Washington Heights, Manhattan

File:A Topographical map of North. Part of New York Island, exhibiting the Plan of Fort Washington now Fort Knyphausen with the Rebels Lines to the Southward.jpg made by the British in November 1776 following the fall of Fort Washington during the Revolutionary War]]

File:Old Blue-Bell Tavern, Kingsbridge Road (NYPL b13512825-424351) - Smaller Image.jpg]]

File:Paterno Castle postcard.jpg

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area was traversed by American Indians from the Early Woodland Period,{{Rp|117}} who left remains of shellfish and pottery at the site of the present-day Little Red Lighthouse.{{cite book|title=Indian Paths in the Great Metropolis|first=Reginald|last=Pelham Bolton|access-date=April 21, 2020|year=1909|publisher=Museum of the American Indian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2O-FAAAAIAAJ}}{{Rp|79}} Washington Heights is part of the section of northern Manhattan that is the homelands of the Wecquaesgeeks (originally a name for the area meaning "birch-bark country"),{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2337.pdf|title=Fort Washington Presbyterian Church|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=May 12, 2009|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}{{Rp|3}} a band of the Wappinger and a Lenape Native American people.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xF4NDALYWSAC|title=Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898|first1=Edwin G.|first2=Mike|last1=Burrows|last2=Wallace|author-link1=Edwin G. Burrows|author-link2=Mike Wallace (historian)|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199741205}}{{Rp|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/history|title=Fort Tryon Park Highlights|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}}{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2335.pdf|title=Audubon Park Historic District|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=May 12, 2009}} The winding path of Broadway north of 168th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue to its south is living evidence of the old Wecquaesgeek trail which travelled along the Hudson Valley from Lower Manhattan all the way through Albany.{{Rp|74}}{{cite enc-nyc2}}{{Rp|442}} On the plateau west of Broadway between 175th and 181st Streets, the residents had been cultivating crops in a field known to Dutch colonists as the "Great Maize Field".{{Rp|133}}{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1654.pdf|title=Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse|access-date=May 1, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=May 14, 1991}}{{Rp|2}}

Arriving in 1623, the Dutch initially worked as trade partners with the American Indians but became more and more hostile as time went on, with the natives frequently reciprocating.{{cite book|title=The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City's History|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8EgsHmSEAsC|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|first=Eric|last=Homberger|isbn=9780805078428}}{{Rp|20}} The Dutch referred to the elevated area of northwestern Washington Heights as "Long Hill" while the Fort Tryon Park area specifically carried the name "Forest Hill".{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1417.pdf|title=Fort Tryon Park|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=September 20, 1983}}{{Rp|2}}

None of the land in present-day Washington Heights was under private ownership until 1712, when it was parceled out in lots to various landowners from the village of Harlem to the south.{{Rp|745}} Even after repeated attempts by the Dutch to drive them out, including the bloody Kieft's War (1643–1645), some Wecquaesgeek managed to maintain residence in Washington Heights up until the Dutch paid them a settlement for their last land claims in 1715.{{Rp|5}} For the greater part of the next two centuries, Washington Heights would remain a home to wealthy landowners seeking a quiet location for their suburban estates.{{Rp|3,542}}

During the New York Campaign of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington's Continental Army secured a small but much-needed victory over the pursuing British Army at the Battle of Harlem Heights, after having suffered a series of defeats in Manhattan.{{cite book|title=The Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776: With a Review of the Events of the Campaign|access-date=April 22, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTdCAAAAIAAJ|year=1897|publisher=Macmillan Publishers|first=Henry P.|last=Johnston}}{{Rp|56}}{{Rp|102}} Not long after their victory, the Continental Army suffered one of its worst defeats at the Battle of Fort Washington, in which nearly 2,900 troops were captured.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/generalgeorgewas00leng|title=General George Washington|isbn=9781588364807|first=Edward G.|last=Lengel|publisher=Random House|year=2005|author-link=Edward G. Lengel}}{{Rp|165}} Fort Washington was a group of fortifications on the high points of Washington Heights, with its central site at present-day Bennett Park (known then as Mount Washington){{cite book|title=Fort Tryon and Vicinity: A Landmark History|first=Edward Hagaman|last=Hall|access-date=April 22, 2020|year=1917|publisher=American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADAbAQAAIAAJ&q=%22fort+tryon+and+vicinity%22+%22edward+hagaman+hall%22&pg=PA735}}{{Rp|737}} built a few months prior opposite Fort Lee, New Jersey to protect the Hudson River from enemy ships.{{Rp|229}}{{Rp|2}}{{cite book|last=Fischer|first=David Hackett|author-link=David Hackett Fischer|title=Washington's Crossing|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-19-518121-2|url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonscross00fisc/page/112/mode/1up}}{{Rp|111}}

Under British control, the position was renamed Fort Knyphausen for the Hessian general Wilhelm von Knyphausen, who played a major part in the victory;{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZD6DgM70pUC|title=The Greatest Street in the World: The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from Bowling Green to Albany|first=Stephen|last=Jenkins|year=1911|access-date=April 22, 2020|publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons|isbn=9783849676384 }}{{Rp|326}}{{cite web|url=https://collections.mcny.org/Collection/Principal-Map-of-the-North-Part-of-New---York-Island,-exhibiting-the-Plan-of-Fort-Washington,-now-Fort-Knyphausen-2F3HRG6VE3V.html|access-date=April 22, 2020|date=1777|title=Principal Map of the North Part of New – York Island, exhibiting the Plan of Fort Washington, now Fort Knyphausen|first1=David Thomas|first2=George|last2=Hayward|last1=Valentine|publisher=Museum of the City of New York}} its lesser fortification at present-day Fort Tryon Park was renamed for Sir William Tryon, the last governor of New York before it was taken back by the Continental Army.{{Rp|158}} The park holds a plaque dedicated in 1909 to Margaret Corbin, an American who took over at her husband's cannon after his death in the Battle of Fort Washington;{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/monuments/533|title=Fort Tryon Park Monuments – Fort Tryon Memorial|access-date=April 22, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}} she was also honored with the naming of Margaret Corbin Drive in 1977.

At the northwest corner of 181st Street and Broadway (then Kingsbridge Road) was the Blue Bell Tavern, built in the early-mid 18th century as an inn and site of social gatherings.{{Rp|65}}{{Rp|331}} When New York's Provincial Congress assented to the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776, the head of the statue of George III ended up on a spike at the Blue Bell Tavern, broken off by a "rowdy" group of civilians and soldiers at Bowling Green.{{Rp|232}}

During the British evacuation of New York in 1783, George Washington and his staff stood in front of the tavern as they watched the American troops march southward to retake the city.{{cite book|last=Renner|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OavdyyxSYcQC|title=Images of America: Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2007|isbn=9780738554785}}{{Rp|17}} After changing ownership several times, the tavern moved to a new building in 1885, following the original structure's destruction for the widening of Broadway.{{Rp|65}}

File:The Riviera at 790 Riverside Drive (Manhattan).jpg

In 1915, the tavern was demolished again to build the 3,500-seat Coliseum Theatre, which was demolished in 2021 after denial of its landmark status.{{cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/13/ghost-light-illuminating-our-citys-theatres-rko-coliseum-edition|title=Ghost Light: Illuminating Our City's Theatres: RKO Coliseum|publisher=New York Public Library|first=Jeremy|last=Megraw|date=January 13, 2012|access-date=April 11, 2020}}{{cite news|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/washington-heights-theater-could-be-demolished-soon-report-says|work=Patch|date=August 9, 2018|access-date=April 11, 2020|title=Washington Heights Theater Could Be Demolished Soon, Report Says|first=Brendan|last=Krisel}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thecuriousuptowner.com/post/the-100-year-old-coliseum-theater-in-washington-heights-is-now-mostly-rubble|access-date=May 30, 2021|date=November 10, 2020|title=See it: the 100-year-old Coliseum theater in Washington Heights is now mostly rubble|website=The Curious Uptowner}}

Before the apartment development of the 20th century, many wealthy citizens built grand mansions in Washington Heights. The most famous landowner in the southwest part of the neighborhood was ornithologist John James Audubon, whose estate encompassed the {{convert|20|acres}} from 155th to 158th Street west of Broadway.{{Rp|7}} A mystery surrounds his family home by Riverside Drive, which was deconstructed and moved to a city lot to make room for new development in 1931, only for its remnants to vanish without a trace.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/realestate/audubons-home-and-columbus-circles-past.html|title=Audubon's Home, and Columbus Circle's Past|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 11, 2020|date=November 27, 2005|first=Christopher|last=Gray}}

On the eastern side, by Edgecombe Avenue between 160th and 162nd Streets, the Morris–Jumel Mansion has been successfully preserved to this day.{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisjumel.org/history|title=History – Morris-Jumel Mansion|access-date=May 11, 2020|website=www.morrisjumel.org}} The land of the estate had been owned by Jan Kiersen and her son-in-law Jacob Dyckman before it was bought by British colonel Roger Morris in 1765 and completed the same year.{{Rp|120}}{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0638.pdf|title=Jumel Terrace Historic District|access-date=May 11, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=August 18, 1970}}{{Rp|1}} In 1776, the house was commandeered as a headquarters by George Washington, and after changing hands a few times was purchased by Stephen and Eliza Jumel in 1810.{{Rp|318}} In 1903, the City bought the mansion and it became a museum, the oldest surviving house in Manhattan.{{Rp|11}}{{Rp|1}}

With a picturesque view of the Palisades, the elevated ridge of northwest Washington Heights became the site of a few modern castles. The first of these was Libbey Castle, built by Augustus Richards after he purchased the land from Lucius Chittenden in 1855.{{Rp|160}} Located near Margaret Corbin Circle,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5lbloWdrisC|title=Creating the Cloisters|first=Timothy|last=Husband|year=2013|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9781588394880}}{{Rp|23}} this estate was once owned by William "Boss" Tweed but got its current name from William Libbey, who purchased it in 1880.{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/castles-in-the-sky|title=A Neighborhood of Castles in the Sky: Washington Heights before The Cloisters|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=May 12, 2020|date=November 15, 2013|first=Danielle|last=Oteri}} Even more extravagant, Paterno Castle was situated on the estate of real estate developer Charles Paterno by the Hudson River at 181st Street.{{cite web|url=https://forgotten-ny.com/2000/12/postcards-from-the-edge-of-town/|access-date=May 12, 2020|website=Forgotten NY|date=December 22, 2000|title=Postcards From the Edge of Town}} Built in 1907, the mansion was demolished thirty years later for Paterno's Castle Village complex, where pieces of the original structure still remain.{{Rp|12}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/08/07/archives/paterno-castle-to-be-demolished-6000000-apartment-project-planned.html|work=The New York Times|date=August 7, 1938|title=Paterno Castle To Be Demolished – $6,000,000 Apartment Project Planned by Dr. Paterno Overlooking Hudson – Five Houses To Be Built – Occupy Seven-Acre Tract on Washington Heights South of Tryon Park Project to Cost $6,000,000 Large Landscape Area|access-date=May 12, 2020}}

The neighborhood's largest estate was the property of industrial tycoon C. K. G. Billings, taking up {{convert|25|acres}} in the southern part of Fort Tryon Park.{{Rp|20}} Although the Louis XIV-style mansion at present-day Linden Terrace burned to the ground in 1925, Billings Terrace remains, supported by the elegant stone archway that originally led to the Billings mansion.{{Rp|10}}

Initial residential development in Washington Heights began in the late 19th century with the construction of row and wood-frame houses in the southern portion of the neighborhood, particularly near Amsterdam Avenue.{{Rp|2}}{{cite web|url=http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-09f1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Atlas of the City of New York – Plate 30: Bounded by W. 166th Street, Croton Aqueduct, Edgecomb Road, W. 155th Street, Exterior Street (Harlem River), W. 147th Street and (Hudson River) Eleventh Avenue|first=E.|last=Robinson|date=1885|access-date=July 23, 2020|publisher=New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}} In 1886, the Third Avenue Railway was extended from 125th Street to 155th Street along Amsterdam Avenue.{{cite book|first=Charles L.|last=Ballard|title=Metropolitan New York's Third Avenue Railway System|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IieuDuvtohUC|isbn=9780738538105}}{{Rp|7}} However, higher residential density would not be supported until the extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s first subway line (now part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line).{{Rp|76}} The IRT built the 157th Street, 168th Street, 181st Street, and Dyckman Street stations between 1904 and 1906 (the 191st Street station opened as an infill station in 1911).{{Rp|12}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ5RAAAAYAAJ|title=Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide|date=November 12, 1904|publisher=F. W. Dodge Corporation|access-date=May 16, 2020}}{{Rp|1026}}{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112111474968|title=1910–1911 Annual Report of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company For The Year Ended June 30, 1911|publisher=Interborough Rapid Transit Company|year=1911|access-date=May 16, 2020}}{{Rp|60}}

Although skyrocketing land values sparked early predictions that upper-class apartment buildings would dominate the neighborhood, such development was limited in the pre-World War I period to the Audubon Park area west of Broadway and south of 158th Street.{{Rp|14}}{{cite book|title=City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U3XAAAAQBAJ&q=city+trenches+ira+katznelson+%22the+making+of+northern+manhattan%22&pg=PT107|year=1981|publisher=University of Chicago Press|first=Ira|last=Katznelson|isbn=9780307833402}}{{Rp|75}} Buildings such as the 13-story Riviera included elaborate decor and generous amenities to attract higher-paying tenants.{{Rp|15}}

The southern and eastern parts of Washington Heights experienced a construction boom in the years leading up to World War I.{{Rp|77}} The downtown access provided by the IRT prompted a rapid increase in density through the proliferation of five- and six-story New Law Tenements, the vast majority of which remain.{{cite book|title=Frankfurt on the Hudson: The German-Jewish Community of Washington Heights, 1933–1983, Its Structure and Culture|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=1989|first=Steven M.|last=Lowenstein|isbn=978-0814323854}} Many of the new residents came from crowded immigrant neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side,{{Rp|15}} which saw its density halved between 1910 and 1930.{{cite book|title=Population of the City of New York, 1890–1930|first=Walter|last=Laidlaw|year=1932|publisher=Cities Census Committee|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001640473}}{{Rp|73}} As a result of the development of new housing, the total population of Manhattan north of 155th Street grew from just 8,000 in 1900 to 110,000 by 1920.{{Rp|53}} The incoming residents of Washington Heights were a diverse group of people of European descent. In 1920, nearly half were Protestant, most of whom had parents born in the United States; the remainder was split between Jews and Catholics, typically immigrants or born to immigrant parents.{{Rp|292}}

The next wave of urbanization for Washington Heights came in the 1920s, coinciding with the construction boom occurring across the city.{{Rp|79}} The population increased significantly in the central area west of Broadway, and drastically in the area north of 181st Street, populating the last of the undeveloped areas just south and west of Fort Tryon Park.{{Rp|93}} Transit for new residents was improved with the construction of the Independent Subway System (IND)'s Eighth Avenue Line in 1932, with stops at 175th Street, 181st Street, and 190th Street along Fort Washington Avenue.{{cite news|title=Gay Midnight Crowd Rides First Trains in the Subway; Throngs at Stations an Hour Before Time, Rush Turnstiles When Chains Are Dropped. No Official Ceremonies But West Side Business Group Celebrates Midnight Event With Ride and Dinner. Last Rehearsals Smooth Delaney, Fullen and Aides Check First Hour of Pay Traffic From Big Times Square Station. New Subway Opens; Trains Crowded|first=Paul|last=Crowell|date=September 10, 1932|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 20, 2020|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/09/10/archives/gay-midnight-crowd-rides-first-trains-in-the-subway-throngs-at.html}}

The demographics of the neighborhood were undergoing significant change. While the Protestant population remained stagnant, first- and second-generation Irish and Eastern European Jews continued to move in.{{Rp|79}} By 1930, nearly a quarter of Manhattan's Jewish residents lived north of 155th Street.{{Rp|152}} The neighborhood also saw an influx of German Jews escaping Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s, a history documented by Steven M. Lowenstein's book Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson (a nickname referencing the origin city of many in the diaspora).{{Rp|25}} One attractive aspect of Washington Heights for German Jews was likely its Eastern European Jewish presence, but an economic pull was its abundance of housing stock from the 1920s construction boom.{{Rp|16}} Although rents were higher than average, many landlords offered some free rent to draw new tenants, and apartments were nonetheless spacious for their cost.{{Rp|45}}

In the first half of the 20th century, tensions broke out between Catholics and Jews, who were not very segregated residentially but remained in separate social spheres.{{cite book|title=The New York Irish|year=1997|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|editor1-first=Ronald H.|editor1-last=Bayor|editor2-first=Timothy|editor2-last=Meager|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfCmS90xyEIC|isbn=9780801857645}}{{Rp|439}} Around the start of World War II, Irish groups such as the Christian Front arose, drawing large crowds to their antisemitic rallies, coupled with the vandalism of synagogues and beating of Jewish youth by Irish youth in gangs such as the Amsterdams.{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23887201|access-date=February 23, 2021|first=Stephen H.|last=Norwood|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|journal=American Jewish History|date=June 2003|volume=91|issue=2|title=Marauding Youth and the Christian Front: Antisemitic Violence in Boston and New York During World War II|pages=233–267|doi=10.1353/ajh.2004.0055|jstor=23887201|s2cid=162237834|url-access=subscription}}{{Rp|236}}{{Rp|155}} After continual charges of police negligence, a committee was created to combat the violence and many members of the Irish gangs were arrested. By 1944, the local Catholic Clergy were pressured to speak out against the prejudice, and Jews, Catholics, and Protestants began working together on solutions to ease the tensions.{{Rp|157}}

Around this time, Washington Heights also gained its first substantial population of black residents, by 1943 numbering around 3,000 and concentrated mainly in the southeastern part of the neighborhood. The black population of Washington Heights was dwarfed, however, by that of Hamilton Heights, where white residents were 63% of the population in 1943.{{cite web|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/347374/m21-profile.pdf|title=1943 Profile of the City College, Manhattan area|date=1943|access-date=August 20, 2020|publisher=Graduate Center, CUNY}} It was during this period that the popular boundary of Washington Heights shifted from 135th Street to 155th Street, as many residents of European descent refused to include African Americans in their conception of the neighborhood.{{Rp|4585}} This attitude was expressed in a phrase heard in the time period: "Washington Heights begins where Harlem ends."{{Rp|33}}{{Rp|125}} In fact, many of the neighborhood's new Jewish arrivals had left from Harlem as it became increasingly populated by black people from the South during the Great Migration.{{Rp|152}}{{Rp|1890}}

File:555 Edgecombe Avenue from south.jpg]]

File:St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church 124 Wadsworth Avenue.jpg]]

Despite the growth of the black population, racial segregation remained very rigid. While in the vast majority of blocks less than 2% of housing units were occupied by non-white residents, nearly every block east of Amsterdam Avenue and south of 165th Street was over 90% non-white by 1950.{{cite book|title=1950 United States Census of Housing: Manhattan Borough Block Statistics|author=United States Census Bureau|publisher=United States Government Publishing Office|access-date=August 29, 2020|year=1952|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/housing-volume-5/15870149v5p6ch03.pdf}}{{Rp|38}}

The process underlying this segregation is exemplified in the history of one of Washington Heights' most famous apartment buildings: 555 Edgecombe Avenue. Built in 1914, the 14-story building rented to various relatively affluent white people until 1939, when the owner cancelled all the tenants' leases and began renting exclusively to black people.{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1862.pdf|title=555 Edgecombe Avenue Apartments|access-date=August 30, 2020|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=June 15, 1993}}{{Rp|5}} While organizations like the Neighborhood Protective Association of Washington Heights had kept the neighborhood virtually all-white throughout much of the 20th century,{{cite book|title=Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto|first=Gilbert|last=Osofsky|publisher=HarperCollins|url=https://archive.org/stream/harlemmakingofgh00osof?ref=ol0|year=1971|isbn=9781566631044}}{{Rp|248}} the overcrowded conditions of Harlem led to growth in demand for apartments outside the neighborhood.{{cite book|first=Eric C.|last=Schneider|title=Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|access-date=August 20, 2020|isbn=9780691074542|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NhTzoKrUVkC}}{{Rp|35}}

Throughout the 1940s, the building had a number of notable black residents, such as Paul Robeson, Kenneth Clark, and Count Basie.{{Rp|6}} The presence of middle-class black people in 555 Edgecombe and other higher-class buildings in southeast Washington Heights led many to associate it with Sugar Hill, the Harlem sub-neighborhood spanning between Edgecombe Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue to its south.{{Rp|4}}

In addition to segregation, racism also manifested itself in gang culture, where youth often defined themselves by race or ethnicity and violently defended their respective territories. These tensions were brought to a climax in 1957, with the assault of two teenagers of European ancestry, Michael Farmer and Roger McShane, members of the majority-Irish "Jesters" gang.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsSiXoVuKTIC|year=1970|publisher=Harvard University Press|first=Robert|last=Hamlett Bremner|author-link=Robert H. Bremner|isbn=9780674116139|title=Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, Volumes 2-3}}{{Rp|1043}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/vics-early-gang-violence-beaten-clash-nyc-pool-article-1.3312175|access-date=February 23, 2021|first=Mara|last=Bovsun|title=Two victims of early gang violence pummeled, stabbed by warring factions at NYC pool|date=July 9, 2017|work=New York Daily News}} The incident took place in the Highbridge Pool, a Works Progress Administration-funded pool built in 1936 which had no racial restrictions but was nonetheless an environment of racial hostility in the changing landscape of the neighborhood.{{Rp|48}}

The assault, which ended in Michael Farmer's death, was perpetrated by an alliance of the African-American Egyptian Kings and the Puerto Rican Dragons, both based in West Harlem just south of the Heights. The supposed motive for the attack was to counter the perception that Highbridge Pool was "owned" by the Jesters, and black and Latino youths were often called racial slurs and chased away from the surrounding blocks.{{Rp|79}} As Eric Schneider analyzes in Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York, the incident illustrated the effects of the neighborhood's demographic shift: The Jesters defined themselves as fighting against black and Latino occupancy of the neighborhood even as they included newly arrived black people in their ranks (similar diversity was seen in the membership of the Dragons and Egyptian Kings).{{Rp|88}}

