City Living: Hudson Heights

By Patrick Verel | patrick.verel@newsday.com

June 21, 2007

It's a story as familiar to real estate as security deposits and credit checks. Brokers, eager to capture the attention of buyers, invent a new name for a neighborhood, hoping to separate it from a lesser-thought-of area or glom onto a hipper one nearby.

Except in the case of Hudson Heights, the hilltop neighborhood just north of the George Washington Bridge, that's not how it happened. Elizabeth Ritter, president of the 25-building Hudson Heights Owners Association, said the group formed in 1993 with the goal of addressing issues to co-op ownership. Since the five-building, cliff-side Castle Village complex and the equally appealing Hudson View Gardens were members of the fledging group, Ritter said there was some inkling the area, high above Broadway, would take the name, too.

"It cracks me up. People say it was the real estate people who tried to change the name," she said. "I say I live in Washington Heights, but if you look at it, it's a huge area, and there are lots of smaller, sub-neighborhoods."

Indeed, the steep hills and breathtaking views of the Palisades and GWB give Hudson Heights a different feel from other parts of Washington Heights. James Gordon Bennett Park, which is in the middle of the neighborhood, is the highest natural point in Manhattan, at 265.5 feet above sea level. It was the site of Fort Washington, which along with Fort Lee in New Jersey was used in 1776 by Gen. George Washington to repel (unsuccessfully) British troops during the Revolutionary War. Ritter said the association also considered incorporating that history in the name.

"We thought anything with the word fort in it might be militaristic and uninviting," she said. Befitting its secluded nature, Ritter says there's a friendliness that's uncommon in Manhattan. "If someone's beeping at you, it's not because you're jaywalking, it's because they know you," she said with a laugh.

Mike Fitelson, an organizer of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance's Art Stroll, agreed.

"The cool thing is that there is this sense of, you can walk by your neighbor in the street and have a little conversation. The dog owners will tell you they don't know the name of the owners, but they know the name of their dogs," he said.

He helped start the art stroll started in 2002 as a way for locals to appreciate the many artists in their midst, many of whom work at Lincoln Center.

"We also had 'In the Heights' which is about 181st Street, where it is and where it's going, as seen through the eyes of a bodega owner, at Yeshiva University," he said. "It's a musical about Dominicans, written by a guy from Puerto Rico being performed in a Jewish University."

Find It

Fort Tryon Park to the north, the Hudson River to the west, J. Hood Wright Park/173rd Street to the south and Broadway to the east.

Basics

Transportation

Subway: A, 175th Street, 181st Street, 190th Street Bus: 4, 5, 98, 100, BX 3, 7, 11, 13, 35, 36, New Jersey Transit, Red & Tan Lines/Coach USA and Shortline/Coach USA at George Washington Bridge bus station.

Crime

The 34th Precinct, which covers Inwood, Washington Heights and most of Hudson Heights, has had one murder, 10 rapes and 103 robberies this year, compared to four murders, nine rapes and 127 robberies at this time last year. There were 10 murders, 24 rapes and 318 robberies last year.

Schools

P.S. 173, 306 Fort Washington Ave.; P.S. 210, 4111 Broadway; P.S. 48, 4360 Broadway; P.S. 187/I.S. 287, 349 Cabrini Blvd., I.S. 218, 4600 Broadway

Post Offices

Fort George, 4558 Broadway