Monday, September 9, 2024
Sunny. High 77 degrees.
There is pleasant weather on the horizon for the coming week, days will be sunny with highs in the upper 70s and lower 80s all the way through Sunday, without any expected rain.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will take place on Tuesday, September 10, on ABC. The debate will begin at 9 p.m. You can learn more about the event and the agreed-upon rules — HERE.
The 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center is on Wednesday, September 11. There will be a memorial service at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan on the day that begins at 8:46 a.m.
Lincoln Center will also host its annual Table of Silence public performance ritual at 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday to commemorate the loss of life on the day.
Sunday, September 15 is the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
Upper West Sider Tony Danza enjoys the simple things.
Deep cleaning his apartment, while listening to Frank Sinatra.
The New York Times recently profiled the actor and longtime local in their “At Home With”series, which included the opening line, “step inside the entertainer’s Upper West Side apartment.”
Danza has lived in the 1,046-square-foot pad since 2005, when he bought the apartment for $1.7 million.
“I can start singing at six o’clock in the morning, and nobody hears me, and I don’t hear them,” Danza told the Times. “That’s one of the reasons I love this apartment.”
Danza, 73, is best known for his television roles on “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss.” He’s also known for his appearances, both dining and sometimes singing, outside of Manny’s Bistro at 225 Columbus Avenue.
You can read more about how Danza sets up his Upper West Side home — HERE.
An Upper West Side woman is suing a neighborhood coffee place after she ate a chocolate-chip cookie from the business and went into anaphylactic shock, as the New York Post first reported.
Melissa Schwartz Nemeth, who has a severe allergy to sesame, asked a barista at Oren’s Daily Roast on Broadway between West 112th and 113th streets, if the cookie had any sesame in it, according to the lawsuit. The barista said no, but the employee did not know that tahini, which the cookie was made with, contains sesame, the lawsuit added.
After taking a single bite, Nemeth, who was with her two small children at the time, went into anaphylactic shock, but was able able to administer her epipen, the Post reported. The Upper West Side mom has also previously sued a Mexican restaurant in the East Village for a different incident related to sesame exposure, the Post added.
Oren Daily Roast did not return the publication’s request for comment.
You can read more about the situation — HERE.
Juilliard’s Inaugural Fall Festival will take place from September 12 to 21.
The 10-day series will take place across various venues on the Upper West Side, including within Juilliard’s campus and Lincoln Center.
There will be programs and shows with students from dance, drama, chamber music, composition, historical performance, jazz, and vocals. There will also be a collaborative performance at Lincoln Center’s Hearst Plaza, where all attendees will be invited to join in.
Tickets to Fall Festival events are $30 for non-members, and $15 for members.
“Juilliard’s first-ever Fall Festival will set the tone for the year with a series of vibrant, boundary-pushing performances every night for 10 nights throughout Juilliard and Lincoln Center,” said school President Damian Woetzel, in a news release.
To find out more and check out the schedule — you can click, HERE.
A Jewish day school that specializes in teaching students with learning disabilities welcomed kids for the first time last week into their new $100-million building on the Upper West Side.
The Shefa School, now on West 60th Street, struck a deal in 2022 for a 99-year lease at the 12-story building, which had sat empty for four decades. The initial sale was worth $49.5 million, and the school was then granted $65 million through bonds from the city, before raising an additional $30 million in a capital campaign, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The school initially opened in 2014 in the Lincoln Square-area, before moving to Chelsea two-years later, and now returning to the Upper West Side.
The new building will allow the Shefa School to expand its enrollment, and also comes with upgraded amenities, such as science labs, gyms, libraries, and a rooftop garden.
You can read more about it — HERE.
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It’s unrealistic to expect an employee to know the ingredients of cookies, probably not even made on premises. Nemeth should do better research and perhaps bring her food with her when she goes out. She has sued more than once, so all of this is a bit suspect.
Then the employee should simply say that they don’t know all the ingredients. Too many people feel like they need to give an answer even if they haven’t a clue.
I feel badly for the barista, who could be as young as teenaged. The woman seems to be the type where nothing is her fault. Check Orens’ website: it’s a gluten free vegan cookie and therefore quite odd looking off the bat. She could have looked it up as well instead of blaming the business.
I have several severe food allergies. If I have even the tiniest doubt about something, I just won’t eat it. I’ll ask about ingredients if I’m somewhere, and I always tell them that my allergy is severe enough that I’ll end up at the hospital, so to please say so if they aren’t 100%. It’s the reason I rarely eat out, or anything I haven’t prepared myself. I don’t take any chances. It’s up to me to be vigilant.
A word to the wise: If you have a severe allergy to sesame, don’t eat cookies, or anything else that could arguably have sesame in it, and don’t eat on the premises of an establishment where sesame could be used, if you were advised that puts you at risk. And, while you’re at it, don’t rely upon a barrister’s knowledge of the ingredients of a cookie.
Do you mean barista?
The barristers didn’t come into the picture until after the incident in question 🙂
Glad the school found a deal. Tough in today’s climate where city is paying top dollar to landlords to house migrants.
Shefa is a truly wonderful school, and the new facility is a godsend for students with language-based learning disabilities.
Gorgeous photo, Gus. So bucolic and peaceful. Reminds us of what a treasure Central Park can be.
The problem with allergies is that you can become allergic to something at any time and at any age and have no idea. The reaction can be mild, or severe, or deadly and there is no advanced warning if it a new allergy, or even a seasonal allergy, or a bug bite, or something similar, including food or pharmaceuticals. A friend of mine ate nuts his entire life, then suddenly at a restaurant in his older years, he had a reaction. I took Sulfa drugs until I suddenly couldn’t. I was allergic to penicillin as a youth, and now I do not test positive for it anymore (but I still don’t take it, just in case). My biggest fear is that I will suddenly test positive to something I love, like chocolate or nuts or peanut butter. There is no way anyone could know that tahini was an ingredient in a chocolate chip cookie or a muffin or whatever, unless the main sales point was that it was a “sesame” item, like a bagel. The insurance company will probably throw some money her way just to get rid of the lawsuit, but it’s sad all the way around, but at least the plaintiff should be thankful she is still around to sue. Allergies are unpredictable and very scary.
Why would anyone expect a coffee bar employee to know all of the ingredients of a cookie?
I have seen a worker in a different bakery, when someone asked about ingredients, pull out a binder that listed each item’s ingredients, for this exact purpose. A cashier or other front-of-house worker wouldn’t know all the ingredients in everything, but it’s important that the knowledge is accessible.
Boris got it on the nose -“I DON”T KNOW” is the appropriate response.
If the server doesn’t have a list at hand to reference then “I DON”T KNOW.” is what she should have said.
@ Sam Katz.
I agree, allergies are unpredictable. I had the same situation as you with Sulfa, but I didn’t sue the doctor who prescribed it.
If I had an allergy that bad I would not be hoping a barrista knows. Second lawsuit sounds suspect to me.
I also have terrible food allergies and I have a cousin that has the same anaphylactic causing sesame allergy as Ms. Schwartz Nemeth, so I understand the trauma of eating something that you shouldn’t but any judge that sits on the bench and hears this case is crazy! I blame that layer for even filing it and getting his clients hopes up. The person with the food allergy is the only person responceable for what they ingest!