By Carol Tannenhauser
The NYPD has confirmed that a fire was “intentionally set” at around 5 a.m., Thursday, at 541 Amsterdam Avenue, the address of the famed Jewish deli and appetizing store, Barney Greengrass.
“Engine Co. 74 responded and put out the fire, which appears to have involved its outdoor shed,” the police spokesperson said. “No arrests were made.”
Local resident Julia Vitullo-Martin tweeted of the fire,”this is the 4th that I know of this morning.”
WSR has contacted the FDNY and will update this story as soon as they respond.
After destroying UWS Barney Greengrass's outdoor dining shed the arsonist emptied trash cans and burned trash along 87th St. pic.twitter.com/lT4MVHqxAa
— Julia Vitullo-Martin (@JuliaManhattan) April 7, 2022
Update: According to an FDNY spokesperson, on Thursday morning, “the fire department responded to several small fires on the UWS.
- 05:07hrs- 86th St & Broadway subway station, rubbish fire
- 05:23hrs- Broadway and West 70th St subway station, rubbish fire
- 05:26hrs- 203 West 87th St, outside rubbish fire
- 05:38hrs- Amsterdam and West 87th St, outdoor dining area fire
- 05:51hrs- 96th St & Broadway, outside rubbish fire
No injuries. Under investigation.”
Probably related to the Central Park fires. 🤔
The last guy who did this downtown was a sommelier. People are weird:
https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/star-sommelier-set-fires-manhattan-outdoor-dining-sheds-fdny
Well sommeliers are reputed to have very high standards, so…
This is a busy residential street; how did nobody see or hear anything while this was going on? It takes more than a minute to create this mess and set something on fire. I hope they are caught
It was 5AM – the smoke smell is what woke us up.
These first were set between 5 and 6 am. How many people are out at those hours?
why does that matter?
So what if they are caught, they will just be released again the same day with no bail!
When found, prosecuted, they should not go to jail but have supervised service to clean the streets, subways. Why should we pick up after their messes? To realize the damage they are doing to our communities.
That picture of the Barney Greengrass shed fire sure brought back memories to me. I was brought up in the 5th floor corner apartment on the left side, you can only see up to the bottom of the 4th floor apartment window. I used to meet Barney in the elevator, and of course we shopped in his store. My teachers at PS 166 used to eat lunch at Barney’s. I lived there from 1937 to 1962. Wouldn’t want to live there now!
Re: “Wouldn’t want to live there now!”
Really??? Why not? Aside from the occasional “whack-o incident” like this one, the UWS is an absolutely wonderful place:
1. museums here (AMNH, MAD, N-YHS) and easy access to those across the wonderful Central Park;
2. actually, easy access via bus or subway to the rest of Manhattan and even further, like Coney Island (no need to have a car!);
3. restaurants in every price-range;
et-ceterah, et-ceterah, et-ceterahhhh (to quote Yul Brynner in “The King and I”)