Washington Heights, Residential district in northern Manhattan, US.
This part of Manhattan runs from West 155th Street to West 181st Street, pressed between the Hudson River and the Harlem River. The streets climb steep hills lined with brick apartment buildings from the early twentieth century, many with fire escapes facing the sidewalk.
The area takes its name from Fort Washington, a hilltop defense built in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. Decades later, subway construction opened the neighborhood to development, and apartment buildings replaced farms and estates.
Dominican families gather in corner shops and bakeries that serve sweet plantains and coffee throughout the day. On weekends, people sit on stoops and sidewalks, playing dominos and listening to music that drifts from open windows.
Subway lines A and 1 run through the neighborhood and stop at several stations along Broadway. The George Washington Bridge connects directly to New Jersey from the western edge.
Fort Tryon Park holds The Cloisters, a museum that displays medieval European art inside spaces modeled after French monastery halls. The collection belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and sits high above the Hudson River with views stretching north.
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