Watch-Blog
Le Petit Dejeuner Celebrated on the UWS
By Claudie Benjamin Sam Belanger started out in NYC as a singer/actor, supporting himself by waiting tables. After years of success touring on the road and leaving NYC for Regional Theater work, he moved on to restaurant management full-time, opting for a more...
Simple Home-Style Cooking Away from Home
By Claudie Benjamin Serving up 20+ fresh, delicious vegetables daily is a challenge that makes Jay Strauss proud. A recent menu, for example, offered a choice of market vegetables that included artichoke hearts with parmesan; asparagus with parmesan; beets with goat...
Photography & Friendship
By Claudie Benjamin “I love my building,” photographer Barbara Ehlers said recently, “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.” She and her husband, Stephen Frizell, have been living on the Upper West Side for many years, always in buildings with a side facing Broadway....
Sublime Avocado Toast: an All-day Breakfast Item
By Claudie Benjamin No, not muffins, which love them or leave ‘em, are actually cake. Ashley Jaffe, co-founder with her husband, Zach Israel, of their newest venture, Slate Cafe, has a well-developed “modern” point of view about breakfasts with a strong focus on...
Forever Cleaning
By Claudie Benjamin When you think about how many people live on an Upper West Side block, that’s an awful lot of clothes, bedding, rugs and sometimes even furs that need to be cleaned. Rene Digal has been store manager since 2006 of the Oxford Cleaners branch located...
Pieces of New York
By Claudie Benjamin Gregg Boisjolie, Manager of Olde Good Things at 2420 Broadway, surely knows his stuff. In conversation, he transitions fluidly from the details of one anecdote related to a notable New York City artifact to another. For example, he described the...
Love is in the Hair
By Claudie Benjamin Who doesn’t want to look and feel great? A great haircut, skilled styling, and maintenance are all part of the equation for an outstanding result, according to Salli Subryan. Her salon, Salli B., at 250 West 88th Street, is spacious, offering...
Books & Neighbors
By Claudie Benjamin The new (and third) Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Manhattan will open this March at 2736 Broadway, on the corner of 105th Street. A few notable features: The look and feel will be much like the other two branches of the community bookstore, but...
Pharmacy Endures Over Decades Undaunted by Economic Change
By Claudie Benjamin For a very long time, the Apthorp Pharmacy stood out among many Upper West Side retail businesses as a classy, upscale venue. Apart from compounding prescriptions, something available at only a few local drugstores, customers could get cosmetics at...
Decades Capturing Emerging & Celebrity Musicians
By Claudie Benjamin Since the mid-1970s, photographer Ebet Roberts has photographed musicians and bands in performances, in her studio, and on location, creating a stunning body of work that has often been described by her admirers as “capturing the decisive moment”...
