Monday Bulletin: UWS Choir Performs for Pope Leo XIV; Belvedere Castle a Top Place to Propose; Rats Deserve More Credit than They Get — Study; UWS Artist’s Studio Lives on 60 Years After his Death

Monday, September 29th, 2025

Today’s weather: Mostly sunny; high of 79.

The rest of the week: Expect more sunshine, with a high of 81 tomorrow but cooler temperatures Wednesday through Saturday.

This was a good date in sports history for New York teams; in 1920, Yankee Babe Ruth hit his 54th home run to set what was then a season record; in 1921, the (then) New York Giants clinched the National League pennant; in 1954, the Giants’ Willie Mays made a famed over-the-shoulder catch during Game One of the World Series (see a video — HERE); and in 1987, Yankee Don Mattingly hit his 6th grand slam of the season, a record that has since been tied but never beaten.

It’s also National Coffee Day, though the impact of tariffs on prices is causing pain for consumers and shop owners alike, as James Veltri, who owns Solid State Coffee on the UWS, recently told The New York Times. You’ll find the article — HERE.

Notices

Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper right-hand corner to check.

There are two CB7 committee meetings of particular note this week, with the option to attend both online:

• Tonight at 6:30, the board’s Housing & Land Use Committee will review proposed resolutions to create a Construction Advisory Task Force for the ABC Campus redevelopment and ongoing negotiations for the inclusion of affordable housing.
  • Submit questions and/or testimony — HERE.
  • Register to receive the online meeting link — HERE.
• On Thursday, the board’s Preservation Committee will review a new application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission that would allow demolition of the landmarked West Park Presbyterian Church on the grounds of financial hardship.
  • Meeting information and link to the Presbytery’s application — HERE.
  • Submit questions and/or testimony — HERE.
  • Register to receive the online meeting link — HERE.

News Roundup

Compiled by Laura Muha

While on a pilgrimage to Italy last week, members of the choir at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle on Columbus Avenue got to sing for a very special audience: Pope Leo XIV.

The song they performed, “Love More,” was composed by parishioner and composer-in-residence J. Oconer Navarro, and incorporates the text of the pope’s inaugural address and homily.

The Rev. Eric Andrews, pastor of the church at 8-10 Columbus Avenue, told ABC News that before the 45-member choir left on its long-planned trip, the church had reached out to the Vatican  to ask about the possibility of singing for the pope. But they were given no promises, and choir members didn’t know what to expect last Wednesday when they arrived at St. Peter’s Square, where thousands were waiting for the pope to hold a general audience.

“When we got to our seats, the Swiss guard said ‘oh no no no, come with me,'” recalled Andrews, referring to a member of the pope’s honor guard and security force. The guard then ushered the choir to a location directly in front of the pope’s chair, and when the pope came out in his motorcade, they were invited to begin singing.

“I’ve been to Rome so many times and this one is going to stand out for me,” Andrews said. “It’s a miracle and we’re just a blessed, blessed parish on the west side.”

In addition to performing in St. Peter’s Square, the choir’s tour included performances in Florence, Assisi, and multiple locations in Rome.

Read/watch the full story — HERE and hear the choir’s performance in St. Peter’s Square — HERE (beginning at 4:43).

If you’re looking for a romantic spot to propose marriage to your beloved, you won’t have to venture far. The bridal brand Diamonds are Forever recently named Belvedere Castle as one of 30 best places in the world to propose marriage, and one of the top 10 in the U.S.

The company came up with its rankings by searching out popular proposal locations on TripAdvisor and Instagram; combing through visitor reviews; and looking at features on proposals in travel and wedding guides. It then ranked locations by scoring them on each of 10 factors that are key to a memorable proposal — among them accessibility, cost, on-site amenities, and predictability of the weather.

Belvedere got high marks — 10 out of 10 — for cost of entry (it’s free), and 9 out of 10 for the all-important “Instagramability.” It got fewer points for “cultural and spiritual significance” (4 out of 10) and “exclusivity” (1, since throngs of tourists are likely to share the special moment). But — in good news for our crime-conscious city — it got an 8 out of 10 for safety.

Read the full story — HERE, and view the rest of the rankings — HERE.

You’ll find a full history and then-and-now photos of the castle, which has towered over the park since 1869 — HERE.

Now, on to a decidedly less romantic topic: rats, which have been on the Rag’s news pages constantly of late. They’re overrunning the Broadway median. Stealing snacks out of toddlers’ strollers in Central Park. Terrorizing residents on residential blocks — and let’s not even talk about the subway.

However, a new study suggests that there are more to these banes of urban existence than most of us realize, the New York Post reported.

For three weeks last summer, researchers used thermal cameras and ultrasonic microphones to observe and listen in on colonies of rattus norvegicus — more commonly known as Norway or brown rats —  in Union Square Station, Central Park, and West 125th Street. Among the findings: Rats are highly social and help one another locate food by communicating with a high pitched “whistling” tone that is specific to New York rats.

In Harlem they observed one rat squeak out an “alarm call” from inside a trash bag filled with food to alert other rats to the bonanza.

“They’re pretty tough, adaptable and smart,” neuroscientist and study co-author Emily Mackevicius said. “There are a lot of parallels between the character of the rats and New Yorkers as people.”

Read the full story — HERE and see a pre-print of the study itself  — HERE.

Modernist painter Milton Avery died more than 60 years ago. But his UWS studio lives on almost exactly as he left it, and recently was among those featured in the New York Times Style Magazine in an article about what happens to artists’ studios after they die.

“New York has never been a place known for clinging to its past,” wrote author M.H. Miller. “And yet an unlikely trend has emerged across the city: Artists’ studios are being meticulously preserved — even when the artist who worked in the space has been dead for many years.”

Sometimes that’s intentional, but often, it’s accidental, as was the case with Avery, who shared studio space in his UWS apartment with his wife, illustrator Sally Michel. After he died in 1965, she continued to work there, and when she died in 2003 their daughter, March Avery, also an artist, kept on using it — and still does. Since neither she nor her mother ever undertook serious renovations, Miller wrote in the Times Style Magazine, “[s]tepping into the home is like entering a time portal that tells the story not only of a brilliant family legacy but also of a bygone era in Manhattan, one in which it was easier for artists to live and work where they pleased.”

Avery was known for paintings, prints, and drawings that “maintain a delicate balance between representation and abstraction,” according to the website of the National Gallery of Art.

“I try to construct a picture in which shapes, spaces, colors form a set of unique relationships, independent of any subject matter,” Avery was quoted as saying in 1951.  “At the same time I try to capture and translate the excitement and emotion aroused in me by the impact with the original idea.” An exhibition of Avery’s work is scheduled for later this fall at Karma Gallery in Chelsea.

Read the full story and see photos of the studio — HERE.

ICYMI

‘Dark Days’ for Immigrants Don’t Deter Upper West Side Asylum Clinic

What Are the Mysterious Arrows Embedded in Cobblestones Along Riverside Drive Pointing To?

Take the Tunnel When You’re Crossing the Central Park Drives

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