The Upper West Side runs from 59th Street at Columbus Circle north to 110th Street, squeezed between Central Park to the east and Riverside Park and the Hudson River to the west. It is one of the most pleasant neighbourhoods in Manhattan to simply walk: the grid runs cleanly, the brownstones on the side streets are well maintained, and both parks are within easy reach. The residential character is emphatically middle-class and well-educated — academia, medicine and the arts — which expresses itself in the density of bookshops, independent grocers and coffee shops relative to chain retail. Zabar's on Broadway between 80th and 81st has been the neighbourhood's defining food shop since 1934, selling smoked fish, cheese, coffee and kitchen equipment to a loyal and opinionated clientele.
The two great cultural institutions are at opposite ends of the neighbourhood. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, at 62nd Street, is the home of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Ballet, among others; its plaza and reflecting pool were redesigned in 2010 and are worth seeing even outside a performance. The American Museum of Natural History at 79th Street and Central Park West fills four city blocks with fossil halls, a whale suspended in the Ocean Hall, and the Rose Center for Earth and Space with its glass-enclosed planetarium sphere. On weekend mornings the farmers' market at 77th Street and Columbus Avenue draws serious cooks from across the city.