A user of the website Reddit posted an account of a recent conversation he had with two tourists looking for a cup of coffee on the Upper West Side.
I’m walking a dog near Columbus Circle (SW corner of Central Park) one day when an obviously touristy couple approaches me. In a thick southern accent, they ask me if I know anywhere to get a cup of coffee.
“You kidding me? You’re on the Upper West Side! There’s amazing coffee everywhere. My favorite is the Sensuous Bean, 70th and Columbus. About five blocks up.”
They looked unsatisfied. “Well, we’re really looking more for tea.”
“Oh, they’ve got tea! Plus there’s Alice’s Tea Cup three blocks up, cute little tea house.”
They look at each other, then back to me.
“Well actually, uh… We were just looking for a Starbucks…”
I just stared at them, then walked away. I pointed in a direction – any direction it didn’t matter – and said, “Walk two blocks.”
Infuriating.
Spurred by the story, a CUNY Baruch student made a map of all the Starbucks in New York and found that, indeed, there’s one every 5.6 blocks in the city. (hat-tip to Gothamist.)
Drink up! And leave neighborhood-related comments below.
So heart wrenching!
Would love to hear everyone’s favorite coffee place on the UWS? I love the coffee at a Silver Moon Bakery.
I have lived here my whole life and find Alice’s Tea Cup very touristy and not the least bit welcoming to tourists at the same time. I have sworn off that place after a waitress was extremely rude to two young mothers with their daughters and tried to get me to join in her nastiness. I would never send a tender tourist to there.
I also would never fault a tourist for wanting something familiar, like Starbucks; New York is not always welcoming, case in point, the story above.
P.S. If you are looking for a great spot to send a tourist next time, Irving Farm (79th between Bway and Amsterdam) is wonderful, with great food, great coffee, friendly enough service and plenty of seating. They even have wine and beer! I love that place.
This is the story of tourist eating at McDonald’s and seeing movies in Times Square writ anew for this millennium. If it’s any consolation I am sure they would do the same think in London, Paris or Rome.
Maybe they just didn’t feel like walking half a mile for a cup of coffee.
What exactly is the point of traveling, anywhere, if you’re unwilling to accept and appreciate the local flavors and oddities? We should not expect to have to coddle these people’s pedestrianism, especially when they’re the ones asking for advice.
Also love Irving. The coffee is good and the lack of WiFi makes it easier to get a seat as they turn over more quickly.
That said, the often go to Starbucks because it’s cheap, they have a good loyalty program, and free refills which I abuse.
The rudeness of the commenters here is unparalleled. If you’re not criticizing someone, you’re complaining about things not going your way, or railing against someone or something who dare not agree with what’s best for YOU.
Why travel? Maybe they were interested in seeing the sights or the Natural History Museum and not local coffee shops. Maybe they were from a small town where there is no Starbucks and that was on their list of things to do. Whatever their reason, it doesn’t matter! It most certainly doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with them.
What does matter is the self-righteous, uppity attitudes of “my needs come first” and the looking down on those who don’t live by or uphold YOUR standards.
I love WSR and I appreciate the time and effort put into a daily blog. The effort alone deserves more respect than posting every comment that pops into one’s mind without first asking:
Is this worth posting?
Am I contributing or just complaining/ranting?
Is it productive?
And, perhaps most importantly, if those three things didn’t seem to stop you: Would I say this out loud, face-to-face, to a person or group in the way I’ve written it here? What would be the outcome?
New York is indeed disorienting, as another here said. You can’t fault someone for wanting a lilpad of the familiar.
I also agree with Irving Farm on 79th. Feels familiar but is also local.
Man do I love the elitist attitude of us UWSers. Yeah I feel the same way at times. If you’re in NYC, try to experience the things that make it special (dog poop et al). But having traveled internationally many times, I occasionally find myself looking for a familiar place. Beijing is one of the most amazing places for street food with little need to look for fancy restaurants, yet I have found myself in McDonalds ordering a burger and fries. Also Beijing has a place called Grandma’s that is decorated like a Midwest farmhouse and has better breakfast than many of the places here. Keep in mind that Starbucks (I’m really more of a Dunkin Guy)has free WiFi and many tourists go there for that. And let’s not forget the bathroom!
Be that as it may, I really like Boxkite on 72nd between Amsterdam and Columbus. A tiny place on the south side of the street. The people are super nice and the coffee is great.
Also, why can’t Alice’s have more than one server working at any given time?! It’s so SO frustrating.
