From dense forests and slums to one of NYC’s most sought-after neighborhoods: how Irish, Jewish, Puerto Rican, and other immigrants transformed the Upper West Side

Written by Rachel

The Upper West Side, or UWS as it is often abbreviated, is a large neighborhood or series of smaller adjacent neighborhoods in northern Manhattan, extending from 59^th Street northward to 110^th Street, with Central Park to the east and the Hudson River to the west. Some, notably real estate agents, also include Morningside Heights – an area stretching from 110^th Street to 125^th Street – in their definition of the Upper West Side.

Upper West Side, view from above

Last Saturday, I embarked on a journey through the Upper West Side, looking for signs of historic and more recent immigration patterns. What I found was a sublime cultural mix, with no one, dominant immigrant population. In fact, the Upper West Side’s diverse foreign-born population – an estimated 42,469 persons or slightly over one-fifth of the total population as of 2011 – hails from the Dominican Republic (7.9%), the United Kingdom (6.2%), China (5.5%), Canada (4.6%), and France (3.8%), among other countries. The only indications of an ethnic enclave are discovered in the far reaches of Manhattan Valley, where many Dominican immigrants have settled.

I began my walk on the western-most edge of the Upper West Side, in Riverside Park. I find parks in New York City to be a curious phenomenon as they intermingle typically dichotomous natural and man-made elements. Serene, organic, and picturesque landscapes are interspersed with the artificial infrastructure so characteristic of city life. I found Riverside Park to be no different. As the weather was pleasant that morning, joggers, families and children, and dog walkers filled the park with life. Yet, even as I started to loose myself in the natural beauty of the park, the hustle and bustle of the neighboring motorway and the looming facades of Riverside Drive brought me back to reality.

I exited the park and walked along 81^st Street to the Museum of Natural History, an Upper West Side icon. In passing from West End to Broadway, I could not help but notice the tangible differences between the two avenues. Whereas West End is exclusively a tree-lined residential locale – a trait characteristic of the Upper West Side – Broadway is a commercial avenue displaying busy shops of recognizable brands, and numerous restaurants. Broadway served as a major thoroughfare in northern Manhattan ever since Dutch immigrants constructed it in the 18^th century, calling it Bloomingdale Road after the Bloemendaal tulip district in the Netherlands. Bloomingdale Road expanded and grew as the Upper West Side began to excavate its dense forests and increased tobacco production.

To continue my historic tour, I walked north to 93^rd Street and Broadway. It was in this approximate location that summer residences of wealthy Protestants were built in the 1830s. Until the 1890s the area remained a largely WASP community, as still evidenced today by several Episcopal churches standing nearby.

In the 1890s, large numbers of Irish immigrants settled in the Upper West Side, opening restaurants and shops along Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. By 1910, they were the neighborhood’s largest immigrant group. Jewish immigrants from Russia, Poland and Germany also arrived during that time, fleeing the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany and Eastern Europe, while many Jewish-American families relocated to the Upper West Side from the tenements of the Lower East Side. But only in 1938 did the Jewish population surpass the Irish in numbers.

As the Second World War ended and New York City experienced a housing shortage, the Upper West Side’s Jewish community began to shrink as many chose to move to Florida or the suburbs. During the same period, the “Great Migration” of Puerto Ricans brought a large number of new residents to the area. By 1960 over 40,000 Puerto Ricans lived in the Upper West Side, making up 14 percent of its total population. The neighborhood underwent a period of decline, as the spacious homes of the past were converted into smaller apartments and overpopulation ensued. Slums became a commonplace in multiple areas of the Upper West Side, crime rates increased, and racial tensions rose between old-time and newer residents. One long-time New Yorker I talked to assured me that in the 1970s she hardly ever ventured to the Upper West Side – “it was just too dangerous,” she said. In fact, it is hard to believe that the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, today a prime cultural destination in the city, once was the site of San Juan Hill, one of the Upper West Side’s worst slums.

Lincoln Center, once the site of San Juan Hill’s slum

The slum was torn down in the mid-1950s to make space for the Lincoln Center as part of architect Robert Moses’ urban renewal plan. This was a controversial project, one that displaced large numbers of ethnic and racial minorities, but that some see as the catalyst for the Upper West Side’s renaissance in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Still, others believe that it was groups of community-minded individuals who banded together to fight for their neighborhood that attracted new residents and brought about change. Many newcomers moved from other areas of New York City to escape high rents and small spaces, or returned to the city from the suburbs.

Today the Upper West Side is one of the most sought-after neighborhoods of New York City. It is still home to a substantial Jewish population (both orthodox and non-orthodox alike), and to a diverse foreign-born population, with no one, dominant group. If the Upper West Side piques your interest, check out the “Summer on Hudson” art and culture festival hosted by NYC Park’s Department in Riverside Park. Events include music concerts, dance performances, movies, and children’s activities, and are held throughout the summer, right here in Manhattan.