By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava

New York Comedy Club is opening at 236 West 78th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues) in August. The Upper West Side location will be the fourth for the comedy club company, which currently has clubs in Midtown, the East Village, and Stamford, CT. The new venue on the UWS will have seating for 140 guests. The longtime comedy club Stand Up NY was previously in the space – they relocated in March 2024. “The Upper West Side is a perfect fit for our fourth comedy club,” co-owner Emilio Savone told West Side Rag. “We feel like it will offer our comics a totally different audience, and also make it easier for comedy consumers uptown to experience what those downtown experience without needing to go far. Our downtown venues are gritty and we are positioning our UWS venue to be a more polished version of what we have been doing for the last decade.”

Comedy shows have a long history at this storefront, dating back to 1986. “Each neighborhood has its own culture and vibe,” co-owner E. Scott Lindner wrote to the Rag. “The [UWS] space became available to us and it just made sense to take an existing comedy club that’s been there for a really long time and revitalize it.”

The Starbucks at 444 Columbus Avenue (between West 81st and 82nd Streets) reopened on Sunday, June 2, after being closed for approximately one year. The clerks at the Starbucks location told West Side Rag that the closure was due to renovations. WSR reached out to Starbucks’ press office for more details but we haven’t heard back. Hours listed are 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily. (Thanks to Joey for the tip.)

Wells Fargo is coming to 2275 Broadway (at West 82nd Street) in November, a representative from the bank wrote to West Side Rag in an email. Signage for Wells Fargo is already up. A Santander Bank branch was formerly in the space – it relocated a couple blocks south last summer.

MalaTown, a Chinese restaurant that allows customers to choose which ingredients go into their dish, opened earlier this week at 929 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 105th and 106th Streets). The restaurant’s name refers to “Malatang,” a spicy street food originating in Sichuan, China. Ingredients that diners can pick to go into their bowl include: Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, crab sticks, and baby bok choy. MalaTown also has locations in Union City, NJ, California, and Las Vegas. Grain House, another Chinese restaurant, was previously in the space and has been closed since March. (Thanks to Dave for the tip.)

Nan Xiang Express, a Shanghainese restaurant known for its soup dumplings, had its soft opening on Monday, June 3rd at 2783 Broadway between West 107th and 108th Streets. Its sister restaurant, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, opened in Flushing, Queens, in 2006 and has been recommended by the Michelin Guide. The name “Nan Xiang” refers to a town outside of Shanghai where soup dumplings originated. The menu includes dim sum, noodles and rice dishes, soup, and combo meals. The space was previously Broadway Bubbles, a laundromat. (Thanks to Dave for the tip.)

Omne Martial Arts, currently known as Valor Mixed Martial Arts, has signage up at 200 West End Avenue (West 70th Street). They plan to open in mid-August, a representative told the Rag on a phone call. The martial arts center has been operating at 2067 Broadway (between West 71st and 72nd streets) and will change the name when they move, but will be under the same ownership. A new website is coming soon. Omne Martial Arts will continue to offer martial arts programs for both children and adults, as well as personal training and yoga. They plan to expand the fitness program with additional offerings when the new space opens. Apple Seeds, a play space for kids that closed in 2019, was the last tenant in the space. (Thanks to Joy for the tip.)

Vegan Night Market, a seasonal food fair, is popping up at Central Park South near Columbus Circle on the first Tuesday of each month through October. The market features more than a dozen plant-based vendors. At the most recent event on June 4th, this included Pinche Vegana (a Mexican food truck), Cha Thai (Thai tea), and Melak Malaysian Kitchen. The next event will take place on July 2nd from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. This is Vegan Night Market’s second year – last summer it took place in Wollman Rink in Central Park. MASC Hospitality Group, which backs the event, is also running other seasonal night markets in Brooklyn, Harlem, and The Bronx. (Thanks to Grace for the tip.)