Photo by Stephen Harmon.
Hey Upper West Side, it’s open thread time, where you can speak up in the comments about whatever topic is on your mind.
By the way, West Side Rag turns 4 next month. What should we do to celebrate? One idea I’ve contemplated for a while: Invite the whole neighborhood to Cafe Edgar on 91st and Amsterdam, give everyone a fork, and then order one piece of every kind of pie in the cases (there are like 20 or 30 kinds of pies and cakes).
No one leaves till every piece is finished. And then we vote on which one was best. And then we go home and nap (not together).
Love the site, thanks for the hard work!
Thanks David!
That place has some pretty bad reviews…is there anything better in our area?
It’s really good! Sometimes bad reviews are wrong! (my humble opinion)
Spread the word:
Girl Scout Troop 3345 will be selling your favorite Girl Scout cookies on Saturday, April 25th, 11:30 AM to 1 PM.
Location: Broadway and 82nd Street (in front of Town Shop).
Time: Saturday 11:30 AM to 1 PM
Good news for walnut lovers!
Trader Joe’s is once again carrying nice walnuts at a decent price.
At the 72nd TJ’s on Tuesday, I found a bag labeled as “Poindexter Nut Company.” 1 lb. for 6.99.
That’s actually $1 cheaper than the TJ’s labeled nuts that they pulled off the shelves a few weeks ago due to that salmonella alert.
Let’s hope they keep up the new supply. I’ve been going bonkers the past few weeks searching in vain for walnuts, only finding stale and overpriced nuts ($15/lb for example at Health Nuts).
They must’ve just come in yesterday. On Tuesday they didn’t have any.
a huge potluck picnic in Central Park!
I used to host wine and cheese picnics in Strawberry fields (far back corner) where everyone was challenged to bring a unique wine and cheese (was great for learning and experimenting). Some of my best UWS memories were from those all day, relaxing picnics!
Pot luck in the park – that would be awesome!
Been to the relocated Edgars – nothing like the original one!
Congrats and thanks keeping us informed about what is going on in this neighborhood!
Love the Edagr, great staff, let’s go. Warm blueberry a fav
I have been visiting the site since my wife and I moved with our son from W60th to WEA & 70th three years ago and this site has kept growing and growing on us. Three years ago news around the UWS public schools was important to us as that was one of the options we were considering for our son. More recently, the great coverage around restaurants and shop openings/closings has been a great way to keep tabs on what is going on. It makes our walks around the UWS that more interesting. I also appreciate the reporting of the “news” as these often unfortunate events are not reported in the NYC media. As for constructive comments, perhaps less focus on real estate news and maybe look to do some UWS resident profile stories. Keep up the amazing work. Congrats.
Thanks, great suggestions. WSR
Do you know that, in the phonetic alphabet (used by air-traffic controllers and others), the initials WSR would be:
WHISKEY-SIERRA-ROMEO
seemed interesting at first!
It’s hard to believe it’s been four years already! I love what you’ve created for the neighborhood. West Side Rag is a gathering place for everyone who loves the Upper West Side – the longtime residents, brand new neighbors and people who moved away but still love it from afar. Thank you for being the first editor to ever publish one of my essays about Old New York – I’ll never forget that welcome. Hope you feel the love and appreciation from all your readers for what you produce every day. Big cheers to you! Maria
Aww, you are integral to this site Maria. Thanks for getting it off the ground. Avi
Love this blog!!!!!!!
PROPS, Avi, you’ve put in a lot of hard work for a long time and produced an excellent product.
Thanks!
Congrats on your anniversary and I hope there are many more ahead. This site has become one of my favorite daily stops online. Your reporting and perspective is greatly appreciated.
Love the site (been a regular reader over the last 3+ years). First and foremost, thanks for everybody’s hard work put into this site. I can’t imagine that most readers understand all the hard work that goes into what you do. I can definitely comprehend it just seeing that the site is typically refreshed with new content (and multiple stories) on a daily basis . So THANK YOU! And thanks also for giving me a shoutout a few months back when I shared the Blizzard of ’96 video featuring the Eyewitness News reporter outside the old HMV / soon-to-be closed Urban Outfitters on 72nd & Broadway and home to the new Bloomingdales Outlet (I would have linked to your feature that you wrote about when you broke the news to us on March 5th but your commenting system won’t allow me to link). Which is a perfect segue into some constructive feedback! 🙂
As a daily reader, I’d love to see the tagging system used on the street level. I’ve lived in the mid-70s / West End Ave since 2007 and would love to be able to click and see what’s going on in the 70’s (vs. 60’s / 80’s / 90’s / etc.) Maybe a street-grid of some kind someplace in the nav bar on top?
Now the marketing side of me (I’ve been a digital marketer working with some pretty big businesses over the past 12 years) wonders how you’re monetizing the site. With 200k monthly readers, you definitely have a healthy audience. I definitely admire all the banner ads for local businesses but I’d be hard pressed to think they’re generating a considerable amount of revenue based off all the business costs associated with running and maintaining this site.
I also really think that you should explore options for a better mobile reading experience. You probably have thought about it, but people are now spending more time on their mobile devices than they do even on the web itself (i.e. desktop/laptop). I for one have a very challenging time reading all the great content on my iPhone. I know of many different tactics you can consider (most of which don’t cost a ton of $$).
