Riverside Dr./West End Ave. Apartments

A neighborhood of old and new, Riverside Drive/West End Avenue, is largely bifurcated into two distinct swaths, with the area north of 70th Street featuring elegant pre-war apartment buildings and mansions, and the southern section, directly west of Lincoln Center, only recently developed with sleek modern towers built by the likes of Donald Trump and Extell.

In the northern area, Riverside Drive has long been a coveted destination for affluent New Yorkers drawn to the thoroughfare's expansive and picturesque Hudson River views, not to mention prime access to Riverside Park. Most notably, publishing titan William Randolph Hurst leased a 30-room triplex at the top of The Clarendon at 137 Riverside Drive and later bought the entire building. Likewise, West End Avenue, one block to the west, is also a well-established, exclusive residential street.

Unlike its more refined counterpart, the Riverside South area was the notorious slum setting in the iconic musical "West Side Story". Despite the development of Lincoln Center in the 1960s -- a massive renewal project -- the area was largely ignored until the early 90s, when Donald Trump purchased the derelict 77-acre Penn Central rail yards site with the goal of building a 16.5 million-square-foot development dubbed Television City. Later scaled down, the master plan, known as Trump Place or Riverside South, called for 5,700 apartments arranged in 16 buildings. Trump went on to build seven buildings before selling the remainder of the site to the Carlyle Group and Extell Development.

Starting in the late 90s, the first of the Riverside South buildings opened, including 200 Riverside Boulevard, a 46-story building designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson; 180 Riverside Boulevard, a 40-story rental building designed by Costas Kondylis & Associates; and 220 Riverside Boulevard, a 49-story condominium building and the tallest in the Trump Place development.

Extell Development's more recent contributions to the Riverside South site include The Rushmore, a 42-story, twin-towered condominium at 80 Riverside Drive; and Avery, a 32-story condominium at 100 Riverside Boulevard. A final wave of development will add One Riverside, the last of the Riverside South towers; and the two-block Riverside Center, which will feature five new residential towers and a new school.

For dining, area residents enjoy diverse offerings that span casual restaurants along Columbus, Amsterdam and Broadway, to lavish Columbus Circle -- area restaurants including, Asiate at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and Per Se and Masa at the Time Warner Center.