Today is Monday, August 31st, 2026
The forecast calls for a humid start to the (unofficial) last week of summer, with a mix of sun and clouds today and a possibility of afternoon showers; high 82. The rest of the week should be similar, with high temperatures ranging from the upper 70s to low 80s, and the possibility of showers most days.
On this day in 1946, the Warner Brothers character Foghorn Leghorn made his debut in a Merrie Melodies cartoon called “Walky Talky Hawky.” An oversized, fast-talking rooster with a Southern drawl, he finds himself up against a hungry young chicken hawk who’s a fraction of his size and trying to bag a chicken for the first time. See a Foghorn Leghorn compilation, including part of “Walky Talky Hawky” — HERE.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
A reader sent us a photo of a ring that she found on the sidewalk on West 80th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, and asked our help in finding its rightful owner. If you think it might be yours, send a description to info@westsiderag.com; if it matches, we’ll help you to reclaim it.
The Department of Transportation will be conducting milling work on sections of Riverside Drive between West 104th and West 111th streets today and tomorrow, and on West 104th Street between Riverside Drive and Central Park West tomorrow. Most of the work will be done at night. More information — HERE.
Do you know someone who is making a difference in New York City or State — but is doing it behind the scenes? It’s not too late to nominate them for City & State New York’s annual Unsung Heroes list, which recognizes people who do key work out of the public eye. The nomination form is short, but there’s only one more day to fill it out; the deadline is tomorrow. You’ll find the nomination form — HERE.
The Central Park Conservancy invites artists who are at least 18 and live in the city to submit designs to its second annual poster contest “celebrating the joy of ice skating at the Gottesman Rink and the spirit of the Harlem community.” The grand prize is $5,000, and the winning poster will be featured in Conservancy materials and displayed in public spaces to promote the upcoming skating season. The rules are — HERE, and the submission form is — HERE. The deadline for entering is September 20th.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
The West Side Montessori School has purchased 8,300 square feet of ground-level space in the Dahlia, a luxury condominium at 212 West 95th Street, Crain’s New York Business reported last week.
The seller of the spaces was the Dahlia’s developer, United Management, the publication said, noting that the deal closed on July 30 — the same day it went into contract — and that it was funded by $16 million in tax-free bond financing. That money will cover both the $11.4 million purchase price and the renovation of the space to create classrooms, Crain’s said, adding that the school also has been issued a $2 million credit line by First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co. The publication cited the city register as its source for all information regarding the purchase and financing.
West Side Montessori was founded in 1963, and for the past half century has been based in a townhouse at 309 West 92nd Street (between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue); in addition, the school has been leasing space for its youngest students at Anunciation Greek Orthodox Church at West 91st Street and West End Avenue. The Dahlia, located between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue is a 20-story, 36-unit building that opened in 2020.
“The Montessori school reportedly inked a 30-year deal to lease space in the building in 2024 but appears to have never moved in,” Crain’s reported.
“Why the organization apparently switched gears is unclear. The school’s head, Loren DeNicola, did not return an email requesting an interview by press time.
“But amid a time of flux and turmoil for private schools, some have invested in real estate for the first time in decades, sometimes to draw students who have been displaced by a flurry of closings.
“Locking in real estate costs in an era of skyrocketing rents might have also been a motivation.”
Read the full story — HERE.
The New York Times recently ran a profile of a 95-year-old Upper West Side pianist who’s struggling with the same dilemma that millions of other Americans face every year: Should she retire?
“All these famous guys say they stop while they’re ‘on top,’ and I don’t know how you know when you’re on the top,” Lily Friedman told the publication in a piece that included both print and audio. “Because I don’t feel I’m on top yet.”
Friedman, who has been playing piano since she was 5, graduated from Julliard in 1955 and began a decades-long career as a concert pianist and piano teacher. But in recent years, she’s found it harder to keep up with things she once handled with ease.
“First it was stepping down about 12 years ago as the artistic director of Summertrios, a chamber music organization that she had co-founded,” the Times wrote. “Ms. Friedman was taking care of her partner at the end of his life and found herself unable to do both.
“Then it was parting with her red Mini Cooper. She gave it to her grandson after her sons forbade her from taking the wheel; she was 92 … [But p]erhaps the biggest transition of recent years unfolded after a surgery in 2022, when she started needing both a cane (she chose a red one with red rhinestones) and a round-the-clock caregiver, covered by her insurance.”
