What made me start to think about the demise of New York coffee shops was the surprise closure of Gene’s Coffee Shop (pictured above), a favorite local institution on East 60th Street between Madison and Park. An eviction sign in the window suggested that the owners were forced out, at least in part, by the rent.
Our precinct, the 19th, is the most densely populated in the city. It is also the safest. So while the likelihood of getting hit on the head is low, the risk of psychic injury is high.
We knew that life was good on Manhattan’s East Side. We now know that it is long, as well. And it’s not just Iris Apfel (pictured above), our indestructible, 95-year-old fashion icon. The city Department of Health just released data showing that residents of the Upper East Side and Murray Hill have the highest life expectancy in the city.
Not terrorism, the authorities reassure New Yorkers jarred by the mowing down of pedestrians in Times Square. We’re not so sure that the Times Square car rampage wasn’t some form of terrorism.
It’s there through rainy season but also during drought. A puddle has made elegant E. 64th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues, its permanent home.
For a long while preservationists kept their gaze mostly west of Lexington Avenue, but with development pressures rocking Second Avenue, they are making up for lost time. Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, a steward of Upper East Side preservation for over thirty years, is moving its mission to Yorkville.
Some do it big. Some do it small. It is tulip time on the Upper East Side, and it goes by so fast.
(Photo above is of the Central Park Conservatory Garden.)
Visiting the Metropolitan Museum on a sunny weekday afternoon is not a recommended activity for agoraphobes. And on a sunny weekend afternoon? Don’t even try if crowds make you apprehensive/annoyed/unhappy.
(Above photo is of Elephant and Groom at Met’s “Age of Empires” exhibit.)
