Today is Monday, August 17th, 2026
The forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds, with a high of 88 and the possibility of a morning shower. Ditto for most of the rest of the week (with slight variations in the daily high temperatures, which will trend down a few degrees as the week wears on).
On this date in 1994, the reservoir in Central Park officially was named after the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in honor of her many contributions to the city. Before her death in May of that year, Onassis had often been seen jogging around the reservoir, and the windows of her Fifth Avenue apartment looked out over it. The 106-acre, billion-gallon reservoir, which was begun in the late 1850s and completed in 1862, originally supplied some of the city’s water, but it was decommissioned in 1993 after a new water main running under 79th Street made it obsolete; it does, however, still supply water to the Harlem Meer and nearby Pool.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Lit Club NYC, a group that describes itself as “a literary community for the culturally curious,” is holding a “Rest and Read” tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the West Side Community Garden. Bring a book and a bottle (if desired) and make a dent in your reading list, then gather in small groups for conversation about what you’re reading. The garden is located at 55 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West). More information on the club — HERE, and tickets ($15) for tomorrow’s event are available — HERE.
A note from WSR editors: It’s August and our full-time reporting staff of one has earned a rest, so you may notice us posting fewer stories than usual this week. But don’t worry, we’ll still be publishing our regular daily columns. Wishing all our readers a restful countdown to summer’s end!
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Nearly 500 parents whose children use the Gertrude Ederle Playground are documenting what they say are safety concerns related to a homeless shelter that recently opened nearby, WABC reported.
“This was always a safe haven for families and children, especially this playground, and now a lot of us are scared to come here,” said a woman who identified herself to the station only as “Heather.” “We feel unsafe. There’s loitering, public nudity, public vomiting, urination, drug use, drinking, needles and bottles being left in the playground.”
The park is located on West 60th Street between West End and Amsterdam avenues, about a block from a 200-bed shelter for single women that opened in May.
Project Renewal, a nonprofit associated with the shelter, told WABC that the city’s Department of Social Services “has met with the council member’s office about these concerns and has also set up a community advisory board to work collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors. As we work on next steps based on the feedback of the community, we also continue to work to address the stigma against New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who have fallen through every level of the safety net and society at large.”
Read/watch the full story — HERE.
Construction supervisor Pier Bueno got a big surprise when he reported to a worksite on West 95th Street last week: A large snake was lounging under the construction netting. The reptile apparently was just as startled, because it quickly slithered into one of the construction site’s scaffolding pipes.
“I have come across some other rodents — raccoons and rats and stuff. But never a snake,” the supervisor, Pier Bueno, told NBC News 4. “It was pretty scary.”
Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit came to the rescue, banging on the pipe and flushing it with water to force the snake from its hiding spot. “Officers did eventually free the snake and secured it in a cloth bag,” NBC reported.
It was taken to the Animal Care Centers of New York City, where it was identified as a water snake. “It appeared to be molting, or shedding its skin, which according to experts would explain why it was in the pipe: Snakes are known to rub up against rough surfaces and hide while shedding their scales,” NBC reported.
Read/watch the full story — HERE.
A West 87th Street townhouse once owned by an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt is being quietly shopped off-market for $10.28 million, the real estate website Mansion Global reported.
The 6,414-square-foot home is known as the True-Littauer house, after its architect, Clarence True, and one of its early owners, Roosevelt political advisor Lucius Littauer. Located at 64 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West), it features five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a foyer that doubles as a sitting room, a chef’s kitchen, a roof deck, a south-facing private garden, and multiple fireplaces, including one with a full-height, carved-wood mantel and a pink mosaic interior.
Tom Miller, author of the blog Daytonian in Manhattan, wrote about the home’s history in 2015, describing how True had been commissioned in the early 1890s by developer H. Ives Smith to design a row of three four-story homes on West 87th, each of them costing $18,000 to build — the equivalent of about half a million in today’s dollars.
“No. 64 was, perhaps, the star of the show,” Miller wrote. “Faced in rough-cut limestone, it sat aloofly back from the property line. A four-story bay projected slightly forward, giving dimension to the façade.”
The homes were completed in 1895, and Littauer, then 36, bought No. 64 in April of that year — “barely before the paint was dry,” as Miller put it. At the time, Littauer was 36, a Harvard classmate and close friend of Roosevelt, who would be elected to Congress two years later. He lived in the townhome on and off until his death in 1944, after which it passed through a succession of owners. Zillow reports that it most recently sold in May 2025 for $10.44 million.
Read the Mansion Global story — HERE, and see particularly good photos in northjersey.com — HERE. The history of the home is — HERE.
Since we’re on the subject of aspirational real estate: Elle Decor UK recently featured a Lincoln Square townhouse that looks like a classic Beaux-Arts townhouse from the outside. But inside, the five-bedroom home is anything but traditional.
“The homeowners, a couple with three young children, wanted to turn the traditional building into a vibrant, indoor-outdoor multigenerational home for their nuclear family, plus the wife’s parents, who would live in a private on-site suite,” reported Elle. “Throughout the home, spaces are decorated to honour the family’s Japanese culture and heritage. For example, most of the bedrooms have tatami mats (traditional woven floor coverings made of grass or straw) instead of beds.”
Read the full story and see photos — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- WPIX talked to UWSers about how they were feeling after multiple gunshots were fired during a dispute between three men on Central Park West last week. Read/watch the full story — HERE.
- The New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary had a fun story last week by longtime UWSer Susan Rubin, who decided to catch up with an Upper East Side friend while riding the crosstown bus. Read what happened — HERE.
- And speaking of the Times: When a reader wrote to the publication’s food newsletter, asking where to find great steak tartare in the city, the editor sent them to the UWS. Read her recommendation — HERE.
ICYMI
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“we also continue to work to address the stigma against New Yorkers experiencing homelessness”. This isn’t about stigma. It is about behavior. Specifically “loitering, public nudity, public vomiting, urination, drug use, drinking, needles and bottles being left in the playground.” Please address the behaviors.
All the negative boomers need to relax. Momdani has a 150% approval rating. Clearly his strategy of destroying business and expanding the houseless is working just how we Gen Z people like it. Stop complaining and enjoy the warmth of collectivism! Oh and please let people come into your homes and take your soap and shampoo. Don’t be a capitalist!
Project Renewal’s track record at the Lucerne.? This time they can’t blame Covid. Maybe Open Hearts will be able to assist here in helping to educate the neighbors so they create a more welcoming atmosphere.