By Robert Beck
There is so much to know about the Upper West Side. Are you aware that the point from which official highway distances to and from New York are measured is Columbus Circle? When they say it’s 2018 miles from Billings, Montana, to New York City, they mean to where the Italian explorer stands on his anchor-studded column at 59th and Broadway. It’s what people who calculate these things call the zero-mile point.
Google, however, uses City Hall for its measurements. If our California tech friends had bothered to ask rather than arbitrarily deciding the matter for themselves, we Upper West Siders would have gladly let them know where to find the center of New York City. The world, even.
As it is, Google offers two distances from their location in Menlo Park, CA, to City Hall: driving (2,950 mi) and flying (2,567 mi), although it’s unclear how they expect to land on Chambers Street. There are a few bugs to work out.
Installed in 1892, the statue of Columbus was already comfortably in place when it was decided to put all that subway stuff, such as the station and the 1-2-3 and A-B-C tracks, right beneath it. They stabilized the 76-foot stone structure using wooden stilts, then worked around it. I find that amazing.
The circle weathered many redesigns over the years, pulled by the fortunes of the neighborhood and experiments in traffic control. With six spokes plus a park entrance, it was considered the worst intersection in the city. For a time, it was also the place where people came to speak their minds, along the lines of what was going on at Union Square. Preachers, activists, oddballs, and a two-way circular traffic pattern contributed to a rambunctious environment.
The southern wedge of land between Eighth and Broadway is one of my favorite places on the UWS. There you find the quirky but unequaled Museum of Art and Design (MAD), which includes a small-but-mighty Museum Store on the first floor, itself one of the best in the city, plus one of my favorite restaurants: Robert. No relation.
When the elevator door opens at the ninth floor, your eyes are pulled across the room to windows that reveal a sublime view of the Upper West Side. The deuces and four-tops along that wall look out over the circle and the continuous city churn. Down to your left, a yellow rope of cabs leads to the Deutsche Bank Center. You can see straight up Broadway and Central Park West, with their nighttime trains of headlights and taillights. To the right are unbroken sightlines across Central Park to the East Side (boo), up to the Met (yay!), and on a clear evening to Harlem (alright!).
I think the food at Robert is as good as the view. The presentation and service are excellent. All together, it makes for a truly memorable experience. Not just for anniversaries, birthdays, and high-octane date nights, but when friends come to town. It’s where we take somebody when we want them to feel like they are the center of things.
See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio at www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!
Listen to an interview with Robert Beck on Rag Radio — Here.
Note: Before Robert Beck started West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. See Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.
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…land in Chambers Street.
Columbus Circle does feel like the center of the world!
My last birthday was celebrated at Robert. It’s everything you say it is. Some of the views are fascinatingly disorienting because they are skewed from the NYC grid. Hint: if you enjoy conversing with your table mates, ask for a table in the rear, as far as possible from the live music.
Spectacular view. that is reminiscent of the experience of dining at Nirvana.
I miss Nirvana! Best Indian restaurant ever.
Love fun facts about NYC. How about who is the biggest land owner in the city? OR that the Dakota was not named after North Dakota? HA!
Your essay was great to read as always…and I agree that the restaurant is wonderful.
So nice to sit up high and look out at our great park. If I look hard up CPW I might even see YOU on the way to your studio. So keep up the good work “old man”! LOL!
Your Biggest Fan!
Google is just dead wrong.
You nailed it, Robert. Not only the painting but the description. Never been there in the evening but many a celebrations at lunch time with a table but the windows. Stopping at the MAD Museum can always leave the wallet a little lighter.
Fun Fact
Actually…. The reason the “zero-mile” was moved there (typically in many cities it is the front steps of city hall) was for labor unions. In the film industry, there is a 25 mile film zone which determine travel benefits and union pay to its members. If the zone was measured from city hall, the union film zone would be about 6 miles less upstate that it is. (there is less work to the south — in the ocean, than there is upstate).
This is also true for NYC government employees who have a 75 mile radios zone for “long distance travel.”
Also, per UN restrictions, certain C-2 visa holders and delegations are restricted to travel in a 25 miles zone from NYC. By measuring it from Columbus Circle, these visa holders have an addition buffer zone of six miles from which they can travel. (They can live and travel to Westchester)
And… that why the tappan zee bridge is where it is
I had heard that Columbus Circle was the first traffic circle EVER. (1905) with UK only a bit later (1909 – Letchworth Gardens). Anybody have any really accurate knowledge on this?