<p>Visiting Columbia next week with D, we'll do info session and tour. (This is VERY preliminary, she's a rising junior, we're just starting the "get familiar with different schools" visits.) </p>
<p>We'll have a couple of hours to spend in addition to the scheduled stuff. We're familiar with NYC but not Morninside Heights area. Any suggestions for neighborhood exploration, bookstores, lunch spots?</p>
<p>Hi there orchestramom, if you and your daughter knows fairly little about the campus and its surroundings, here's a couple of places of interest that you might want to check out to get a sense of campus life, or at least my version =).</p>
<p>Around campus there are decent eateries but not spectacular. Tom's (Seinfeld's Restaurant) is just 2 blocks away from campus in the downtown direction on Broadway, like I said, decent diner-like food. Then there's the greasy Koronet's, with their oversized pizza slices half a block away from Tom's. The REAL restaurants just within the vicinity of Columbia tends be expensive for some, but they usually sport an atmosphere you can't get from fast food places. Where to eat shouldn't be a big concern. I would recommend CAFE SWISH (right across the street from Columbia) or Tom's. But that's just my opinion.</p>
<p>Going uptown in Morningside Heights (116th Street and up) can get a bit "shady" if you go too far up. But there's a great amount of early architectural designs that are not found in many places in NY (my friend took an architecture class and they took a trip uptown to see them).</p>
<p>The campus bookstore is...a bookstore. A Barnes & Noble integrated in Columbia's own merchandise of shirts and mugs and other life-essential items, haha. Might want to grab a Columbia t-shirt though while you are at it if you feel like it.</p>
<p>In terms of neighborhood exploration, Columbia the university itself should be enough for you to explore. But most students on campus EXPLORE downtown, at least that's the feel I got.</p>
<p>I'd say eat at the John Jay dining hall (assuming it is open during the summer)? Do it not because the food is good (which it isn't), but to experience what life at Columbia will really be like. If it isn't open, try one of the other on-campus lunch spots. Try to talk to students while you're there, observe, etc.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what the value of having lunch at a place like Tom's (which is notoriously horrible, even for diner food) would be, in terms of exploring Columbia.</p>
<p>As for how to use your time, talk to students, walk around, etc. See what it is really like beyond the spin/propaganda of the tour.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The REAL restaurants just within the vicinity of Columbia tends be expensive for some,
[/quote]
</p>
<p>They're not expensive... just bad. The prices at the more expensive Morningside restaurants are relatively cheap for Manhattan, but universally serve bad food in a town that is known for it's great restaurants. Other than Tom's, which is a tourist-trap-extraordinaire, and Koronet's Pizza, there's not a single restaurant in Morningside that attracts people who don't live/work in Morningside. Pretty much no other part of town has so many bad restaurants and so few good restaurants. It's amazing.</p>
<p>HAHA, like I said, they are not spectacular. But the milkshake at Tom's is pretty damn good.</p>
<p>Being a 2002 grad you probably got so tired of the food already. If you want to get food on campus during the summer, I'm pretty sure the dining hall isn't open because the logistics just wouldn't be worth it. However, other ON CAMPUS places such as Ferris Booth Commons should be open.</p>
<p>And besides, the lady said that "We're familiar with NYC but not Morninside Heights area. Any suggestions for neighborhood exploration, bookstores, lunch spots?" So I gave her Tom's =).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm pretty sure the dining hall isn't open because the logistics just wouldn't be worth it. However, other ON CAMPUS places such as Ferris Booth Commons should be open.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, they should definitely go to one of the on-campus lunch spots. What else is open besides Ferris Booth? Wien? Uris?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Being a 2002 grad you probably got so tired of the food already.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I tried to avoid eating out in Morningside when I was there. The stuff there is fine for take-out, but nothing there's a good dining experience.</p>
<p>It sounds as if you want to do some people watching, rather than look for great cuisine.</p>
<p>I'd suggest walking the few blocks around the campus, both Broadway sides and Amsterdam Ave sides, to see the neighborhood hangouts. (If you walk down 114th street between Broadway and Amsterdam, you will also see fraternity row which is made up of university-owned brownstones.) On Amsterdam, Hungarian Pastry Shop is one study haunt. There are a couple of lunch spots on Amsterdam -- I remember one with outside seating and couches inside where a lot of grad students hung out when we were there. There's an Ethiopian restaurant and, I think, an Italian one. (In terms of landmarks, St. John the Divine is worth poking your head into)</p>
<p>On the Broadway side, besides Toms and Cafe Swish, there is the West End which used to be a first year hangout (bar), but is now a Cuban restaurant. Still, it has a lot of history as a place the Beats frequented.
It's also worth walking a few blocks up Broadway to see the various dorms, since first year dorms are right on campus, but after that there is a whole variety of university-owned housing.</p>
<p>We like to eat lunch at a sidewalk table at LeMonde when we visit our son. The food is ok, but mostly it's just a great place from which to relax and watch the comings and goings of the neighborhood. There is also a jazz club called Smoke which now serves food, but can't vouch for the food, only the music.</p>
<p>Don't know what's open during the summer, but there are places to eat in the student union, including a deli on the ground floor. Also, the tour won't take you into dorms, but you might want to see if you can buttonhole a student and ask if you could see a room or a lounge area.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>thanks to everyone for your suggestions. we do plan to just wander around the campus soaking up the atmosphere, but realize that the summer scene will not give us the full flavor. eating on campus is a great idea if we can find something open! </p>
<p>sac -- you understood my question exactly -- people watching, getting a flavor, etc. what is your son studying?</p>
<p>Econ, math, and physics, but he's also somewhat involved in music (an interest of yours, judging from your screen name.) Please feel free to PM me if you have unanswered questions from your visit.</p>
<p>John Jay is open during the summer but it only serves the students who are in special HS programs on campus. During the summer John Jay is especially terrible and will probably not let you dine there (i did since i am a dining staff member). On campus the only spots that are open for business are Cafe 212 and Uris. They both close around 3pm I think and neither are a good place for people watching during the summer since there arent that many people around and the ones who are there arent representative of columbia students since they usually arent.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Going uptown in Morningside Heights (116th Street and up) can get a bit "shady" if you go too far up.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Morningside does not "get shady" above 116th street!! Especially considering that columbia's main campus stretches to 120th street and then you have teacher's college, JTS and Manhattan School of Music past 120th. The only part that's "shady" is above 125th street. Other than that the neighborhood is pretty safe and even the "shady" parts are relatively safe.</p>
<p>If the weather is nice, you might want to just go to Hamilton's Deli (116th and Amsterdam), get a sandwich, and each on the steps on campus. The deli gets pretty busy and crazy around lunchtime, but the guys who work there are very fast, and the food is good.</p>
<p>"Morningside does not 'get shady' above 116th street!! Especially considering that columbia's main campus stretches to 120th street and then you have teacher's college, JTS and Manhattan School of Music past 120th. The only part that's 'shady' is above 125th street. Other than that the neighborhood is pretty safe and even the 'shady' parts are relatively safe."</p>
<p>Haha, I know, just giving the lady a heads up in case she wanders up too far at night, no exaggeration meant =).</p>