While signs were slowly appearing for the first half of the 20th century that Washington Heights would not forever be a neighborhood of European Americans, the 1960s and 1970s featured full force demographic shifts. Washington Heights' upwardly mobile white residents began to leave in great numbers, and lower-income Latino population saw great increases.{{Rp|138}} Apart from the allure of suburban homes and their economic capacity to buy them, white residents were spurred to leave by the demographic changes themselves, increasing negligence of residential buildings, and rising crime (having more than doubled between 1969 and 1982).{{Rp|128}}{{Rp|224}} Compared to the white flight occurring in other neighborhoods such as the West Bronx, the process was much slower and less destructive as few buildings were outright abandoned or burned.{{Rp|156}}{{Rp|216}}

While Puerto Ricans had been the dominant Latino group in the 1950s, by 1965 Cubans and Dominicans had overtaken them in number, and by 1970 native Spanish speakers were the majority group in central-eastern census tracts.{{Rp|215}} Despite being a smaller group, Cuban immigrants in the Heights had an outsized role in business, owning, according to a 1976 estimate, the majority of Latino-owned stores.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/12/archives/spanish-influx-felt-in-washington-heights-spanish-influx-felt-in.html|title=Spanish Influx Felt in Washington Heights|date=August 12, 1976|first=Richard|last=Severo|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 12, 2020}} The neighborhood's black population also increased, numbering over 25,000 by 1980, and residing in all areas of the neighborhood while remaining a plurality in the southeastern section.{{Rp|215}}

While the overall trend was of exodus among white residents, the rate of this trend varied among different groups. One of the most pronounced changes occurred with Greek immigrants, who had reached their peak in the 1950s with the establishment of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and an accompanying school, only to see within two decades nearly all of the congregation had left for the suburbs.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/nyregion/thecity/25gree.html|title=Its Flock Dwindling, a Greek Parish Reaches Out and Spruces Up|date=June 25, 2006|first=Alex|last=Mindlin|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 12, 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.saintspyridon.net/welcome-to-st.-spyridon/history-of-our-community|title=History of Our Parish|publisher=St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church|access-date=January 18, 2021}} On the other hand, the German Jewish exodus was characterized by a decrease in overall population but an increasing presence in the neighborhood's northwestern corner.{{Rp|216}} By the 1970s, evidence of the exodus of the broader Jewish community was present in the changing landscape of the neighborhood, where kosher stores and Jewish bakeries were gradually replaced by new small businesses with signs in Spanish.{{Rp|218}}

While some Dominican immigrants had been arriving in Washington Heights throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the pace increased drastically during the regime of Joaquín Balaguer, who took power in 1966 following the Dominican Civil War.{{cite book|title=Dominican New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile, 1990|year=1995|first1=Ramona|last1=Hernández|first2=Francisco|last2=Rivera-Batiz|first3=Roberto|last3=Agodini|author-link1=Ramona Hernández|publisher=CUNY Dominican Studies Institute|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=dsi_pubs}}{{Rp|12}} The combination of the recent passing of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Balaguer's policy of freely granting passports, and the Dominican Republic's high unemployment rate created the conditions for growing emigration from the Dominican Republic to the United States.{{cite book|first=Ramona|last=Hernández|author-link=Ramona Hernández|year=2002|publisher=Columbia University Press|title=The Mobility of Workers Under Advanced Capitalism: Dominican Migration to the United States|isbn=9780231505185|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hguAUOXscvwC}}{{Rp|58}} Some of the initial migrants were left-wing revolutionaries exiled by the Balaguer regime, theorized to have been granted visas through an unwritten agreement with the United States, but the majority of arrivals came for better economic opportunities.{{Rp|58}}{{cite book|url=https://journals.dartmouth.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Journals.woa/1/xmlpage/2/article/104|access-date=February 9, 2021|publisher=Dartmouth College|first=Julissa|last=Reynoso|title=Dominican Immigrants and Social Capital in New York City: A Case Study}}

In Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights, Jorge Duany describes how Washington Heights developed as a "transnational community", continually defined by its connection to the Dominican Republic.{{cite book|last=Duany|first=Jorge|year=2008|edition=2nd|title=Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=dsi_pubs|publisher=CUNY Dominican Studies Institute}} The majority of Dominican immigrants viewed their stay in the United States as purely economically motivated while they remained culturally attached to the Dominican Republic; many also sent remittances home, imagining an eventual retirement to the island.{{cite journal|last1=Morrison|first1=Thomas K.|last2=Sinkin|first2=Richard|title=International Migration in the Dominican Republic: Implications for Development Planning|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2546161|journal=The International Migration Review|year=1982|volume=16|issue=4|pages=819–836|doi=10.2307/2546161|jstor=2546161|pmid=12265312|access-date=February 2, 2021|url-access=subscription}}{{Rp|823}}

File:George Washington Educational Campus from north.jpg]]

During the 1970s, Washington Heights' School District 6 (including Inwood and Hamilton Heights) was the scene of numerous conflicts over de facto racial segregation and unequal resource distribution within the district's schools.{{Rp|156}} The School Decentralization Act, passed by the New York State Legislature in 1969, set up elected boards for New York City's school districts with limited hiring power and control over Title I funds.{{cite journal|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144227931.pdf|access-date=April 24, 2021|first=Kenneth R.|last=McGrail|volume=5|issue=2|title=New York City School Decentralization: The Respective Powers of the City Board of Education and the Community School Boards|year=1977|journal=Fordham Urban Law Journal}}{{Rp|271}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/11/archives/a-history-of-decentralization.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 11, 1971|title=A History of Decentralization}} At the time, District 6's demographics were rapidly changing due to white students' withdrawal from the public school system and the broader trend of white flight, while the black and Latino student population rapidly increased.{{Rp|157}}

This resulted in a stark gap between the district's few racially integrated schools, which enjoyed better academic reputations and access to resources, and the remainder of schools with very few white students and serious overcrowding problems.{{Rp|162}}{{Rp|94}} Fierce competition between different factions for educational funding and new schools was compounded by the disproportionate representation of the majority-white northwestern Heights on the board, creating an environment in which public meetings were plagued by incivility and at times even violence.{{Rp|153}}

George Washington High School, located on 193rd Street and Audubon Avenue near Highbridge Park, faced numerous issues representative of the changes and conflicts of the neighborhood's public schools, which intersected in 1970 to produce a situation of extreme chaos.{{Rp|99}} Located in a grand building with a Works Progress Administration mural by Lucienne Bloch,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/11/18/music-and-art|first=Mindy|last=Aloff|date=November 10, 1991|title=Music and Art|access-date=April 1, 2021|magazine=The New Yorker}} the school was relatively prestigious in the decades after its 1925 founding, graduating people such as Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, and Murray Jarvik.{{Cite book|title=The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World|last=Greenspan|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Greenspan|publisher=Penguin Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59420-131-8|oclc=122973403|title-link=The Age of Turbulence}}{{Rp|24}}{{cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Isaacson|title=Kissinger: A Biography|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=1992|isbn=978-0-671-66323-0|url=https://archive.org/details/kissinger00walt}}{{Rp|37}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/health/13jarvik.html|first=Bruce|last=Weber|date=May 13, 2008|work=The New York Times|title=Murray Jarvik, 84, Whose Research Helped Lead to Nicotine Patch, Dies}} Although George Washington remained racially mixed through the early 1970s, the school had a tracking system that saw white students leave the school better prepared for college, and violence frequently broke out among gangs identifying by race.{{Rp|100}}

Discontent with academics and school policy led to a wave of student demonstrations, supported by a group of parents who pushed to set up an information table in the school's lobby in order to answer questions and hear complaints regarding the school.{{Rp|102}} However, the United Federation of Teachers – which had also clashed with students and parents over the 1964 school boycott{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/04/archives/boycott-cripples-city-schools-absences-360000-above-normal-negroes.html|date=February 4, 1964|access-date=April 1, 2021|title=Boycott Cripples City Schools; Absences 360,000 Above Normal; Negroes and Puerto Ricans Unite; School Boycott Keeps Hundreds of Thousands of City Pupils Away; Picketing is Calm in Racial Protest; 2,600 Marchers Show Up at Buildings – Donovan Is Critical of Leaders|work=The New York Times}} and the 1968 teachers' strike{{Rp|156}} – perceived this as an attempt to subvert teachers' authority, leading them to start a local strike after the administration reached a compromise with parents over the table.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/07/archives/head-of-george-washington-high-school-resigns.html|first=Martin|last=Arnold|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=March 7, 1970|title=Head of George Washington High School Resigns}}

By the end of 1970, the high school had seen the resignation of three principals and multiple incidents of violence against students, teachers, and security guards;{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/03/archives/washington-high-gets-fourth-principal-this-year.html|first=C. Gerald|last=Frase|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 3, 1970|title=Washington High Gets Fourth Principal This Year}} while many safety improvements were made throughout the 1970s, its academic performance continued to decline.{{Rp|109}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/01/archives/washington-high-from-riot-to-hope-washington-high-from-riot-to-hope.html|first=William K.|last=Stevens|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 1, 1971|title=Washington High: From riot to Hope}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/19/nyregion/albany-issues-list-of-schools-in-trouble.html|first=Sam Howe|last=Verhovek|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=December 19, 1989|title=Albany Issues List of Schools In Trouble}} In 1999, the school took its present form as the George Washington Educational Campus composed of four smaller schools.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/nyregion/coach-steve-mandls-suspension-erased-by-city-school-officials.html|first=Eric P.|last=Newcomer|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 1, 2021|date=June 25, 2012|title=Education Dept. Retracts School Coach's Suspension}}

For the remainder of the 20th century, the Dominican community of Washington Heights continued to increase considerably, most notably during the mid to late 1980s, when over 40,000 Dominicans settled in Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights, and Inwood.{{Rp|30}} Around the year 2000, the Dominican community reached its peak and became a slim majority of Washington Heights and Inwood,{{cite book|title=Washington Heights/Inwood Demographic, Economic, and Social Transformations 1990 – 2005 with a Special Focus on the Dominican Population|first=Laird|last=Bergad|author-link=Laird Bergad|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=clacls_pubs|publisher=Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies, CUNY Graduate Center|year=2008|access-date=February 3, 2021}}{{Rp|10}} propelling the neighborhoods' combined population to 208,000, the highest level since 1950.{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p1_cd.pdf|title=Table PL-P1 CD: Total Population New York City Community Districts 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|date=July 2011|access-date=February 3, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/historical-population/pop_density_1950_2010.pdf|title=1950 to 2010 Population Density by Census Tract|access-date=February 3, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning}}

Even as they arrived in great numbers, Dominicans who came to the neighborhood faced a difficult economic situation, with many of the manufacturing jobs they disproportionately occupied having disappeared throughout the 1970s and 1980s. This was clear by 1990, when the proportion of Dominican New Yorkers living in households below the poverty line was 36%, more than double the citywide rate.{{Rp|19}} In addition to service work, many residents found local jobs in the small-scale garment sector and factory work in New Jersey.{{Rp|140}}{{Rp|37}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/26/business/resurgence-of-sweatshops-reported-in-new-york.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 31, 2021|date=February 26, 1981|title=Resurgence of Sweatshops Reported in New York|first=Sandra|last=Salmans}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-buzz-for-dominicans-minimum-wage-maximum.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 31, 2021|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Buzz; For Dominicans, Minimum Wage, Maximum Uncertainty|first=Seth|last=Kugel|date=September 5, 1999}}

During the late 20th century, other immigrant groups began to make their home in the neighborhood as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a moderate influx of Soviet Jews occurred following a loosening of the country's emigration policy,{{cite journal|last=Gold|first=Steven J.|author-link=Steven J. Gold|year=1994|title=Soviet Jews in the United States|url=https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/94so/94soviet.pdf|pages=3–57|publisher=American Jewish Committee|volume=94|doi=10.2307/2547125|journal=American Jewish Year Book|jstor=2547125|access-date=February 3, 2021}}{{Rp|17}} predominantly professionals and artists pushed out by antisemitism and drawn by economic opportunity.{{Rp|138}} The makeup of the neighborhood's Latino population also began to diversify beyond an exclusively Caribbean background, most prominently through the arrival of Mexicans and Ecuadorians, who together numbered over 6,000 by 2000 and over 10,000 a decade later.{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/nny2000/newest_new_yorkers_2000.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers 2000|date=2004|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|access-date=February 3, 2021}}{{Rp|70}}{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/nny2013/chapter3.pdf|title=The Newest New Yorkers, 2013 Edition|date=2013|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|access-date=February 3, 2021}}{{Rp|49}}

Smaller communities of Central Americans, Colombians, and Chinese immigrants had also developed. The neighborhood's African-American population began to decrease from its height in the 1970s, making up less than one-tenth of the neighborhood by 2000.{{Rp|138}}[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p3a_nta.pdf Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010], Population Division – New York City Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2016. In the present day, Washington Heights also has an Orthodox Jewish community served by numerous synagogues, many of which have noticed more young Jewish families move into the neighborhood during the 2000s.{{cite news|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|first=Lindsay|last=Armstrong|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights' Jewish Population Thriving After Lean Years|work=DNAinfo|date=November 4, 2013|archive-date=January 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123204341/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131104/washington-heights/washington-heights-jewish-population-thriving-after-lean-years/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/washington-heights-jews-caught-in-a-growth-bind/|first=Rivka|last=Oppenheim|access-date=March 30, 2021|title=Washington Heights Jews Caught In A Growth Bind|work=New York Jewish Week|date=August 11, 2010}}

File:TransManhattan Expressway from Audubon Avenue.jpg, one of several highway connections that made Washington Heights a hotspot for the cocaine trade in the 1980s.]]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Washington Heights was severely affected by the crack-cocaine epidemic, as was the rest of New York City.{{Rp|158}} Washington Heights had become one of the largest drug distribution centers in the Northeastern United States,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/01/nyregion/washington-heights-cocaine-trade-thrives.html|title=WASHINGTON HEIGHTS: COCAINE TRADE THRIVES|first=Peter|last=Kerr|date=April 1, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 9, 2021}}{{cite news|url=http://academics.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/Chem102/war/html%20pages/ny-heights-crime.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 9, 2021|date=May 18, 1998|first=David M.|last=Halbfinger|title=In Washington Heights, Drug War Survivors Reclaim Their Stoops}} bringing a negative reputation to Dominican Americans as a group.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/22/nyregion/talk-in-washington-heights-fear-drugs-and-now-corruption.html|date=June 22, 1992|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 11, 2021|first=Maria|last=Newman|title=Talk in Washington Heights: Fear, Drugs, and Now Corruption}} Then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani and Senator Alphonse D'Amato chose the corner of 160th Street and Broadway for their widely publicized undercover crack purchase,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/10/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-answer.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Answer|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 31, 2020|date=July 10, 1986|first1=Susan|last1=Anderson|first2=David|last2=Dunlap}} and in 1989, The New York Times called the neighborhood "the crack capital of America".{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/01/magazine/crack-s-destructive-sprint-across-america.html|title=Crack's Destructive Sprint Across America|last=Massing|first=Michael|date=October 1, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 31, 2020}} By 1990, crack's impact on crime was evident: 103 murders were committed in the 34th Precinct that year, along with 1,130 felony assaults, 1,919 robberies, and 2,647 burglaries.

The causes behind the severity of the crisis for Washington Heights, however, were more intricate. One was the neighborhood's location: The George Washington Bridge and its numerous highway connections made for easy access from the New Jersey suburbs.{{cite book|first=Robert W.|last=Snyder|title=Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quqMBQAAQBAJ|isbn=9780801449611|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2015}}{{Rp|162}} Another contributing factor was that, as Dominican dealers such as Santiago Luis Polanco Rodríguez brought the group higher status in cocaine operations, the heavily Dominican Washington Heights became increasingly important as a strategic location.{{cite book|first=Terry|last=Williams|date=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/cocainekids00terr_0/|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=9780306820861|title=Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring}} Washington Heights also had a high level of unemployment and poverty in the 1980s and 1990s, providing ample economic motivation for young people to enter the drug trade.

The effects of the crack trade extended beyond physical danger to a breakdown in trust and widespread fear provoked by violence in public places as well as murders of people uninvolved in the drug business.{{Rp|178}} It was common for police and detectives to note unresponsiveness from residents during murder inquiries.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-09-mn-10061-story.html|title=Hispaniola to New York Streets: Immigrant Dreams Gone Awry|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 9, 1994|access-date=April 1, 2020|first=Dana|last=Kennedy}} Overall distrust of the police may have stemmed from the perception of corruption, which was alleged numerous times concerning the 34th Precinct overlooking drug crimes for bribes.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/19/nyregion/us-is-investigating-reports-of-corrupt-new-york-police.html|title=U.S. is Investigating Reports of Corrupt New York Police|date=June 19, 1992|first=Craig|last=Wolff|access-date=April 1, 2020|work=The New York Times}}

Tensions between residents and the NYPD came to a head on July 4, 1992, when José "Kiko" Garcia was shot by 34th Precinct Officer Michael O'Keefe on the corner of 162nd Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue. Although evidence later supported that the killing was a reaction to violence initiated by Garcia, many residents quickly suspected wanton police brutality.{{Rp|180}} The suspicion was not unfounded, as O'Keefe already had several civilian complaints of unnecessary aggression in arrests.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTfK24Yon1QC|title=Wild Cowboys: Urban Marauders & the Forces of Order|first=Robert|last=Jackall|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674018389}}{{Rp|320}} What began as a peaceful demonstration for Garcia's death turned into a violent riot, causing multiple fires, 15 injuries, and one death.{{Rp|181}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/07/nyregion/angered-by-police-killing-a-neighborhood-erupts.html|access-date=April 1, 2020|title=Angered by Police Killing, a Neighborhood Erupts|date=July 7, 1992|first=James|last=Dao|work=The New York Times}} Then-mayor David Dinkins, who had met with the Garcia family following the killing, pleaded for an end to the rioting: "You do not build a better city by destroying it. ... There is much anger in the community about the death of Jose Garcia and other incidents. But you do not obtain justice by being unjust to others."{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-08-mn-1523-story.html|first=John J.|last=Goldman|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Dinkins Appeals for Calm After N.Y. Disturbances : Inner city: Police pour into neighborhood to quell violence. Democratic chairman predicts that tensions will ease before convention.|date=July 8, 1992|access-date=February 9, 2021}}

File:Heather Garden.jpg

During the mid to late 1990s, Washington Heights experienced a drastic decrease in crime that continued through the 21st century. From 1990 to 2023, reported motor-vehicle thefts, murders, and burglaries each fell by over 85%, felony assaults, rapes, and robberies by over 65%, and grand larcenies by around 45%. The 30th and 32nd precincts to the south of Washington Heights, which cover most of Harlem north of 133rd Street, experienced just as drastic crime drops during the past decades.{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-030pct.pdf|title=30th Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=February 5, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-032pct.pdf|title=32nd Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=February 5, 2021}}

The crime drop, which was felt across all major U.S. cities, owed itself largely to the decrease in new users and dealers of crack cocaine, and the move of existing dealers from dealing on the streets to dealing from inside apartments.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/where-has-your-neighborhood-drug-dealer-gone.html|title=Where Has Your Neighborhood Drug Dealer Gone?|last=Rohde|first=David|date=August 17, 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/19/us/crack-s-legacy-a-special-report-a-drug-ran-its-course-then-hid-with-its-users.html|first=Timothy|last=Egan|access-date=April 17, 2020|date=September 19, 1999|title=Crack's Legacy: A special report; A Drug Ran Its Course, Then Hid With Its Users|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}} In Washington Heights, this meant a move back to the established cocaine dealing culture that had existed before the introduction of crack. As Terry Williams observes in The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring, many dealers from the pre-freebasing period put greater emphasis on knowing their customers and hid their operations more carefully from police, as opposed to dealers of the crack days who would deal openly and fight violently in the competition for the drug's high profits.

