By Lisa Kava
Be Fit, a gym and fitness center, moved from 2726 Broadway (at West 104th Street), to 2681 Broadway (at West 102nd Street), on January 5th, owner Fernando Salome told West Side Rag on a phone call. The new location has two floors with cardio equipment, dumbbells, kettlebells, squat racks, and cable cross machines. It offers 35 group fitness classes per week. There are ADA-compliant bathrooms and showers on the first floor. Be Fit’s new location also features a smoothie bar serving fresh smoothies and healthy snacks, Salome told the Rag. “Our new spot is beautiful and spacious with great lighting,” he said. A supermarket was the last tenant in the space. (Thanks to Andrew for the tip.)
Haven, a restaurant serving seafood, salads, and burgers at 226 West 79th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), has been temporarily closed since late December due to a gas leak in the building. The leak is unrelated to the restaurant, a representative from Haven wrote to West Side Rag in an email. Repairs have been made and are awaiting a Con Ed inspection, but Haven has a tentative grand reopening date of Friday January 16th. (Thanks to Gavan for the tip.)
Farinella Pizza at 1796 Broadway (at Columbus Circle), recently closed. “As far as I recall they were open right up through Christmas,” tipster Chris wrote. The website is no longer active. Farinella was known for its thin crust rectangular pizzas and variety of toppings. Signage is in the window for Angelina, a bakery and coffee shop with locations in Hell’s Kitchen, Times Square, and Grand Central. Angelina serves cakes, tarts, croissants, and gelato. They also serve sandwiches, salads, and focaccia. (Thanks to Chris for the photo and the tip.)
Craft Pilates, a Pilates studio, will open in February at 644 Amsterdam (at West 92nd Street). It is a “reformer Pilates studio,” owner Maayan Irvine wrote to West Side Rag in an email. “The studio has nine reformers [a staple in pilates apparatus], which allows for personal attention, hands-on cueing, and an emphasis on form,” Irvine wrote. Craft will offer group classes from beginner to advanced. It will also offer private and duet sessions, as well as pre- and postpartum classes. There are memberships, class packages, and drop-in sessions available. A special promotion will be offered at opening (a package of three classes for $75). This will be the second studio for Craft Pilates, the original is in Park Slope, Brooklyn. (Thanks to Kim for the tip.)
Auntie Anne’s, the pretzel company, along with Carvel, the ice cream company, are “coming soon” to 2818 Broadway (at West 109th Street), according to both websites. This is the second Auntie Anne’s/Carvel location on the Upper West Side. The first location opened in 2024 at 2568 Broadway (between West 96th and West 97th streets.) We will update when we have an expected opening date. (Thanks to Robby and Gary for the tip.)
Ghemo, a Georgian wine restaurant and bakery, has signage up at 201 West 106th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.) According to the restaurant’s Instagram they do catering and events. We will update as we learn more about Ghemo, its menu, and its expected opening date. (Thanks to Tasha for the tip.)
ICYMI: West Side Rag has received numerous tips over the past few weeks about the possible closure of longtime grocery store Broadway Farm at 2341 Broadway (at West 85th Street). Read our coverage of this news here.
The Openings & Closings column wouldn’t be possible without our many tipsters: thank you! Anyone can send tips about openings and closings in the neighborhood to info@westsiderag.com.
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Sad about Farinella. Remember when they first opened shop on Amsterdam between 72nd and 73rd? Their pizza was not only very good, but a good representation of the style. And now, a mediocre-to-poor Italian-ish bakery is opening in its spot. What a shame.
Aren’t there a couple of bakeries on that block already?
Why can we no longer Thumbs Up a comment?
Thank you for your comment. We’re aware of the issue and are already working on a fix to restore things as soon as possible.
But please stick with the new typeface (Lora)!
I can live with or without the thumbs-up feature, but please restore the comment-editing widget. It would certainly be a shame to lose that feature, especially for those of us who occasionally fail to achieve perfection on the first go. Having taken years to notice its existence, I’d hate to part with it.
Thumbs up.
Thumbs up!
Any idea of what’s coming to the storefront on the southeast corner of Amsterdam & 99th Street?
Amsterdam at 99th St doesn’t have a southeast corner. Do you mean the southwest corner, where the Pearls Chinese restaurant used to be? I don’t know what’s opening there (curious myself), but maybe someone else will if they’re thinking of the right corner…
The addition of Carvel’s to the neighborhood is very exciting. We seem to be a bit saturated with ice cream places and prices at the first Carvel seem very high, but still a good thing.
