The Upper West Side as a Mirror of NYC

Compared to the neighborhoods above and below it, the Upper West Side lacks a unified character. As mentioned in the readings, this area of the city experienced a huge amount of immigrant movement throughout during the 18-1900s. Almost every group that has immigrated to the city is represented in this area. Some of this lack of character may be due to this, as other areas were defined by the groups living there. Chinatown for instance gets much of its character from its high population of Chinese and Korean immigrants, and the same can be said of other ethnic enclaves throughout the city. Lacking this singular ethnicity, the Upper West Side has changed as its people have.

The Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants in the area, and later the African American and Puerto Rican immigrants have all shaped the areas character. On Broadway there could be seen signs of the groups living there, with a multitude of restaurants and businesses representing every group’s culture. In some cases, like with the Irish, the influx of the new caused some of the old to be removed. Places like the Manhattanville slums were “cleaned up”, and the people living there were forced to disperse. Others had to leave due to rising costs of living there, like with the Levine family discussed in “Middle Class on the Run”.  The middle class, particularly the lower end of the middle class, saw itself being priced out of the area by the 60s. With fewer affordable options, many would be forced to leave to the outer boroughs or Long Island.

In this way, the Upper West Side closely mirrors the city as a whole. Like the city as a whole, the differing interests of the groups that lived there and the tensions that came with that helped define the area. With each successive group, the area became more diverse, and more and more cultures were visible. The

-Jon Baumann