Many also credit actions taken on the neighborhood level in increasing safety in Washington Heights. In 1994, after years of advocacy from residents, the NYPD split the 34th Precinct to create the 33rd Precinct for Washington Heights south of 179th Street in order to devote more resources to crime prevention.{{Rp|170}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-police-hit-streets-in-a-new-precinct.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Washington Heights – Police Hit Streets In a New Precinct|first=Randy|last=Kennedy|date=October 9, 1994|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=The New York Times}} Another local policing strategy was the "model block" initiative, first attempted in 1997 on 163rd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, a location notable for the dealers who set up a "fortified complex" complete with traps and electrified wires to prevent police raids on their apartment.{{Rp|192}} In an attempt to disrupt drug activity on the block, police officers set up barricades at both ends of the block, demanded proof of residence from anyone coming through, patrolled building hallways, and pressured landlords to improve their buildings.{{cite web|title=Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City – Chapter 3|access-date=April 16, 2020|url=https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nypolice/ch3.htm|date=August 2000|publisher=United States Commission on Civil Rights}} The program was controversial, facing criticism from the New York Civil Liberties Union and resistance from residents for its invasion of privacy.{{Rp|193}} The initiative was later expanded throughout the city.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-violence-chicago-new-york-los-angeles-met-20150918-story.html|date=September 18, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2020|work=Chicago Tribune|first1=Jeremy|first2=Annie|last1=Gorner|last2=Sweeney|title=A tale of 3 cities: LA and NYC outpace Chicago in curbing violence}}

As crime decreased, Washington Heights also saw a recovery of many of its community institutions, including parks. Fort Tryon Park had fallen into a period of decline after the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis, when evaporated Parks Department funds left its walkways and playgrounds in a state of disrepair,{{cite web|title=Historical Timeline Listing|publisher=Fort Tryon Park Trust|date=October 12, 1935|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/historical-timeline-of-fort-tryon-park/|access-date=March 1, 2020}} and several corpses were found in the park.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/nyregion/body-of-young-woman-is-discovered-in-a-park.html|title=Body of Young Woman Is Discovered in a Park|date=May 1, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/27/nyregion/body-of-girl-9-is-found.html|title=Body of Girl, 9, Is Found|date=March 27, 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 26, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

After work from the Fort Tryon Park Trust and the New York Restoration Project throughout the 1990s and 2000s, funded by the city with the help of generous private donations,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/14/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-fort-tryon-park-turns-50.html|title=New York Day by Day; Fort Tryon Park Turns 50. . .|last1=Anderson|first1=Susan Heller|date=October 14, 1985|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2020|last2=Rimer|first2=Sara|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} the park and its reputation were restored.{{Rp|210}}

Highbridge Park, however, had the same problems as Fort Tryon Park but went without any major restoration funding for a while, likely due to its location in a lower-income area and lack of a frequently touristed landmark like The Cloisters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/01/nyregion/a-critical-tour-of-the-empire-battery-park-to-high-bridge.html|title=A Critical Tour of the Empire: Battery Park to High Bridge . . .|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=May 1, 1994|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In 1997, the New York Restoration Project began to work on maintaining the park, but without the necessary funding much of the park's disrepair continued.{{cite news|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2015/6/25/9946618/as-high-bridge-reopens-a-neglected-park-remains-in-its-shadow|first=Nathan|last=Kensinger|date=June 25, 2015|work=Curbed|access-date=March 31, 2021|title=As High Bridge Reopens, a Neglected Park Remains in Its Shadow}} In 2016, however, the park received $30 million in restoration funding through the city's Anchor Parks initiative, with the full restoration set to be finished by 2021.{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/work-begins-second-phase-30m-highbridge-park-renovation|title=Work Begins On Second Phase Of $30M Highbridge Park Renovation|last=Krisel|first=Brendan|date=July 15, 2019|website=Washington Heights-Inwood, NY Patch|access-date=August 20, 2019}}{{Cite news|last=Neuman|first=William|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/nyregion/5-neglected-new-york-city-parks-to-get-150-million-for-upgrades.html|title=5 Neglected New York City Parks to Get $150 Million for Upgrades|date=August 18, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 14, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/8988|title=Highbridge Anchor Park Reconstruction Phase I|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=February 6, 2021}}

Throughout the 2010s, Washington Heights residents made modest economic gains. According to American Community Survey data the neighborhood's poverty rate decreased from 27% to 18% in the approximate 2008–2018 period.{{cite web|url=https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/selection/4ba28aabe2d983a4b7e9fa5c165c2ce00b7a5c36?acsTopics=all&source=acs-change|access-date=October 29, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|title=NYC Population FactFinder (American Community Survey)}} In the same period, the unemployment rate decreased from 14% to 9% and the proportion of residents with bachelor's degrees increased from 29% to 35%.

Washington Heights has faced gentrification throughout the 2000s, with data from the New York University Furman Center finding that Washington Heights and Inwood's average residential rent had increased by 29.3% between 1990 and 2014.{{cite book|url=https://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/NYUFurmanCenter_SOCin2015_9JUNE2016.pdf|publisher=Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy|access-date=February 11, 2021|title=State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods in 2015|year=2015}} Furthermore, there have been several businesses faced with drastic rent increases, such as Coogan's, a well known restaurant and bar that managed to renegotiate with its landlord, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, following outcry by many locals, including Lin-Manuel Miranda.{{cite web|url=http://www.coogans.com/about/|title=About Us|access-date=April 18, 2020|publisher=Coogan's}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/nyregion/coogans-bar-staying-open.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 11, 2021|title=To New Yorkers' Delight, Coogan's Says It Isn't Closing After All|date=January 12, 2018|first=Jim|last=Dwyer}}

Washington Heights residents face many difficulties with the rental housing market; over a quarter of households pay the majority of their income in rent. As of 2014, Washington Heights and Inwood have the highest rate of severe crowding in Manhattan.{{Rp|121}} Washington Heights also has the city's second-highest rate of serious housing code violations and its lowest rental vacancy rate.{{Rp|174}}

Many have expressed opposition to the neighborhood's gentrification on both commercial and residential fronts. Luis Miranda and Robert Ramirez of the Manhattan Times wrote in 2005, "How sad and ironic that many of the same people who fought to save our neighborhoods in the face of thugs and drugs have ultimately been forced to surrender their communities to the almighty dollar."{{Rp|206}} Echoing this sentiment, Crossing Broadway author Robert W. Snyder said, "The people who saved Washington Heights in the days of crime and crack deserve more for their pains than a stiff rent increase."{{Rp|237}} Fears about displacement in Upper Manhattan have most recently manifest themselves in the controversy surrounding the 2018 Inwood rezoning plan, which, despite its offers of community benefits and affordable housing, has been accused of accelerating real-estate speculation.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/nyregion/inwood-rezoning-nyc-manhattan.html|title=Fighting Over the Future of Inwood, Manhattan's Last Affordable Neighborhood|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2020|date=August 7, 2018|first1=Jeffrey C.|first2=Aaron|last1=Mays|last2=Robertson}}

In 2018, ground was broken in 2018 on Amsterdam Avenue and 180th Street by developer Youngwoo & Associates for the MVRDV-designed Radio Tower & Hotel.{{cite web|url=https://newyorkyimby.com/2020/12/radio-tower-hotel-tops-out-at-2420-amsterdam-avenue-in-washington-heights.html|access-date=March 30, 2021|date=December 2, 2020|first=Sebastian|last=Morris|website=New York YIMBY|title=Radio Tower & Hotel Tops Out At 2420 Amsterdam Avenue In Washington Heights}} The tower, a 22-story multi-use building with office space, retail space and a 221-room hotel, is the first major mixed-use development to be built in Washington Heights in nearly five decades.{{cite news|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/15/18096873/mvrdv-washington-heights-hotel-first-us-project-renderings|title=First look at MVRDV's colorful Washington Heights mixed-use development|access-date=April 16, 2020|first=Tanay|last=Warerkar|date=November 15, 2018|work=Curbed}} The hotel opened in July 2022.{{cite web | last=Rahmanan | first=Anna | title=This colorful new hotel just opened in Washington Heights | website=Time Out New York | date=July 25, 2022 | url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/this-colorful-new-hotel-just-opened-in-washington-heights-072522 | access-date=September 28, 2022}}{{cite web | title=Washington Heights gets 1st full-service boutique hotel called 'Radio Hotel' | website=ABC7 New York | date=July 25, 2022 | url=https://abc7ny.com/washington-heights-radio-hotel-boutique-nyc/12072430/ | access-date=September 28, 2022}}

File:Topographical atlas of the city of New York, including the annexed territory showing original water courses and made land. NYPL1527362 (cropped for Northern Manhattan).tif]]

Washington Heights is located on the high ridge of Upper Manhattan that extends west of Edgecombe Avenue from around 133rd Street to just below Dyckman Street.{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-63a5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Topographical atlas of the city of New York, including the annexed territory showing original water courses and made land|first=F. W.|last=Beers|access-date=February 12, 2021|date=1874|publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}} It contains the highest piece of land in Manhattan: an outcropping of schist {{convert|265|feet}} above sea level in Bennett Park.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/bennett-park/history|title=Bennett Park Highlights|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}}

In the early 1900s, the neighborhood was considered to run as far south as 135th Street west of Central Harlem,{{cite book|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/d4ad9470-1d76-0131-e005-58d385a7bbd0|title=Washington Heights, Manhattan: Its Eventful Past|first=Reginald Pelham|last=Bolton|access-date=April 22, 2020|year=1924|publisher=Dyckman Institute|author-link=Reginald Pelham Bolton}}{{cite fednyc}}{{Rp|294}} encompassing most of the elevated area of Upper Manhattan. In the modern day, Washington Heights is typically defined as the area between Hamilton Heights at 155th Street and Inwood at Dyckman Street,{{Rp|139}}{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2018chp-mn12.pdf|title=Community Health Profiles 2018: Washington Heights and Inwood|date=2018|website=nyc.gov|publisher=New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene|access-date=March 2, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/city-neighborhoods/neighbor.pdf|title=New York City: A City of Neighborhoods|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|access-date=February 16, 2021|date=2014}} although some have considered Washington Heights' southern boundary to be 158th Street.{{cite book|title=Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929–1941|year=1978|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|first=Ronald H.|last=Bayor|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/67077|isbn=9781421431024}}{{Rp|151}}{{cite web|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/347376/m23-profile.pdf|title=1943 Profile of the Washington Heights, Manhattan area|date=1943|access-date=August 20, 2020|publisher=Graduate Center, CUNY}}

{{Main|Hudson Heights, Manhattan}}

File:GWB view of Castle Village jeh.jpg, like other buildings in Hudson Heights, switched from rental occupation to co-op ownership in the 1980s.{{cite web|url=http://nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/castle_village_report.pdf|title=Board of Inquiry Report – Castle Village Retaining Wall Collapse|date=April 2007|publisher=New York City Department of Buildings|access-date=April 2, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524092522/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/castle_village_report.pdf|archive-date=May 24, 2011}}]]

The Hudson Heights sub-neighborhood is generally considered to cover the area west of Broadway and north of 181st Street or 179th Street,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Na0jAAAAQBAJ|first=William B.|last=Helmreich|publisher=Princeton University Press|access-date=April 10, 2020|date=October 20, 2013|title=The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City|isbn=9781400848317}} although some contend that its southern boundary extends as far as 173rd Street.[http://www.hhoc.org/ Home Page], Hudson Heights Owners Coalition. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "We are an association of owner occupied residential properties located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Hudson Heights. Our boundaries are between J. Hood Wright Park (173rd Street) and Fort Tryon Park (Margaret Corbin Circle at 192nd Street), west of Broadway."{{cite web|title=Alex Luis Castex-Porter|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/districting/downloads/pdf/alex_luis_castex-porter.pdf|access-date=April 10, 2020|date=August 16, 2012|author=Alex Luis Castex-Porter|website=nyc.gov}} The name was created by the Hudson Heights Owners' Coalition in 1992 to promote the sale of co-op apartments in the northwestern part of the neighborhood.Garb, Maggie. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/08/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-living-hudson-heights-high-above-hudson-crowd-ops.html "If You're Thinking of Living In Hudson Heights: High Above Hudson, a Crowd of Co-ops,"], The New York Times, November 8, 1998. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "The neighborhood is called Hudson Heights by local real estate brokers and advocates for the area, to distinguish it from the sprawling blocks of Washington Heights to the south and east. It is situated west of Broadway between the George Washington Bridge and Fort Tryon Park and is set on rocky cliffs above the Hudson River."

Hudson Heights' name has been adopted by numerous newspapers, typically setting it apart from the rest of Washington Heights for its Art Deco decor, residential character, and closeness to Fort Tryon Park and the Hudson River.Calabi, Marcella; and Ritter, Elizabeth Lorris. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110818031215/http://hudsonheightsguide.com/2010/10/29/how-hudson-heights-got-its-name/ "How Hudson Heights Got Its Name"] Hudson Heights Guide, October 29, 2010, backed up by the Internet Archive as if August 18, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2016.Mokha, Kavita Mokha. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704013604576247192148974996 "Hudson Heights Pumps More-for-Less Theme"] Wall Street Journal (April 8, 2011). Retrieved April 13, 2011.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/realestate/living-in-hudson-heights-manhattan.html|title=Hudson Heights: A Hidden Gem, Gaining Popularity|date=March 28, 2018|first=Aileen|last=Jacobson|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 6, 2021}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nysun.com/article/64839|title=Hudson Heights Climbing to the Next Level|work=The New York Sun|access-date=February 6, 2021|first=Leslie|last=Hendrickson|date=October 18, 2007|archive-date=October 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002043204/https://www.nysun.com/article/64839|url-status=dead}} However, some disparage the name;{{cite web|url=https://www.uptowncollective.com/2018/04/06/op-led-hudson-heights-doesnt-exist/|title=Op-Led: Hudson Heights Doesn't Exist|access-date=April 11, 2020|website=Uptown Collective|date=April 6, 2018|first=Led|last=Black}} Manhattan Borough Historian Robert W. Snyder argued that the name's intention was to "conceptually separate the area from the rest of Washington Heights," diminishing the "shared interest on both sides of Broadway."{{Rp|205}}

While the name "Hudson Heights" may be relatively new, a divide between northwestern Washington Heights and the rest of the neighborhood has existed in some form in the neighborhood since the early 1900s. Census data from 1950 shows that rents in the western areas of the neighborhood tended to be slightly higher compared to the eastern areas, but the highest rents were almost entirely in the northwestern area, with its high concentration of more modern elevator buildings, and the Audubon Park Historic District, which has most of the neighborhood's few buildings with more than six stories.

This economic divide became racial as well during the 1970s and 1980s, as the majority of white residents who did not leave the neighborhood settled in the northwestern area.{{Rp|216}} {{As of|2019}}, market rents remain significantly higher north of 181st Street and west of Broadway,{{cite web|title=Manhattan Rent Score: Every Building Ranked by Price Level|url=https://streeteasy.com/blog/manhattan-rent-score/|website=StreetEasy|first=Nancy|last=Wu|date=November 4, 2019|access-date=February 6, 2021}} although the most noticeable difference is the racial divide; {{as of|2020|lc=yes}}, Hudson Heights census blocks are 60% white while census blocks east of Broadway are 13% white.

File:Fort George, New York, NY, USA - panoramio (17) cropped version.jpg, with stilts along Fairview Avenue due to elevation differences]]

Named for the Revolutionary War's Fort George, the lesser-recognized Fort George sub-neighborhood runs east of Broadway from 181st Street to Dyckman Street.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/highbridge-park/highlights/12317|title=Highbridge Park Highlights – Fort George Playground|access-date=May 1, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718082120/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/highbridge-park/highlights/12317|archive-date=July 18, 2019|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/realestate/fort-george-manhattan-nosebleed-heights-and-down-to-earth-prices.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 1, 2020|date=April 19, 2017|first=C. J.|last=Hughes|title=Fort George, Manhattan: Nosebleed Heights and Down-to-Earth Prices}} Educational institutions include Yeshiva College, located east of Amsterdam Avenue near Highbridge Park,{{cite web|url=http://www.yu.edu/student-life/campuses/wilf/|title=Campuses|publisher=Yeshiva University|access-date=April 15, 2020}} and George Washington High School, on the nearby site of the original Fort George.{{Rp|155}} Fort George also holds one of Manhattan's rare semi-private streets, Washington Terrace, which runs south from West 186th Street for a half-block between Audubon and Amsterdam avenues.{{cite web|url=https://forgotten-ny.com/2013/12/washington-terrace-washington-heights/|title=Washington Terrace, Washington Heights|access-date=September 1, 2020|date=December 28, 2013|website=Forgotten NY}}

Because of its abrupt, hilly topography, pedestrian navigation in Upper Manhattan is facilitated by many step streets.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecuriousuptowner.com/post/2020/01/08/these-step-streets-in-upper-manhattan-have-all-the-cinematic-drama-of-the-joker-stairs-an|title=These uptown step streets have all the cinematic drama of the 'Joker' stairs–and none of the crowds|website=The Curious Uptowner|date=April 15, 2020|access-date=February 7, 2021}} The longest of these is a set of 130 stairs connecting Fort Washington Avenue and Overlook Terrace at 187th Street.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/step-by-step-rebuilding-new-york-citys-open-air-staircases-1436393623|access-date=February 7, 2021|title=Step by Step, Rebuilding New York City's Open-Air Staircases|first=Douglas|last=Feiden|date=July 8, 2015|work=The Wall Street Journal}}

To help with eastward-westward transit in upper Washington Heights, elevators are available at the 181st Street IND station, with entrances on Overlook Terrace and Fort Washington Avenue at 184th Street, and the 190th Street station, with entrances on Fort Washington Avenue and Bennett Avenue.{{cite web|url=https://new.mta.info/system_modernization/uptownelevators|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority|access-date=January 6, 2021|title=Replacing the elevators at uptown A and 1 stations}}{{Cite archive|collection=Records of the National Park Service, 1785 – 2006|institution=National Archives|item-url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313903|series=National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 – 2017|item=New York MPS 181st Street Subway Station (IND)|item-id=75313903|box=National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York}} The 191st Street IRT station also has a pedestrian tunnel, with an entrance on Broadway near 190th Street, and free elevator connection.{{cite web|url=https://new.mta.info/sites/default/files/2018-04/191%20St%20%281%29%20web.pdf|title=191st Street Neighborhood Map|date=April 2018|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority|access-date=January 6, 2021}} Exemplifying the abrupt changes in the area's terrain, the 191st Street and Dyckman Street IRT stations are at similar elevations compared to sea level, but the former is the city's deepest subway station below ground level,{{cite web|url=https://www.mta.info/press-release/nyc-transit/mta-replace-deepest-elevator-system-191-st-1-line|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority|date=January 26, 2020|access-date=June 12, 2021|title=MTA to Replace Deepest Elevator in System at 191 St. on 1 Line|archive-date=June 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623194746/https://www.mta.info/press-release/nyc-transit/mta-replace-deepest-elevator-system-191-st-1-line|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|last=Solis|first=Julia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EpdwcewZ2rgC&pg=PA11|title=New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=978-0-415-95013-8|page=11|access-date=March 29, 2021}} while the latter, just {{convert|0.4|mi}} north, is above ground.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZRiky7CzEkC|title=IRT Interborough Rapid Transit / the New York City Subway: Its Design and Construction|date=June 2007|publisher=Interborough Rapid Transit Company|isbn=9781430325505|language=en}}{{cite web |title=IRT Subway: Map and Profile of the IRT Subway (New York Subway Souvenir, 1904) |url=https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?/img/articles/souvenir-mapprofile.jpg |website=nycsubway.org |access-date=June 16, 2021}}

For census purposes, New York City government classifies Washington Heights as part of two neighborhood tabulation areas called Washington Heights North and Washington Heights South, split by 177th Street west of Broadway and 180th Street east of Broadway.{{cite web|url=https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/selection/4ba28aabe2d983a4b7e9fa5c165c2ce00b7a5c36?source=decennial-change|title=NYC Population FactFinder (Census)|access-date=October 29, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning}} Based on data from the 2020 United States Census, the population of Washington Heights was 143,879, a decrease of 23,249 (13.9%) from the 167,128 counted in 2000. Covering an area of {{convert|1058.91|acres}}, the neighborhood had a population density of {{convert|136.3|PD/acre|PD/sqmi PD/sqkm}}.[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p5_nta.pdf Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre – New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010], Population Division – New York City Department of City Planning, February 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2016.

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 21.7% (31,155) white, 7.5% (10,823) African American, 3.5% (4,976) Asian, 0.9% (1,348) from other races, and 2.3% (3,298) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race(s) were 64.1% (92,279) of the population. Between 2000 and 2020, the white and Asian populations increased by 42% (9,157) and 39% (1,385), respectively, while the black and Hispanic/Latino populations decreased by 26% (3,766) and 25% (31,439), respectively.{{cite web|url=http://www.urbanresearchmaps.org/plurality/files/RaceEthnic%20Change%20by%20Neighborhood%205-23-11.xls|title=Race / Ethnic Change by Neighborhood|publisher=Center for Urban Research, The Graduate Center, CUNY|date=May 23, 2011|access-date = March 19, 2020|format=Excel file}}

In-depth demographic statistics are collected by the American Community Survey. Based on 2016–2020 data, an estimated 18% of the population is under 20 (compared to 23% citywide), 30% are ages 20 to 35 (24% citywide), 37% are ages 35 to 65 (38% citywide), and 15% are 65 and over (15% citywide). 46% of residents are foreign-born (36% citywide), of whom 56% are U.S. citizens (58% citywide). Of the population five years and over, 70% speak a language other than English at home (48% citywide) and 35% speak English less than "very well" (22% citywide).

The unemployment rate is 11% (7% citywide); 67% of workers commute by public transportation (53% citywide) and 12% by automobile (27% citywide). Washington Heights has a median household income of $58,373 ($67,046 citywide) and a mean household income of $78,184 ($107,000 citywide). 18% of residents are considered below poverty (17% citywide); the rate among children and seniors is 25% (24% citywide) and 28% (18% citywide), respectively. With a median gross rent of $1,405 ($1,489 citywide), 28% of households paid over half of their income in rent (28% citywide).

