Morningside Heights a guide to
Freshman year is full of mistakes. Just because you can sign up for Algebraic Topology I doesn’t mean you should. But some errors of judgment we can help you with. This trusty map will lead you on your way to Columbia’s most important sites, delicious restaurants, and convenient convenience stores. Don’t make the mistake of leaving your dorm without it.
City College
3333 Broadway
EDITORS’ PICKS: MOHI EATERIES
The oldest school in the City University of New York system has a beautiful campus just two stops north of Columbia’s Morningside campus.
This huge building looks out over the Manhattanville construction site. Tenants have long complained of tensions with management, and Columbia is providing air conditioners to hundreds of tenants who face the construction.
Massawa
121st and Amsterdam, $$
Fairway Market
Whether you’re a stranger to tebsi in berbere sauce or fresh off the plane from Addis Ababa, you’ll fall in love with this cozy Ethiopian restaurant north of campus. Take someone special there and split the monkfish.
Columbia is building a new complex of buildings just north of Morningside Heights, in Manhattanville. After some tenants challenged the University’s use of eminent domain, the plans wound through the courts for years until the University prevailed. Now, entire blocks are under construction, and a new science center, conference center, and homes for SIPA, the Business School, and the School of the Arts are on the way.
HUDSON RIVER
12
5th
1
Str
Amsterdam, b/t 122nd and 123rd, $$
107th and Amsterdam, $$
Apollo Theatre
General Grant Houses
Amateur Night at the Apollo is famous for giving Ella Fitzgerald and the Jackson 5, among many others, their start. The venue still hosts small concerts by big names, including Paul McCartney, who performed there last December.
This public housing complex is located across Broadway from the Manhattanville construction site, and has historically been a hotspot for crime. Students partnered with tenants last year to start a community garden on the property.
125th Street
A/C B/D
Arguably the best Thai food in the area—be sure to try the Siam Duck or, if you want something spicy, the Thai Basil Sauce. It’s great if you want your food delivered quickly, but it’s also a nice place to have a sit-down meal if you want to get away from campus for bit.
Milano
113th and B’way, $$ While there are many sandwich shops in Morningside Heights, Milano is the best option for gourmet sandwiches. Their very extensive menu can be a bit overwhelming, but almost everything on it is delicious.
Known as Harlem’s Main Street, this historic strip is now home to an increasing number of chains, like Starbucks, Applebee’s, Old Navy, and H&M.
Claremont
P&W
Morningside Avenue
Flagpole
120th Street
NW Corner Building
Finally, there is a place to get consistently excellent coffee on campus. Sure, Oren’s can be good some days and Starbucks is at least reliably mediocre, but coffee lovers should just head straight to Joe when they need their fix. The sandwiches and pastries are solid as well.
SubsConscious
Columbia’s newest building, which includes a library, opened in December. Joe The Art of Coffee has been providing engineers and hipsters their caffeine fix since January.
M2M
Columbia students who participated in ROTC programs at other NY schools raised the flag here last December for the first time in 42 years. After a campus-wide debate that dominated last spring, Bollinger gave the green light for a Navy ROTC program to begin at Columbia, and signed an agreement with the Navy in May.
B’way b/t 114th and 115th, $ This Asian convenience store is an excellent place to go when you need a studying snack. They have the best fries in Morningside, and pretty solid burgers, too. If you’re looking for something a little lighter, their sushi is decent and cheap.
Artopolis
Lines of students waiting to swipe in to get to parties on weekend nights have reached epic proportions, sparking plans for a new turnstile system.
Low Library
Faculty Club
Miller Theater
PrezBo’s House
1
UPS
HamDel St. Luke’s - Roosevelt Hospital
Morton Williams
rive Pinkberry
The Heights
Koronet
Five Guys
Mel’s
1 Broadway
Chipotle
Westside
Deluxe
Broadway b/t 112th and 113th, $$
116th Street
Post Office
Hamilton Deli
The first thing to know about HamDel is that it’s not in Hamilton Hall. The second thing to know is that its heroes are not to be missed. Conventional wisdom says The Twister is the best, but there are plenty of delights on (and off) the menu.
Society Cafe
110th Street
This restaurant can make otherwise ordinary food—meatloaf and mac ‘n’ cheese—sing. If the quirky decor doesn’t win you over, the top-notch pies and cakes will.
