRONX, STATEN ISLAND 🇦🇷 🇨🇺 🇲🇽 🇵🇷

Continue Reading Shakespeare in the Park 2024 Goes Mobile with Free Streaming, a Mobile “Comedy of Errors,” a Block Party, and a Movie in the Parks

Dominican Yorks, MiNacimiento (Ma Naissance) detail, Reynaldo García Pantaleón, 2023 (Alfonso Lozano/Hispanic Society)

Dominican Yorks is a New York Dominican Art Exhibit in Conversation with the Collection at Hispanic Society

HISPANIC SOCIETY, Washington Heights, Manhattan

Continue Reading Dominican Yorks is a New York Dominican Art Exhibit in Conversation with the Collection at Hispanic Society

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

“In the Heights” is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning Broadway play about three days at bodega (corner…

Continue Reading In the Heights


Culture

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


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

Fort Tryon Park is a wooded park on the hills of Hudson Heights overlooking the…

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

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