File:Protestas dominicanas en Nueva York 2020 2.jpg and the possibility of corruption.{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/ny-washington-heights-dominican-republic-protest-20200223-3ctj7q2o35buxfhi624tsnnjou-story.html|work=New York Daily News|access-date=April 19, 2020|title=Thousands of protesters fill Washington Heights streets over bungled Dominican Republic elections|first=Elizabeth|last=Keogh|date=February 22, 2020}}]]

Washington Heights was designated "Little Dominican Republic" along with Inwood and part of Hamilton Heights in 2018,{{cite news|work=Patch|access-date=April 19, 2020|title=Upper Manhattan Designated First 'Little Dominican Republic'|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/upper-manhattan-designated-first-little-dominican-republic|date=September 7, 2018|first=Brendan|last=Krisel}} an area where two-thirds of Hispanic/Latino residents identify as Dominican {{as of|2017|lc=yes}}. Another name sometimes given to the area is "Quisqueya Heights", in reference to a Taíno name for Hispaniola meaning "cradle of life".{{Rp|30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/highbridge-park/highlights/12751|title=Highbridge Park Highlights – Quisqueya Playground|access-date=March 29, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}} As Roberto Suro describes in Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America, many Dominicans in Washington Heights lead double lives between the United States and the Dominican Republic, moving between countries and investing money back home.{{cite book|title=Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America|first=Roberto|last=Suro|access-date=April 19, 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wwj6QQAACAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=9780679744566}}{{Rp|183}} Jorge Duany supports this analysis in Quisqueya on the Hudson, documenting how first-generation immigrants feel a strong cultural connection with the Dominican Republic, reinforced by frequent flights back to the island.{{Rp|56}} A travel agency owner interviewed in The New York Times claimed, "For the Dominican to go to Santo Domingo during Christmas and summer is like the Muslims going to Mecca."{{cite news|last=Kugel|first=Seth|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/nyregion/now-boarding-dreams.html|title=Now Boarding, Dreams|date=November 18, 2001|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=March 29, 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307104458/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/nyregion/now-boarding-dreams.html|archive-date=March 7, 2016}}

One of the most popular flights of the route between New York and Santo Domingo was American Airlines Flight 587. In November 2001, the flight suffered an accidental crash in Belle Harbor, Queens shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard the plane as well as five Belle Harbor residents.{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20011112-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A300B4-605R N14053 Belle Harbor, NY|last=Ranter|first=Harro|date=November 12, 2001|website=aviation-safety.net|publisher=Aviation Safety Network|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420004450/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20011112-0|archive-date=April 20, 2014|access-date=March 29, 2021}} Flight 587 had a long history among Dominican New Yorkers, even being referenced in Kinito Méndez and Johnny Ventura's song El Avión.{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-11-18-0111180400-story.html|title=Plane crash changes meaning of a joyful song|date=November 18, 2001|author=Boston Globe|author-link=Boston Globe|work=Baltimore Sun|access-date=April 1, 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/11/weekend.garyyounge|title=Flight to the death|last=Younge|first=Gary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=November 10, 2006|access-date=March 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113035208/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/11/weekend.garyyounge |archive-date=November 13, 2012}} A memorial to the crash was built in 2006 near Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, inscribed with the victims' names and the Pedro Mir quote "Después no quiero más que paz" (which translates to "Afterwards I want nothing more than peace").{{cite news|title=Families dedicate Flight 587 memorial on 5-year anniversary|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/12/america/NA_GEN_US_Flight_587_Anniversary.php|work=The International Herald Tribune|agency=The Associated Press|publisher=IHT|date=November 12, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201155045/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/12/america/NA_GEN_US_Flight_587_Anniversary.php|archive-date=February 1, 2009}}

File:Washington Heights Presbyterian Church.jpg, founded in 1847 and merged with two other congregations, has an English Gothic design in its present landmarked building, designed in 1904.{{Rp|159}}]]

File:Hebrew Tabernacle of Wash Heights jeh.jpg is a Reform congregation whose former location on 161st Street became a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall, while the current landmarked building was previously the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist until its closure in 1973.{{Rp|97}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/02/nyregion/hebrew-tabernacle-marking-75th-anniversary.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 27, 2021|title=Hebrew Tabernacle Marking 75th Anniversary|date=May 2, 1982}}]]

Washington Heights' religious institutions are primarily Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJJavoWxzrIC|title=From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship|first=David W.|last=Dunlap|year=2004|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231500722}} Some of Washington Heights and Inwood's earliest churches were the St. Elizabeth Church, the United Presbyterian Church, and the Mount Washington Presbyterian Church, all built in the mid to late 1800s before the neighborhood urbanized.{{Rp|9}} Most of the neighborhood's places of worship date back to the early 1900s, but many have changed or moved as the ethnic composition changed in the later 1900s.

The landmarked Fort Washington Presbyterian Church, built in 1914 in neo-Georgian style according to plans by Thomas Hastings, is an example of how Washington Heights' religious institutions reflected demographic changes in the neighborhood. The church was constructed after a merger between two Presbyterian churches further south in order to have a location uptown, where many members of the previous congregations were moving.{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2649.pdf|title=Holyrood Episcopal Church – Iglesia Santa Cruz|date=May 18, 2021|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}{{Rp|10}} In 1982, the original congregation turned the church over to La Primera Iglesia Española de Washington Heights, a congregation organized in 1942 by Puerto Rican Presbyterians on 172nd Street and Audubon Avenue.{{Rp|11}} Other Protestant churches which changed from a European American to a mostly Caribbean-American congregation in the later part of the 20th century include the landmarked Holyrood Episcopal Church and Iglesia Adventista del Séptimo Dia (a Seventh-day Adventist church).{{Rp|80}}

With the exception of Our Lady of Esperanza Church, which was built in Audubon Terrace as New York's second Spanish-language Catholic church,{{Rp|163}} the neighborhood's Catholic churches served its large Irish population during the early 1900s.{{Rp|27}} Church of the Incarnation and St. Elizabeth Church both started Catholic schools, which began to serve more and more Dominicans as the Irish moved to the suburbs.{{Rp|130,170}}{{Rp|111,201}}

Other Christian denominations have a smaller but significant presence in Washington Heights, such as Baptist churches and Greek Orthodox churches (most notably St. Spyridon). Also of note is the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church, where, in 1933, members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation assassinated Eastern Diocese Archbishop Levon Tourian as he walked down its halls, after which the church needed to be reconsecrated.{{Rp|99}}

Washington Heights' many Jewish institutions underwent significant change throughout the 20th century, with many of their locations in the southern part of the neighborhood being sold to Christian congregations as they closed or moved to more northern areas, where a significant population of Jewish people remained after the white flight of the 1960s and 1970s.{{Rp|220}} Some Jewish congregations were founded by German Jewish immigrants during the flight from Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s, such as the Conservative Fort Tryon Jewish Center, while others predate it, such as the Orthodox Mount Sinai Jewish Center.{{Rp|79,153}} Khal Adath Jeshurun is an Orthodox congregation started by Rabbi Joseph Breuer in New York, a continuation of his father's Jewish community in Frankfurt am Main, which includes the Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch as a parochial school.{{Rp|123}}

File:2015 191 Street tunnel 2 vc.jpg organized with graffiti artists such as Cope2 to repaint the 191st Street subway tunnel.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 30, 2021|date=May 31, 2015|first=Sandra E.|last=Garcia|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/nyregion/bringing-a-little-color-to-a-passage-at-the-191st-street-station.html|title=Bringing a Little Color to a Passage at the 191st Street Station}}]]

File:2014 United Palace from corner.jpg]]

Washington Heights, along with other parts of the city such as the Bronx, had a significant role in the early history of graffiti in New York City.{{cite news|date=June 22, 2006|access-date=March 30, 2021|url=https://nymag.com/guides/summer/17406/|work=New York|title=Graffiti in Its Own Words|first1=Dimitri|last1=Ehrlich|first2=Gregor|last2=Ehrlich}} In 1971, TAKI 183 (born on 183rd street) was the first graffiti tagger to be exposed to the broader public through a profile in The New York Times;{{cite news|title='Taki 183' Spawns Pen Pals|date=July 21, 1971|page=37|url=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/arts/taki183.pdf|work=The New York Times}} 188th Street and Audubon Avenue has also been cited as a location where graffiti writers exchanged names and ideas in the 1970s.

The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, founded in 2007 to support local artists,Marsh, Julia. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714025533/http://manhattantimesnews.com/covers/Archives/2007/Vol8N40.pdf#page=14 "Manhattan Times Profile: Sandra García Betancourt: Creating a Masterpiece"]. Manhattan Times, October 4, 2007, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 14, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2016. organizes the annual Uptown Arts Stroll, which features artists from Upper Manhattan in public locations for several weeks each summer.[http://www.artstroll.com/ Welcome], Uptown Arts Stroll. Retrieved April 27, 2016. The United Palace, a landmarked theater built in 1930, continues as a space for film and live performance in the present day, having featured musicians such as John Legend, Bob Dylan, Lenny Kravitz, and Lauryn Hill. Also noteworthy is UP Theater Company, a Washington Heights- and Inwood-based company established in 2010 that performs original plays in the neighborhood.{{cite web|url=https://www.uptheater.org/what-we-do|access-date=July 26, 2021|title=The Company|publisher=UP Theater Company}}{{cite news|work=New York Daily News|access-date=July 26, 2021|title=Broad Channel is the setting for a new play about an old problem|date=May 11, 2014|first=Lisa L.|last=Colangelo|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/broad-channel-backdrop-new-play-article-1.1786637}}{{cite news|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150416/hudson-heights/uptown-play-features-feminist-epic-journey-through-post-apocalyptic-nyc/|first=Lindsay|last=Armstrong|date=April 16, 2015|work=DNAInfo|title=Uptown Play Features 'Feminist Epic Journey' Through Post-Apocalyptic NYC|access-date=July 26, 2021|archive-date=July 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727005913/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150416/hudson-heights/uptown-play-features-feminist-epic-journey-through-post-apocalyptic-nyc/|url-status=dead}}

Washington Heights has also become the setting for creative works such as Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical and film In the Heights, Angie Cruz's novels Soledad and Dominicana, and the Amazon show The Horror of Dolores Roach.{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/angie-cruz/dominicana/|access-date=March 30, 2021|date=June 17, 2019|website=Kirkus Reviews|title=DOMINICANA}}{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/angie-cruz/soledad/|access-date=March 30, 2021|date=June 15, 2001|website=Kirkus Reviews|title=SOLEDAD}}

File:Hilltoppark1903.jpg during a 1903 game]]

Five clubs in American professional sports have played in the Washington Heights area: the New York Giants, New York Mets, and New York Yankees baseball teams, and the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams.[http://www.nycgovparks.org/news/press-releases?id=21327 "NYC Parks Cuts the Ribbon on Restored Historic John T. Brush Stairway, Last Remnant of the Old Polo Grounds"], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, July 10, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "Opened in 1890, five major New York sports teams called the Polo Grounds home – the (now) San Francisco Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the football Giants and the Jets." Situated on Coogan's Hollow, where the present-day Polo Grounds Towers are located,{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/Polo%20Grounds%20Towers.pdf|access-date=February 15, 2021|publisher=New York City Housing Authority|title=Polo Grounds Towers}} the Polo Grounds have been the home field of three professional baseball teams, the baseball Giants (from 1911 to 1957), the Yankees (from 1912 to 1923), the Mets (from 1962 to 1963), and two professional football teams, the New York Giants (from 1925 to 1955) and the New York Jets (from 1960 to 1963).{{cite web|url=https://blogs.shu.edu/nyc-history/2016/11/14/polo-grounds/|title=History of New York City: Polo Grounds|date=November 14, 2016|access-date=February 11, 2021|website=History of New York City}} The Mets and Jets both began play at the Polo Grounds while their future home, Shea Stadium in Queens, was under construction.{{cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/park/polo-grounds-new-york/|title=Polo Grounds (New York)|first=Stew|last=Thornley|access-date=February 11, 2021|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research}} The Polo Grounds were the site of two baseball-related deaths: the first of Ray Chapman in 1920 after being hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays, and the second of spectator Bernard Doyle in 1950,{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2818187|title=Indians uncover lost Chapman plaque|date=March 29, 2007|publisher=Associated Press|work=ESPN|author=Withers, Tom|access-date=March 11, 2017}} accidentally killed by a 14-year-old boy who had fired his .45 caliber pistol into the air from his apartment on Edgecombe Avenue.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57812080/fatal-ball-park-shot-confessed-by-boy/|title=Fatal Ball Park Shot Confessed by Boy, 14|first1=Edward|last1=Dillon|first2=Neal|last2=Patterson|newspaper=New York Daily News|page=3|date=July 8, 1950|access-date=August 22, 2020|via=newspapers.com}}{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A16FC3B5B177B93C7A9178CD85F448585F9|title=Mystery Bullet Kills Baseball Fan In Midst of Crowd at Polo Grounds|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 5, 1950|access-date=October 30, 2011}}

Before the Yankees played at the Polo Grounds, they played at Hilltop Park on Broadway between 165th Street and 168th Street from 1903 to 1912; at the time, they were known as the New York Highlanders.[http://www.nyise.org/yankees/ Landlord to the New York Yankees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119101500/http://www.nyise.org/yankees/ |date=November 19, 2015 }}, New York Institute for Special Education. Retrieved April 27, 2016. On May 15, 1912, after being heckled for several innings, then-Detroit Tigers player Ty Cobb leaped the fence and attacked his tormentor. He was suspended indefinitely by league president Ban Johnson, but his suspension was eventually reduced to 10 days and $50.Reisler, Jim. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/sports/baseball/ty-cobbs-outburst-led-to-notorious-game-in-1912.html "A Beating in the Stands, Followed by One on the Field"], The New York Times, April 28, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2016. A historically outstanding pitching performance took place at Hilltop Park in September 1908, when 20-year-old Washington Senators hurler Walter Johnson shut out the Highlanders in three consecutive games.Hogan, Lawrence. [http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/hilltop-park-was-home-great-pitching-feats "Hilltop Park was Home to Great Pitching Feats"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805124447/http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/hilltop-park-was-home-great-pitching-feats |date=August 5, 2016 }}, The National Pastime Museum, October 29, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "In September of 1908, in one of his most brilliant accomplishments, 20-year-old Washington ace Walter Johnson shut out the New York Highlanders in three consecutive games." In 1928, the park became the Columbia University Medical Center, a major hospital complex.[http://columbiaphysicaltherapy.org/about-us About Us], Columbia University Medical Center. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "In 1928, Columbia University created the country's first academic medical center (CUMC) at its current location in Washington Heights in an alliance with Presbyterian Hospital.... CUMC was built in the 1920s on the former site of Hilltop Park, the one-time home stadium of the New York Yankees."

Washington Heights has been the childhood residence of many baseball stars, including former Yankee star Alex Rodriguez, who was born in the neighborhood to Dominican parents.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/nyregion/neighborhood-report-washington-heights-better-hide-that-red-sox-cap-now-that-rod.html|date=January 29, 2004|title=NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: WASHINGTON HEIGHTS; Better Hide That Red Sox Cap Now That A-Rod Is Back in Town|first=Seth|last=Kugel|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 12, 2021}} Rod Carew and Manny Ramírez were two famous players who immigrated to the neighborhood as teenagers and attended George Washington High School (Carew during the 1960s and Ramírez during the 1980s).{{cite news|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rod-carew/|title=Rod Carew|first=Joseph|last=Wancho|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|access-date=October 19, 2020}} The New York Yankees' Lou Gehrig grew up in the neighborhood after moving out of Yorkville with his family,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/sports/baseball/03gehrig.html|work=The New York Times|first=Ray|last=Robinson|title=Gehrig Remains a Presence in His Former Neighborhood|date=July 3, 2005}} attending PS 132 during the 1910s.{{cite web|url=http://www.binarywire.com/ps132/background.htm|title=P.S. 132 Historical Perspective|access-date=April 16, 2008|publisher=New York City Department of Education|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107101312/http://www.binarywire.com/ps132/background.htm|archive-date=January 7, 2009|url-status=dead}}Baxter, Kevin. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-07-sp-dodgers-manny-ramirez7-story.html "Dodgers' Manny Ramirez always has home-field advantage here; The Dodgers' star is still beloved in New York's Washington Heights, the neighborhood where he grew up, and where today's residents forgive him his trespasses."], Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "This, after all, is where Alex Rodriguez was born, where Vin Scully grew up, where Rod Carew lived and where Lou Gehrig went to school. Three of those four are in the Hall of Fame. And Rodriguez could be, too, one day." Legendary baseball broadcaster Vin Scully also grew up in the Washington Heights.Sandomir, Richard. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/sports/baseball/05scully.html?ex=1317700800&en=67c57f4c6a8d7423&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss "Daffy Days of Brooklyn Return for Vin Scully"]

File:2014 Fort Washington Armory.jpg]]

The New Balance Track and Field Center, located in the Fort Washington Avenue Armory, maintains an Olympic-caliber track that is one of the fastest in the world.[http://www.armory.nyc/what-we-do/ About], The Armory Foundation. Retrieved April 27, 2016 Starting in January 2012, the Millrose Games have been held there, after having been held at the second, third, and current Madison Square Gardens from 1914 to 2011.Coffey, Wayne. [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/millrose-games-100-years-madison-square-garden-held-armory-2012-article-1.146354 "Millrose Games, after almost 100 years at Madison Square Garden, will be held at The Armory in 2012"], New York Daily News, May 12, 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2016. "After nearly a 100-year run at Madison Square Garden, the Millrose Games will be contested next year at The Armory on 168th St., according to a source close to the Armory Foundation Board of Directors." To encourage physical activity and healthy eating, a partnership of local politicians, schools, and community organizers have organized the annual "Uptown Games" for children grades 1 to 8 at the Armory.Walters, Jheanel. [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/health-initiative-uptown-younger-games-article-1.1295653 "500 students expected to take part in second Uptown Games at New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory"], New York Daily News, March 21, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.armory.nyc/blog/2018/6/2/uptown-games|title=Uptown Games|date=June 6, 2018|access-date=February 11, 2021|publisher=The Armory Foundation}} Also at the Armory is the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, along with the Charles B. Rangel Technology & Learning Center for middle- and high-school students; the facility is operated by the Armory Foundation, which was created in 1993.{{cite web|url=http://ny.milesplit.us/pages/Hall-of-Fame|title=National Track & Field Hall of Fame|publisher=MileSplit US|work=ny.milesplit.us|access-date=April 1, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331001354/http://ny.milesplit.us/pages/Hall-of-Fame|archive-date=March 31, 2009}}{{cite web|url=https://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&title_id=815&do=title&pg=1&folder_id=635&page_id=36153|title=Charles Rangel Technology & Learning Center|access-date=February 11, 2021|website=Armory Track}} The Armory is the starting point for the annual Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K, founded in 1999 by Peter M. Walsh of Coogan's Restaurant but now run by the New York Road Runners.{{cite web|url=https://www.nyrr.org/Run/Photos-And-Stories/2019/Washington-Heights-Race-Report|title=Grooving in the Heights|date=March 5, 2019|publisher=New York Road Runners|access-date=February 11, 2021}}{{cite news|work=New York Daily News|access-date=February 11, 2021|title=Annual Washington Heights 5K race goes on without Coogan's and picks up a new name|first=Michael J.|last=Feeney|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/uptown-5k-race-kick-new-article-1.1704498|date=February 28, 2014}}

Washington Heights and Inwood collectively have over {{convert|500|acre|ha}} of parkland,{{cite web|title=Northern Manhattan Parks|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|date=June 26, 1939|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-facilties/northern-manhattan-parks|access-date=June 10, 2019}} representing over a third of the neighborhoods' total area.

File:Inspiration Point Shelter from south.jpg, Inspiration Point was once a popular rest stop for pedestrians and motorists.]]

Washington Heights' Fort Washington Park runs from 155th Street to Dyckman Street along the Hudson River, meeting the George Washington Bridge at Jeffrey's Hook (around 178th Street).[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-washington-park Fort Washington Park], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 27, 2016. The 184-acre park was originally designed in 1873 by Fredrick Law Olmsted along with Riverside Park and Morningside Park,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VEOw_tc51PQC&pg=PA3|title=Riverside Park: The Splendid Sliver|last1=Grimm|first1=E.|last2=Schroeder|first2=E.P.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-231-51219-0}}{{Rp|4}} and most of the park was acquired via eminent domain between 1896 and 1927. Although it was initially connected with Fort Tryon Park to the east (a condition for John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s donation of the Fort Tryon parkland), the 1937 construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway separated the two parks.

Sitting just underneath the George Washington Bridge is the Little Red Lighthouse, which was originally built in 1917 in Sandy Hook, New Jersey before being moved to aid with navigation in the Hudson River during the 1920s.[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-washington-park/highlights/11044 The Little Red Lighthouse], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 27, 2016. After the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931, the lighthouse became obsolete, and the United States Coast Guard began planning to dismantle and auction it. After a public outcry, contributed to by Hildegarde Swift's popular children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, the lighthouse was instead given to the city government in 1951.{{cite web|url=https://historichousetrust.org/houses/little-red-lighthouse/|access-date=March 26, 2021|title=Little Red Lighthouse|publisher=Historic House Trust}} Having undergone renovation in 1986 and again in 2000, the lighthouse is available for tours {{as of|2021|lc=y}} and is honored in the annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival.{{NRISref|2009a}}{{cite web|url=https://riversideparknyc.org/event/little-red-lighthouse-festival-4/?instance_id=8638|publisher=Riverside Park Conservancy|date=March 3, 2019|access-date=March 26, 2021|title=Little Red Lighthouse Festival|archive-date=June 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623194228/https://riversideparknyc.org/event/little-red-lighthouse-festival-4/?instance_id=8638|url-status=dead}}

File:The Cloisters - The MET Cloisters - Joy of Museums.jpg seen from the main entrance]]

Occupying a 67-acre area south of Inwood Hill Park between Broadway and the Henry Hudson Parkway,[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park Fort Tryon Park], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 28, 2016. Fort Tryon Park's history began with John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s purchase of the Hays, Shaefer, Libbey, and Billings estates in 1917 for $2 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|2.0|1917|fmt=c|r=1}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).{{Rp|777}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/new-york-tribune-1841-1922|title=John D., Jr., Offers City A River Park: Tenders Billings, Sheafer and Hay Properties, Worth $2,000,000 Asks New York to Buy Adjoining Property Natural Gateway to Palisades Would Be Formed; Mayor Urges Acceptance|date=June 16, 1917|page=14|work=New-York Tribune|access-date=March 28, 2021}} Rockefeller hired Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (the son of Fort Washington Park's planner) to design the park in 1927, and in 1931 Mayor James Walker accepted his donation of the parkland, to be developed primarily at Rockefeller's expense. Opening in 1935, the park's picturesque views of the Palisades across the Hudson River were maintained by another Rockefeller purchase there with the aim of preventing construction, preserved as part of Palisades Interstate Park.