Now, with her eyesight and hearing both dulling, she wonders if she should retire; she doesn’t want to wait till her performance falters and her students complain.
“Then again,” wrote the Times, “she doesn’t want to stop at all.”
Read the full story — HERE.
Two Upper West Side bartenders are finalists in a contest for “America’s Favorite Couple,” WPIX reported.
Evan Enslow tends the bar at Salumeria Rosi on Broadway at West 73rd Street, and his partner, Aaron Prior, does the same at Westville on 82nd.
The contest, which is sponsored by a professional fundraising company, raises money for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and for Oceana, a non-profit ocean conservation organization. The winning couple will receive $20,000, be featured in an advertorial in Variety Magazine, and will dine with actor Jeff Goldblum and his wife Emilie, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast. Winners are determined by popular vote; anyone can cast one vote per day for free, but there is also the option to cast multiple votes daily for a fee. About a third of the money collected goes to the fundraising company, and the rest goes to the charities
Enslow told contest organizers he and Prior met several years ago after dating the same person. “We started talking after, and we both just wanted to know more!” he said in an interview published on the contest website. “It was semi-long distance in the beginning. He was in Southern Jersey and myself in NYC. We would go back and forth until about six months in, Aaron partially moved in. By March, that was it!” If they win the contest, the couple said they plan to use the money to marry, and to start a business.
Read the WPIX story — HERE and the couple’s interview with contest organizers — which also includes a link to vote for them — HERE.
We’ve already reported, of course, that Barzini’s is closing. But we wanted to give this independent UWS grocery — or perhaps more accurately, this UWS institution — one last shoutout today, its final day in business after 40 years of serving the neighborhood.
The beloved store, located on Broadway between West 90th and 91st streets, was opened in 1983 by brothers Parviz and Massoud Abde, who wrote that they “saw the need for more food choices” in the neighborhood — and to offer those choices at all hours. (For most of its four decades, Barzini’s stayed open 24 hours a day, seven days a week — something that TimeOut New York called “an ‘only-in-New York convenience’ that made it equally useful for sensible grocery runs and emergency midnight noshing.”)
“The single-location store built its reputation on an unusually broad selection that included more than 200 international cheeses, fresh produce, baked goods, prepared foods, meats, fish, specialty treats and roughly 200 beers,” TimeOut New York added.
In the past couple of years, however, the store has struggled. The New York Post reported that the shop was closing after dealing with a series of health-code violations and falling more than $1 million behind in rent, but it still came as a shock to customers.
“My mother sent me here for olive oil and imported pasta and the San Marzano tomatoes when I was a kid. I still come here for mozzarella, the pecorino,” Anthony Carbone, 54, told the publication.
Miriam Rosen, 68, said the news of the closure left her in tears. “Just like that, a neighborhood institution down the drain,” she told the Post. “I know it happens all the time, but this one really hurts. It’s part of the character of the city, the soul of the city, know what I mean?”
Read the full TimeOut story — HERE, and the Post story — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- The pro-development website NewYorkYIMBY.com (short for “Yes in My Back Yard”) recently published striking construction photos taken by photographer Michael Young at the Extell site on West 66th Street. See them, and read a progress update on the project — HERE.
- DowntownNY.com recently ran a piece about UWS-born-and-raised Gertrude Ederle, a 19-year-old Olympic swimmer, who in 1926 became the first woman to swim the English Channel (which she did in a shorter time than any of her male predecessors) and, for her feat, became the first woman honored with a Broadway ticker-tape parade. Read the story and see photos — HERE.
- Levain Bakery recently appointed two new co-CEOS: longtime employees Lorna Sommerville and Taya Stenson. Read the announcement — HERE.
- And speaking of Levain, Forbes.com did a piece on the bakery’s recent collaboration with home-goods retailer Crate and Barrel, to produce a kitchen collection inspired by the bakery’s own tools. Read about it — HERE.
ICYMI
Here are a few stories we think are worth a look if you missed them last week — or a second look if you saw them. (Note that our comments stay open for six days after publication, so you may not be able to comment on all of them.)
The Trailblazing Backgammon World Champion Who Calls the Upper West Side Home
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