Lincoln Center: America’s Greatest Cultural Complex

The Lincoln Center is the largest cultural complex in the United States and one of the most important in the world. It brings together 11 renowned institutions, including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Juilliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

It's one of those Upper West Side spots you should make time for, whether you catch a performance, take a guided tour, or simply sit out on the plaza soaking up the sun and watching New York go by 😉

What to see at the Lincoln Center

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings covering 660,000 square feet. In peak season it can host up to 10 simultaneous performances in a single day!

Its construction was hugely controversial back in the 1960s, since it meant demolishing 17 blocks of tenements (attached buildings no taller than 3 stories) and displacing more than 7,000 families. Among the homes torn down were the ones that inspired the plot of the famous musical West Side Story.

The project was part of Robert Moses's urban renewal program. We already know him from other controversial works, like the hulking «public interest» blocks completely disconnected from the urban landscape in Coney Island and other parts of the city.

That controversy is long behind us, and there's no question this is the cultural heart of New York today.

I recommend walking past the complex at night. You'll be dazzled by the glow of its enormous crystal chandeliers and the soaring ceilings of these gems of International Style architecture.

Lincoln Center architecture

The various buildings and open spaces of the Lincoln Center were designed by prominent architects. Here are a few highlights:

Wallace Harrison designed the Lincoln Center's most iconic building: the Metropolitan Opera House, the one with the tall arches at the center of the plaza.

If you're a fan of Marc Chagall, catch a performance so you can see his 2 huge murals on the theater's walls: The Triumph of Music and The Force of Music.

Philip Johnson, meanwhile, handled the David H. Koch Theater, which you'll see to the left of the central plaza (Josie Robertson Plaza), along with the Revson Fountain at its center.

Other buildings worth noting include the Juilliard School, designed by Pietro Belluschi.

The Lincoln Center also has more modern buildings, such as the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center near Columbus Circle.

If you want to explore every building, the map on the official website will help.

What's on

There's always something playing at this huge complex, all year round. You can check the lineup on their calendar.

Remember to dress well if you're going to the opera or the ballet. Not black tie, but never shorts and sandals (they might let you in, but you'll really be out of place).

Discounts on performances

On Saturdays and Sundays there are discounts for matinee performances, since they clear out empty seats. You can buy these tickets at the Lincoln Center box offices right before going in.

Guided tours

If you're into architecture, art (there are pieces by Henry Moore, Jasper Johns and Marc Chagall, among others), or you just want to stand where figures like Luciano Pavarotti, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leonard Bernstein once stood, the guided tour of the Lincoln Center is a good idea.

Tours run daily between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm, departing from the David Rubenstein Atrium.

If you bought the New York Pass, the Lincoln Center tour is already included, and you even get priority access, which saves you time for other visits.

Movies filmed at the Lincoln Center

The Lincoln Center has been the setting for famous movies such as Ghostbusters (1984), the Oscar-winning Moonstruck (1987) and, more recently, Black Swan (2010) by New Yorker Darren Aronofsky.

Let's jog your memory…

In Ghostbusters, Bill Murray (Dr. Peter Venkman) approaches Sigourney Weaver (Dana Barrett) as she leaves the Lincoln Center. She played a cellist with the New York Philharmonic.

After that encounter, Venkman breaks into a very Murray-ish dance, a bit of choreography plenty of people try to recreate, as you'll surely see when you visit the plaza. Relive scenes like this one on the Ghostbusters filming locations tour.

In Moonstruck, there's a pivotal scene for the relationship between Cher and Nicolas Cage, and it happens at the Metropolitan Opera while they're both watching La Bohème.

More recently, you'll remember Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan, Nina, a dancer with the New York City Ballet company.

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Getting there
Subway Line 1. 66th Street/Lincoln Center station

Address:

The Lincoln Center is in the Upper West Side, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, and West 62nd and 66th streets.

Guided tour prices:

Adults US$25 / Students and 60+ US$20

Guided tour times:

Daily
10:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30, 4:30 pm
(Subject to change)