As part of his Fort Tryon donation, Rockefeller reserved {{convert|4|acres}} in the center of the park for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to develop the Cloisters. The original Cloisters museum, a collection of medieval art owned by George Grey Barnard and located on upper Fort Washington Avenue, was purchased by the Metropolitan with Rockefeller funds in 1925.{{Rp|18}} After Fort Tryon Park's opening in 1935, construction began for the new Cloisters building using elements shipped from abbeys in southern France and Catalonia, based on designs by Charles Collens.{{cite book|url=https://www.forttryonparktrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1978National-Register-Historic-Preservation.pdf|access-date=March 28, 2021|title=Nomination Form – Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters|publisher=National Register of Historic Places|date=October 12, 1978}} Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the museum has a vast collection of Romanesque and Gothic art, including the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries, purchased by Rockefeller for $1 million in 1922.{{cite magazine|access-date=March 27, 2021|date=May 1936|title=Fort Tryon Park|magazine=Scenic and Historic America|publisher=American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society|first=Raymond H.|last=Torrey|location=New York|url=https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/readbook/FortTryonPark_10905354}}{{Rp|19}}{{cite journal|access-date=March 28, 2021|first=James J.|last=Rorimer|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|journal=The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin|date=1942|doi=10.2307/3257087|volume=1|issue=1|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3257087|title=The Unicorn Tapestries Were Made for Anne of Brittany|pages=7–20|jstor=3257087|url-access=subscription}}{{Rp|7}}

One of Fort Tryon Park's biggest annual events is the Medieval Festival, a collaboration between the Parks Department and the Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation that has taken place at the park since 1983.{{cite web|url=https://whidc.org/programs/the-medieval-festival-at-fort-tryon-park/|title=The Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park|publisher=Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation|access-date=March 28, 2021|archive-date=March 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305131631/https://whidc.org/programs/the-medieval-festival-at-fort-tryon-park/|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/nyregion/taking-the-a-train-to-the-middle-ages.html|title=Taking the A Train to the Middle Ages|last1=Speers|first1=Landon|date=October 5, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 29, 2019|last2=Leland|first2=John}} The event is free, relying on a mix of private and public sponsors as well as donations, and draws an average of 60,000 people for an afternoon of medieval-themed arts, activities, and food.{{cite news|url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/uptown-medieval-festival-drawn-tens-thousands-organizers|title=Medieval Festival Will Draw Tens of Thousands Uptown|first=Brendan|last=Krisel|date=August 16, 2018|access-date=March 17, 2020|work=Patch}}{{cite web|url=https://whidc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MedievalFestivalProgram_2019_spreads-new.pdf|title=Medieval Festival Program (2019)|publisher=Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation|access-date=March 28, 2021}}

File:Fort George Amusement Park.jpg, as seen from the Harlem River]]

Highbridge Park, a 160-acre park with heavily wooded areas and views of the Harlem River, lies on Washington Heights' western cliffside from 155th Street to Dyckman Street, cut off from the waterfront by the Harlem River Drive.[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/highbridge-park Highbridge Park], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 28, 2016. Unlike Washington Heights' other major parks, Highbridge had no prior design but was assembled piecemeal by the city through condemnation, the majority being acquired from 1895 to 1901.{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2237.pdf|title=Highbridge Play Center|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=August 14, 2007|access-date=March 28, 2021}} In the park's southern extreme lies Coogan's Bluff, which, during the time of the Polo Grounds, offered a vantage point for watching baseball games without paying for tickets.{{cite news|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/a-stairway-to-sports-history-from-the-polo-grounds/|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=February 19, 2008|title=A Stairway to Sports History From the Polo Grounds|first=Timothy|last=Williams|work=The New York Times}} The park's northernmost Fort George Hill section was gained through the condemnation of Fort George Amusement Park, a trolley park built in 1895 that was burned twice by 1913.{{cite web|last=Martens|first=Victoria|title=Fort George Amusement Park|publisher=Museum of the City of New York|date=August 1, 2019|url=https://www.mcny.org/story/fort-george-amusement-park|access-date=May 1, 2020}} In 2007, the Parks Department collaborated with the New York City Mountain Bike Association to open a network of mountain bike trails in this section of the park.{{cite news|title=Highbridge Trails, NYC's First Mountain Bike Trail|first=Jen|last=Chung|url=http://gothamist.com/2007/05/15/map_of_the_day_113.php|work=Gothamist|date=May 15, 2007|access-date=March 28, 2021|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612065345/http://gothamist.com/2007/05/15/map_of_the_day_113.php|archive-date=June 12, 2009}}{{cite web|title=First Mountain Bike Trail In NYC Opens At Highbridge Park|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|access-date=March 28, 2021|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/daily-plant?id=20111|date=May 24, 2007}}

Highbridge Park is home to three New York City landmarks: its namesake the High Bridge, the High Bridge Water Tower, and the Highbridge Play Center.{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0319.pdf|title=High Bridge Water Tower|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=July 12, 1967|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0639.pdf|title=High Bridge, Aqueduct and Pedestrian Walk|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=November 10, 1970|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}} The High Bridge, New York City's oldest remaining bridge, was built in 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct system connecting the Bronx to Manhattan at 174th Street and, since 2015, has been active as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. The bridge's accompanying water tower was also an integral part of New York City's water system until 1949.

Built on a former reservoir in front of the High Bridge Water Tower, the Highbridge Play Center is best known for its swimming pool, one of many Works Progress Administration-funded outdoor pools opened in the summer of 1936.

File:Highest point in Manhattan Bennett Park Hudson Heights composite.jpg is Bennett Park; the inset at the bottom left magnifies the plaque at right.]]

Washington Heights is also home to the following smaller parks:

• Bennett Park{{spaced ndash}}location of the highest natural point in Manhattan
• J. Hood Wright Park[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/j-hood-wright-park J. Hood Wright Park], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
• Mitchel Square Park{{spaced ndash}}site of the Washington Heights and Inwood World War I memorial by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney{{cite news|last=Dunlap|first=David W.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/realestate/a-medical-center-works-on-its-health.html?pagewanted=4|title=A Medical Center Works on Its Health |work=The New York Times|date=October 4, 1998|access-date=July 15, 2018}}
• Amelia Gorman Park{{cite web|url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/gorman-park/history|title=Amelia Gorman Park Highlights|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=April 28, 2016}}{{spaced ndash}}closed for retaining wall repairs since 2017 and abandoned except upper plaza (as of January 2024){{cite web | title = Amelia Gorman Park Retaining Wall Reconstruction | publisher = New York City Dept. of Parks & Recreation | url = https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/1306111 | access-date = 2022-11-11 | archive-date = July 13, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220713214535/https://www.nycgovparks.org/planning-and-building/capital-project-tracker/project/1306111 | url-status = dead }}
• McKenna Square[http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/mckenna-square McKenna Square], New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved April 28, 2016.

File:HispanicSocietyCourtyardDetail.jpg's courtyard details, with the Hispanic Society of America in the background]]

File:2014 Morris-Jumel Mansion from south.jpg]]

File:Malcolm X bullet holes2.jpg's 1965 assassination in the Audubon Ballroom]]

The current NewYork–Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center occupies the former site of Hilltop Park, the home of the New York Highlanders – later the New York Yankees – from 1903 to 1912.Boland Jr., Ed. [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/nyregion/fyi-259071.html "F.Y.I."], The New York Times, December 8, 2002. Retrieved November 16, 2017. "On April 30, 1903, Hilltop Park opened in what is now Washington Heights on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It stretched from 165th Street to 168th Street between Broadway and Fort Washington Avenue.... Hilltop Park was demolished in 1914, and Columbia Presbyterian was built on the site in the 1920s." Across the street is the Fort Washington Avenue Armory's New Balance Track and Field Center, an indoor track home to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=https://www.armory.nyc/what-we-do/|title=What We Do|publisher=The Armory Foundation|access-date=September 2, 2020}}

Audubon Terrace, a cluster of eight distinguished Beaux Arts and Renaissance Revival buildings constructed between 1904 and 1930, is located on Broadway between 155th and 156th Streets.{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1001.pdf|title=Audubon Terrace Historic District Designation Report|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|year=1979|access-date=February 23, 2021}} Named for John James Audubon due to his land holdings in the Audubon Park Historic District, the complex was envisioned as a cultural center by its founder Archer Milton Huntington and almost entirely designed by his cousin Charles Pratt Huntington. A National Historic Landmark, the Audubon Terrace is home to the Hispanic Society of America, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Our Lady of Esperanza Church, and Boricua College.{{cite web|url=https://hispanicsociety.org/about-us/history/audubon-terrace/|title=Audubon Terrace|date=December 4, 2015 |publisher=Hispanic Society of America|access-date=February 23, 2021}} Despite their unique decor and expansive collections, its museums have long struggled with attracting visitors due to their non-central location;{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/17/realestate/streetscapes-audubon-terrace-attrition-taking-its-toll-at-a-cultural-complex.html|first=Christopher|last=Gray|date=May 17, 1987|title=Streetscapes: Audubon Terrace; Attrition Taking Its Toll At a Cultural Complex|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 23, 2021}} the American Geographical Society,{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30034294|access-date=February 23, 2021|journal=Geographical Review|date=October 2004|volume=94|issue=4|publisher=Taylor & Francis|title=Audubon Terrace, the American Geographical Society, and the Sense of Place|first=Harvey K.|last=Flad|pages=519–529|doi=10.1111/j.1931-0846.2004.tb00186.x|jstor=30034294|s2cid=159698938|url-access=subscription}}{{Rp|527}} the Heye Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian,{{cite web|url=https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/collections/history|website=National Museum of the American Indian|access-date=February 23, 2021|publisher=Smithsonian|title=History of the Collections}} and the American Numismatic Society{{cite web|url=http://numismatics.org/about/history/|publisher=American Numismatic Society|access-date=February 23, 2021|title=History of the American Numismatic Society|archive-date=October 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028165641/http://numismatics.org/about/history/|url-status=dead}} all previously occupied Audubon Terrace but have since moved their collections elsewhere.

Overlooking Coogan's Bluff between 160th and 162nd Streets in the Jumel Terrace Historic District, the Morris–Jumel Mansion has the distinction of being Manhattan's oldest surviving house.{{Rp|11}} Headquartered by George Washington in 1776 before being taken by the British and Hessians, the mansion was built in 1765 by British colonel Roger Morris and in 1810 became property of Eliza Jumel. Jumel became one of the wealthiest women in the city after the death of her husband Stephen in 1832, and she later was the wife of Aaron Burr until his death in 1836.{{Rp|318}}

Designated a landmark by the National Register of Historic Places,{{cite web|last=Greenwood|first=Richard|date=August 11, 1975|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Morris-Jumel Mansion|url={{NHLS url|id=66000545}}|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 22, 2021}} the house is owned and maintained as a museum by the Department of Parks and Recreation.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/roger-morris-park/history|title=Roger Morris Park Highlights|access-date=February 22, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}} At the time of its purchase by the Jumels in 1810, there were rumors that the mansion was haunted by a Hessian ghost.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/31/nyregion/about-new-york-belief-in-ghost-haunts-a-historic-mansion.html|title=About New York; Belief in Ghost Haunts a Historic Mansion|work=The New York Times|date=October 31, 1981|access-date=August 9, 2021}} After Eliza Jumel's death she became the main focus of paranormal suspicions, partly due to rumors that she caused her first husband Stephen to die by falling from a carriage onto a pitchfork.{{cite magazine|magazine=Lapham's Quarterly|date=July 30, 2018|first=Sarah|last=Laskow|title=The Haunting of a Heights House|access-date=August 9, 2021|url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/haunting-heights-house}} In the modern day, it has been investigated as a haunted house on the Today Show, Haunted USA, and Ghost Adventures.{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisjumel.org/paranormal|title=Paranormal Investigations|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=www.morrisjumel.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/video/is-new-york-city-s-oldest-mansion-haunted-1356812355606?v=raila&|title=Is New York City's oldest mansion haunted?|website=Today Show|date=October 30, 2018|access-date=August 9, 2021}} Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda sat in Aaron Burr's room to write of many of the hit musical's songs.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/hamiltons|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=March 29, 2021|date=February 2, 2015|first=Rebecca|last=Mead|title=All About the Hamiltons}}{{cite web|url=https://www.morrisjumel.org/welcome|title=Welcome|access-date=March 29, 2021|website=www.morrisjumel.org|archive-date=June 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623195248/https://www.morrisjumel.org/welcome|url-status=dead}}

The Paul Robeson Home, located on the corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street, is a National Historic Landmark building.{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/places/new-york-paul-robeson-home.htm|access-date=February 28, 2021|publisher=National Park Service|title=New York: Paul Robeson Home}} Part of Washington Heights' historically black southeastern area,{{Rp|38}} the building is known for its famous African-American residents, including actor Paul Robeson, musician Count Basie, and boxer Joe Louis.{{Rp|6}}

The Audubon Ballroom was originally a vaudeville and movie theater, built by William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation on the corner of Broadway and 165th Street.{{cite web|url=https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/biotechnology-race-and-memory-in-washington-heights|title=Biotechnology, Race, And Memory In Washington Heights|access-date=February 28, 2021|date=September 8, 2020|first=Robin|last=Wolfe Scheffler|publisher=Gotham Center for New York City History}} Since the 1930s the theater had been used as a meeting space for unions and other organizations, and in the 1950s hosted the annual New York Mardi Gras festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/audubon-ballroom/|access-date=February 28, 2021|website=New York Preservation Archive Project|title=Audubon Ballroom}} The building acquired its greatest historical significance on February 21, 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated there during a rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/02/22/archives/malcolm-x-shot-to-death-at-rally-here-three-other-negroes-wounded.html |title=Malcolm X Shot to Death at Rally Here|access-date=June 19, 2018|last=Kihss|first=Peter|date=February 22, 1965|page=1|newspaper=The New York Times}} The theater was seized by the city for unpaid back taxes in 1967 and, in the late 1980s, was planned for demolition in order to build a medical research center for Columbia University.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeLUJ10-zFwC|title=Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|first1=Arnold R.|last1=Alanen|first2=Robert|last2=Melnick|year=2000|isbn=9780801862632}}{{Rp|109}} After pushback by community members and Columbia students, the university reached a compromise in 1990 to restore part of the original façade and ballroom. {{As of|2021}}, the building houses Columbia's Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building, in addition to the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, which houses documents related to the life and work of the two civil rights activists.{{cite web|url=https://theshabazzcenter.org/about/|title=About the Shabazz Center|access-date=March 14, 2021|publisher=Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center}}

The United Palace was built in 1930 as the Loew's 175th Street Theater, designed primarily by Thomas W. Lamb (the same architect of the Audubon Ballroom) and featuring interior design work by Harold Rambusch.{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0656.pdf|title=United Palace (Formerly Loew's 175th Street Theater)|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=December 13, 2016}} Originally a theater, it was bought in 1969 by televangelist Reverend Ike and became a church for the United Church Science of Living Institute.{{cite web|last=Lehmann-Haupt|first=Christopher|title=Reverend Ike, Who Preached Riches, Dies at 74|website=The New York Times|date=July 30, 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/nyregion/30ike.html|access-date=May 20, 2019}}{{cite news|last=Diamond|first=Bruce|title=United Palace Cathedral may see new life as community arts center|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/united-palace-cathedral-new-life-community-arts-center-article-1.1076105|newspaper=New York Daily News|date=May 11, 2012|access-date=March 14, 2021}} Made a New York City landmark in 2016, the United Palace also acts as a cultural center, hosting films and live performances {{as of|2021|lc=y}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.unitedpalace.org/about/|title=About|publisher=United Palace|access-date=March 14, 2021}}

In 2022, the City University of New York's Dominican Studies Institute proposed adding the Washington Heights-Dominican Cultural Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places; if designated, the district would run between 155th and 200th Streets.{{cite web | last=Saltonstall | first=Gus | title=Dominican Historic District Proposed For Washington Heights | website=Washington Heights-Inwood, NY Patch | date=2022-03-08 | url=https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/dominican-historic-district-proposed-washington-heights | access-date=2024-09-17}} The New York State Board for Historic Preservation voted in September 2024 to recommend that the district be added to the NRHP, though many local residents opposed the designation because it excluded other ethnic groups.{{cite web | last=Kahn | first=Rachel | title=Dominican Historic District Designation Divides Washington Heights | website=THE CITY - NYC News | date=2024-09-17 | url=https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/09/17/dominican-historic-district-designation-washington-heights/ | access-date=2024-09-17}}

{{Main|Manhattan Times}}

Manhattan Times is a free English/Spanish bilingual community newspaper serving Spanish-speaking areas of Upper Manhattan, including Washington Heights.{{Cite news|last=Hicks|first=Jonathan P.|date=2005-08-25|title=Don't Look Back. A Phantom May Be Gaining.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/nyregion/dont-look-back-a-phantom-may-be-gaining.html|access-date=2021-07-19|issn=0362-4331}} It was founded in 1999{{cite web | last=Barrett| first=Wayne| title=Ferrer's Campaign Scandal | website=The Village Voice | date=August 12, 2003 | url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2003/08/12/ferrers-campaign-scandal/ | access-date=July 19, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.manhattantimesnews.com/about-us/|title=About Us – Manhattan Times News|access-date=March 25, 2020|publisher=Manhattan Times}} by Luís A. Miranda Jr., Roberto Ramírez Sr., and David Keisman.{{Rp|205}} The newspaper features stories about news and events of interest to residents on the city and neighborhood level, and it is funded in part by private advertisements in addition to public service announcements.{{cite news|url=https://www.manhattantimesnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MT-02-24-21-PAGES-...pdf|title=Half a Million Deaths in the USA / Medio Millón de Muertes en Estados Unidos|volume=22|issue=9|date=April 29, 2020|access-date=February 24, 2021|first1=Luís A.|last1=Miranda|first2=Roberto|last2=Ramírez|work=Manhattan Times}}

{{multiple image

|header=NYPD Precincts Serving Washington Heights

|total_width=450

|image1=NYPD 33rd Precinct.jpg

|caption1=The 33rd Precinct, serving Washington Heights South

|image2=34 Pct NYPD Bwy jeh.jpg

|caption2=The 34th Precinct, serving Washington Heights North and Inwood

}}

Washington Heights is served by two precincts of the NYPD.{{cite web|title=Find Your Precinct and Sector – NYPD|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/find-your-precinct.page|access-date=April 15, 2020|publisher=New York City Police Department}} The area south of 179th Street is served by the 33rd Precinct, located at 2207 Amsterdam Avenue,{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/33rd-precinct.page|title=33rd Precinct|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=April 15, 2020}} while the 34th Precinct, located at 4295 Broadway, serves the north side of the neighborhood along with Inwood.{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/34th-precinct.page|title=34th Precinct|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=April 15, 2020}}

The precinct was split in 1994 to increase police presence in Washington Heights at a time of very high crime rates, but crime has fallen drastically since then. {{As of|2018}}, the neighborhood has a non-fatal assault hospitalization rate of 43 per 100,000 people (compared to 59 per 100,000 citywide) and an incarceration rate of 482 per 100,000 adults (425 per 100,000 citywide).{{Rp|8}}

In 2023, the 34th Precinct reported four murders, 14 rapes, 215 robberies, 349 felony assaults, 151 burglaries, 575 grand larcenies, and 231 grand auto larcenies.{{cite web|url=https://maps.nyc.gov/crime/|access-date=February 5, 2023|title=NYC Crime Map|publisher=New York City Police Department}} The number of crimes committed in these categories fell by 30.2% between 1998 and 2023.{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-034pct.pdf|title=34th Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=February 5, 2020}} In the same year, the 33rd Precinct reported eight murders, eight rapes, 177 robberies, 243 felony assaults, 115 burglaries, 359 grand larcenies, and 142 grand auto larcenies.{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-033pct.pdf|title=33rd Precinct CompStat Report|publisher=New York City Police Department|access-date=February 5, 2023}} The number of crimes committed in these categories fell by 36.8% between 1998 and 2023.

