Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Because the inhabited parts of town just north of 59th are the "Upper East Side" and the "Upper West Side".
Inwood and Wash Heights were not developed when those neighborhood terms were coined. So southern Harlem was really the uppermost section of the city, in turn making the east 60's "upper". No way is this uptown or anywhere near it.
I am not clear what your point is? When those neighborhoods were created they were the upper most reaches..that was 150 years ago...they are no longer the upper part of anything and not reflective of a geographic location. Unless you believe East New York is the furthest east portion of New York State? Or Brooklyn Heights is the highest part of Brooklyn? Hopefully you realize chinatown is actually not in china.
When I go to the UES I say that I'm going to the UES. When I go to the UWS I say I'm going to the UWS. When I go to Harlem, Washington Heights or Inwood, I say I'm going uptown.
Question on the South Bronx. What would be considered as the South Bronx? South of 95 and east of 895?
anywhere I can get to going on the uptown subway which depends on where I start
You've actually pinned it. Uptown/downton is a direction more than a location. Uptown actually refers to traveling in the direction of NYC's numbered streets as they increase and downtown is the opposite which includes most of the Bronx close to Manhattan. Growing up along the Concourse and Jerome Ave we referred to Manhattan as "downtown" whereas my friends in the east Bronx usually referred to Manhattan as the "city."
I've never heard anyone heading up to the Bronx to say that they're going Uptown, but apparently some people do. I guess I can see the case for it, but someone earlier mentioned even Yonkers. That seems to be pushing it.
Colloquial boundaries and designations are always an interesting topic as there is no official rule for most of them and it's just up to what the city as a whole agrees on.
This is visible in my neighborhood of Harlem when the topic of specific sub-neighborhoods and boundaries come up, like Morningside Heights. Some people consider Morningside Heights to be part of the UWS, while others consider it part of Harlem since it is North of 110th street.
Hell I live further up, in the 140's, but I've had people tell me until they're blue in the face that I don't live in Harlem since I'm on Riverside Drive, which somehow is not considered to be part of Harlem...
I've never heard anyone heading up to the Bronx to say that they're going Uptown, but apparently some people do. I guess I can see the case for it, but someone earlier mentioned even Yonkers. That seems to be pushing it.
Colloquial boundaries and designations are always an interesting topic as there is no official rule for most of them and it's just up to what the city as a whole agrees on.
This is visible in my neighborhood of Harlem when the topic of specific sub-neighborhoods and boundaries come up, like Morningside Heights. Some people consider Morningside Heights to be part of the UWS, while others consider it part of Harlem since it is North of 110th street.
Hell I live further up, in the 140's, but I've had people tell me until they're blue in the face that I don't live in Harlem since I'm on Riverside Drive, which somehow is not considered to be part of Harlem...
How long have you lived in NYC? Uptown is a direction for the numbered streets of the city's street grid which includes the Bronx whose street grid continues off of Manhattan.
The area just north of 59th street is clearly midtown...you would have to go north of 96th or 110 to be considered uptown. Considering Manhattan goes from less than 1st street through the 200s, how can anyone consider north of 59th street uptown? Silly. Like saying anything south of 59th street is simply "downtown"....makes no sense and equally as silly.
Obviously geographically that's the case. But culturally, most associate "midtown" with the Times Square/Rockefeller Center/Penn Station/Grand Central, ect, area, and it feels strange to lump the UES/UWS in with them. (Then again, the Financial District and the Village are both "Lower Manhattan" but they share very little in common).
I think the UES and UWS are just that, the UES and the UWS.
How long have you lived in NYC? Uptown is a direction for the numbered streets of the city's street grid which includes the Bronx whose street grid continues off of Manhattan.
Of course if you're referring to the literal direction that you're travelling, then yes you are heading "uptown." The same could be said if you were taking the R from City Hall to Canal Street. That doesn't make Canal Street a part of "uptown."
Then again, the Financial District and the Village are both "Lower Manhattan" but they share very little in common
I don't. To me Lower Manhattan is only the Financial District, City Hall and Battery Park City. And maybe the southern portion of TriBeCa.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
