Noses ahead. Photo by Naomi Serviss.
March 8, 2021 Weather: Clear, with a high of 43 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar has local and virtual events.
News:
A concierge in an Upper West Side apartment building is frustrated because hotel workers can now get vaccinated, while residential building workers are still ineligible. “I’m in the lobby so I’m the first line of defense,” NY1 reported him saying. “I’m the guy that when the aides come to work and the housekeepers come to work and the nannies come to work, I have to read COVID-19 questions to them, I have to sign them in…He says the risk to themselves and their residents is all the more reason why they need the shot.”
David Mintz, the man who invented Tofutti — the tofu-based, non-dairy, frozen dessert that people who are kosher can eat in place of ice cream— has died at the age of 89. The Washington Post recounts how the lure of the Upper West Side almost derailed his wildly successful creation. “When Mr. Mintz told Schneerson, known as the Rebbe, about an opportunity to open a restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Schneerson said he should trust his faith and focus instead on his dream of creating foods from tofu.” Mintz later gave out samples and distributed tofutti through Zabar’s.
“The opening of New York theaters is said to be ‘key’ in terms of generating buzz and publicity for upcoming movies,” according to the Daily Mail. And Liam Neeson was doing his part last Friday night by welcoming people back to the movies between shows at the AMC Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side. The 68-year-old actor was thrilled to do it, saying ‘going to the cinema is a bit of a sacred experience.’ His new film is The Marksman. Did anybody see him?
Millennials are taking advantage of indoor dining and checks and tips are going up. “Indoor dining, which resumed in New York City on Feb. 12 and increased from 25% to 35% capacity on Feb. 26, is providing some small economic benefit for restaurateurs in a challenging time,” Bloomberg reported. “Chef/owner Michele Casadei Massari has seen check averages go up about 20% at his restaurant Lucciola since indoor dining resumed…At Carmine’s on the Upper West Side, check averages are also up by 25%. “People are drinking more and ordering more porterhouse steaks,” says owner Jeffrey Bank.
And Michiko Kakutani writes about finding refuge in Central Park for the Times, including seeking out the Snowy Owl. “It’s been nearly a year since the start of the pandemic, and while we’ve all grown weary of the isolation, the changing seasons in Central Park are soothing reminders of the eternal cycles of nature: the tulips and cherry trees giving way to the electric greenery of summer; the brilliant red and gold leaves of autumn, replaced by snow and ice, and soon now, crocuses and hyacinths, the first flowers of spring. There is a sense of timelessness in the park.”
I can see how restaurant checks are up. When I start dining out again some splurging will definitely be in order.
I wasn’t at the AMC theater but I mentioned to a friend that I was positive I had seen Liam Neeson across the street, and she convinced me that it was just another tall guy and I had been cooped inside for too long, lol. Lucky theater goers! 🙂
I miss seeing all the actors from the Sopranos in the Lincoln Center area. I’ve lost count at the amount of times I walked by “Christopher Moltasanti” and “Hesh Rabkin” in 2018 – early 2020. At least Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch are still walking around.
I remember a day 2 summers ago when I walked passed Kevin Bacon on 77th street, then Bobby Cannavale on 75th street, then when I got to Fairway saw Frances McDormand shopping. And on the way home saw Billy Jean King eating frozen yogurt with friends in front of 16 Handles. The good old UWS-er days.
…and then you didn’t see another celebrity for 10 years.
Tofutti was all the rage in the 80s, even among those of us Jews who do not keep kosher. I had not thought about it in a long time.
Am I the only person who remembers a Tofutti Store on Columbus in the 80s? As someone who was allergic to dairy, this was amazing!
Leon me too. I remember their restaurants/ take out on the east side and went everyday and suddenly it was gone when I went, so became Trump Plaza. What a mistake for the Rebbe to tell him not to open a restaurant on the West Side. You can still find it but the ingredients are not the same and the great flavors are gone, coffee marshmallow , better pecan. . Fairway has it but The Kosher Marketplace has a bigger selection.
Kakutani’s article on Central Park made me love my late morning walks there even more, emphasizing what to be grateful for while we get thru this difficult time.
I love her essay! Have been following her lovely Instagram photos for a long time, and am so glad that she wrote about the park as well.
I’ve lived on the yes for 60 years and love Central Park but last summer I had to stop entering it. Young people not wearing masks and not social distancing. Will it be the same this summer.? Please give seniors a special safe area.
How about rather than complaining about “young people” and asking to carve up the park, you just get your vaccine, Mary?
Brandon, how about showing some compassion for seniors and stop being so condescending? It has been hard for some seniors to get vaccinated. And even if she is vaccinated, the CDC guidelines still advise to wear masks and socially distance even when outside. I go to the Park everyday and have had people sneeze and cough near or on me that weren’t wearing masks. And, to some extent, the Park is already carved up: children’s playgrounds, sporting equipment areas, picnicking areas, bird watching, areas, etc., so it is not an outlandish idea. Try to be kind; it doesn’t cost anything.
