Continuing with this summer’s theme of exploration, I have a billion pictures to share today.

While they’re doing a lot of field trips, Art Child’s summer class has a home base uptown.  This is another neighborhood that has kept much of its unique feel, residents more vested in preservation and restoration than demolition and shiny new high-rises.  Depending on which person you speak with, or the current real estate market, the area might be called Harlem, or more accurately, Hamilton Heights.  It also contains the sub neighborhood of Sugar Hill (remember the Sugar Hill gang?  Yup, named for this area.  Nope, they were from Englewood, NJ).

In this little area, as you walk around it feels removed from the city, more like the outer reaches of the outer boroughs than northern Manhattan.

In any case, this area contains Alexander Hamilton’s home, open to the public as a museum, and, in my opinion, some of the most stunning architecture and brownstones in the borough.

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And more, no particular order

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On the way home.  The architecture changes as you go through the different neighborhoods, but all within a thirty block radius on the west side.

Last but not least,