I am sorry that Farinella is closing as I root for all businesses to succeed. I am fairly sure that no native New Yorker ever ate there – it always seemed to be full of tourists.
Waving my hand– hello, NY native here, and I’ve eaten at Farinella’s.
Booooo!!! No Auntie Anne’s/Carvel! We don’t want that up here! The block already has a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins to boot. That intersection already has an issue with garbage and the 109th Street block is notorious for rats and is putting in a lot of effort to improve it. This is the last thing they need.
We’re trying to improve the area up here, not make it an airport food court of junk.
Please tell me this is not for sure!
Two storefronts does not a food court make!
Rather than say “we” don’t want the new store (who, exactly, are you speaking for??), why not propose ideas for discouraging the litter?
I agree. The two block area between 109 and 112 has become a mall food court. It is terrible.
Yeah! Keep the storefront empty! I love empty storefronts and I hate when people are on the street and also when they enjoy things!
What are you doing to improve the area?
After all this time – an auntie Anne’s and a Carvel?! Didn’t realize this stretch of broadway is attempting to cosplay a mall food court. Rent must be awfully unattainable.
I’m not sure who considers 58th and Broadway to be the Upper West Side, but regardless, the pastries at Angelina are FANTASTIC!
Aspirational
I’m a secret Carvel lover (Brown Bonnet!), and anything is better than a graffiti-covered empty storefront. Pizza followed by soft-serve is the perfect summer meal. You can eat your Mama’s Too in Strauss Park, then pop over to Carvel after, and enjoy a cone on the walk home.
I grew up with Carvel and understand it’s a franchise. The Carvel down at 97th doesn’t do the dips! Hoping this one does
Those types of food-court storefronts are better suited to that part of the UWS. The area takes a noticeable nosedive once you go north of 86th.
That spot is next to an Ivy League university.
I am happy about Aunt Annies and Carvel. There are too many empty store fronts on Upper Broadway W100-114.
Agree!
I understand the Auntie Anne’s/Carvel feelings but just look at the photo above and tell me that an open store isn’t an improvement! FYI that corner, except for when it was a real estate office for one specific building recently, and maybe a Verizon before that, has been pretty sad for years.
The corner of 109th was a Verizon store for 8 or 9 years. Before that, my mind draws a blank, and I used to walk by there every day on my way to work.
Was never a fan of Farinella, but still sorry to see them go.
Angelina’s is very good (but expensive). But that will make FOUR fairly similar places on that one block: Magnolia, Venchi, Le Pain Quotidien and now Angelina’s. I wonder if all of them will be able to survive, even at a heavily trafficked intersection.
Amazed about the Carvel complainers. Wish it was opening closer to home in the 70s so I could more conveniently pop in for a brown bonnet. The only thing that would make it better would be to have one with my grandfather by my side just like when as we used to walk together in our Brooklyn neighborhood.
There’s a new comment section?! Not a fan, the likes are half the fun
I hope that gym sticks. That corner of the Broadmoor has either been empty or occupied by a transient-type place not really open to the public (think it was a Gopuff depot or similar?) for a decade or more.
Yes, it was (not GoPuff, that’s across the street)., and has stood empty for a couple of years. I rally hope this gym stays for a while.
La Rhonda was where this Carvel is due . Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos mentions it as well as other establishments of an era ! I had a classmate who danced there briefly.
Georgian cuisine seems to be on the up-and-up!! So glad to see this! Not long ago, Georgians were mostly opening up Italian restaurants in NYC, not Georgian ones.
Let’s hope the gas-leak fixes stick and Haven doesn’t join 226 West 79th Street’s restaurant heaven, which includes The Only Child; Julia, A Garden Restaurant; Miss Elle’s Homesick Bar & Grill; Dorian’s; and Burke & Willis.
I remember — probably alone among WSR’s readership, though as always feel free to prove me wrong — when the Farinella Pizza site was home to the Mr. Ephram clothing shop. Both it and The Only Child are spots dear to my heart.
Craft Pilates, on the other hand, will be opening merely next door to another bygone place I recall: New Amsterdam Business Services, where I briefly rented a mailbox in the early 1980s.
If Carvel was good enough for the UWS in the 1980s (with branches at 2534 Broadway & 797 Amsterdam), surely it remains so for us today, and vice versa.
When I first came to NYC I worked in an office building across the street from Mr. Ephram. Thanks to their deeply discounted clothes, I managed to be decently dressed on a very plebian salary.