File:Engine 93 513 W181 St jeh.jpg

Washington Heights is served by three New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations:{{Cite FDNY locations}}

• Engine Company 67{{spaced ndash}}518 West 170th Street (a New York City landmark){{cite web|title=Engine Company 67|website=FDNYtrucks.com|url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/manhattan/e67.htm|access-date=April 15, 2020}}{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2050.pdf|title=Fire Engine Company No. 67|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=February 27, 2001|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}
• Engine Company 84/Ladder Company 34{{spaced ndash}}513 West 161st Street (a New York City landmark){{cite web|title=Engine Company 84/Ladder Company 34|website=FDNYtrucks.com|url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/manhattan/e84.htm|access-date=April 15, 2020}}{{cite book|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1863.pdf|title=Fire Engine Company No. 84 and Hook & Ladder Company No. 34|access-date=March 28, 2021|date=June 17, 1997|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}
• Engine Company 93/Ladder Company 45/Battalion 13{{spaced ndash}}515 West 181st Street{{cite web|title=Engine Company 93/Ladder Company 45/Battalion 13|website=FDNYtrucks.com|url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/manhattan/e93.htm|access-date=April 15, 2020}}

In addition, FDNY EMS Station 13 is located at 501 West 172nd Street.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/FDNY-EMS-Station-13/251765581616646|publisher=New York City Fire Department|access-date=April 15, 2020|title=FDNY EMS Station 13 – New York, New York|website=Facebook}}

File:Presbyterian Hospital entrance.jpg, one of the largest hospitals in the world]]

Data on health indicators is compiled for each community district in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Community Health Profiles, the most recent of which was released in 2018. In Manhattan Community District 12 (Washington Heights and Inwood), there are 73 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 23.3 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (19.3 per 1,000 citywide).{{Rp|11}} The population of uninsured residents is estimated to be 14% (12% citywide).{{Rp|14}}

The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Community District 12 is {{convert|0.0078|mg/m3|oz/ft3}} ({{convert|0.0075|mg/m3|oz/ft3}} citywide).{{Rp|9}} 13% of residents are smokers (14% citywide), 26% are obese (24% citywide), 13% are diabetic (11% citywide), and 28% have high blood pressure (28% citywide).{{Rp|16}} Additionally, 24% of children are obese (20% citywide).{{Rp|12}} 81% of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day (87% citywide). In 2018, 68% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent" (78% citywide).{{Rp|13}} For every supermarket, there are an estimated 13 bodegas.{{Rp|10}}

{{as of|2018}}, the overall life expectancy of Community District 12 is 84, 2.8 years greater than the citywide average and 5.3 years greater than the nationwide average.{{Rp|20}}{{cite web|title=Mortality in the United States, 2018|publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|date=January 2020|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm}} Its rates of premature death from cancer (39.1 per 100,000) and heart disease (26.1 per 100,000) are significantly lower than the citywide rates, although its drug-related death rate (9.6 per 100,000) is similar and suicide death rate (7.2 per 100,000) is higher.{{Rp|18}}

NewYork–Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center opened in 1928 as Columbia–Presbyterian, one of the first academic medical centers in the United States.Tanne, Janice Hopkins. [https://books.google.com/books?id=W-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30 Washington to New York: Drop Dead], New York (magazine), July 18, 1994. Retrieved November 16, 2017. "1928: Columbia-Presbyterian opens its doors as the nation's first academic medical center."{{cite web |title=The Hospitals: Overview |url=https://columbiasurgery.org/general-surgery-residency/hospitals-overview |access-date=February 28, 2021 |publisher=Columbia University Department of Surgery}} It was known as the Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center until 1998. The complex, located between 165th and 168th Streets west of Broadway, contains the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons the medical school of Columbia University. The campus also contains the Mailman School of Public Health, as well as Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York City's only stand-alone children's hospital. In addition, NewYork–Presbyterian's Allen Hospital is located in Inwood.{{cite web|title=Manhattan Hospital Listings|website=New York Hospitals|url=http://www.allny.com/health/hosp-manhattan.html|access-date=March 20, 2019}}{{cite web|title=Best Hospitals in New York, N.Y.|website=U.S. News & World Report|date=July 26, 2011|url=https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/new-york-ny|access-date=March 20, 2019}}

Politically, Washington Heights is in New York's 13th congressional district, represented by Democrat Adriano Espaillat {{as of|2017|lc=y}}.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-house-elections.html|title=U.S. House Election Results 2018|date=January 28, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 21, 2019}} It is also part of the 31st State Senate District,[http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012s/SD_map_rep_31.pdf Senate District 31], New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Retrieved May 5, 2017.[http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012s/SD_nyc.pdf 2012 Senate District Maps: New York City], New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Retrieved November 17, 2018. represented by Democrat Robert Jackson,{{cite web|url=https://www.nysenate.gov/district/31|title=NY Senate District 31|publisher=New York State Senate|access-date=March 26, 2019}} and the 71st and 72nd State Assembly districts,[http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012a/AD_map_rep_071.pdf Assembly District 71], New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Retrieved May 5, 2017.[http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012a/AD_map_rep_072.pdf Assembly District 72], New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Retrieved May 5, 2017.[http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012a/AD_nyc.pdf 2012 Assembly District Maps: New York City], New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Retrieved November 17, 2018. represented by Democrats Al Taylor and Manny De Los Santos, respectively.{{cite web |title=New York State Assembly Member Directory |url=https://nyassembly.gov/mem/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |publisher=Assembly Member Directory}} In the City Council, the neighborhood is part of the 7th and 10th districts,[https://www.nyc.gov/assets/districting/downloads/pdf/20221006-Final-Plan-Manhattan-Districts-c.pdf NYC Districting Commission: NYC Council Districts, Final Plan: Manhattan (as of October 6, 2022)]. Retrieved March 18, 2023. represented by Democrats Shaun Abreu{{cite web |title=District 7 – New York City Council |url=https://council.nyc.gov/district-7/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |publisher=New York City Council}} and Carmen De La Rosa, respectively.{{cite web |title=District 10 – New York City Council |url=https://council.nyc.gov/district-10/ |access-date=March 15, 2023 |publisher=New York City Council}}

File:USPS Ft George Sta 10040 jeh.jpg Fort George Station]]

Washington Heights is located in three ZIP Codes. From south to north, they are 10032 (between 155th and 173rd Streets), 10033 (between 173rd and 187th Streets) and 10040 (between 187th and Dyckman Streets).{{cite web|title=Washington Heights, New York City-Manhattan, New York Zip Code Boundary Map (NY)|website=United States Zip Code Boundary Map (USA)|url=https://www.zipmap.net/New_York/New_York_County/Z_Washington_Heights.htm|access-date=March 26, 2019|archive-date=March 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327010652/https://www.zipmap.net/New_York/New_York_County/Z_Washington_Heights.htm|url-status=dead}}

The United States Postal Service operates four post offices in Washington Heights:

• Audubon Station – 511 West 165th Street{{cite web|title=Location Details: Audubon|publisher=United States Postal Service|url=https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorDetailsAction!input.action?locationTypeQ=po&address=10040&radius=20&locationType=po&locationID=1353673&locationName=AUDUBON&address2=&address1=511+W+165TH+ST|access-date=March 7, 2019}}
• Fort George Station – 4558 Broadway{{cite web|title=Location Details: Fort George|publisher=United States Postal Service|url=https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorDetailsAction!input.action?locationTypeQ=po&address=10040&radius=20&locationType=po&locationID=1363775&locationName=FORT+GEORGE&address2=&address1=4558+BROADWAY|access-date=March 7, 2019}}
• Fort Washington Station – 556 West 158th Street{{cite web|title=Location Details: Fort Washington|publisher=United States Postal Service|url=https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorDetailsAction!input.action?locationTypeQ=po&address=10027&radius=20&locationType=po&locationID=1434066&locationName=FORT+WASHINGTON&address2=&address1=556+W+158TH+ST+FRNT+1|access-date=March 7, 2019}}
• Washington Bridge Station – 518 West 181st Street{{cite web|title=Location Details: Washington Bridge|publisher=United States Postal Service|url=https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorDetailsAction!input.action?locationTypeQ=po&address=10040&radius=20&locationType=po&locationID=1457512&locationName=WASHINGTON+BRIDGE&address2=&address1=518+W+181ST+ST|access-date=March 7, 2019}}

Community District 12 has fewer college graduates and more high-school dropouts compared to the borough and city as a whole. 38% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher (compared to 43% citywide), and 29% did not finish high school (19% citywide).{{Rp|6}} {{as of|2018}}, 19% of elementary-school students missed twenty or more days per school year (20% citywide).{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/tcny/community-health-assessment-plan.pdf|title=2016–2018 Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan: Take Care New York 2020|date=2016|website=nyc.gov|publisher=New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene|access-date=September 8, 2017}}{{Rp|24 (PDF p. 55)}}

Washington Heights is part of District 6, along with Inwood and Hamilton Heights.{{cite web|url=https://data.cityofnewyork.us/widgets/r8nu-ymqj|website=NYC Open Data; Socrata|access-date=May 1, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|title=School Districts}} Of the district's 19,939 students {{as of|2019|lc=yes}}, 85% are Hispanic/Latino, 7% are black, 5% are white, and 3% are any other race; in addition, 29% are English Language Learners (defined as students who require support to learn English as a second language), and 22% are Students with Disabilities.{{cite web|url=https://data.nysed.gov/enrollment.php?year=2019&instid=800000047032|access-date=May 2, 2020|title=NYC Geog Dist #6 – Manhattan Enrollment (2018–19)|publisher=New York State Department of Education}} Of all students in the cohort set to graduate in 2019, 74% in District 6 did so by August 2019 (77% citywide).{{cite web|url=https://infohub.nyced.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2019-graduation_rates_public_citywide.xlsx|title=2019-graduation_rates_public_citywide.xlsx|access-date=May 2, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Education}} The district rate was significantly lower for males (69%), English Language Learners (52%), and Students with Disabilities (49%).{{cite web|url=https://data.nysed.gov/gradrate.php?instid=800000047032&year=2019&cohortgroup=0|access-date=May 2, 2020|title=NYC Geog Dist #6 – Manhattan Graduation Rate Data 4 Year Outcome As of August 2019|publisher=New York State Department of Education}} {{as of|2019}}, one-quarter of District 6 students are English Language Learners,{{cite web|url=https://data.nysed.gov/glossary.php?report=ell|access-date=May 2, 2020|title=English Language Learners Glossary|publisher=New York State Department of Education}} of whom 96% are Hispanic or Latino.{{cite web|url=https://data.nysed.gov/ell.php?year=2019&instid=800000047032|access-date=May 2, 2020|title=NYC Geog Dist #6 – English Language Learners Enrollment (2018–2019)|publisher=New York State Department of Education}}

The New York City Department of Education operates public schools in Washington Heights as part of Community School District 6.{{cite web |title=InsideSchools: District 6|website=InsideSchools |url=https://insideschools.org/districts/6 | access-date=June 10, 2019}} As with most other school districts in New York City, District 6 has both zoned schools, which take students mainly from a small area in the neighborhood, and unzoned schools, which admit students from anywhere in the district.{{cite web | last=Etherington | first=Cait | title=Stuff You Should Know: How NYC School Zones and Districts Work | website=6sqft | date=April 27, 2016 | url=https://www.6sqft.com/stuff-you-should-know-understanding-how-nycs-school-zones-and-districts-work/ | access-date=July 19, 2021}} Zoned public elementary and elementary/middle schools include:

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|image1=P.S. 189 2580 Amsterdam Avenue.jpg|caption1=PS 189

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• PS 28 Wright Brothers (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M028|title=P.S. 028 Wright Brothers|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020}}
• PS 189 (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M189|title=P.S. 189|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141528/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M189|url-status=dead}}
• PS 48 PO Michael J Buczek (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M048|title=P.S. 048 P.O. Michael J. Buczek|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141523/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M048|url-status=dead}}
• PS 128 Audubon (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M128|title=P.S. 128 Audubon|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141516/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M128|url-status=dead}}
• PS 173 (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M173|title=P.S. 173|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141531/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M173|url-status=dead}}
• PS 4 Duke Ellington (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M004|title=P.S. 004 Duke Ellington|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029150510/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M004|url-status=dead}}
• PS 8 Luis Belliard (grades 3K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M008|title=P.S. 008 Luis Belliard|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625152443/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M008|url-status=dead}}
• PS 115 Alexander Humboldt (grades PK–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M115|title=P.S. 115 Alexander Humboldt|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141524/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M115|url-status=dead}}
• PS 152 Dyckman Valley (grades PK–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M152|title=P.S. 152 Dyckman Valley|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627194456/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M152|url-status=dead}}
• Dos Puentes Elementary School (grades K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M103|title=Dos Puentes Elementary School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627225721/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M103|url-status=dead}}
• PS 132 Juan Pablo Duarte (grades K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M132|title=P.S. 132 Juan Pablo Duarte|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141520/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M132|url-status=dead}}
• PS/IS 187 Hudson Cliffs (grades PK–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M187|title=P.S./I.S. 187 Hudson Cliffs|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141526/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M187|url-status=dead}}

Unzoned elementary and elementary/middle schools include:

• Castle Bridge School (grades PK–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M513|title=Castle Bridge School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141521/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M513|url-status=dead}}
• Professor Juan Bosch Public School (grades K–5){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M178|title=Professor Juan Bosch Public School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=June 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630053103/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M178|url-status=dead}}

Zoned middle schools include:

• JHS 143 Eleanor Roosevelt (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M143|title=P.S. 143 Eleanor Roosevelt|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141521/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M143|url-status=dead}}
• MS 319 Maria Teresa (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M319|title=M.S. 319 Maria Teresa|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141516/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M319|url-status=dead}}
• MS 322 (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M322|title=Middle School 322|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=May 2, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629183216/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M322|url-status=dead}}
• MS 324 Patria Mirabal (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M324|title=P.S. 324 Patria Mirabal|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321141529/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M324|url-status=dead}}

Unzoned middle and middle/high schools include:

File:Gregorio Luperón HS for Math & Sci Amsterdam Av 165 St jeh.jpg]]

• Harbor Heights (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M349|title=Harbor Heights|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=July 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703030023/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M349|url-status=dead}}
• Community Math and Science Prep (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M328|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703050105/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M328|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 3, 2021|title=Community Math & Science Prep|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020}}
• IS 528 Bea Fuller Rodgers (grades 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M528|title=I.S. 528 Bea Fuller Rodgers|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029145217/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M528|url-status=dead}}
• City College Academy of the Arts (grades 6–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M293|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702205839/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M293|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 2, 2021|title=City College Academy of the Arts|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020}}
• Community Health Academy of the Heights (grades 6–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M346|title=Community Health Academy of the Heights|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 9, 2020|archive-date=October 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021170910/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M346|url-status=dead}}

The former George Washington High School, built in 1923, is located between 192nd and 193rd Streets directly west of Highbridge Park.{{Rp|72}} It became the George Washington Educational Campus in 1999 when it was split into four smaller schools:{{cite web|url=https://insideschools.org/school/00Z023|title=George Washington Educational Complex – District 6|access-date=April 8, 2020|website=InsideSchools}}

• The College Academy (grades 9–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M462|title=The College Academy|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=December 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202193627/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M462|url-status=dead}}
• High School for Media and Communications (grades 9–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M463|title=High School for Media and Communications|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=July 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703071643/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M463|url-status=dead}}
• High School for Law and Public Service (grades 9–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M467|title=High School for Law and Public Service|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025121750/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M467|url-status=dead}}
• High School for Health Careers and Sciences (grades 9–12){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M468|title=High School for Health Careers and Sciences|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=July 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703073148/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M468|url-status=dead}}

The Gregorio Luperón High School for Science and Mathematics was founded in 1994 and serves a student body of newly arrived Spanish-speakers.{{cite web|url=https://insideschools.org/school/06M552|title=Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics – District 6|access-date=April 8, 2020|website=InsideSchools}}{{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M552|title=Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627191052/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M552|url-status=dead}} Washington Heights also has the unzoned Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, serving grades PK to 12.{{cite news|url=https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/07/34college.h31.html|title=For Many Latino Students, College Seems Out of Reach – Education Week|date=June 1, 2012|access-date=April 7, 2020|website=Education Week|first=Caralee J.|last=Adams}}{{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M348|title=Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 7, 2020|archive-date=April 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408003705/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M348|url-status=dead}}

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|image1=Mother Cabrini High School 701 Fort Washington Avenue.jpg|caption1=Success Academy Washington Heights, previously the location of Mother Cabrini High School

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Charter schools include:

• WHIN Community Charter School (grades K–3){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M338|title=WHIN Music Community|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=July 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703034542/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M338|url-status=dead}}
• Success Academy Washington Heights (grades K–4){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M265|title=Success Academy Charter School – Washington Heights – New York 1|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029144445/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M265|url-status=dead}}
• KIPP Washington Heights (grades K–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M068|title=KIPP Washington Heights Middle School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030024243/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M068|url-status=dead}}
• School in the Square (grade 6–8){{cite web|url=https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M295|title=School in the Square Public Charter School|publisher=New York City Department of Education|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=October 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029092013/https://www.schools.nyc.gov/schools/M295|url-status=dead}}

Catholic schools under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York include:

• Incarnation School (grades 3K–8){{cite web|url=https://incarnationnyc.org/|title=Incarnation School – New York, NY|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=Incarnation School}}
• St. Elizabeth School (grades 3K–8){{cite web|url=https://saintelizabethschool.org/|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=St. Elizabeth School|title=St. Elizabeth School – Washington Heights, NY}}

Jewish schools include:

• Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (grades 3K, PK, and 1–12){{cite web|url=https://www.yrsrh.org/|title=Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch}}
• Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (grades 9–12){{cite web|url=https://yuhsb.org/discover/our-mission/|title=Our Mission – Yeshiva University High School for Young Boys|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy}}

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|image1=Yeshiva University Schottenstein Center.jpg|caption1=Yeshiva University Schottenstein Center

|image2=NYPL Washington Heights Branch, Manhattan.jpg|caption2=New York Public Library Washington Heights branch

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University education in Washington Heights includes Yeshiva University{{cite web|url=https://www.yu.edu/about/visiting|access-date=February 15, 2021|title=Visiting Us|publisher=Yeshiva University}} and Boricua College.{{cite web|url=http://boricuacollege.edu/contact-us/|publisher=Boricua College|access-date=April 8, 2020|title=Contact Us|archive-date=March 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328231152/http://boricuacollege.edu/contact-us/|url-status=dead}} Located between 184th and 186th Streets east of Broadway, Yeshiva University's Wilf Campus was founded in 1928 and is the Jewish institution's main campus;{{cite web|url=https://www.yu.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/2015_Campus_Maps_WILF_0.pdf|title=Wilf Campus Map|publisher=Yeshiva University|access-date=February 23, 2021|date=2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.yu.edu/yeshiva-college/mission-history|title=Mission and History|publisher=Yeshiva University|access-date=February 23, 2021}} it was originally envisioned with Moorish Revival aesthetic, although most of its buildings ended up with a modern design.{{Cite journal|title=Building Bust – The Unbuilt Synagogues of the Great Depression|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/13951/building-bust|journal=Tablet Magazine|date=August 20, 2009}} Schools within the campus include Yeshiva College, the Syms School of Business, and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy high school.{{cite web|url=https://www.yu.edu/student-life/campuses/wilf|title=Wilf Campus|publisher=Yeshiva University|access-date=February 23, 2021}} Boricua College, whose Manhattan campus is located on 156th and Broadway in the Audubon Terrace complex, is a small private college founded in 1975 to serve the city's Puerto Rican population.{{cite web|url=http://boricuacollege.edu/history-and-aims/|title=History and Aims|access-date=February 23, 2021|publisher=Boricua College|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308135450/http://boricuacollege.edu/history-and-aims/|url-status=dead}}

The medical campus of Columbia University hosts the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the biomedical programs of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which offer Masters and Doctorate degrees in several fields.{{cite web|url=https://www.nyp.org/locations/newyork-presbyterian-columbia-university-medical-center|title=NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital}} These schools are among the departments that compose the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.{{cite web|url=https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/|title=Columbia University Irving Medical Center|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=Columbia University}}

CUNY in the Heights, a higher education program of the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York, is actually located in Inwood on the corner of 213th Street and Broadway, despite its name.{{cite web|url=https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/academics/learning-options/off-site/bmcc-cuny-in-the-heights/|title=CUNY in the Heights|access-date=April 8, 2020|publisher=Borough of Manhattan Community College}} In the same building, the CUNY XPress Immigration Center is a branch of their Citizenship Now! program, which offers immigrants free legal services to help in attaining citizenship.{{cite web|url=https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/legaldirectory/organization.393165-CUNY_Citizenship_Now_CUNY_Xpress_Immigration_Center|website=Immigration Advocates Network|access-date=April 8, 2020|title=CUNY Citizenship Now! – CUNY Xpress Immigration Center – National Immigration Legal Services Directory}}{{cite web|url=http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/citizenship-now/about/contact-2/|title=Contact – Citizenship Now!|access-date=May 2, 2020|publisher=City University of New York}}

The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates two branches in Washington Heights:

• The Fort Washington branch is located at 535 West 179th Street. The three-story Carnegie library opened in 1979.{{cite web|title=About the Fort Washington Library|publisher=The New York Public Library|url=https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/fort-washington|access-date=March 23, 2019}}
• The Washington Heights branch is located at 1000 St. Nicholas Avenue. It was founded in 1868 as a subscription-based library and moved twice before it relocated to its current four-story structure in 1914, owing to generous donations from James Hood Wright.{{cite web|title=About the Washington Heights Library|publisher=The New York Public Library|url=https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/washington-heights|access-date=March 23, 2019}}{{cite book|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/645a8810-85f4-0131-a4a9-58d385a7b928#|access-date=May 2, 2020|year=1923|title=History of the New York Public Library: Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations|first=Harry Miller|last=Lydenberg|publisher=The New York Public Library}}{{Rp|189}}

File:HarlemRiverBridges.jpg: High Bridge (in the foreground), the Alexander Hamilton Bridge (in the middle, behind High Bridge), and Washington Bridge (in the background) with Manhattan (on the left) and The Bronx (on the right)]]

Washington Heights is connected to Fort Lee, New Jersey across the Hudson River via the Othmar Ammann-designed George Washington Bridge, the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.{{cite web|url=http://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/george-washington-bridge.html|title=George Washington Bridge|publisher=Port Authority of New York and New Jersey|access-date=May 3, 2020}}{{Cite book|last=Rastorfer|first=Darl|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41977224|title=Six bridges: the legacy of Othmar H. Ammann|date=2000|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-08047-6|location=New Haven|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A51VbeqTwogC&pg=PT177|chapter=Chapter 2: The George Washington Bridge|oclc=41977224}}{{Rp|42}} Upon completion in 1931, it was also the world's longest suspension bridge.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-washington-park/history|title=Fort Washington Park Highlights|access-date=April 21, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}} The Pier Luigi Nervi-designed George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal is located at the Manhattan end between 178th and 179th Streets, extending between Fort Washington and Wadsworth avenues.{{cite news|last=Fernandez|first=Manny|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/nyregion/05terminal.html|title=Change and Outrage at the Bus Station That Time Forgot|work=The New York Times|date=October 5, 2008|access-date=February 16, 2017}} After its construction in 1963, Nervi won an award for the terminal's unique use of concrete,{{cite news|title=George Washington Bridge Bus Station|work=Gothamist|url=https://gothamist.com/news/george-washington-bridge-bus-station-plans-revealed|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623194801/https://gothamist.com/news/george-washington-bridge-bus-station-plans-revealed|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 23, 2021|date=October 16, 2008|access-date=April 9, 2020}} including its huge butterfly-like ventilation ducts.{{cite aia5}}{{Rp|570}} The station provides service to North Jersey via NJ Transit Bus Operations; Paterson and Jersey City via Spanish Transportation; the Northeastern Corridor via Greyhound; and upstate New York via Rockland Coaches and OurBus.{{cite web|url=https://www.panynj.gov/bus-terminals/en/george-washington.html|title=George Washington Bridge Bus Station|publisher=Port Authority of New York and New Jersey|access-date=November 5, 2021}}