109 “CrackDel” Gourmet Deli
Absolute Bagels
One of the most impressive sites in Morningside Heights, the cathedral remains unfinished, though construction began in 1892. It is featured in Art Humanities and has been the center of property disputes for the last several years.
Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread Too
Crepes on Columbus
Kitchenette
Amsterdam b/t 122nd and 123rd, $$
Bier International
St. John the Divine
Columbia Cottage Hungarian P&W Sandwiches 1020
A classic greasy-spoon diner plunked down on Broadway. Friendly service, good prices, and tasty food. What’s not to love?
Amsterdam b/t 115th and 116th, $
Once known for its drug dealing and homeless populations, the park is now a popular place for families to relax during the day—though shootings in and near the park this summer have stirred neighborhood anxiety.
Morn
Artopolis
Amsterdam Avenue
Starbucks Last December, five students were arrested on charges of selling drugs from Havana their rooms—three of them from fraterCentral nities housed in brownstones on 114th Symposium Street. The widely-publicized arrests Deluxe prompted a University investigation Nussbaum Milano into the fraternities and the Intercultural Oren’s Resource Center, where a fourth suspect was living, which ended with the Tom’s fraternities losing their brownstones and being put on probation. Book Culture
Starbucks
C B
With milkshakes, gelato, crepes, and pastries, this little cafe takes the best of Tom’s and the Hungarian Pastry Shop and makes it classy. A down-to-earth joint that’s good enough for your parents.
Morningside Park
M2M
114th Street ex-fraternity houses
Levain Bakery
Amsterdam b/t 113th and 114th, $$
Broadway b/t 107th and 108th, $
C B
Central Park
Home to most Columbia administrators. University President Lee Bollinger’s and Executive Vice-President Robert Kasdin’s offices look out from behind the columns over the laws.
Manhattan Avenue
East Campus
Frederick Douglas Boulevard
Joe the Art of Coffee
et
Teacher’s College
120th and B’way, in NoCo, $
tre
Appletree
Joe the Art of Coffee
sS
Massawa
Union Theological Seminary
ola
Sezz Medi
ich
Max Soha
Jewish Theological Seminary
.N
Kitchenette
Another one of the many sandwich shops in MoHi, P&W is a great (and cheaper) alternative to Milano. If you’re looking for something with turkey, Diana’s Delight (turkey, brie, apples, and honey mustard) is one of the best sandwiches in the neighborhood.
St
Morningside Park
Amsterdam b/t 111th and 110th, $
Manhattan School of Music
Riverside Drive
Max Soha
Thai Market
Riverside Church
Riverside Park
The food won’t blow you away, but you’re not coming here for the food, you’re coming for the atmosphere. With its philosophical menu, crazily painted ceiling, and flaming cheese dish—served with a cry of “Opa!”—this old Greek restaurant will charm even the most jaded Columbian. Try the spaghetti keftedes.
t
Pisticci
Grant’s Tomb
113th, b/t B’way and Amsterdam, $$
ee
Toast
This piece of Riverside Park was a citywide sensation when it opened in 1897. Now, it also plays host to events and concerts. It was the planned location of Barnard’s commencement last year until it was rained out.
Symposium
A cozy Italian eatery where they’ll probably serve you wine without thinking twice. The pasta is divine—particularly the eggplant rigatone and the fettucine al sugo Tuscano with their signature meat sauce. Cash only.
de D ingsi
Dinosaur BBQ
Henry Hudson Parkway
St. Nicholas Park
Manhattanville expansion construction site
map by jeremy bleeke and sarah darville
Widely considered one of the best bagel shops on the Upper West Side, if not all of NYC, Absolute Bagels is worth walking the extra few blocks. The bagels are always fresh and almost always still warm, and there are a wide variety of spreads to choose from, including more exotic ones like jalapeño cream cheese. Nussbaum may be convenient, but Absolute is far superior.
Hungarian Pastry Shop Amsterdam, b/t 110th and 111th, $
Every Ivy League school has one of these—or at least, every one should. The dimly-lit, quiet cafe is the perfect place to read German philosophy, write postmodern fiction, or, more importantly, be seen doing either of these things. For 50 years, Hungarian has served coffee and pastries to Columbia’s pseudointellectual elite.