Month: July 2011

A tiny Upper West Side restaurant with critically acclaimed burgers racked up so many health violations last week that the city stepped in and shut the place down. Harriet's Kitchen at 502 Amsterdam Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets has just two tables, but it's a well-known spot for take-out ...

The Upper West Side has had its taste of mayhem this weekend. On Friday night, a manhole exploded on West 76th Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue around 9:20 p.m., a local resident told blog My Upper West. The air was "thick with the smell of burning rubber ...

Estelle's Antiques, a shop on Broadway between 93rd and 94th Streets that had operated for nearly 20 years, has closed its doors, the latest antiques store casualty in the neighborhood. Estelle's sold crystal glasses and other bric-a-brac, as well as some very unique pieces like suspended airplane lights. "We will ...

By Maria Gorshin Is Riverside Park Manhattan’s best park, or is it forever second to New York’s fabled Central Park? The answer depends on whom you ask. But what is certain is that there always seems to be something more to discover about Riverside. It seems everyone has a certain ...

By Malcolm Carter In the course of my open house rounds, I see properties that are listed for as little as $300,000 and as much as many millions, well into the double digits. You might expect me to go gaga (sorry, Lady) over the most expensive ones.  And they obviously ...

For everyone sweating through the hot New York days and nights in late July and early August, Lincoln Center is putting on one hell of a festival over the next three weeks to cure your summertime blues. The Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival kicks off tonight at 7:30 in ...

By Marjorie Cohen Imagine I.M Pei designing a homeless shelter. Or Frank Lloyd Wright drawing plans for a community center. Not likely. But in the 1880's, when the women who ran the Association for the Relief of Respectable and Indigent Females, needed an architect for the charity home they were ...

By Maria Gorshin Living in a boredom-free zone is one of the perks of city living that I’m especially grateful for when friends and relatives come to visit. In a quieter setting I have to rely on my iffy skills as a hostess and activity planner to keep my guests ...

By Katie Barry Five years ago, I joined a softball team called the Consenting Adults. They were in their 23rd year of existence, with colorful characters who were writers, psychologists, teachers, and gifted softball players. They gave me a much deeper understanding as to what it means to strike out ...

July 25, 2011 Weather: Isolated thunderstorms, High of 82 Degrees. I'm putting the columnists in charge this week, and we will be posting one new column every morning, starting this morning with Katie Barry's funny take on love and softball in Central Park. Enjoy! And check out a great slate ...

Temperatures in the neighborhood should hit at least 99 degrees on Saturday, and although the mercury is supposed to dip on Sunday there will also be thunderstorms throughout the weekend. If you're one of the lucky couples having a gay marriage on the first weekend they're legal in the state, ...

The liquidation sale at Borders has begun, and the store on the second floor of the Time Warner Center Columbus Circle will be offering "up to 40% off" on all sorts of items, from books to puzzles and games. In fact, you can buy just about everything that can be ...

July 22, 2011 Weather: Sunny, High of 99 Degrees. Notices: Kevin Jacobs, a history teacher at the Beacon School is looking for Upper West Siders who lived here when San Juan Hill existed (the neighborhood that was torn down and replaced by Lincoln Center). Jacobs' students want to interview the ...

A fire on Wednesday shut down one of the city's sewage treatment plans, and now millions of gallons of raw sewage are being pumped into the Hudson River. The health department has issued a warning not to go into the Hudson through at least Sunday, and boat lanuches on the ...

With the imminent closing of Borders in the Time Warner Center less than a year after the shuttering of the huge Barnes & Noble on 66th Street, the Upper West Side has lost about half of the square feet in the neighborhood devoted to books. But longtime Upper West Siders ...

July 21, 2011 Weather: Partly Cloudy, High of 95 Degrees. News: Jewish Home Lifecare, an Upper West Side nursing home, had planned to relocate to 100th Street from 106th Street, but is now considering a 97th Street spot because of community opposition. But locals don't want the nursing home at ...

The American Folk Art Museum sadly closed its midtown location a few weeks ago. But the museum's smaller second location in Lincoln Square is still open and will now become the museum's main home. Even better, it's offering a bunch of free events this summer. The museum hosts a Guitar ...

Photo by Avi. July 20, 2011 Weather: Mostly Sunny, High of 88 Degrees. Notices: The people putting up a pop-up chapel at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park for the first day of same-sex marriage on Sunday are seeking ideas for a design for the chapel. Think fast! The deadline's tomorrow. ...

Amid all of the recent high-profile businesses closing (H&H! Borders! Cafe Con Leche!) on the Upper West Side, a bunch of new restaurants are preparing to open up shop or have just opened in the neighborhood. So don't despair. One of my favorite tipsters, Daren, recently snapped some shots of ...

Cuban joint Cafe Con Leche has closed its location at 726 Amsterdam Avenue between 95th and 96th Street, and a new restaurant will open in its spot. It's unclear what that new restaurant will serve: according to a message on the restaurant's answering machine it's going to be a French ...