By Robin Cohn
Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person is a day of discovery — for tourists visiting the Upper West Side, that is. On parade day, I camp out early in the morning on West 67th Street and Central Park West with my trusty high step stool. Surrounded by out-of-towners, I’m usually the only local. With a long wait before the parade begins, I get to hear tourists’ views of our neighborhood. These visitors, mainly familiar with midtown Manhattan, are like explorers discovering a new world.
Listening to folks talk about us has a somewhat zoo-like feeling. But it’s fun eavesdropping:
“It’s like another world: I can see why New Yorkers like it here.”
“Had no idea Central Park is so beautiful.”
“Great places to buy really good muffins around here. And open early.”
“This street is really pretty.”
“Lots of all different kinds of restaurants on Columbus Avenue.”
“It’s not touristy here.”
Better still, they’re shocked by how nice we are. Hope they spread the word.
But some voice concerns, too, and hearing them can be an eye-opener. Last year, a woman with her little girl was next to me when the parade began. From my vantage point, I spied a little area at the front barrier, just the right size to let the little one see the parade. I showed the mother and the first thing she said was: “Is it safe?” We viewers were packed like sardines, and she worries somebody might take her? I told the mom I’d watch her. The little one happily scooched herself into place.
The Upper West Side knocks down so many New York stereotypes. As one person said, we’re not “touristy.” This parade day gives us a chance to show how and why we live where we do.”
Each year, I silently urge these visitors to go forth and tell the folks back home.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Loved this ♥️
So happy to hear these comments about our beloved neighborhood. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Shhhh. Let’s keep it a secret LOL
Always great to read Robin Cohn, one of the Rag’s most astute reporters! Nice to know there are tourists who will shatter negative stereotypes about NYC and its denizens once they’re back home.
Oh my goodness… I’m so glad I’m not having to be part of this event!! I’ve been happily on the UWS for over 40 years after living all over the world in wonderful counties… The idea of joining the Parade and standing next to millions of tourists in the rain is too much to imagine! A-h-h-h!
In the rain it is indeed a bit much … but, sometimes the weather is nice, and we have a very short commute AND a place to run home to if we had enough. So … sometimes it can actually be nice. That said, I do miss the balloon filling thing being a quieter neighborhood thing to do and hang out by, before it became this very sardine-packed-keep-them-moving event. Price of fame, I guess.
UWS best place in New York.
With all its issues and people complaining about everything 🙄 The UWS is pretty dope.
We’re really much nicer than people give us credit for … AND, the UWS is fab. I’m gonna consider doing the ‘trusty high step stool’ trick for a future TG parade. A vantage point AND a seat. Smart New Yorker, you!
thank heavens these tourists don’t read the WS comments. otherwise they would think we’re in the midst of a terrifying crime wave and no one can step outside nor ride the subway without terrible things happen.
Happy Thanksgiving, neighbors!
Oh, I miss the UWS so much! 😢 I only lived there a year but it felt like home. Now I’m way out in suburban Queens…temporarily, I hope! Eager to get back to civilization asap. Anybody have a room for rent? I’ve never been to the parade. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to walk to it 🙏
I have lived in the Lincoln Center area for 30 years it now reminds me of a third world country. Most of the new tenants in the Condo I live in are unfriendly at best but just pure hateful At baseline.
Sorry to hear that. I’m pretty friendly. Maybe we’ve passed each other. Sit on a bench sometime in the spring. If you don’t have a dog, bring a book. And don’t forget to look up from that dopey phone and smile sometimes.
We are a great city and great people. It’s the ones who are not originally from here that give New York a bad name. We are the nicest and helpfulness people. Some tourist who come here with their rude attitudes give us a bad name after being told off by us. But we are fantastic people and a great city. Nice article.
We stayed on the upper west side (West 89th and Central Park West) on our last visit to NYC, and heartily concur with the comments above! Great amenities, lots of small family run businesses, lots of families too.
It’s heartening to read about people who see what’s good about the UWS and NYC!
I did a few quick searches about crime in various states and cities. Pretty much all the high-crime states are “red” states. High-crime cities are in both “red” and “blue” states, but NYC not among them. (Yonkers in one list is 6th safest city in the country! Who’d a thunk?)
I am from Scotland and my son lives in the Dacota Building love the Parade one word Awesome. Just love ❤️ New York
I frequently offer to take photos of visiting couples and families as they try to manage awkward ‘selfies’ in Central Park, and often ask ‘Do you need directions?’ when I notice tourists standing on street corners looking mystified after consulting their phones.
Effusive thanks usually follow.
New York is so nice, they named it twice!!! New York, New York
About the “some voice concerns negative people” ….Are very far and few between, as I sit in the Theodore Roosevelt Museum Park or around Turtle Pond in Central Park and communicate with the tourist, I very seldom hear anything negative, but everything positive about the UWS from the tourist who I speak to on a daily regular basis and they find New York City as an “Adventure Park” of its own. Many tourist who would love to live here, especially on the UWS ….Say they cannot afford it and they envy the people that do live here.
So feel proud Upper West Siders and privilege of what our surroundings are that offer “us” every day life here on the UWS.🫵
I often stop, sometimes with one of my two young daughters in tow, and offer to help shocked tourists who were looking in dismay from their phones to the dizzying array of street signs and crossings. Whether uptown in Harlem or all along the upper west side, they often look surprised to have a Black woman offering assistance and are grateful for the help, and this tickles me! I do it because I would want someone to help me if I needed it here or elsewhere, and because i Love my city – often more than it loves me! And I spread that love hoping tourists go home knowing this city is far more human and cool than they realized!