Columbus Avenue & West 79th Street

Columbus Avenue and West 79th Street meet at a three-way junction in Upper West Side (Central), Manhattan. The corner lies inside the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. Between 2021 and 2025, five police-reported crashes were recorded here, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner. The Orleans stands 210 feet away, and the sculpture “The New York Times Capsule” is 270 feet away. The nearest subway, 81 St-Museum of Natural History, is about five minutes on foot, for the B and C. Within a five-minute walk are 20 public places and 70 places to eat.

Safety record
6 hurt
5 police-reported crashes, 2021–2025
Nearest subway
81 St-Museum of Natural History
0.3 miles · 5 min on foot · B, C
Nearest bus stop
350 feet
Columbus Av/W 80 St · M7, M11, M79 SBS
Within a walk
20 places
5 schools, 4 religious buildings and 8 more kinds, within five minutes

Map

Layers
Columbus Avenue & West 79th Street Nearby corners, linked

Getting there

How walks are measured

Subway

The nearest subway station is 81 St-Museum of Natural History, 0.3 miles from this corner, about five minutes on foot.

  • 2 lines at the nearest station
  • 3 lines within a ten-minute walk
  1. 81 St-Museum of Natural History B, C
    0.3 miles
    B C

Next trains at this station

Uptown
2 lines
  1. B …
  2. C …
Downtown
2 lines
  1. B …
  2. C …

Also within a walk

  1. 79 St 1
    0.3 miles
    1

The MTA's permanent art catalog lists “For Want of a Nail” (2000) by MTA Arts & Design Collaborative at the 81 St-Museum of Natural History station.

Bus

The nearest bus stop is Columbus Av/W 80 St, 350 feet away, for the M7, M11 and M79 SBS.

  • 9 routes within a ten-minute walk
  1. Columbus Av/W 80 St M7, M11, M79 SBS · Shelter
    350 feet
    M7 M11 M79 SBS
    Shelter

Next buses at this stop

  1. M7 …
  2. M11 …
  3. M79 SBS …

Live arrivals

Cycling

A bike lane separated from traffic runs on Columbus Avenue.

  • 29 bicycle racks within 820 feet, 2 of them on-street corrals
  • 1 more bike-share station within a five-minute walk

Nearest bike-share station

  1. W 76 St & Columbus Ave 51 docks in all
    950 feet

By car

The nearest highway entrance is the ramp to the Henry Hudson Parkway northbound at Riverside Drive & West 79th Street, 0.4 miles by car along the streets.

  1. 303 West 96th Street Gas station
    1.3 miles
  2. 160 West 84th Street Charging for electric cars, two Level 2 chargers
    0.4 miles
  3. 401-471 West 42nd Street Fast charging for electric cars
    1.9 miles

Safety record

How crashes are counted

Between 2021 and 2025, police reported five crashes at this corner, fewer than the median of ten crashes for a Manhattan corner.

  • 6 people injured
  • 0 people killed

The most recent crash recorded here was in August 2024.

What the city has done here

  • Leading pedestrian interval, December 2005

About this corner

Where facts come from
ZIP code
10024
Community board
Manhattan Community Board 7
City Council district
6
Police precinct
20
Neighborhood (City Planning area)
Upper West Side (Central)
Elevation
84 feet above sea level

The streets

  • Up to four travel lanes
  • A designated truck route
  • One of the streets is one-way

Homes

About 4,000 homes stand within 820 feet of this corner, most of them in buildings of ten homes or more. The buildings holding them mostly went up between 1892 and 1926.

Trees

NYC Parks records 98 trees within 330 feet; the most common is the London planetree.

Parking on the streets meeting here

How signs are read
  • 34 signs on these blocks
  • 10 different rules
  • 4 active meters
  • 2 pay-by-cell zones

The sign wording is DOT's, as recorded between May 2017 and August 2025, and the sign on the street decides.

Meters are posted as 1 hour commercial vehicles Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm, 3 hour passenger vehicles Monday to Friday 4pm to 10pm, Saturday 7am to 10pm on Columbus Avenue (east side).

