Streetscapes

For Lincoln Center’sWest Side, A New Story

By Mia Jackson

Jun. 13, 2024

You probably know Lincoln Center from this view — its distinctive Revson Fountain is a touchstone for many New Yorkers and the star of many memorable film and TV scenes.

Travelview/Shutterstock

But you might not be familiar with the other side where there is a wall facing the Amsterdam Houses, a public housing complex, and the Phipps Houses, one of the last remnants of San Juan Hill.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

San Juan Hill was a working-class neighborhood.

224 West 64 Street.

Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives

And a thriving arts hub. The pianist and composer James P. Johnson was inspired by transplants from Charleston, S.C., when he was playing at the Jungles, a happening spot inside a dance school. “The Charleston” was born.

“You had to get a special license to have a dance hall. But it was virtually impossible for African Americans to get a license to run a dance hall so they had a dance school and in it was the Jungles,” said Julia Foulkes, a professor of history at the New School.