Monday, June 10, 2024
Cloudy. Possible rain. High 79 degrees.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Early Voting in New York City starts on Saturday.
Friday is Flag Day. Sunday is Father’s Day.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Central Park West was named one of the most beautiful streets in the world by the publication Traveler last month.
The magazine took a shot at naming the 71 most beautiful streets in the world, and the corridor along Central Park West was one of two in New York City to earn a spot on the ranking.
Traveler dubbed Central Park West, from West 60th to 110th streets, as one of those beautiful streets.
“With plenty of space for cars and pedestrians alike, a trip down the iconic avenue will have you passing an impressive collection of late-19th- and early-20th-century architecture styles, like neo-renaissance, Art Deco, neoclassical, Beaux Arts, and second empire,” Traveler wrote. “While the buildings are impressive on their own, the proximity to Central Park means the street gets a whole new look every few months, making it one of the best places to take in all of New York’s seasons.”
The magazine also gave the stretch of blocks extra points for hosting the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The other New York City street to make the list? The cobblestone block at the intersection of Washington Street and Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn.
While it is hard to argue with the beauty of Central Park West, leave us a comment on what you think is the most spectacular single block on the Upper West Side.
For those who don’t know, music superstar Cyndi Lauper is an Upper West Sider, and she recently talked to The New York Times — while walking through the neighborhood — about her farewell tour and documentary.
Last week, Lauper, 70, announced the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour,” which will be her final. A documentary about her life, which originally premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2023, will also begin streaming on Paramount+ for a wider audience.
For the Times article, Lauper was photographed within the Scarlet Lounge on Amsterdam Avenue between West 82nd and 83rd streets, the joint venture from actor Michael Imperioli, Victoria Imperioli, and Upper West Side restaurateur Jeremy Wladis. The story also mentions the “Time After Time” singer ducking into the Sonia Delaunay abstract art exhibition at the Bard Graduate Gallery on West 86th Street.
What drew the eye most from an Upper West Side angle, though, was from the opening few paragraphs.
“‘Of course, up here it’s fashion hell,’ she allowed of her tony neighborhood.”
The line seems to be somewhat of a dig at the fashion sense on the Upper West Side, but Lauper proceeded to compliment the looks of multiple women passing by in the next few lines.
You can read the full article — HERE.
Over the past month, you might have noticed more of a police presence surrounding illegal smoke shops on the Upper West Side.
At the end of April, Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded the state’s enforcement powers to allow local authority forces to conduct regular inspections of alleged illegal smoke shops. Prior to the April change from Hochul, state agencies struggled to conduct the needed number of inspections to keep up with the proliferation of illegal stores in the five boroughs.
Shortly after the governor’s announcement, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled “Operation Padlock to Protect” on May 14, a multi-agency enforcement campaign that had already inspected 150 smoke shops and padlocked 75 of them over the span of seven days — at the time of the announcement.
Those inspections and subsequent smoke shops closures continue to happen at the increased rate.
On Friday, Pure Green on West 72nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam, was subject to one of those inspections. Officers from multiple enforcement agencies entered the store and seized multiple trash bags worth of illegal merchandise.
The storefront was then padlocked.
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Only two more smoke shops to go on just that one block, keep it up!
One of the two remaining is LEGAL and won’t be going anywhere. And plenty of us are happy about it. SORRY!
Yes!! Finally a crackdown on storefronts illegally selling narcotics. This is a lay-up, it’s a public safety hazard, they are selling a product people ingest to alter their mental state without a license. It shouldn’t have taken this long.
Operation Padlock and Protect is going to be hard to enforce given that every illegal weed shop pays protection money to cops in the 24. You can see cop cars pulling up to the shops and picking up packages nightly then driving away. All you have to do is watch.
The most spectacular block on the UWS is undoubtedly Broadway b/n 104 and 105, east sidewalk. Classic example of aged uber-neo-modernist architectural and urban governance classicism.
Riverside Drive is much prettier than CPW, for sure!
West End > Riverside. Doesn’t have the views but also doesn’t have the cold winds in the winter and is much closer to shopping and transportation on Broadway. And it is safer at night. It doesn’t have any retail so it is much quieter than Broadway, Amsterdam, etc.