West side of Columbus Avenue

  • Metered, commercial vehicles only 4 signs 1 HOUR METERED PARKING COMMERCIAL VEHICLES ONLY MONDAY-FRIDAY 8AM-4PM
  • Metered parking 4 signs 3 HOUR METERED PARKING MONDAY-FRIDAY 4PM-10PM SATURDAY 8AM-10PM
  • Farmers market 2 signs FARMERS MARKET ONLY SUNDAY 6AM-6PM
  • No parking 4 signs NO PARKING 7AM-8AM EXCEPT SUNDAY
  • No standing 1 sign NO STANDING ANYTIME

North side of West 79th Street

  • No parking 7 signs NO PARKING MONDAY THURSDAY 11AM-12:30PM
  • No standing 1 sign NO STANDING ANYTIME

South side of West 79th Street

  • No parking 1 sign NO PARKING ANYTIME
  • No parking 8 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY FRIDAY 11AM-12:30PM
  • No standing 2 signs NO STANDING SCHOOL DAYS 7AM-4PM

ParkNYC pay-by-cell zones: 110139 and 110707.

Landmarks, monuments and public art

How landmarks are placed

Landmarks and historic districts

The corner stands in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District.

Within 820 feet, 259 buildings are designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, recorded most often as Renaissance Revival, and mostly built between 1887 and 1896.

  1. The Orleans Designated landmark
    210 feet
  2. Hotel Colonial Designated landmark
    610 feet
  3. Hotel Park Plaza Designated landmark
    650 feet

Monuments and public art

The City's public art inventory lists two works near this corner, the nearest in Theodore Roosevelt Park.

  1. Nobel Monument Stele by Sivert Lindblom and A. Lindberg, 2003
    220 feet
  2. The New York Times Capsule Sculpture by Santiago Calatrava, 2000
    270 feet

Schools, parks and places within a walk

How places are listed

Twenty public places are within a five-minute walk.

  • 5 schools
  • 4 religious buildings
  • 3 listed historic places
  • 2 day care or pre-K sites
  • 1 museum
  • 5 other places

Schools and child care

  1. The Brownstone School and Day Care Center Preschool, ages 2 to 5
    620 feet
  2. P.S. 087 William Sherman School
    960 feet
  3. M.S. M245 the Computer School
    1,030 feet
Show all 7
  1. M.S. M247 Dual Language Middle School
    1,030 feet
  2. The Anderson School
    1,030 feet
  3. Gan Aliya School
    1,160 feet
  4. Happy Kids, NY Preschool, ages 2 to 5
    1,310 feet

Parks, playgrounds and gardens

  1. Tecumseh Playground
    1,130 feet

Plazas and public spaces

  1. Public space at Gloucester Public space
    1,150 feet

Libraries, museums and history

  1. Mt. Neboh Synagogue (Demolished) Listed historic place
    490 feet
  2. American Museum of Natural History Museum · landmark · listed historic place
    620 feet
  3. Studio Apartments Listed historic place
    770 feet
Show all 4
  1. West 76th Street Historic District Listed historic place
    1,210 feet

Houses of worship

  1. West Side Institutional Synagogue House of worship
    970 feet
  2. St Vladimir Ukranian Orthodox Church House of worship
    1,310 feet

Community centers and public services

  1. Older adult center at 120 West 76th Street Older adult center
    1,160 feet
  2. Planetarium Post Office
    1,310 feet

Fire and police

  1. 20th Precinct Police station
    990 feet

Bank branches

  1. Citibank Bank branch
    620 feet

Supermarkets

  1. Gristedes Supermarket
    0.3 miles
  2. Pioneer Supermarkets Supermarket
    0.3 miles
  3. Zabar's Supermarket
    0.4 miles

Pharmacies

  1. Duane Reade Pharmacy
    1,120 feet
  2. CVS Pharmacy
    0.4 miles

Food stores and places to eat

Within a five-minute walk there are 70 places to eat and seven food stores.

Nearby corners

The eight nearest corners on foot, six of them within a three-minute walk:

See every intersection along Columbus Avenue or West 79th Street.

Sources: NYC Technology and Innovation, NYPD, NYC DOT, MTA, NYC City Planning, New York City's bike-share system, NYS Environmental Conservation, US Department of Energy, Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Public Design Commission, NYC Parks, NYC Health, FDIC, NYS Agriculture and Markets and USDA, retrieved September 18 – October 6, 2026.