The Trans-Manhattan Expressway, part of Interstate 95, runs for {{convert|0.8|mi}} from the George Washington Bridge in a trench between 178th and 179th Streets.{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=Susan Heller|last2=Dunlap|first2=David W.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/25/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-big-name-and-short-road.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Big Name And Short Road|work=The New York Times|date=August 25, 1986|access-date=May 3, 2020}} The construction of the George Washington Bridge and the Trans-Manhattan Expressway required the demolition of all apartment buildings between 178th and 179th Streets, in addition to many west of Cabrini Boulevard between 177th and 181st Streets, evicting over 1,000 families.{{cite web|url=https://1940s.nyc/map/#15.69/40.849793/-73.941887|title=1940s NYC – Street photos of every building in NYC in 1939/1940|access-date=February 23, 2021|publisher=New York Public Library, Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/27/archives/to-raze-20-flats-in-path-of-bridge-wreckers-soon-to-clear-three.html|title=To Raze 20 Flats in Path of Bridge; Wreckers Soon to Clear Three Washington Heights Blocks for Approach. 2 Churches Also Doomed Half of 3,000 Tenants Ousted for Hudson River Span Stay in the Vicinity, Realty Men Report.|date=October 27, 1929|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 23, 2021}}{{cite news|last=Ingraham|first=Joseph C.|title=Relocation Is Almost Completed Near George Washington Bridge|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 23, 1959|page=33|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/04/23/83682312.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=ArticleEndCTA®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=33|access-date=May 22, 2014}} To the east, the highway leads to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, completed in 1963, which crosses the Harlem River and connects to the Bronx via the Cross Bronx Expressway.{{cite web|url=https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-completion-alexander-hamilton-bridge-rehabilitation|title=Governor Cuomo Announces Completion of Alexander Hamilton Bridge Rehabilitation|publisher=New York State|first=Andrew|last=Cuomo|author-link=Andrew Cuomo|date=July 28, 2014|access-date=May 3, 2020|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225023722/https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-completion-alexander-hamilton-bridge-rehabilitation|url-status=dead}} The Washington Bridge, built in 1888, crosses the river just north of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and connects to both the Trans-Manhattan and Cross Bronx expressways.{{cite web|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1222.pdf|title=Washington Bridge|access-date=May 3, 2020|date=September 14, 1982|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}}{{Rp|4}}

Crossing the river at 175th Street in Manhattan, the High Bridge is the oldest bridge in New York City still in existence.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/highbridge-park/planyc|title=The High Bridge|access-date=May 3, 2020|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation}} The bridge was completed in 1848 to carry the Croton Aqueduct as part of the city's water system; a promenade was added in 1864 that stayed in use up until the 1970s, although the aqueduct function was discontinued in 1949.{{cite web|url=http://waterworkshistory.us/NY/New_York_City/|title=New York City Waterworks|access-date=February 15, 2021|first=Morris A.|last=Pierce}} In the late 1920s, several of its stone piers were replaced with a steel arch that spanned the river to allow ships to more easily navigate under the bridge.{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Gray|author-link=Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/realestate/the-beauty-of-high-bridge-on-the-comeback-trail.html|title=Streetscapes: The High Bridge – Beauty on the Comeback Trail|work=The New York Times|date=April 25, 2013|access-date=May 3, 2020}} In June 2015, the High Bridge reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge after a three-year rehabilitation project.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/highbridge-park/high-bridge-history|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=April 15, 2020|title=History of the High Bridge: NYC Parks}}

For transport northward and southward across Manhattan, Washington Heights is connected with two other significant highways: the Harlem River Drive by the Harlem River and the Henry Hudson Parkway (part of New York State Route 9A) by the Hudson River.{{cite book|url=https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/newyorktvbk.pdf|title=List of State Routes in New York County|publisher=New York State Department of Transportation|date=2003|access-date=May 6, 2020}} The Harlem River Drive began as a horse carriage roadway in 1898 and was converted into a highway exclusively for cars during the 1950s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/07/03/archives/harlem-speedway-opened-pronounced-by-horsemen-to-be-the-finest.html|title=HARLEM SPEEDWAY OPENED; Pronounced by Horsemen to be the Finest Driveway for Light Speeding in the Country. YESTERDAY THE FIRST DAY The Number Present at the Opening Hour Not Large, but Later in the Day Many Wrote Arrived – Interesting Facts.|date=July 3, 1898|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 15, 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/realestate/a-roadway-built-for-the-elite-to-trot-out-their-rigs.html|title=A Roadway Built for the Elite to Trot Out Their Rigs|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=July 13, 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 15, 2017}} The road has since blocked access to the waterfront from Highbridge Park, although the Harlem River Greenway (planned for renovation {{as of|2019|lc=y}}){{cite web|url=https://edc.nyc/press-release/nycedc-and-nyc-parks-release-public-proposal-design-two-new-waterfront-parks-along|title=NYCEDC and NYC Parks Release Public Proposal to Design Two New Waterfront Parks Along Harlem River|date=February 11, 2019|access-date=February 15, 2021|publisher=New York City Economic Development Corporation}} can still be accessed from 155th Street and Dyckman Street.{{cite web|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/edc/pdf/greenway_mapside.pdf|title=Manhattan Waterfront Greenway Map|publisher=New York City|access-date=May 6, 2020}} The Henry Hudson Parkway, built in 1936,{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X110/history|access-date=February 15, 2021|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|title=Henry Hudson Parkway}} is also surrounded by parkland but leaves Fort Washington Park with a large amount of waterfront space on its western side,{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/realestate/11scape.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 15, 2021|date=January 9, 2009|first=Christopher|last=Gray|title=Flickering Views of an Earlier Era}} while the Hudson River Greenway lies on its eastern side. Running above-ground between the highway and the greenway is the Empire Service Amtrak line, whose closest stops are at Yonkers and Penn Station.{{cite web|url=https://www.amtrak.com/empire-service-train|title=Empire Service Train|publisher=Amtrak|access-date=February 23, 2021}}

Washington Heights is well served by the New York City Subway. On the IND Eighth Avenue Line, service is available at the 155th Street and 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue stations ({{NYCS trains|Eighth north local header}}), the 168th Street station ({{NYCS trains|Washington Heights-168th}}), and the 175th Street, 181st Street, and 190th Street stations ({{NYCS trains|Eighth far north}}). The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ({{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh north}}) has stops at 157th Street, 168th Street, 181st Street, and 191st Street.{{NYCS const|map}}

Out of these stations, only 175th Street is fully accessible, although the tunnel to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station at its 177th Street exit is not. The 168th Street station is accessible only for the entrance to the A and C trains.{{cite web|url=https://new.mta.info/map/5346|access-date=February 23, 2021|title=Accessible Stations Highlighted Map|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority}} To help residents navigate the steep hills of the neighborhood's northwestern area, the 181st Street and 190th Street IND stations provide free elevator service between Fort Washington Avenue and the Broadway valley below.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/09/06/archives/2-ind-elevators-open-to-free-use-washington-heights-alpinists-take.html|title=2 IND ELEVATORS OPEN TO FREE USE; Washington Heights Alpinists Take Heart – Subway Lifts Are Free|date=September 6, 1957|work=The New York Times|page=19|access-date=April 15, 2020}} On the northeastern side, the 191st Street station also has an elevator to St. Nicholas Avenue and a tunnel running to Broadway.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/12/nyregion/washington-heights-journal-a-subway-passageway-just-for-the-courageous.html|title=Washington Heights Journal; A Subway Passageway Just for the Courageous|last=Kurtz|first=Josh|date=August 12, 1991|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=July 30, 2016}}

The 181st Street and 190th Street IND stations have several unique entrances and exits, many featuring a stone-brick design inspired by the Overlook Terrace cliffside.{{cite news|url=http://forgotten-ny.com/2005/02/down-in-the-hole-the-many-styles-of-subway-entrances/|title=Subway Entrance Stylings|website=Forgotten NY|access-date=May 6, 2020|date=February 14, 2005 |last1=Walsh |first1=Kevin }} The 168th Street, 190th Street, and both 181st Street stations are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web|url=https://nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ny/new+york/state.html|title=National Register of Historic Places – NEW YORK (NY), New York County|publisher=National Register of Historic Places|access-date=April 28, 2016}} The 191st Street and 190th Street stations have the distinction of being the deepest in the entire subway system by distance to ground level, at 180 and 140 feet, respectively.{{cite web|last=Young|first=Michelle|url=http://untappedcities.com/2013/06/26/deepest-highest-subway-stations-nyc/|website=untappedcities.com|date=June 26, 2013|access-date=April 15, 2020|title=The Deepest and Highest Subway Stations in NYC: 191st St, 190th Street, Smith & 9th}} In 1951, researchers from New York University found that the 190th Street station would provide shelter from nuclear fallout.{{Cite news|date=December 16, 1951|title=190th St. Station Held Bomb-Proof|page=65|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/12/16/archives/190th-ststation-held-bombproof-tests-reveal-eighth-avenue-subway.html|access-date=July 30, 2016|issn=0362-4331}}

Several MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes serve Washington Heights:{{cite NYC bus map|M}}{{cite NYC bus map|Bx}}

{{div col|colwidth=48em}}

• {{NYC bus link|Bx3}}: to 238th Street station ({{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh north}}) via 181st Street and University Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|Bx6}} and Bx6 Select Bus Service: to Hunts Point Cooperative Market via Riverside Drive, 155th, 161st and 163rd Streets and Hunts Point Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|Bx7}}: to College of Mount Saint Vincent via Broadway and Riverdale Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|Bx11}}: to Parkchester station via 181st, 170th, and 174th Streets
• {{NYC bus link|Bx13}}: to Bronx Terminal Market or George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal via 181st Street and Ogden Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|Bx35}}: to Crotona Park East, Bronx via 181st Street, 167th, and 169th Streets
• {{NYC bus link|Bx36}}: to Castle Hill, Bronx via 181st Street, Tremont Avenue, and White Plains Road
• {{NYC bus link|M2}}: to Greenwich Village via Fifth/Madison Avenues, Edgecombe Avenue, and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard
• {{NYC bus link|M3}}: to Greenwich Village or Fort George via Fifth/Madison Avenues and St. Nicholas Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|M4}}: to Midtown South or Fort Tryon Park/The Cloisters via Fifth/Madison Avenues, Fort Washington Avenue, and Broadway
• {{NYC bus link|M5}}: to Midtown South via Broadway and Riverside Drive
• {{NYC bus link|M10}}: to Columbus Circle via Frederick Douglass Boulevard
• {{NYC bus link|M98}}: to Lenox Hill or Fort Tryon Park via Third/Lexington Avenues, Harlem River Drive, 178th/179th Streets, and Fort Washington Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|M100}}: to Manhattanville or Inwood via Broadway, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Amsterdam Avenue
• {{NYC bus link|M101}}: to East Village or Fort George via Third/Lexington Avenues and Amsterdam Avenue

{{div col end}}

{{See also|Category:People from Washington Heights, Manhattan}}

Notable residents of Washington Heights include:

