Hamilton Heights, Manhattan

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Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in Harlem in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded by 135th Street to the south, the Hudson River to the west, 155th Street to the north, and Saint Nicholas Avenue/Bradhurst Avenue to the east. The community derives its name from Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who lived in the area when it was still largely farmland. It is located within Manhattan Community Board 9.

Beautiful and spacious apartment buildings, magnificent brownstones and stately row houses prominently lining the leafy eastern streets of Hamilton Heights, an area traditionally home to a substantial black professional class. Today Hispanics and Latinos constitute a majority of the population followed by African Americans, peoples from the Spanish Antilles; the West Indies and remainders of earlier time's ethnic whites.

Gentrification between 2005 and March 2007 has drastically increased the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, LGBTQ, and Asian residents, and with gentrification, all the cultural, economic, personal, and ownership problems we know to expect. It is the home of the City College of New York (CCNY), Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Harlem School of the Arts, Aaron Davis Hall, the Trinity Church Cemetery, an amazing dollar store, Hamilton Palace (a department store), both intended for low income consumers, a Botanica, C Town, bodegas, hair salons and barber shops. The problem in the coming months and years is gathering enough small-business/resident support to enact legislation preventing the complete erasure of these groups of people.

The neighborhood offers several parks, including the very modern Riverbank State Park, around which Riverside Park winds its way to Washington Heights and the historic St. Nicholas Park.

Historic Hamilton Heights comprises the Hamilton Heights Historic District and the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District Extension, both designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The neighborhood is easily accessed via subway, the number 1 line stops at the 137th Street–City College and 145th Street stations. The famous A train on St. Nicholas Avenue provides service at145th Street. The C train services 135th Street, 145 Street and 155th street and Saint Nicholas Avenue.

The MTA buses M4 and M5 serve Broadway, M100 and M101 run on Amsterdam Avenue, M18 on Convent Avenue; M11 on 135th Street; Bx19 on 145th Street; Bx6 on 155th Street and the M3 on St. Nicholas Avenue.