UWS Weekend: Great Things to do In (and Around) the Neighborhood

By Tracy Zwick

How about a guided walk around the neighborhood this weekend, or a family-friendly playground party? If you’d rather stay indoors, I took the express train (2/3) to visit Printemps last weekend and can tell you it’s worth a minor schlep. Printemps is the French word for spring and also the name of the Parisian department store that’s just opened a gorgeous NY outpost in the financial district. In case of springtime rain, there’s also a 2013 James Gandolfini – Julia Louis-Dreyfus film at New Plaza Cinema Sunday.

 Let’s Weekend! 

 May 2nd to 4th, 2025

Guided Walks: Various locations on the UWS and beyond; for more information check out the Municipal Arts Society’s Jane’s Walk website using this link; free and open to all, but RSVP required

The annual Municipal Arts Society festival called “Jane’s Walk” (named for journalist and urban activist Jane Jacobs) is this Friday to Sunday, when you can explore the entire city on your own or in groups enhanced by guides who’ll share personal observations and local history. “A Wild Woman’s Walk on the UWS” caught my eye, as did “Poet-tree in Motion,” which meets Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Firefighter’s Memorial on Riverside Drive and West 100th Street and will talk about sharing climate stories. Sunday at 11 a.m. there’s “Morningside Park: Community, Conflict and Common Ground” – a walk through the 1895 masterpiece of landscape architecture in the UWS’s backyard, designed by Central Park’s team of Olmsted & Vaux.

Hippo Playground’s Spring Fair: Sunday May 4th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Hippo Playground in Riverside Park near West 91st Street; free and open to all, but tickets for purchase for rides & games

An UWS tradition, the Hippo Playground Spring Fair has pony rides, bouncy castles, a petting zoo, games, crafts, face painting, and more. Proceeds support various community initiatives, including the Hippo Summer Concert Series and playground improvements throughout Riverside Park. Rain date is May 18th.

Summer on the Hudson: Learn about protecting New York Harbor’s oyster reefs on Saturday or explore the northern part of Riverside Park with a guided walk on Friday after work; free but RSVP required; more details here

This annual arts and culture festival organized by the Riverside Park Conservancy in partnership with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation launched its 23rd year of programming yesterday, May 1st. The festival lasts all summer, and activities take place at myriad locations all along the Upper West Side and beyond. This weekend, walk through and learn about the northernmost part of Riverside Park on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Conservancy staff will lead the group, which will meet at the West 152nd Street waterfront. Saturday from 12 to 2 p.m., visit the Billion Oyster Project’s research station at West 125th and Marginal streets to learn more about the work being done to restore oyster reefs to New York Harbor. Oyster reefs provide habitats for hundreds of species and can protect our city from storm damage – softening the blow of large waves, reducing flooding, and preventing erosion.

Rainy Day Movie or Shopping

Printemps, the sophisticated French department store founded in Paris in 1865, has opened a branch downtown that’s as fun to admire for its design and architecture as it is to shop. You can plan your visit on the website, which suggests itineraries for an hour or a day at Printemps. The store has several dining options, a green-tiled apothecary, a “sneaker room” and an iconic Art Deco landmark Red Room with soaring ceilings and red ombre and gold mosaic tiles lining its walls and ceilings.

If you’re more interested in the late Italian-American actor James Gandolfini than French couture, New Plaza Cinema has “Enough Said,” Gandolfini’s 2013 rom-com with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on Sunday at 5:45 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and book signing with film critic and historian Jason Bailey, whose latest book, “Gandolfini,” will be available for purchase.

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