By Carol Tannenhauser
March 28, 2022 Weather: Mostly cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High of 32 degrees.
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It’s cherry blossom season in NYC, and there are many venues in the vicinity to view them. Central, of course, is Central Park, but there are others, listed and described in The New York Times: “Sakura Park, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, got its name from the 2,000 cherry trees that were sent to New York City’s parks from Japan in 1912….Nearby, the Riverside Park Cherry Walk has cherry trees that run alongside the path from 100th Street to 125th Street….Most of the cherry trees in Central Park are found between 72nd Street and 96th Street. There are 35 Yoshino trees on the East Side of the Central Park Reservoir (and plenty of pink cherry trees on the West Side), and the park has lots of other popular spots including Cherry Hill, Pilgrim Hill, the Great Lawn and Cedar Hill — listed on its website.” The Times explains that temperature and light determine when the trees flower, but most will be in bloom by mid April.
An opera singer from Russia and a Broadway performer from Texas met in a singing school in Italty, got married in New York City, and moved into his family’s condo near Lincoln Center, The Times recounted. When it was time to get their own place, they wanted to stay in the neighborhood, but it wasn’t price that dissuaded them. “They had an offer accepted on [a] Lincoln Square high-rise…But the co-op process proved insurmountable. ‘They wanted more proof of our marital status than immigration required. It was a level of scrutiny that was not comfortable, a very invasive process.’ The deal fell through. In the meantime, they realized they couldn’t find what they wanted on the Upper West Side. ‘We were realistic,’ Ms. Ulakhovich said. ‘We just can’t get this result. Let’s expand our horizons.’” So they did — to South Harlem.
Meanwhile, a project they might have loved — 1841 Broadway — on the corner of Broadway and West 60th Street, just north of Columbus Circle and the southwestern corner of Central Park, is rising quickly, according to YIMBY, which provided photographs and renderings. “At the time of our last update in early January, foundation work had just concluded and workers were preparing for the reinforced concrete superstructure to go vertical. Construction has proceeded quickly since then and has already progressed above the podium levels. The repetitive shape and size of the remaining floor plates should facilitate a swift rise to the pinnacle. YIMBY predicts that the tower could top out around the end of summer.”
We are seeking photographs for Monday Bulletin. Take your best shot in the neighborhood and send it to info@westsiderag.com.
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Correction: Sakura Park does not have 2,000 cherry blossom trees as we first reported. That was the total number of cherry trees sent to NYC parks as a gift from Japan in 1912.
Sakura Park is spectacular at the height of cherry blossom season, but it alone does not hold 2,000 trees. The NYT article clarifies: “Sakura Park, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, got its name from the 2,000 cherry trees that were sent to New York City’s parks from Japan in 1912.”
Could two thousand cherry trees fit in small Sakura Park?
I understood the Times article that way too, then I reread that sentence: “… got it’s name from the 2,000 cherry trees that were sent to New York City’s parks from Japan in 1912. “ If that’s the case then maybe the 2,000 trees were distributed among parks, not just Sakura Park.
“They had an offer accepted on [a] Lincoln Square high-rise…But the co-op process proved insurmountable”
This really incapsulates everything I hate about this particular column. They always take people/couples who seem to have never been or even heard of the city of New York and its expense, only to watch them fumble with bad expectations (“I’m looking for a 2-bedroom under $2000 close to Central Park!”) and uninformed comments like this.
Yes, the co-op board process was insurmountable. EVERY co-op board process is insurmountable because every co-op board operates as a fiefdom that thinks they are the most important group of people to have ever lived. Their agent obviously didn’t prepare them.
“…EVERY co-op board process is insurmountable…”
Look around our neighborhood; you’ll see (literally) thousands of coop apartments with people living in them. How’d they get there if the board process is always insurmountable?
Oh, and the word you want is “encapsulated”.
I agree with your critique of the NYT approach, but not with the idea that co-op applications are insurmountable. Thousands of them are happening all the time.
Most co-ops require the same amount of paperwork as you need to get a typical mortgage, plus some letters of reference. It’s annoying, but not unwarranted when entering into a semi-permanent financial and residential arrangement.
The couple profiled by the Times clearly didn’t know the difference between a co-op and a condo. They also clearly are exaggerating in comparison to US DHS marriage verification, which can be notoriously invasive.
Given that the couple likely had foreign assets (I mean, their parents own a 3BR condo in the neighborhood so they come from some means), the co-op application probably required more disclosures than they were comfortable with.
I can;t speak for the coop in the article but I recently had a buyer rejected for an apt I was selling in the building where I still live. Took an extra 3 or 4 mos. to sell. I was upset at the time but now realize that the Board was protecting me and the rest of the shareholders – if the buyer seems shady or does not have the financials to pay the maintenance and keep the apt in good shape, everyone else in the building suffers. We ended up with a delightful new neighbor and with someone who passed the Board’s financial test!
FYI I don’t think those are cherry blossoms in the photo. From the branching it looks like a shrub, not a tree, but image is too low resolution for me to identify the actual plant. I have worked at a botanical garden and have lived in Japan. Always a chance I could be wrong but wondering if the plant pictured was verified as sakura.
The photographer sent this link. https://leafyplace.com/dwarf-cherry-blossom-trees/
Does anyone know for sure?
They are Indian azaleas.
I was going to say they looked like azaleas! But those don’t usually bloom until mid May, maybe it’s an old photo?
Definitely are early-blooming azaleas, not cherries. I just admired those flowering shrubs (seen in the original photo) on Saturday when strolling through the Shakespeare Garden– They’re in the area west of the Delacorte Theatre, near the path and steps leading up to Belvedere Castle.
Hope all our flowering trees and shrubs make it through this cold snap OK!
Not enough resolution in the photo. You can guess at the height, but cant see the blossoms, the bark, or even the branching pattern. There is no way to discern it from the photo. If one knew the location and went to see it, then it could be identified.
Walked by there yesterday and it’s definitely too early for the cherry blossoms on the west side of the reservoir. Maybe next week.
I had to link to the YIMBY site to see where you got this:
“on the corner of Broadway and West 60th Street, just north of Columbus Circle and the southwestern corner of Central Park,”
Yep that’s what YIMBY wrote. What an odd geo reference. More helpful to note the building is on the NW corner of Broadway and 60th.
Or just call it the site of the old American Bible Society building for those who remember back 5 years or so.