Literary But Not Solitary
the best places to bury your head in a book
Congratulations, you’re officially a Columbia first-year! Now go sit in a corner and read by yourself. That may not be exactly what’s written at the top of your Core class’s syllabus, but The Eye remembers that’s often what it felt like. There are ways, however, to do a respectable portion of your homework and still get to meet people, explore campus, and live that bohemian, intellectual lifestyle you dreamt about before you actually got here—coffeeshops, pipe smoke, tweed, etc.—and the following is a guide to the best places you can go to play the bookworm without feeling like one.
Cafés
Let’s start with the obvious: Morningside Heights boasts not one, but two Starbucks, with the perks of air-conditioning and a reliable array of snacks—the latter of which comes complete with sometimes-disturbing calorie counts provided. And while the 114th Street location has been known to offer samples of its breakfast sandwiches to early birds, by 8 a.m. there’s usually a sizable line of anxiety-inducingly perky Columbia students out the door. While its four window bar stools are an excellent place for people-watching, if you want to fit in some actual reading, a better balance can be found at the roomier Starbucks on 110th Street, which has an additional seating nook in the back that not as many people seem to know about. If you’re really serious about your book, the Underground Lounge on 107th Street, which poses as a bar and escapes the notice of daytime crowds, opens early every weekday and serves good coffee with a dash of free Wi-Fi to boot. Since it is also, after all, a bar, the atmosphere inside can seem a bit gloomy in the light of day, but the chance to say you “discovered it” is worth it. Of course, the true bohemian can visit The Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam and 110th Street, a crowded Columbia tradition that offers unlimited coffee refills and superb poppy-seed hamentashen, plus classic bonus reading material scrawled all over the walls of the bathroom that you can enjoy during study breaks. For the perfect combination of atmosphere and solitude, however, one need look no further than Max Caffé at Amsterdam and 123rd Street. Max combines a bohemian-yet-comfy décor with great coffee, delicious huevos rancheros, a waitstaff that lets you linger, and a nice-sized crowd that provides white noise without interfering with your work—little wonder so many upperclassmen swear by it.
Peaceful Escapes
When you get nostalgic for home back in the ’burbs or find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed by Columbia (it’s OK—it happens to everyone), take a short walk to the quiet park benches and swing sets overlooking Riverside Park on 117th Street. Alternatively, venture east to the crazy fountain at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the adjacent gardens, where you can lose yourself among the windy, fragrant little paths. Dare to go farther, and you’ll reach Manhattan’s true gem—Central Park’s Conservatory Garden at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. Its distance from campus makes it a closely kept treasure, one of the few places on the island where you can actually feel completely alone. The spare people you may run into there are “real” New Yorkers—not the ever-present student body.
Campus Locations—Indoors
Few words can pay due homage to Butler Library, a building that will inevitably define your Columbia experience in ways that are both triumphant and, sometimes, a little depressing. At the end of your four years, you will have found the reading room that is your soul-mate, but that’s a personal journey and we wouldn’t feel right advising you about it. In the meantime, Barnard’s Java City Café is an ideal locale for early-risers and night owls, its noise level counterbalanced by convenient snacks and the opportunity to catch up with friends. For more variety, Lerner Hall offers multiple lounges and computer labs for reading and interaction, although the Piano Lounge, with its impromptu concertos, should be avoided. Avery Hall boasts a two-storied library, with a beautiful top floor that looks prestigious enough to make tuition seem worth it, and a bizarrely incongruent but delightful lower level that evokes your hometown library, especially if it was built in the 1970s. Hook a left at the circulation desk at the bottom of the stairs and you can also hang out in the Wallach Art Gallery when you get bored. Also in the Avery basement, Brownie’s Café is a prime spot to watch wiry, stylish graduate students with nicer shoes than yours converse in multiple languages. It’s noisy, but it offers delicious cash-only food and drink options and considerable space. For complete solitude, which is especially key during reading week, the Geology Library in Schermerhorn is Columbia’s best-kept secret—small but incredibly swanky, with dark mahogany bookshelves and leather armchairs. The floor design alone can mesmerize you for hours, and its innocuous location frees it of rowdy underclassmen.
Campus Locations—Outdoors
Of the numerous lawns on both campuses, the one facing Lewisohn ranks near the top, with leafy trees providing shade and a beautiful, if slightly, er, naughty, statue of Pan to lean against. Alternatively, the bridge over Amsterdam gives a panoramic view of the city on both sides and is often a go-between rather than a study area for students, providing ample space on the green or near its three statues for you to spread out and relax for a while. For the ultimate campus reading experience, nothing beats the top of the Low Library steps. The height lends a hawk’s-eye view of campus, from which you can pinpoint your crush from as far away as the entrance to Butler, while the pillared entrance provides shade and shelter from rain and makes the spot suitable for all sorts of nasty New York weather. The ledges that branch out at either side are perfect to climb onto and watch the ant-sized campus go about its daily routine as if from a Richard Scarry book, but watch out for Public Safety officers, especially if you’re out to do some twilight reading. \\\