Ellington Circle amphitheater and Central Park North

Central Park North and Fifth

Lincoln Correctional Facility

Looking west along W110th from Broadway to Riverside Park

110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, it is also known as Cathedral Parkway.

110th Street is an eastbound street between First Avenue and Madison Avenue. The small portion between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue is westbound. West of Fifth Avenue, the road widens to accommodate two-way traffic.

A statue of Duke Ellington stands in Duke Ellington Circle, a shallow amphitheater at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the northeast corner of Central Park. Unveiled in 1997, the statue, by sculptor Robert Graham, is 25-feet tall, and depicts the Muses — nine nude caryatids — supporting a grand piano and Duke Ellington on their heads.^[1] Duke Ellington Circle is also the site of the future Museum for African Art.

The portion known as Central Park North is notable for its incongruities; the Lincoln Correctional Facility stands just a few blocks away from new luxury condo developments.

Where 110th Street crosses Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Avenue, at the northwest corner of Central Park, is Frederick Douglass Circle.

The south edge of Morningside Park lies along West 110th Street between Manhattan Avenue and Morningside Drive.^[2]

The south edge of the close of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine is located along West 110th Street, known along this stretch as Cathedral Parkway, between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue. The street comes to a close at Riverside Drive before Riverside Park.

Famous residents

George Gershwin lived in the apartment building on the northwest corner of 110th and Amsterdam Ave., where he composed his seminal piece, Rhapsody in Blue.

Transportation connections

The elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line used to reach a great height at its 110th Street station and, according to Douglas (2004), was a popular site for suicide jumpers. In 1927, The New York Times reported that:

"the number of suicides from the 110th Street Station of the Sixth Avenue elevated is ruining the business of the merchants with shops below, according to [the merchants].... According to [a spokesperson] there were eleven suicides from that station in the past year, and the effect has been such that potential customers prefer to walk a little farther rather than risk seeing a person hurtle from above."

Today, there are four New York City Subway stations at 110th Street:

• Cathedral Parkway?110th Street (), at Broadway
• Cathedral Parkway?110th Street (), at Central Park West
• Central Park North?110th Street (), at Lenox Avenue
• 110th Street (), at Lexington Avenue

110th Street is served by the M2, M3, and M4 NYCT Buses.

Popular culture

Like 96th Street, 110th is seen to symbolically divide New York City by wealth, class and race.

• The street is also known from the Bobby Womack song Across 110th Street and from the 1972 movie of the same title (starring Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn). The song also was used later in the 1997 film Jackie Brown and the 2007 film American Gangster.
• The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band released a highly regarded jazz album in 1969 entitled Central Park North.
• In the film Die Hard with a Vengeance the African-American character Zeus Carver tells John McClane not to bother him with the antics of terrorist criminal Simon Gruber unless he crosses 110th Street.

References

Sources

• Douglas, George H. (2004): Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America. McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-2030-8. (110th St station popular for suicides: p. 170).
• "Merchants Complain Suicides Hurt Business; Seek Way to Guard 110th St. Elevated Station," January 31, 1927, p. 19

External links

• 501 West 110 Street Tenants Association
• Duke Ellington Statue: http://www.magazineusa.com/cityguide/ny_nyc/ma_centralpark_statues.asp, http://www.kreysler.com/projects/ellington/duke.htm

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