Neighborhood · January 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Why the Upper West Side (For an Intern)
A case for choosing the UWS over other New York neighborhoods if you are spending a summer or semester interning in the city.
The Upper West Side is not the loudest argument for where to live as a summer intern in New York. That usually goes to the East Village, or Williamsburg, or some new corner of Brooklyn. But if you spend a summer here, you tend to end up making the case yourself.
The commute
The UWS is on the 1 and the B/C. For finance, consulting, and law interns, that is a fifteen-to-twenty-minute ride to most downtown towers. For Midtown interns — media, fashion, advertising — it is ten minutes. Few New York neighborhoods are closer to where the work actually is.
The block
West 85th Street is not a party block. It is a quiet, tree-shaded residential block between Amsterdam and Broadway — limestone fronts, stoops, the occasional restored cornice. When you come home after a twelve-hour day, the block does some of the work for you.
The park
Central Park is two blocks away. Riverside Park is two blocks the other way. There are very few apartments in Manhattan that are less than five minutes from a major park in both directions. This building is one of them.
The summer, honestly
The real argument for the UWS in summer is quiet. Midtown is loud. The Village is loud. Williamsburg is loud. The UWS is a neighborhood, and you sleep on it.