The guidance to continue wearing a mask in crowd settings is to prevent forward transmission from vaccinated Person A to unvaccinated Person B, not the other way around. If Mary gets vaccinated, her risk of contracting a serious case of covid from someone outside is so vanishingly small as to be practically impossible. As a result, it is not “kind” for people in her position to be projecting their fears onto others and making accusations about their health being recklessly threatened.
I have no idea what your point is about being repeatedly coughed/sneezed on in the park. Have you contracted covid multiple times from that or something? That’s the only way I can imagine this anecdote would be relevant.
Brandon,
The amount of offense you seem to have taken at this fairly innocuous comment by a senior is unwarranted. If she has a concern, she’s free to express it. Disagree? Fine- what’s it to you? If you feel safe going to the park, great.
I’ve been vaccinated, but my family hasn’t. I have a toddler who won’t be able to get a vaccine for a long time yet and it is very tiring to avoid people in the park who aren’t wearing masks. I’m sure Mary feels the same way. As someone who works in healthcare, I see firsthand how hard it can be for patients to get a vaccine.
I agree that people not wearing masks shouldn’t keep her out of the park as long as she’s wearing one, but people do often forego them in areas where social distancing isn’t possible and that’s not fair to those that are more at risk. You seem like someone who’s probably not at high risk. Show a little compassion to those that are.
Charly, it’s objectively false to say no one has responded but me. Scroll up and look for yourself.
Even if I were the only one, the reply count on a website comment section is immaterial to the merits of our respective positions.
More fundamentally, you continue to misrepresent and exaggerate the risk of outdoor transmission. If you look into this, it may help allay some of the anxieties you share with Mary about being in the park.
We should not be making policy or shaming others based on unsupported fears. And if Mary is not vaccinated now, all indications are she will have that opportunity well before the summer; if she for some reason cannot be vaccinated, it is equally likely that many of the “young people” in the park will have had that same opportunity by then as well. There is no need to cordon off a section of a heavily used park.
First, you are assuming she is vaccinated, and if she isn’t, there isn’t a medical reason why she can’t be. Second, you seem to be the only person “upset” by her position, or more appropriately, her fears. And to call her “not kind” is completely off base. No one has responded to her comment but you. And, no I’ve been lucky and have not have gotten Covid from someone in the Park or elsewhere that has been reckless. And, despite what you may or not think, there are reckless people in the Park and most of us are still not vaccinated, so it is still a threat. One day you may grow old; hopefully someone will show you some compassion, even if you didn’t earn it.
I agree with PastramiBliss and I can also tell you things have changed a lot out there since last summer. At that time I, too, was not happy with the number of maskless Park goers, especially those engaging in exercise! Runners, cyclists etc. huffing and puffing away! These days it’s rare for me to see anyone maskless. It’s time to stop denying yourself the pleasure of the Park. It can make a world of difference in your mood!
You’re outside. The rate of transmission for being outdoors is 0.002%. People get infected indoors. Not outdoors. I’m sorry you missed Central Park last summer, but you should go this summer.
I thought the bit on tips was going to include something on the gratuities: the bigger tips, sometimes much bigger, in percentages, I’ve found myself leaving. I’ve noted friends doing the same. Instead the focus was on frequency of dining out and the size of the tabs: also nice for restaurants, but not the same thing.
I thought the samething. Speaking of Central Park, has there ever been an organized maple “sugaring,” I wonder?
I saw George Stephanopoulos the other day heading to the Park. Thrilling!
thrilling? he’s thrilling? yeesh. he walks around east 72nd + madison all the time, he soaks up the adoration from other females who find him thrilling as well. 20 years ago I saw him kissing Bebe Neuwirth and she was entranced. women are bizarre.
Concierges and other building workers are considered frontline essential workers screen get the vaccine. The staff in our building are getting vaccinated this week. The property manager gave them a letter outlining all this.
It’s outrageous that door persons have not been vaccinated yet. Their union and building owners made them essential workers during the pandemic they were are the frontline, all people in the building pass by them,
all the food deliveries drugstore deliveries and now they’re not entitled to get the vaccination .
Every working essential person should have been first in line to be allowed to get the vaccine .
The doorman in my building kept us safe!
Mr. Mintz’s 3/5/21 NYT obit also mentioned that he developed other Tofu-based delicacies, “Among them are pizza, ravioli and Mintz’s Blintzes,….”
Mintz’s Blintzes! What’s not to love!
Concierge?? He’s a doorman, GET A GRIP!!
was at AMC Friday.
The audience and I clapped so happy to
be back in our movie theatre.!! Distancing
was handled well as all seats are selected at time of purchase
Go!
I was in the Gap in the 60’s/Broadway years ago and I heard a woman with a British voice asking about boys’ clothing. Turned and saw his gorgeous late wife Natasha Richardson. I guess he still lives near the area?