"Once known as the Bloomingdale Tract for the verdant farm that occupied the area after the Civil War, Manhattan Valley has undergone a series of transformations, none as remarkable as the one in progress right now. The neighborhood, which runs from Broadway to Central Park West and from 96th to 110th , has been recently renamed and reclaimed. Known as “Shanty Town” at the turn of the century for the Irish who came to escape the crowded conditions on the Lower East Side, Manhattan Valley has seen its share of crime and grime. Drug-riddled and rat-infested through most of the 1950s and 60s, it was ignored by developers over the next two decades as the Upper West Side became increasingly gentrified. While the real estate boom hit the land of families and dogs, this hodgepodge of once stately apartment buildings (facing Central Park,) giant housing projects (on Columbus and Amsterdam) and anonymous commercial properties (on Broadway) -- aptly called “the overlooked stepchild of the UWS,” by New York magazine -- held very little appeal for the types who were snapping up rentals and co-ops below 96th or closer to Columbia. That all began to change when the twin towers of the Ariel Apartments took root on Broadway in 2005. Urban Outfitters, Brooklyn Industries and a better crop of nail salons, health food stores and mom-and-pop restaurants, like Indus Valley and the Mama Mexico opened their doors, breathing new life onto dowdy Broadway. Then, in 2011 the five glass buildings comprising Columbus Square went up, despite the efforts of community members to staunch the spread of suburban-style mall stores. The complex offered over 700 new rental units, two schools, a Whole Foods Super Market and many other big box stores. It also brought scads of young professionals (with and without families) to the neighborhood, which is served by the IRT (1, 2,3), IND (A) Line and the M104 which runs from 129th Street in Harlem to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Long-time residents call it one of New York’s best kept secrets and point to the splendid 19th century townhouses that line the side streets west of Broadway, the tree-lined boulevards and idyllic Straus Park with its lovely fountain and tribute to the couple who went down with the titanic." By: Fern Flamberg