Cathedral Parkway - 110th Street (1)
Welcome to Morningside Heights! You’re officially north of the Upper West Side now. This area is filled with Columbia grad students living in mid-size brick residential buildings, and Columbia undergrads who have wandered south of campus for an errand or to try their under-21 luck snagging a frozen margarita at The Heights Bar and Grill. Closer to the river, professors burrow in their brownstones.
This stop has six gems worth checking out. Let’s go for a walk!
Archival footage of the home of the cheese fries that can fuel a college education.
As soon as you pop out of the subway station, you’ll find (1) Koronet Pizza on Broadway. Of New York’s classic fast-pizza places, Koronet easily ranks in my top three. The pizza slices are huge*. If you encounter, anywhere in the world, a slice of pizza that is larger than Koronet’s, comment here and I will buy you that slice.
Now, keep going north on Broadway until you hit (2) Tom’s Restaurant on 112th. Tom’s is famous for its regular appearance on Seinfeld, but it’s also just a good, classic diner. I have laughed over many late-night cheese fries while tucked into a Tom’s booth.
Now, I recommend turning onto 112th and walking towards Amsterdam Avenue, where you’ll find (3) Book Culture. At the start of Columbia’s academic terms you’ll find students snaking upstairs to pick up coursework book packages, and at the end of the terms you’ll find many of those same students returning to sell back their materials. I personally love the upstairs area because there are display shelves of really well-curated contemporary books that are deeply discounted due to some minor flaws, like a smudge on the cover. I picked up my first Isabelle Allende novel here for just six dollars. Thanks, Book Culture!
Let’s keep going on 112th towards Amsterdam Avenue. By now, I’m sure you’ve noticed something peculiar… why yes, you are walking right to the entrance of the largest cathedral in the world.
Right outside Book Culture on 112th, you’ll get this view of St. John’s towards Amsterdam Ave.
Welcome to (4) The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. It’s breathtakingly big with flying buttresses galore, and I love the stained glass. It’s free to enter if you intend to use the space for prayer, even outside of service times. Or, you can pay about $20 to visit as a tourist, and you can also sign up for paid tours, including one to the top via the old stairwell. If you can catch a choir or orchestral performance here, do it. I also recommend visiting on a Saturday or Sunday, when the grounds are open (nice gardens, statues). There used to be peacocks roaming about, but according to a security guard when I visited, they’ve been rehomed upstate. So, no peacocks. But, still a beautiful cathedral with beautiful grounds.
Closer up.
Across from the cathedral you’ll find (5) The Hungarian Pastry Shop, which is decorated with the covers of books that have been written within the cafe’s walls. If you like excellent whipped cream, try their Hungarian Coffee or the Russian Coffee. This is a cafe with kismet: if you’re someone with literary acquaintances, you might run into one here. (Hi, Jake!) The cafe is a notoriously tight space to navigate, and you’re almost guaranteed to be sharing a too-small table with a fellow writer, reader, or philosopher. What would feel claustrophobic anywhere else is part of the charm here, particularly if you’re an avid eavesdropper. For the larger-bodied, it may help to know that there is some bench-like seating in the back that may be relatively accommodating, but there are no guarantees on its availability.
At the Hungarian Pastry Shop. Who knows, somewhere in this picture might be the next Ta-Nehisi Coates.
We’ll conclude our walk by heading back towards Broadway, where the station is, but keep going west until you hit (6) Riverside Park. Of course, so many stations along the 1 Train will give you access to this long, skinny gem of a park, but why not remind you that it’s here for a jog, stroll, or picnic.
*Koronet has also started offering “regular-size” pizza slices. Blasphemy. You make sure you get the properly-sized, gigantanormous slice you deserve, you hear?
What did I miss? Scroll past the map and let me know in the comments.
