Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African-American residential, cultural, and business center. Harlem stretches from the East River west to the Hudson River between 159th Street;where it meets Washington Heights—to a ragged border along the south. Central Harlem begins at 110th Street, at the northern boundary of Central Park; Spanish Harlem extends east Harlem's boundaries south to 96th Street, while in the west it begins north of Upper West Side, which gives an irregular border west of Morningside Avenue.