{{Div col|small=yes|colwidth=22em}}

• Pedro Alvarez (born 1987), baseball player who was drafted second overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.Nelson, Amy K. [https://www.espn.com/mlb/draft2008/news/story?id=3423039 "Alvarez following in some famous footsteps"], ESPN.com, June 3, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2008. "In just a few days, Montas and the entire Washington Heights community anticipate that their native son, Pedro Alvarez, a star third baseman for Vanderbilt University, will be the highest player ever drafted from the upper Manhattan neighborhood of New York City."
• Alex Arias (born 1967), Dominican-American former Major League Baseball player.Mickle, Tripp. [http://www.nyc24.org/2006/newnewyorkers/beisbol/index.html "At George Washington High School, Beisbol is a Hit"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062045/http://www.nyc24.org/2006/newnewyorkers/beisbol/index.html |date=September 28, 2007 }}, New Media Workshop at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Retrieved May 21, 2007. "Since the mid-1980s, the school has produced two World Series winners in the Major Leagues: Manny Ramírez of the Boston Red Sox and former Florida Marlins shortstop Alex Arias."
• George Grey Barnard (1863–1938), sculptor.[https://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=GGB&p=hn "George Grey Barnard Papers : Historical Note"], Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved April 16. 2020. "1894–1895: Moves to Washington Heights, New York; produces many pieces for patrons."
• Harry Belafonte (1927–2023), calypso singer and Grammy winner.Gates Jr., Henry Louis. [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/08/26/belafontes-balancing-act "Belafonte's Balancing Act"], The New Yorker, August 26, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2016. "In 1953, enjoying his first real taste of affluence, Belafonte moved from Washington Heights into a white neighborhood in Elmhurst, Queens."
• Ward Bennett (1917–2003), designer, artist and sculptor.Iovine, Julie V. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/16/arts/ward-bennett-85-dies-designed-with-american-style.html "Ward Bennett, 85, Dies; Designed With American Style"], The New York Times, August 16, 200. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "Mr. Bennett was born on Nov. 17, 1917, in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan."
• Dellin Betances (born 1988), MLB pitcher for the New York Mets.Rivera, Marly. [https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19316029/yankees-star-dellin-betances-growing-dominican-repping-hometown-team "For Betances, repping the Yankees is an American dream"], ESPN, April 17, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "Yankees setup man Dellin Betances was born in New York, but he says his parents' Dominican heritage has always been a huge part of his identity – particularly growing up in Washington Heights, a majority-Latino neighborhood of the city."
• Jocelyn Bioh, Ghanaian-American writer, playwright and actor.Soloski, Alexis. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/theater/playwright-jocelyn-bioh-africa-mean-girls-play.html "For This Playwright, Africa With Laughter, Not Tears"], The New York Times, November 1, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "Ms. Bioh, 34, grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, the youngest of three siblings in a tight-knit, tough-love family that often lived hand-to-mouth."
• Stanley Bosworth (1927–2011), founding headmaster of Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, which he headed from 1965 to 2004.Levy, Ariel. [https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/n_10337/ "The Devil & Saint Ann's"], New York, April 30, 2004. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "Stanley is Jewish himself, raised in Washington Heights, by parents he calls 'the greatest bumblers in the world.'"
• Tally Brown (1934–1989), singer and actress in films by Andy Warhol and other underground filmmakers.[http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.208.html/2006/photographs-n08227 Diane Arbus 1923–1971 'Waitress, Nudist Camp, N. J.'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504194536/http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.208.html/2006/photographs-n08227 |date=May 4, 2016 }}, Sotheby's. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "In her later years, Brown lived in Washington Heights, New York City, and was the focus of German director Rosa von Praunheim's award-winning documentary, Tally Brown, N. Y. (1979)."
• Robert John Burke (born 1960), actor.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160307042311/https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/9625/Robert-John-Burke/biography "Robert John Burke"], The New York Times, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 7, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2020. "Birthplace: Washington Heights, New York, USA"
• Maria Callas (1923–1977), Greek-American opera singer.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3bg3dGzNewC|title=Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography|first=Anne|last=Edwards|isbn=9780312269869|date=2001-08-18}}{{Rp|57}}
• Cardi B (born 1992), rapper, songwriter, actress and television personality.Haskell, Rob. [https://www.vogue.com/article/cardi-b-cover-january-2020 "Cardi B: Unfiltered, Unapologetic, Unbowed"], Vogue (magazine), December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019. "It's the middle of an early-autumn afternoon, and Cardi is stretched out on the green modular sofa in the living room of her grandmother's apartment in Washington Heights.... Cardi was born at NewYork-Presbyterian, not far from this walkup whose hallways are saturated with the warm smells of Dominican cooking."
• Jerry Craft (born 1963), children's book author and illustrator / syndicated cartoonist and creator of the Mama's Boyz comic strip.[http://jerrycraft.net/jerrycraft.html Author / Illustrator] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412064034/http://www.jerrycraft.net/jerrycraft.html |date=April 12, 2018 }}, Jerry Craft. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
• Rod Carew (born 1945), former professional baseball player and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.[http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/ps3265/tag/RodCarew "This Week In Baseball History – Week ending 10/5"]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Sporting News, October 8, 2007. Retrieved June 10, 2008. "In 1958, the Carew family migrated to America and settled in the Washington Heights section of New York City."
• Frances Conroy (born 1953), actress.
• Nelson Antonio Denis (born 1954), former member of the New York State Assembly.Monell, Ray. [https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/theater-arts/nelson-denis-war-book-escalating-article-1.2255222 "Nelson A. Denis' book War Against All Puerto Ricans is escalating"], New York Daily News, June 11, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2019. "'It's been psychologically and intellectually stimulating, because it's been interesting to see some of these changes after I talk to people and after they read the book. It's an interesting process,' says Denis, an ex-New York assemblyman from Washington Heights of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage."
• Morton Deutsch (1920–2017), social psychologist who was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution.Roberts, Sam. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/nyregion/morton-deutsch-dead-conflict-resolution.html "Morton Deutsch, Expert on Conflict Resolution, Dies at 97"], The New York Times, March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017. "Raised in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, he read Freud and Marx when he was 10, graduated from Townsend Harris Hall and entered City College when he was 15 planning to become a psychiatrist."
• David Dinkins (1927–2020), Mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1994.Armstrong, Lindsay. [https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150810/washington-heights/proposal-rename-street-for-david-dinkins-dropped-by-councilman "Proposal To Rename Street for David Dinkins Dropped by Councilman"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603105515/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150810/washington-heights/proposal-rename-street-for-david-dinkins-dropped-by-councilman |date=June 3, 2016 }}, DNAinfo.com, August 10, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "WASHINGTON HEIGHTS – A proposal to rename an Uptown street in honor of David Dinkins has been dropped, after a politician supporting the plan said the former mayor's family was not on board with the idea."
• Jim Dwyer (1957–2020), columnist and reporter at The New York Times.[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/jim_dwyer/index.html?inline=nyt-per Times Topics: People – Jim Dwyer], The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2007. "Born and raised in the city, Jim is the son of Irish immigrants. For the last 30 years, he has lived in Washington Heights with his family."
• Laurence Fishburne (born 1961), Academy Award-nominated actor.Staff. [http://www.nydailynews.com/services/realestate/2008/03/07/2008-03-07_hudson_heights_delivers.html "Hudson Heights delivers"], New York Daily News, March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008. "Hudson Heights continues to deliver on big space, river views and affordable apartments. And celebrities. Actor Laurence Fishburne lives in historic Castle Village overlooking the Hudson."
• Luis Flores (born 1981), former NBA point guard.Weiss, Dick. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118625776.html "Flores, from Dominican Republic, takes unusual journey."]{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, New York Daily News, March 20, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007. "Luis Flores never figured his future would be in basketball when he was growing up in San Pedro de Marcos, a Dominican Republic hotbed for major league baseball prospects.... But all that changed when his parents sent him from that sun-drenched Caribbean island to live with his grandparents Basilio and Juanita Flores in Washington Heights when he was just 8 years old. "
• Hillel Furstenberg (born 1935), mathematician known for his application of probability theory and ergodic theory methods to other areas of mathematics.Chang, Kenneth. [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/science/abel-prize-mathematics.html "Abel Prize in Mathematics Shared by 2 Trailblazers of Probability and Dynamics Hillel Furstenberg, 84, and Gregory Margulis, 74, both retired professors, share the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel Prize."], The New York Times, March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020. "Dr. Furstenberg was born in Berlin in 1935. His family, which was Jewish, was able to leave Germany just before the start of World War II and made its way to the United States, settling in New York City in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Manhattan."
• Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), professional baseball player for the New York Yankees and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.Robinson, Ray. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/sports/baseball/gehrig-remains-a-presence-in-his-former-neighborhood.html "Gehrig Remains a Presence in His Former Neighborhood"], The New York Times, July 3, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "By World War I, the Gehrig family had moved to Washington Heights. It was there that Gehrig was taunted as 'a dirty Hun,' a result of the anti-German sentiment in the country."
• Elias Goldberg (1886–1978), New York painter, with most of his city paintings focusing on the area of Washington Heights. Mr. Goldberg exhibited at the legendary Charles Egan Gallery.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/index.cfm/fuseaction/OralHistories.ViewOralHistory/CollectionID/12110|title=Bruce Hooton 1965 Interview of Elias Goldberg at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art}}
• Leo Gorcey (1917–1969), member of the original cast of "Dead End", and memorably outspoken member of the Dead End Kids / East Side Kids / The Bowery Boys.Lamparski, Richard. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/98862190/ "Whatever Happened to Leo Gorcey?"], Detroit Free Press, April 27, 1969. Retrieved January 18, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "The leader of the Dead End Kids, East Side Kids and Bowery Boys was born in New York City in 1917. Leo Gorcey came by the accent that was to make him over a million dollars quite naturally during his boyhood in the Washington Heights section of New York City."
• Alan Greenspan (born 1926), 13th Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.Martin, Justin. [https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/martin-greenspan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "Greenspan: The Man Behind the Money"], Perseus Publishing. Retrieved June 7, 2007. "A few years prior to the great stock market crash of 1929, Alan Greenspan's parents moved into an apartment in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan."
• Hex Hector (born 1965), Grammy Award-winning remixer and producer.{{cite web | title=Hispanic Heritage Month: Washington Heights – CBS New York | website=CBS New York | date=September 14, 2020 | url=https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/09/14/hispanic-heritage-month-washington-heights/ | access-date=July 18, 2021}}
• Jacob K. Javits (1904–1986), United States Senator from New York from 1957 to 1981.[http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=8724 Jacon K. Javits Playground]. Retrieved December 27, 2006. "Jacob Javits was born on the Lower East Side to Russian Jewish parents. He lived variously in Brooklyn and Manhattan, including this neighborhood, on West 192nd Street, when he was 15."
• Henry Kissinger (1923–2023), former National Security Advisor and United States Secretary of State.[http://www.coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=people.details&thisunit=0&peopleid=122 Cold War Files: Henry Kissinger] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712011403/http://www.coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=people.details&thisunit=0&peopleid=122 |date=July 12, 2007 }}. Retrieved December 27, 2006. "He spent his high-school years in the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan but never lost his pronounced German accent. Kissinger attended George Washington High School at night and worked in a shaving-brush factory during the day."
• Paul Kolton (1923–2010), chairman of the American Stock Exchange.Kaplan, Thomas. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/30kolton.html "Paul Kolton, Who Led the American Stock Exchange, Dies at 87"], The New York Times, October 29, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "Mr. Kolton was born Paul Komisaruk on June 1, 1923, in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan."
• Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008), geneticist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in bacterial genetics, was born in Montclair.Morse, Stephen S. "Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008)", Science (magazine), March 7, 2008, vol 319, p. 1351.Broad, William J. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/us/05lederberg.html?pagewanted=all "Joshua Lederberg, 82, a Nobel Winner, Dies"], The New York Times, February 5, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "Dr. Lederberg was born May 23, 1925, in Montclair, N.J., to Zvi Hirsch Lederberg, a rabbi, and the former Esther Goldenbaum, who had emigrated from what is now Israel two years earlier. His family moved to the Washington Heights section of Manhattan when he was 6 months old."
• Stan Lee (1922–2018), creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk.Sinclair, Tom. [https://ew.com/article/2003/06/20/meet-stan-lee-mind-behind-spider-man-and-hulk/ "Still a Marvel! Meet Stan Lee: The mind behind Spider-Man and Hulk. EW talks with the legend who rewrote the book on comics in the '60s, and planted seeds for today's biggest summer movies"], Entertainment Weekly, June 20, 2003. Retrieved June 7, 2007. "To fully understand how Lee, a poor Jewish kid from New York's Washington Heights, came to be the Munificent Monarch of the Mighty Marvel Universe, we must journey back through the mists of time, all the way to the first quarter of the last century, to reveal...the Origin of Stan Lee!"
• Frankie Lymon (1942–1968), lead singer of The Teenagers, best known for their hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"{{cite news|work=Smithsonian Magazine|title=Teen Idol Frankie Lymon's Tragic Rise and Fall Tells the Truth About 1950s America|access-date=February 10, 2021|date=January 2018|first=Jeff|last=MacGregor|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/teen-idol-frankie-lymon-tragic-rise-fall-tells-truth-1950s-america-180967506/}}{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Here's Who First Asked Rock's Big Question|access-date=|date=November 19, 1992|first=Richard|last=Perez-Pena|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/19/nyregion/here-s-who-first-asked-rock-s-big-question.html}}
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (born 1980), actor, and Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist, best known for writing and acting in the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton.{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/lin-manuel-miranda-ingenuity-awards-180957234/?no-ist|title=Meet Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Genius Behind "Hamilton," Broadway's Newest Hit|first=Jeff|last=MacGregor}}
• Theodore Edgar McCarrick (born 1930), Cardinal who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington (2001–2006).Dewan, Shaila K. [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/22/world/new-princes-church-washington-prelate-global-view-pastor-for-poor.html "New Princes Of The Church: The Washington Prelate; Global View Of a Pastor For the Poor"], The New York Times, January 22, 2001. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "Archbishop McCarrick grew up in Washington Heights, in Manhattan."
• Daniel D. McCracken (1930–2011), early computer pioneer and author.Swalec, Andrea. [https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20110801/washington-heights-inwood/washington-heights-computer-science-expert-dies "Washington Heights Computer Science Expert Dies"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601082749/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20110801/washington-heights-inwood/washington-heights-computer-science-expert-dies |date=June 1, 2016 }}, DNAinfo.com New York, August 1, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "Computer science expert, City College professor and Washington Heights resident Daniel McCracken died Saturday of cancer, his wife, Helen Blumenthal, said in a statement Monday."
• Knox Martin (born 1923), painter, sculptor and muralist.Staff. [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/newyorkstories/artstroll.html "Festival Brings Month of Performances Uptown"], Columbia University New York Stories, June 13, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "During this year's stroll, artist Knox Martin will be honored. Martin, born in Barranquilla, Colombia, has been a resident of Washington Heights for more than 75 years."
• Mims (born 1981), Jamaican-American rapper.Sanneh, Kelefa. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/arts/music/05jam.html?ref=music "In Search of New York at a Hip-Hop Summit"], The New York Times, June 5, 2007.Retrieved June 7, 2007. "Sometime around 6:30 the Washington Heights-raised rapper Mims ? better known as the 'This Is Why I'm Hot? guy' hit the stage to tell the crowd why he is hot. (It's related somehow to his flyness.)"
• Andy Mineo (born 1988), rapper, singer, producer, director, and minister signed to Reach Records.[http://reachrecords.com/artists/andy-mineo/ Andy Mineo], Reach Records. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "A Syracuse native, Mineo is now more known as the kid from Washington Heights, New York City who is selling out major performance venues all over America and across the pond in Europe."
• Karina Pasian (born 1991), recording R&B singer from Def Jam Records.Feeney, Michael J. [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/washington-heights-singer-karina-pasian-set-perform-love-song-city-9-11-anniversary-article-1.954831 "Washington Heights singer Karina Pasian set to perform love song to city for 9/11 anniversary"], New York Daily News, September 9, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
• Manny Pérez (born 1969), Dominican actor, appeared in Third Watch.{{Cite web|first=Patrick|last=Goldstein|date=2009-09-24|title=Worth all the effort|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-24-et-bigpicture24-story.html|access-date=2021-07-19|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|quote=When he was 11, his family moved to Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, where he still makes his home.}}
• Jim Powers (born 1958), retired professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1987 to 1994.Herzog, Kenny. [https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/dont-call-me-a-jobber-former-stallion-jim-powers-remains-forever-young-20150204 "Don't Call Me a Jobber: Former Stallion Jim Powers Remains Forever Young; Meet another of pro wrestling's preeminent "enhancement talents", a man who rode with Paul Roma (and was almost managed by Mr. T)"], Rolling Stone (magazine), February 4, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2017. "James Manley, a.k.a. former WWE/WCW mainstay Jim Powers, is the first to admit that when he makes plans, they usually don't happen.... Manley was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in 1958, and was raised there by his aunt, uncle and grandmother.'"
• Freddie Prinze (1954–1977), Hungarian-Puerto Rican stand-up comedian, best known for his 1970s TV series Chico and the Man co-starring Jack Albertson.[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/prinzefredd/prinzefredd.htm Biography of Freddie Prinze] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020815051952/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/prinzefredd/prinzefredd.htm |date=August 15, 2002 }}, Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
• Manny Ramírez (born 1972), Dominican-born baseball player from 1993 to 2011.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_8_60/ai_76133586 "Head of Production – Manny Ramírez, baseball player for the Red Sox – Statistical Data Included"], Baseball Digest, August 2001 by Gordon Edes. "For a Dominican kid who grew up in the non-trendy side of Manhattan—that upper end of the island known as Washington Heights—Manny Ramírez tends to have his name dropped in the same sentence as the game's biggest stars, past and present, and isn't out of place in their company."
• Kenny Rankin (1940–2009), musician, singer and songwriter.[http://www.kennyrankin.com/bio.html Rankin website bio] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001204164600/http://www.kennyrankin.com/bio.html |date=December 4, 2000 }}, Retrieved August 4, 2011. "Growing up in the multicultural hotbed of New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, he absorbed a broad array of musical influences, from AfroCuban to Top 40 to Jazz to Brazilian."
• Alex Rodriguez (born 1975), Dominican-American baseball player for the New York Yankees.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050308215313/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_6_34/ai_n6097754 "Alex Rodriguez: he arrived in New York to cries of both 'Hallelujah!' and 'Is he worth it?' but after his bumpy, bruised beginnings in the Bronx, baseball's heavy-hitting superstar has hit his stride"], Interview (magazine), July 2004. "The kid who was born in Washington Heights, New York City, and grew up in Miami had no doubts about handling the pressure in a town where movie stars are second-class citizens to top-tier ballplayers."
• Thane Rosenbaum (born 1960), writer and law professor[https://www.nydailynews.com/1998/06/27/filling-chapters-of-his-life/ "Filling Chapters of His Life"], New York Daily News, January 12, 2019. Accessed May 29, 2025. "His parents named him Thane because, well, he isn’t exactly sure why they named him Thane. You might think he’d have asked them how he got to be the only Thane in Washington Heights, but he never did."
• James R. Russell (born 1953), scholar and Harvard University professor.Russell, James R. [https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/10221/notes-of-a-rebel-professor "Notes of a Rebel Professor"], Middle East Forum, March 22, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2020. "Among the 'little Eichmanns' working at the WTC when "the chickens came home to roost" were men and women from my old neighborhood, Washington Heights: Dominican immigrants who worked as janitors, as cooks at Windows on the World."
• Merlin Santana (1976–2002), Dominican-American actor.Renata-Christine. [https://medium.com/@thewritingcasper/the-murder-of-a-former-television-child-star-merlin-santana-45b0ec89d6e7 ""] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217233325/https://medium.com/@thewritingcasper/the-murder-of-a-former-television-child-star-merlin-santana-45b0ec89d6e7 |date=December 17, 2019 }}, Medium (website), August 16, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019. "26-year-old Merlin Santana was born and raised in Washington Heights in which is located on the upper west side of New York City. The neighborhood in which he resided as a child was poverty-stricken and overrun with crime."
• Vin Scully (1927–2022), sportscaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers.Sandomir, Richard. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/sports/baseball/05scully.html "Daffy Days of Brooklyn Return for Vin Scully"], The New York Times, October 5, 2006. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "Scully's lyrical voice has belonged to Los Angeles for so long that only older fans can recall Scully's time with the Dodgers in Brooklyn from 1950 to 1957 after growing up in the Bronx and in Washington Heights. His last known address in New York was 869 West 180th Street; he took the subway to Ebbets Field during his first Dodgers season."
• William "Bill" Shea (1907–1991), lawyer, instrumental in the founding of the New York Mets and New York Islanders, namesake of Shea Stadium{{Cite web|url=https://www.hoyabasketball.com/players/w_shea.htm|title=Georgetown Basketball History Project|website=www.hoyabasketball.com}}
• Scott Stringer (born 1960), New York City Comptroller and Borough President of Manhattan.Cooper, Michael. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/nyregion/metrocampaigns/scott-stringer-wins-a-crowded-primary-and-a-likely.html "Scott Stringer Wins a Crowded Primary and a Likely Election as Borough President"], The New York Times, September 14, 2005. Retrieved January 29, 2020. "Mr. Stringer pledged last night to make the office meaningful, and to give Manhattan residents a bigger say in the planning of their borough. 'I'm going to work in every neighborhood, from Lower Manhattan to Harlem to Washington Heights, where I grew up,' he said in a telephone interview as he prepared to make a victory speech."
• Allen Swift (1924–2010), actor, writer and magician, best known as a voiceover artist who voiced characters Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon showGrimes, William. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/arts/28swift.html ""], The New York Times, April 27, 2010. Accessed December 28, 2023. "Mr. Swift was born on Jan. 16, 1924, in Washington Heights and grew up in Brooklyn."
• TAKI 183, New York City graffitist.Boland Jr., Ed. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/nyregion/fyi-113182.html "F.Y.I."], The New York Times, June 15, 2003. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "An article about TAKI 183, which appeared in The New York Times on July 21, 1971, revealed that he was a 17-year-old who lived on 183rd Street in Washington Heights."
• Tiny Tim (1932–1996), singer and ukulele player, a novelty act of the 1960s best known for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".Grimes, William. [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/02/arts/tiny-tim-singer-dies-at-64-flirted-chastely-with-fame.html "Tiny Tim, Singer, Dies at 64; Flirted, Chastely, With Fame"], The New York Times, December 2, 1996. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "Tiny Tim, whose real name was Herbert Khaury, was born in New York City and grew up in Washington Heights."
• Leslie Uggams, actress and singer best known for her appearances in Roots and Hallelujah, Baby!{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1977/08/26/from-singalong-to-roots-leslie-uggams-has-arrived/d8bed270-bc1e-4091-9fb5-50377293a91c/|title=From 'Singalong' to 'Roots,' Leslie Uggams Has Arrived|date=August 26, 1977|access-date=February 10, 2021|first=Jacqueline|last=Trescott|newspaper=The Washington Post}}
• George Weinberg (1929–2017), psychologist and author, who coined the term "homophobia" in 1965.Grimes, William. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/us/george-weinberg-dead-coined-homophobia.html "George Weinberg Dies at 87; Coined 'Homophobia' After Seeing Fear of Gays"], The New York Times, March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017. "George Henry Weinberg was born on May 17, 1929, in Manhattan, where he grew up in Washington Heights."
• Joel Westheimer, professor of citizenship education at the University of Ottawa
• Ruth Westheimer (1928–2024, born Karola Siegel; known as "Dr. Ruth") German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper.[http://www.grandtimes.com/private.html Dr. Ruth: The Private Parts]. Retrieved December 27, 2006. "Dr. Ruth and her husband, Fred Westheimer, still reside in the same three-bedroom apartment in Washington Heights where they raised their two children."
• Jerry Wexler (1917–2008), music producer who coined the term "Rhythm and blues".Kahn, Ashley. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080818092544/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/22595667/the_record_collector_jerry_wexler_dies_at_age_91 "Jerry Wexler: The Man Who Invented Rhythm & Blues: Aretha Franklin producer, Atlantic Records co-chief and music business pioneer dies at age 91"], Rolling Stone, August 15, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008. "He was born Gerald Wexler in 1917 to a working class family, and grew up during the Depression in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights."
• Guy Williams (1924–1989), Italian American actor.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180311054533/http://www.guywilliams.net/bio.htm A Brief Biography of Guy Williams]}}, The Guy Williams Webshrine. Retrieved April 30, 2016. "Guy was born Armando Catalano to Italian immigrant parents on 14 January 1924 in the Bronx, New York, USA. He grew up in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan."
• Rafael Yglesias (born 1954), novelist and screenwriter.[http://web.emerson.edu/brightlights/event/an-evening-with-screenwriternovelist-rafael-yglesias/ An Evening with Screenwriter/Novelist Rafael Yglesias] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507085523/http://web.emerson.edu/brightlights/event/an-evening-with-screenwriternovelist-rafael-yglesias/ |date=May 7, 2016 }}, Emerson College. Retrieved April 30, 2016. "Rafael Yglesias is an American novelist and screenwriter. He was born (May 12, 1954) and raised in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood."

{{Div col end}}

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• The musical In the Heights, which ran on Broadway from 2008 to 2011, is set in Washington Heights.Isherwood, Charles. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/theater/reviews/10heig.html "The View From Uptown: American Dreaming to a Latin Beat"], The New York Times, March 10, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2016. "Mr. Miranda, as the owner of a corner bodega who dispenses good cheer along with café con leche by the gallon, is not just the brightly glowing star of In the Heights. He also wrote all the ebullient songs for this panoramic portrait of a New York neighborhood – Washington Heights – filled with Spanish-speaking dreamers of American dreams, nervously eyeing their futures from a city block on the cusp of change." Its 2021 film adaptation was shot in many Washington Heights locations, including the 191st Street station tunnel.{{cite news|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/film-heights-shooting-heights/|title=The Film 'In the Heights' is Shooting ... in (Washington) Heights|date=July 23, 2019|first=Jennifer|last=Vanasco|access-date=April 14, 2020|work=WNYC}}
• The HBO series The Deuce chose Amsterdam Avenue between 164th and 166th Streets to recreate Times Square.{{cite web | last=Pichardo | first=Carolina | title=James Franco's HBO Series 'The Deuce' Films in Washington Heights | website=DNAinfo New York | date=November 4, 2015 | url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151104/washington-heights/james-francos-hbo-series-deuce-films-washington-heights | access-date=July 19, 2021 | archive-date=July 21, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721084929/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151104/washington-heights/james-francos-hbo-series-deuce-films-washington-heights/ | url-status=dead }}
• The 2002 film Washington Heights starring Manny Pérez is the story of a young man trying to escape the cultural barriers of Washington Heights to make it as an illustrator.Rivera, Zayda. [https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/manny-perez-takes-new-type-role-gay-love-strange-article-1.1903484 "Manny Perez takes on new type of role as gay cop in Love is Strange"], New York Daily News, August 14, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2020. "But Perez has made a name for himself in the indie Latino market, starring in such films as the Hector Lavoe biopic El Cantante and 2002's Washington Heights, in which he plays a frustrated artist trying to get out of the Upper Manhattan neighborhood with a large Dominican population."
• The 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom features students from PS 115 in Washington Heights.Armstrong, Lindsay. [https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150818/washington-heights/mad-hot-ballroom-screening-uptown-park-for-films-10th-anniversary/ "'Mad Hot Ballroom' Screening in Uptown Park for Film's 10th Anniversary"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118234317/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150818/washington-heights/mad-hot-ballroom-screening-uptown-park-for-films-10th-anniversary |date=November 18, 2017 }} DNAinfo.com, August 18, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2020. "The award-winning film follows a group of fifth-graders from three different public schools, including P.S. 115 in Washington Heights, as they learn to ballroom dance and compete in a citywide competition."
• The MTV series Washington Heights, which did not continue beyond 2013, is set in the neighborhood.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.com/shows/washington-heights/|access-date=February 7, 2021|title=Heights – MTV – Watch on CBS All Access|website=CBS}}
• The soap opera Ryan's Hope was set in Washington Heights and aired on ABC from 1975 to 1989.Lawless, Wendy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8k8JCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT98 Heart of Glass: A Memoir], p. 98. Simon & Schuster, 2016. {{ISBN|9781476749846}}. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "A few days later, I read for the producers of Ryan's Hope, an ABC daytime show about a large Catholic, Irish American family who run a bar and live in Washington Heights."
• Parts of the 2010 film Salt were filmed in the neighborhood, in particular at the 13-story Riviera, a 1910 Beaux-Arts style co-op on 157th Street and Riverside Drive.{{Rp|32}}Zanzoni, Carla. [https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20100721/washington-heights-inwood/angelina-jolie-film-salt-tells-new-yorkers-familiar-russian-spy-tale/video/27739 "Angelina Jolie's Film 'Salt' Also Stars Washington Heights"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610095953/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20100721/washington-heights-inwood/angelina-jolie-film-salt-tells-new-yorkers-familiar-russian-spy-tale/video/27739 |date=June 10, 2016 }}, DNAinfo.com, July 23, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2016. "Washington Heights – The neighborhood is now officially a Hollywood star. In anticipation of the opening of Angelina Jolie's spy flick "Salt" on Friday, Sony Pictures released outtakes of the superstar scaling the wall of the 12-story Riviera, a 1910 Beaux-Arts style co-op on 157th Street and Riverside."
• The 2008 film Pride and Glory centers on police corruption in a fictional precinct of Washington Heights.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/movies/24prid.html|access-date=February 7, 2021|date=October 23, 2008|first=A. O.|last=Scott|author-link=A. O. Scott|work=The New York Times|title=A Band of Loyal Brothers, Not All of Them Honorable}}
• The 1993 film The Saint of Fort Washington is not entirely geographically accurate, but is set in the neighborhood, with the Fort Washington Avenue Armory playing a large role in the plot.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/17/movies/review-film-saint-fort-washington-homeless-helpless-holy-one-kind-hell.html|first=Janet|last=Maslin|title=Review/Film: The Saint of Fort Washington; Homeless, Helpless and Holy, in One Kind of Hell|date=November 17, 1993|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 7, 2021}}
• The 1968 film Coogan's Bluff features a scene in which Clint Eastwood chases the criminal he is to bring back to Arizona through the Cloisters.Carter, Michael. [http://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/cloisters-in-popular-culture "The Cloisters in Popular Culture: 'Time in This Place Does Not Obey an Order'"], Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 22, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2016. "At the film's end, however, Coogan returns to the Museum, where the fugitive has (inexplicably) managed to find a safe hideout. The movie's climax consists of a prolonged motorcycle chase through the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park."
• The 2007 film The Brave One was filmed in some sections of Washington Heights; she and her boyfriend are attacked in a scene filmed in Fort Tryon Park, and the final scene with Terrence Howard was filmed on Elwood Street between Broadway and Nagle Avenue.[https://www.amc.com/talk/2012/03/story-notes-trivia-the-brave-one Story Notes for The Brave One], AMC. Retrieved April 14, 2020. "Some scenes in The Brave One were filmed on Ellwood Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan."
• The 2013 film Frances Ha ends with the main character moving to Washington Heights.{{cite web|url=https://untappedcities.com/2014/03/28/ahoy-sexy-nyc-film-locations-for-noah-baumbachs-frances-ha/|title="Ahoy Sexy!": NYC Film Locations for Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha – Untapped New York|access-date=April 14, 2020|date=March 28, 2014|first=Christopher|last=Inoa|website=untappedcities.com|quote=The film ends with Francis moving into a new apartment, located on 97 Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights.}}

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Citations

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• {{cite book|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/d4ad9470-1d76-0131-e005-58d385a7bbd0|title=Washington Heights, Manhattan: Its Eventful Past|first=Reginald Pelham|last=Bolton|year=1924|publisher=Dyckman Institute|author-link=Reginald Pelham Bolton}}
• {{cite book|last=Duany|first=Jorge|year=2008|edition=2nd|title=Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=dsi_pubs|publisher=CUNY Dominican Studies Institute}}
• {{cite book|title=City Trenches: Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-U3XAAAAQBAJ|year=1981|publisher=University of Chicago Press|first=Ira|last=Katznelson|isbn=9780307833402}}
• {{cite book|title=Frankfurt on the Hudson: The German-Jewish Community of Washington Heights, 1933-1983, Its Structure and Culture|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=1989|first=Steven M.|last=Lowenstein|isbn=9780814323854}}
• {{cite book|last=Renner|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OavdyyxSYcQC|title=Images of America: Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2007|isbn=9780738554785}}
• {{cite book|first=Robert W.|last=Snyder|title=Crossing Broadway: Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quqMBQAAQBAJ|isbn=9780801449611|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2015}}

{{Commons category|Washington Heights, Manhattan}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160624034751/http://www.nycgo.com/boroughs-neighborhoods/manhattan/washington-heights-inwood Washington Heights & Inwood - The Official Guide to New York City]
• [https://communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/manhattan/12 Manhattan Community District 12 Profile]
• [https://www.manhattantimesnews.com Manhattan Times News]

{{Washington Heights, Manhattan}}

{{Manhattan}}

{{Ethnicity in New York City|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Neighborhoods in Manhattan

Category:Dominican-American culture in New York (state)

Category:New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River

Category:German-American culture in New York City