Its less the shop and more the brand. Any place that has fresh illy coffee is my favorite. Jaques Torres, Grandaisy and Vive La Crepe, though I do like Irving farm on 79th as far as atmosphere (if there isn’t a line out the door).
I have no problem with people wanting to go to Starbucks but if that’s the case they should ask for directions to Starbucks. If you ask where to get a cup of coffee you will get recommendations for “the best” coffee around.
Gastronomie on Columbus btwn 83rd & 84th has wonderful coffee, tea and baked confections.
There are no Starbucks on Amsterdam above 71st St. I’m not complaining, really, but I find it odd, especially since the rent on Broadway and Amsterdam spaces is so high.
These comments really show how pretentious UWSers can be.
I have traveled extensively around the world. I would venture that I have traveled more than almost any regular reader of this blog. Yet sometimes I want to snuggle back into my comfort zone, even if just for a few minutes, and I will look for a familiar kind of place for a meal.
Get over yourselves people. Your faux-sophistication only makes you sound like provincial rubes.
My requirement for foreign travel is that is must be a place that does NOT have a Starbucks…getting harder and harder to find.
Agree that there is no need to mock tourists for wanting a familiar taste. I remember being young, on my first (and only, really) trip to Europe. I was far from home, and had spent days having new experiences, delighted and overwhelmed by all that I had seen and experienced for the first time. I was also harassed by some young men, couldn’t speak the language of the country I was in, and suddenly feeling intensely homesick and vulnerable. A McDonalds emerged from the mist, and suddenly all I wanted was a Big Mac – and when I had that familiar (really not terribly good) flavor, and recovered in the quiet of the bathroom, I was ready to go out and live some more. Obviously, NY is not a foreign country – but to the average non-NYer, coming here for the first time can be overwhelming (and “superior” NYers don’t help with that).
All that said, I do like Irving Farm a lot. I am picky about coffee (surprise, I am a NYer) and used to be unhappy about the absence of good coffee in the 90s, where I lived – but there are a lot of good coffee places now:
– Irving Farm, as said,
– Joe (the Art of Coffee)
– Earth Coffee
– Boxkite
– Filicori Zecchini (which is not my cup of tea/coffee for coffee, but a lovely place to hang out and eat)
There is also good coffee at Macaron Parlour and Birdbath Bakery if you like coffee rather than espresso drinks (I’m sure the espresso drinks there are fine too, but I haven’t tried them).
And there is that new place in the low 100s on Broadway, which is good.
So, while I don’t blame the tourists for wanting old familiar, I’m very glad to have so many choices now for myself.
I love love love the Silver Moon but have started getting my coffee at Plowshares right down the block. It’s the best latte I’ve ever had (and with some Silver Moon pastries? Heaven)
Plowshares!
Plowshares- the absolute best. Broadway between 104/ 105 st.
I recently was on the hunt for a proper Espresso bean blend (robusta and arabica beans). I stopped by everywhere and most so-called neighborhood baristas didn’t even know what I was talking about!!! “Robusta!? What’s that?!” At this point I believe there’s only differences in the hiring contracts between UWS coffee places.
Are there any good coffee places to hang out and do some writing in the 80s? Irving Farm is great but they have a ventilation system that leaves something to be desired.
Birch up on Columbus and 96th has fantastic coffee IMO. Also second Joe on Columbus/85th. (But I also don’t mind Starbucks now and then!!)
I am a Big Apple Greeter (this is a program that pairs volunteers with foreign and domestic visitors to our city. The first thing I tell them is that I do NOT take people to chain stores or restaurants. I encourage them to explore our local riches. Most of them get it. Perhaps because by asking for a greeter they have already signaled an interest in the non-touristy.
Agreed.
You can say what you will about Starbucks. But even in Europe they have clean free bathrooms
Whoever is posting as “Kind to Strangers”:
You are the best. There’s no joy at all if people are going to be so nasty. NY is a nice city, and I, for one, would be happy to steer a tourist to a comforting Starbucks, just as I appreciated the ice offered in Burger King on a really hot day in Salisbury, UK. Sort of embarrassing to recall, but the ice cold drink propelled me to the bus stop — and thus to Stonehenge.
I think that what annoyed and saddened the writer was the tourists’ EQUATING “a cup of coffee” with a Starbucks. I think the point of the story was less about scorn for the tourists (although there was that, unfairly) and more about the way fast food and chain store culture in general has altered people’s thinking about common products to the detriment of quality.
the familiar is always the best….
if Starbuck is the Familiar there will be no competition even if we upper West siders LOVE Alice’s tea cup!
Oy!
as I was reading and reached the last comment, I found that Lauren had spoken my mind – thank you, Lauren!
