Magnolias in Riverside Park. By Lisa Bergtraum.
Every week, we read the stories about the Upper West Side that were printed in other media outlets so you don’t have to.
Security was heightened for Sunday’s New York Road Runners Race in Central Park after the bombings in Boston. Runners wore shirts saying “I Run for Boston” and a Bostonian sang the national anthem, followed by a moment of silence. The course was briefly diverted because of a biker with a backpack, but police found he was just carrying kayaking materials. (NY1)
Faithful West Side Rag reader Steve Tate briefly considered moving to Greenwich Village with his girlfriend when they decided to move in together. But they both wanted to stay on the UWS, and he finally found the right place on 88th street: “They love the original molding, decorative fireplace, wooden floors and 13-foot ceilings. They tolerate a few old-building issues, like a clanking radiator that sounds like ‘someone in our living room banging pots and pans,’ Mr. Tate said. The kitchen is too cramped for two, ‘so we make each other dinner as opposed to cooking together.'” (NY Times)
The Central Park Conservancy got a new $90 million 10-year contract to run Central Park, a boost from its previous $39 million 8-year contract. “In recent years, Central Park has experienced a dramatic increase in visitors — more than 40 million annual visitors compared to 12 million in 1985 — which makes it the city’s most visited institution and has increased the cost of its maintenance,” said Parks spokesman Phil Abramson. (NY Post)
A newly renovated development on West 87th gets some very nice press: “On an unassuming stretch of the upper West Side, a block from Central Park, 101 W. 87th St. attracted a slew of buyers by doing something unheard of in New York City real estate: The developers priced the building fairly. In one of Manhattan’s priciest districts, where the Laureate saw five-bedroom apartments sell for $10 million, all in cash, Bazbaz Development offered homes starting at $820,000 for one-bedrooms, $1.2 million for two-bedrooms and $1.8 million for three-bedrooms.” (Daily News)
Fairway went public last week, trading on the stock market under the ticker FWM. The shares jumped 33% on the first day. Fairway started on the Upper West Side in 1933. (Wall Street Journal)
The Assembled Parties, the latest play about a complicated Upper West Side family, just hit Broadway. (Entertainment Weekly)
Thomas Pynchon’s hotly awaited new novel is set on the Upper West Side, or at least the first page is. (Motherboard)
Re clanking radiators, we used to have that. Ask the landlord to fix it. It’s not a big deal. It’s air trapped in the system.
We have learned that rats in the aisles or olive pails do not affect IPO success or stock price [FWM $18.61 at this moment].
Does anyone else feel like Fairway’s quality has gone down the bigger it gets? I mostly shop at the Harlem store and the produce has been getting sadder and sadder.
Katherine: I wondered how long it would take for Fairway quality to start showing signs of decline. I have two examples: one is that I bought scallops with the dry scallop label. But I could not get them to brown. That’s because they had been soaked in phosphates to make them whiter. They were not dry scallops. I got some at greenmarket the next week and they browned very well. I just bought a Four Fat Foul cheese. The rind is old and the cheese past its prime. I’m sorry about this. Fairway was always a great store. I think its expansion has hurt it and going public isn’t going to make things any better. I have shopped at that store for years. I’m looking for a new place to shop.