Shhhhhh!
Shhhhh!
I have to agree with Mike mishkin who said 78th btwn Columbus and Amsterdam. Those townhouses are gorgeous.
You can’t go wrong with several other side streets in that area either. So much beauty on those blocks.
Of all the nice streets b/n Col and Amst in the 70s, 78th is precisely the one I wouldn’t have quoted, given the south side is PS 87 – which, on top of being a bland school building – has been covered by enormous scaffolding for years now.
And the situation is unlikely to change for a few more years, given the typical speed of DOE construction in this city, asbestos, etc.
TWO OF THESE SHOPS ON BWAY AND 104TH – WEST SIDE OF BWAY. WILL WE HAVE BLOCK AFTER BLOCK OF THESE SHOPS? NO ZONING? ARE THEY LEGAL?
Broadway from 96th to 110…smoke shop alley!!!
78th btw Amst and Col
Obligatory comment that e-bikes are ruining CPW and every other street on the UWS!
With its sweeping views of the river and Riverside Park and its great architecture, Riverside Drive gets my vote.
There are many beautiful streets on the Upper West Side, but my favorites are ithe stretch of blocks on Riverside Drive from around 100th Street up to 116th. Of those, one of the nicest is 106th to 108th. I’ve photographed it in all seasons and am happy to share my photos with WSR. Just email me and I’ll send them to you.
Busting weed shops, axing congestion pricing ….. must be an election coming up!
Great. Can we look into the root cause and real issue which is how have so many been permitted to open? Its not like these are break ins and squatting? Leases are signed. Signage. Move ins. So, if it can be illegal unlicensed marijuana shops, it can also be other illegal businesses. Who is minding the shop in the city and neighborhood and why is everything a political move? Its embarrassing and quite pathetic actually. Absence of leadership but Im sure someone pocketed some serious bank.
I don’t think there are any leases. I think these are simply month to month agreements between the landlords and weed shops. The weed shops agree to pay the landlord as long as they remain open. This is why these weed shops pop up in another location when they are closed down. This arrangement is a win win for both parties – the landlord generates income from his vacant space and the weed people aren’t on the hook for a lease if they get shut down.
Landlords. You know, those poor, put-upon, harassed, law-abiding LLCs who would never show their utter disregard for tenant or neighborhood welfare by aso renting to obvious illegal retail operations.
I suppose it is a quibble but CPW is an Avenue, not a Street in the vernacular of Manhattan. On a beautiful day every street and avenue on the UPS has lots of beauty: trees, buildings, people, dogs! This need to compete to be named the best is unnecessary but I’m glad it got people to name those they love best.
Wait…Riverside Drive is so beautiful. It just invites you to enter and enjoy the park. We are lucky to have it.
West Side Rag should dig a little deeper into the financing of the weed shops. My hunch is the people signing the leases are in for a world of financial hurt as competition increases and then all the shops get shuttered. Whoever is putting up the start up costs (franchises?) will walk, and the broke hustlers will be back to hustling.
A casual glance from streetside indicates that many of them have similar signage and fixtures, which might lead one to suspect that they are not just independent mom-and-pop businesses but are being financed by a larger shadow entity.
105th bw West End and Riverside is particularly lovely!
I would like to nominate 105th street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue as an especially beautiful block.
My favorite block in the neighborhood!
The day the illegal smoke shop opened in the Allegro Condo I called all the powers to be and it’s still open. Between west 61-62 and Broadway.
Just curious. Why are the landlords that are renting to these illegal smoke shops not getting fined. they know what they’re doing and they don’t care. Their greedy and not invested in the community’s quality of life.
The weed shops didn’t bother me. All the newly vacant storefronts do. How about we just leave the discreet ones alone.
Cyndi is right on about the fashion desert. I can’t wear the kind of clothes she does but continue to despair of finding a boutique of imagination and charity to women of a certain age. Also, Cyndi, if you happen to see this, please add Sarah Jarosz’ “Columbus and 89th” to your repertoire. It’s magical!
Welp, looks like all of them are shut down now. Let’s hope the city does the right thing and figures out how to get a reasonable number of these licensed so their people can get back to work.