Irving Farm – great coffee – great vibe
Oh yes – Birch! And Plowshares is the one that I was thinking of on Broadway in the low 100s. Excellent coffee.
For a lot of visitors (usually from the US)…it is about (1) feeling safe in familiar surroundings and (2) doing things their friends have done when they visited NY. That explains why phantom etc is still around.
That said, as a kid living in Europe….we did try to get our parents to take us to McD once in every country we visited to see the differences….and there were differences.
The long lines at every Starbuck’s in the city are NOT full of tourists. Face it, NYers (transplants or born here) drink Starbucks too. Wanting Starbucks tells us nothing about the tourists in the story except that they like Starbucks.
@Nathan..
They have free refills?? How did I not know that? For any kind of coffee?
Oh man… I need to know.
Thank you Martha! Every outing takes us somewhere. You felt the sting of embarrassment going to a BK in the UK, but at least it was your own and not from someone else’s thoughtless rudeness and shame. I’d venture to say the feeling propelled you to explore!
For all we know the tourists we collectively shun do more and see more of New York, with fresh eyes and enthusiasm, than we ever will again. Perhaps the disdain from others is a bit of envy? In the end, tourists and locals alike are all just people going here and yonder who deserve respect–in person and online–not judgement.
People have the right to eat and drink where they choose. I don’t think it is necessarily nasty or judgmental to point out that IF you come to our great city, it IS filled with many wonderful places with foods, beverages that you cannot get (in some cases), anywhere else or at Starbucks.
Every moment of travel, whether in U.S. or around world does not have to be filled with “new” but…it is really apples/oranges to compare needing something familiar when you are in NYC to say Bejing or Paris or elsewhere in the world.
NYC is still the USA, dear visitors. If I go to various cities, I always want to try what’s local in terms of coffee, tea, etc.
I think what we’re saying is, why come here if you aren’t open, at some point, to trying what makes us NYC?
And yes, many places here are NOT nice to tourists…or locals. But that’s true of anywhere.
When my niece and her boyfriend were here a few years ago, I wanted to take them out to dinner. They wanted to meet in Times Square and go to some tourist joint. I said, “No, if you are here, we’re eating local. There are zillions of restaurants.”
Then took them to a neighborhood place with good Italian. They balked at menu. Yes, folks they were very very inexperienced with food…and life. But that’s not the issue. They weren’t even open to trying something new, and we’re not talking exotic or adventuresome.
It’s like people coming to NYC and going to Times Square. Folks, that’s one small part of the city and it does not really represent us locals at all.
I suggest our inflamed Reddit user wear a “Don’t Tread on Me Sign” so that his fellow citizens are forewarned. If a couple looking for a cup of coffee, or tea or a place to pee infuriate him because they want to go to the nearest place rather than his choices I can only imagine what would happen to me if I bumped into him while he was texting.
Oh, and I doubt very much that anyone comes to New York for the coffee.
I’m a fan of upgrading the public discourse to match “to each his/her own” without needing to condemn. Having said that, I’m a snob about many things, especially NYC things. Having said that, I poke fun at my own snobbery. So, maybe we could have fun being snobs about great UWS eateries (hahaha, like the UWS is known for great eateries.) As for Starbucks, if I’m short on time and just want my drug fix, I’ll use them, wherever I am. As for coffee, I make my own, cold-brewed. Pardon me, whilst I pour a cup, now. PS. We have an Irving up here? 🙂
excellent commentary
I love the cappuccinos at Taralluci e Vino.
YES! I stopped in that very same Burger King this summer. As much as I was enjoying trying everything else Salisbury had to offer, I needed something fast and there it was. I don’t see anything wrong with stopping in a familiar place when you’re somewhere different.
The Hungarian Pastry Shop, 100%.
Kind,
You seem like a really fun person to be around. I’d love to have coffee with you sometime.
This is one of the most pretentious comments on here.
So, um, walk over an avenue. Columbus is full of them. 73, 76, 81, 86 . . . the one on Broadway and 75th is just steps from Amsterdam.
They probably had dinner at McDonalds…
Sorry, that was in reply to a comment way above. I thought it would indent under.
Anyway, to contribute better to the thread: been an UWS sider for 27 years, but still love the McDonalds in Times Square for a quick pre-show meal when I’m time-crunched (the view over TS from the second floor is awesome and cheap).
I travel all over the world and as much as I love digging into the local stuff, sometimes Starbucks is just my little anchor when I need a slice of home for a few minutes, so yeah give those poor tourists their Starbucks and stop making fun of them!
Exactly.