West 230th Step Street

Looking up from the bottom. lampbane (Atlas Obscura User)

Upper Manhattan and the Bronx are notorious for their many hills; to make things a little easier the city built stairs on slopes too steep for a regular road. While the step street at West 167th Street in Highbridge is probably the most famous thanks to its role in 2019’s Joker film, the step street at West 230th is famous in its own ways.

The steps are actually three sets of staircases connecting Irwin, Johnson, Edgehill, and Netherland Avenues. The trio spans 295 feet in length and 38 feet in height, a grade of 12.8 degrees. That makes it the longest in the city, though not the steepest. The stairs connect the neighborhoods of Marble Hill and Kingsbridge with Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale at the top of the slope.

The first two staircases are straight while the last one winds in some parts. They cut between extensive greenery and a few houses, some of which have entrances opening directly onto the steps. The top West 230th Street continues on for three blocks as a segmented, but otherwise, a normal vehicular road, though only pedestrians willing to climb over a berm can pass all the way through to the street’s end at the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Know Before You Go

The nearest subway stop is 231st Street on the 1 train at Broadway. To travel further into the neighborhood, make a right after the steps and then a left at 232nd, the nearest road that travels over the Henry Hudson Parkway.

The closest Metro-North Railroad stop is Spuyten Duyvil, though you will still need to climb some stairs to enter or exit the station by foot. During off-peak hours you can buy a CityTicket (via a machine or the app) to Grand Central for $5.