You worked at the NYC Convention & Visitors Bureau in 2 Columbus Circle? I used to stop by there regularly for the latest flyers and brochures, an embarrassing quantity of which I retain.
I wonder just how long the Mr. Ephram shop was around; there are some question marks I’d like to replace with dates in my NYC notes.
You’re not alone, ecm! Thanks for supplying the name that I forgot. I bought a mini-dress at Mr. Ephram’s back in the day, when you could then walk a few blocks to Schrafft’s on W. 57th St. and have a brownie a la mode at the counter. Carvel Who??
OMG! Mr. Ephram’s. Hadn’t thought of that in half a century.
Thanks for the memories, Ginger! Back in the day, one could also walk a block or so to the Cosmic Coffee Shop (1775 Broadway; 1972–2006) for a chocolate egg cream. In fact, that’s where I had my first, in Oct. 1979.
Do you also recall the deli that for many years was at the SW corner of Broadway and 86th, the same spot once occupied by a Blimpie until Dec. 1984? If so, do you recall its name? Near the entrance they kept a large ice chest stocked with soda pop, including my then-favorite brand, Boylan.
Hi ecm,
Just catching up. On that SW 86th corner I remember something like Merit Farms or Daitch. I was usually waylaid and food-fixed at William’s Barbecue though.
Ginger: I did a little poking around the Web and neither Merit Farms nor Daitch led to anything, although I did come across a reference to a Daitch Dairy at 79th (not 86th, alas) & Broadway and one to a Merit Farms on 72nd between Broadway & Columbus.
This may require a visit to Room 121 of the Schwarzman Building. 🙁 Or maybe Rob Garber knows.
I don’t believe the current Farinella was the same quality as the original. There was a while where they were closed and then reopened. I used to eat at one on Lex in the 60s (street, not year) when I worked at Bloomberg, and they had a variety of toppings that I loved – I used to get slices with fresh garlic, anchovies, and super hot sliced tiny chili peppers. The current Farinella had none of these, and even the crusts didn’t seem the same, thicker than before. I’m neither surprised nor sorry to see them close.
Definitely have a soft 🍦spot for Carvel.
Actually Carvel had really cute MetroCard cakes to mark the end of Metrocards.
I find it so offensive when someone says who should open a business and who shouldn’t, in the neighborhood?
I know we have a self proclaimed Democratic Socialist in Gracie Mansion, and things may change for people who have enough money to open a business, but at this point we still have that right if we can follow the regulations and afford what it takes to do so.
I can remember when Chick Fil A on Columbus, the cries for “we’ll never walk into that store” and “how dare they?” along with “it should NEVER be in our neighborhood.” Well, every time I walk by there the place is packed.
Anyone know what happened to Effy Hair Boutique next to Absolute Bagels? Closed very suddenly right before the new year – a big loss for the neighborhood!
Angelina’s is wonderful. Everything is very, very fresh and they make a sweet small round pizza too. Their employees are so cheery. I went into the one on 77th st on Lexington several times when my husband was in Lenox Hill and they all became my little support group.
Will the Auntie Anne’s/Carvel be keeping the urban folk art that’s been painted onto its facade? I sure hope so – it lends so much vibrant character to the feel of the neighborhood!
Hot tip, Wendy’s has signage up at 97th and Broadway. Love Wendy’s Chili!!!
Any idea what is going in on the SE corner of 107 & Broadway? Was a chinese restaurant with red cement outside– now has nice white tiling up on exterior!
Yes. Luckin Coffee. Basically Chinese Starbucks
No, Luckin is across the street on the southwest corner of 108/bway
There was “we’re hiring” sign taped to the door of the place at the corner of 108th a couple days ago after the construction fence came down, but it was gone the next day. I think it had a name like Aunty Ellen’s or Aunty Eileen’s, which if correct would be two aunties a block apart.
Anyone have any idea what the Uncle Byrdie’s Joint is going in on Amsterdam btw 109 and 110? That’s the place where two juice bars/cafes have died quick deaths.
I liked Farinella and went there regularly for years. The staff were very nice, and I liked the pizza. Then, some time last year, it changed. They had some new staff who were oddly rude, and insisted you stand in a specific spot if you want to order. I don’t know what changed or why, but I was done after that. I emailed my feedback, but there was no reply. I stopped going after that. I’m not surprised or sorry that they closed.
A minor correction:
The previous tenant of the corner that befitnyc moved into was a Gorillas->Getir dark store, not a regular grocery.
It’s nice to see them move in there. Really upgrades the corner