Washington Heights & Inwood Online

There is also an archway on Braodway that supposedly lead to the Isham estate. It's at least as large as the Arch in Washington Square Park.

Regarding Isham Park and the Broadway "arch": thanks for the background. I lived at 55 Park Terrace East from 1949 to 1969. The park was my view frm living room window. At the time the Sacred Heart of Mary Girls School was across the street. Also, brick mansion served the Nuns. Is there any history regarding that building and also a building that looks like it may have been servants quarters that runs parallel to the "city steps" that lead frm Park Terrace to Broadway. I have an aerial view of this area if there is an email to send it to. Again, thanks for a very informative walk down memory lane.

I lived on Park Terrace West in the 1970s--forget the exact address (34?), but it was the big yellow-brick building directly on the park that had four addresses, because it sloped downhill to meet Seaman Ave./Indian Road. It had a twin across the road. There are steps running downhill alongside it and mulberry trees to make the steps impassable at certain seasons. And an open courtyard with a fountain, unfortunately dry. It was a forgotten neighborhood with low rents (I think my rent was $135/month or less) and a few Irish stores and bars remaining. Some of my friends thought it was eccentric of me to move so far from the orbit of Zabar's, the Thalia, and Columbia University, but I loved it. It was a wonderful place to take your dog walking, and I still remember my Samoyed Volodya bounding in the deep snow in Isham Park on a winter night. It was wonderfully green and there were farther north on Park Terrace West a few real live small houses with yards crammed to bursting with flowers. I love the parts of the city that have real names--way uptown and way downtown. A few years later I heard on a visit back that it had become heavily Dominican and crime-ridden. (That sounds raciste--but that's what folks told me.) Since then, I heard, there's been an upswing. [In fact, heck, edit out this paragraph if you see fit. That is, if you see fit to use it at all] The Cloisters and Dyckman House were within walking distance. I was awed to find out that the floors in Dyckman House were of [the vanished] American chestnut.(Years later I joined the American Chestnut Foundation.)

Inwood has maintained that "green" feeling and the parks and area are still wonderful. It, like any other area in Manhattan, has come a very long way from the days that Ms. Wolff's frinds described in her posting. It is not "crime ridden." The buildings West of Broadway and above Dyckman/Riverside Drive are very desireable and (per comments from friends looking in the area) expensive. Long gone are the days when one could find rents less than $900.00 for a one bedroom. My wife and I were fortunate enough to purchase a 1 bedroom apartment on Park Terrace East before the market sky-rocketed in the area, and got even luckier this year when our neighbor's apartment became available and we purchased to combine. As long as we've been here, West of Broadway was always diverse, but now east of Broadway is becoming more and more diversified as rents became too expensive in the west. There are now several great restaurants in the area ranging from casual to fine dining - Italian, Continental, French, upscale Latin, lounges, and of course, the same Irish bars that have always been here (Keenan's, Liffy, Irish Eyes, Piper's Kilt). My wife and I love the neighborhood and will stay here the rest of our lives. I suggest anyone who has moved away from the neighborhood to give it a visit. They'll be pleasantly surprised.

anyone remember the name of the bar on the corner of Dyckman and Vermilya? my parents and i cant remember the name and they were frequent patrons...dad is going to be 89 and grew up here and so have i!