A local family's guide to New York City: THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND LOWER HARLEM

Climb up to the eves of the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, eat with your hands, explore the campus of Columbia University, sample New York City's best bagels and soul food. Discover the history of Bebop and the Beat Generation.

Best time to visit: All year

Length of trip: Minimum 2 hours

Distance: Short
Subway Stop: Local Number1 train to 110th Street and Broadway then walk over to Amsterdam

Suitable for: All age groups

Nearby eating: See blog suggestions

Events: Check out the the Cathedral's events calendar - there's always something going on - some are spectacular. For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the doors are opened to start the ceremony of blessing pets that belong to over 3,500 people (usually sometime at the beginning of October). Animals in the procession have included cows elephants, camels, horses, boar constrictors, cockroaches and bulls. Also check out their crypt tour on Halloween and the screening of the silent movie Nosferatu made more dramatic by the accompaniment of the booming Cathedral organ. Concerts are on the calendar to celebrate the holidays. Check the calendar for tours and Sunday organ recitals - when the Cathedral brings in musicians from all over the world to play.

Last years posting for the Cathedral's halloween extravaganza gives you some idea of the evening:
The Cathedral’s annual Halloween celebration returns as we screen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), complete with live organ accompaniment by Timothy Brumfield! Following the film, the full stretch of the Cathedral's Nave is at the disposal of Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Theater Company’s fantastic creatures of the night. Visitors are encouraged to brace themselves for increased ghostly mischief and ghoulish tricks. Seats closest to the action are for the bravest at heart, who may find themselves directly confronted with the hooked nose of a demon, the mossy nails of a witch, or the bulging, flushed cheeks of a ghostly manchild.

Advance Planning: The Cathedral offers a few different tours : the Vertical Tour climbs 124 ft up to the top of the Cathedral

and there are also tours that cover hightlights and the gardens: reserve spots (tour info link).

Columbia University offers guided historical tours that require advance reservations (tour link)

otherwise there is a downloadable podcast self guided tour available online (link)

Carvings at the Cathedral

START:The Cathedral is located at 110^th Street and Amsterdam. On the Vertical Tour you will climb steps and pass through doorways to rise 124 feet up onto the roof of the cathedral and look down into the nave in true Hunchback of Notre Dame style.

It is one the 5 largest Gothic Cathedrals in the world-and seats 5,000. Construction started in 1892 and stopped with the outbreak of World War II when church leaders decided the community needed more support. This policy continued until 1982 when the construction program was resumed. It is now 2/3 complete and work continues on a small scale – a fire in 2001 re directed construction funds restoration. Work continues on the Cathedral. The central portal - the Portal of Paradise, was completed by British master carver Simon Verity who visited annually between 1988 and 1997 to complete his work. The figures are based on local people and friends of Mr. Verity. Younger family members will enjoy the Children’s Sculpture Garden nearby. Article about Verity's carvings featured in Citylore. There's a video tour of the carvings on the entryways to the Cathedral https://www.stjohndivine.org/visit/guided-visits/ - worth looking at to hear about how they were carved and why.

The Cathedral offers residencies to artist allowing carve out their own space and work in the Cathedral grounds. Past artists have included Judy Collins and Paul Winter as well as the high wire artist Philippe Petits who walked a tightrope strung 131 ft between the twin towers (1,350 ft above the ground lasting 50 minutes) of the World Trade Center in 1974 - this was an unauthorized walk and he was arrested immediately after. Petit during his work at the Cathedral in 1982 walked a rope 150 feet above the ground, crossing Amsterdam Avenue to the Cathedral.

Signage in the grounds of the Cathedral

An option for nearby lunch is V & T pizza on Amsterdam between 112th and 113th Street - the pizza is very popular, the restaurant has been around since 1945 and is a revered institution for Columbia alumni and students. Absolute Bagels a bakery and cafe at 108th and Broadway sells the best rated bagels in New York City. Massawa is an excellent Ethiopian restaurant on 121st and Amsterdam - food is eaten with hands - the experience was complete adventure for my 6 and 8 year old nephews. For dessert - Insomnia Cookies on Amsterdam between 110th and 111th streets or Levain Bakery between 116th and 117th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard (the very, very best cookies in my view). If you want to try out soul food make your way to Melba's at 114th and Frederick Douglas Boulevard. Tom's Restaurant at Broadway and 112th Street became famous when it was featured in Seinfeld as Monk's Cafe. It serves a diner menu and was a haunt of Columbia students.

Commencement at Columbia University

A walk through the campus of Columbia University will help blow off some steam - or sign up for the tour in the Advance Planning section above. Famous graduates include Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein, Alexander Hamilton, Alicia Keys, Joseph Campbell J.D. Salinger and Stanley Kubrik. Four US presidents graduated from the University - Barack Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Close by at 206 West 118th Street is Minton's Playhouse https://mintonsharlem.com/about-mintons/ where the Bebop started - a jazz movement that evolved as a reaction to the uniformity of the commercial Big Band of the World War 2. Bebop was about individuality and leaned towards spontaneity and free form. It is characterized by improvisation and harmonic complexity. At Minton's people came to listen rather than dance and it was home for the founders of Bebop- Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Max Roach. Other great jazz greats performer there including: Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Sara Vaughn.

Jimmy Heath below talking about Bebop some direct insights and a funny story:

Bebop was followed by the Beat movement which was incubated in New York City at Columbia University when Allen Ginsburg, Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Willliam S. Burroughs, John Clellon Holms and Herbert Hunke met as students. Below is a short interesting documentary placing the movements in context.

Evolution of Beat

Linking Bebop and Beat

Swing-a-Rings at 105th and Riverside

If you are walking down town - at 110th make a left on Broadway and walk until you reach Riverside Drive at 106th. Number 330 Riverside Drive. This was that mansion that was purchased by Robert Benson Davis the founder of Davis Baking Soda (which is still around today) in 1905. The house remained in the hands of the Davis family well into the 1950s. At the age of 78 Davis, in a case that became famous at the time, sued his much younger wife for imprisoning him and attempting to access his fortune by having him confined to an asylum. He escaped the building with the assistance of 2 nurses. There are many elaborate mansions along this route occupied during the first half of the 20th Century by famous names. Marion Davies (mistress of William Randolph Hearst) lived in number 331 with her mother, while Duke Ellington and his family lived in numbers 333 and 334 and Lothar Faber, of Eberhard Faber pencils lived in number 335.

A Short Film by the Parks Department about Riverside Park Rings

Make your way down to the Hudson River level. As you walk south you will come across what are known as the Swing-A-Rings at 105th Street - great for kids - it's a nice place to sit. During the summer there's table tennis and sometimes tight rope walking. Parents or adults on a nice summer evening can pick up drinks from a bar on the level above and relax as the sun goes down.

Extra listening: Jack Kerouac reciting