Coogan's Bluff

Coogan's Bluff is a promontory near the western shore of the Harlem River in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. Its boundaries extend approximately from 155th Street and the Macombs Dam Bridge viaduct to 160th Street, between Edgecombe Avenue and the river. A deep escarpment descends from Edgecombe Avenue to the river, creating a sheltered area between the bluff and river known as Coogan's Hollow. For 73 years, the hollow was home to the Polo Grounds sports stadium. Namesake The promontory is named for James J. Coogan (1846–1915), a real estate developer and one-term Manhattan Borough President, who owned the land during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The earliest known published reference to "Coogan's Bluff" appeared in The New York Times in 1893. Polo Grounds From 1890 until April 1964, the bluff overlooked the Polo Grounds, a professional sports venue that served as the home ballpark for Major League Baseball's New York Giants from 1891 until the franchise's move to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Sportswriters commonly used Coogan's Bluff as a sobriquet for the Polo Grounds—as Chavez Ravine refers to Dodger Stadium and China Basin to Oracle Park—although the ballpark was actually situated in Coogan's Hollow, the bottomland between the bluff and the river. The Coogan heirs continued to own the land on which the Polo Grounds stood even though the Giants owned the stadium. This stymied the Giants' efforts to maintain the stadium and was a factor in their decision to move to San Francisco after the 1957 season.