Back to your original question about what to do for the 4th anniversary though, my hope is that you can engage more with your readers (higher engagement = more time spent on your site = more $$ advertisers (national and local ones) will pay you to appear on your site so they can engage with your engaged reading audience. 😉
Anyway, if you want to ever talk more marketing strategies/planning, you have my email address.
Congrats again on your 4-year anniversary!
Ha! I was thinking the same thing – we should celebrate WSR’s 4th anniversary by monetizing better. 🙂
I trust this group of commenters more than any other online community I belong to – there’s got to be a way to leverage that to provide a broader experience, better local advice and more revenue opportunities for ownership.
WSR, you’ve really built something special, and we’d all be disappointed if you weren’t able to keep it going.
Many thanks guys. These are definitely things we’ve been thinking about, and just need a little time to implement. The site definitely needs to be more mobile-friendly and that’s a top priority, and we’re trying to make it more financially viable too. We’ll keep you updated and would be happy to chat about ideas. WSR
Given the recent news, perhaps celebrating with a coyote photo hunt–then dessert.
Re: “it’s open thread time, where you can speak up in the comments about whatever topic is on your mind.”
Okayyy…has anyone else besides moi (a qualified electric mobility scooter-er) noticed the ABYSMAL conditions of MANY cross streets in the Lincoln Center area (below W.66th/Columbus/Bdway through W.62nd/Bdway at least.
The roadways are gouged with surprisingly-deep long gashes, holes, and patches-over-patches. They are especially treacherous for anyone using a scooter or being pushed in a wheelchair, and dangerous for ordinary pedestrians.
And then there are the curb-cuts, which this past frigid winter made even more unusable than they were.
Several years ago CB7 was provided with a complete list of dangerous curb-cuts from W.59th to W.96th (by this writer) and, EXCEPT FOR HAVING A FEW REPAIRED, DID NOTHING ABOUT ALL THE OTHERS !!!
Someone needs to do something about this dangerous condition before the city is faced with a stack of personal-injury lawsuits !!
Have just moved to the UWS from Australia via Singapore. Love the Westsiderag, I would never have known we have a Coyote as a neighbor!
We love living on the Upper West side, with one exception, having dogs piss on my building & the side walk everywhere generally and of course the far too frequent turd that gets trodden on and shared. This part reminds me of Delhi India!
Turds and Delhi, India – so true, buts o sad with all the homeless animals
Thank you for 4 years of WSR. I pride Yosef on being well informed about our neighborhood and WSR is my best resource!!!
Congratulations!!!!!
Love the site, really informative, thanks for the hard work!
Happy Birthday, WSR – keep up the good work!
How about e-mail announcements of updates on the blog? If you have them already, please add me.
Congrats…WSR. I’m proud to have been a reader and occasional contributor since the beginning. Here’s to more advertising for your next 4 years….and profits for you. No one deserves them more. And, yes, I guess I’m a bit tired of all the real estate news. Manhattan is very expensive, everyone wants to live here, end of story. The next generation will be different than ours, as we are different from the people who lived here in the 1940’s – 1960s. I’m not moving, and hope to spend the rest of my life on the UWS. So, WSR, I’ll need you more than ever in the years to come.
You’ve been integral to the site too, Harriet!
Congrats on the 4 year anniversary of the West Side Rag. I enjoy the local news and the diversity of opinion in the comments.
I’m not sure I understand those who suggest “less” real estate news. If they are not interested, they don’t have to read it. Those who are interested should have the option to read UWS real estate news. In many instances it really offers more information about what’s happening in the neighborhood than just real estate.
We should celebrate this anniversary by having a meet-up at that bar on 72nd Street…We can talk about how we met on “the computer” and the “Interweb tubes.”
Bravo! The WSR and a big cup of coffee–the absolutely best way to start an UWS day.
Thanks so much for this wonderful site and for all of the hard, hard work you do to make it that way.
You’re an important part of it, Marjorie!
I just want to say that I so enjoy receiving WSR! I read it daily and even when I travel I feel as if I’m ‘home.’ THANK YOU!!
Thanks for that. Glad the site is a part of so many people’s lives here!
I think an event would be super. I think your readership is larger than Edgar’s could manage. Maybe we could take over the back of Manhattan Diner with everyone paying their own way. I think it would hold 50 + people or more. I think getting to know our West Side Rag community would be a terrific bonding experience. When 50% of New Yorkers live alone –I’m one of them –this is a great idea of yours Kudos.
I absolutely love the WSR. Thanks for the hard work!! Central Park gathering sounds great.
Congrats on four years! I love WSR ever since I discovered it! I look forward to it and always find something that I don’t see anywhere else. Tell all my friends about it! Keep up the great work!!
Dear Folks:
How about a “Happy Hour” party? Pick one of the really good places on the Upper West Side that has a great happy hour.
Congrats on your 4th Anniversary.
Happy Anniversary! I’ve been a devoted reader since the beginning and love keeping up on what’s happening in the neighborhood. One thing I was wondering: would it be possible to keep some kind of list of the (remaining) Mom & Pops/small businesses in the neighborhood? I’m always trying to support these businesses and would love to have a go-to list when I’m looking for toys/food shops/bakeries/clothing stores, etc. in the neighborhood. Just a thought! Thanks for all you do!
Thank you so much for this web site. It makes the UWS a neighborhood, is really important in so many people’s lives. It’s so well done too!