Watch-Blog
BIDding on Columbus
By LANDMARK WEST! In Chapter 9, The Need for Small Blocks of Jane Jacobs’ 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she decries the Upper West Side’s Columbus Avenue for “its own kind of monotony—endless stores and a depressing predominance of commercial...
Defeating the Winter Blues at The Sunshinery
By Megan Fitzpatrick Two years since her store first opened, Jennifer Simoni of The Sunshinery, is bringing new light to the neighborhood, not just through her curated products and welcoming personality but also filling this space which had been vacant for a while...
Adding Warmth to a Cold Season
By Claudie Benjamin The Sabrina's two marble lobbies, one very large at 240 West 98th Street, the other much smaller at 241 West 97th Street, provide a very lovely setting for holiday decor. Every year Christmas trees grace each of the lobbies. They are hung with...
Travel Diamonds and White Tunics Wear Well in Winter
By Claudie Benjamin Winter is on the way, and the prospect of chilly winds, ice, and snow brings a longing for warmer destinations: the Caribbean, Mexico, or perhaps Greece. And, if you pursue that train of thought and book flights and hotels, next may come the...
Making the Grade at PS 163
Set back on the wide sidewalk of West 97th Street are the pale bricks and primary colors of a minimalist mid-century school. Though you’ll find PS 163 wrapped in scaffolding these days, it's been a cheery presence on the block since 1958, bringing with it a collection...
A New Exhibition on The Old Community opens!
by Megan Fitzpatrick A new exhibit is now on display at the Bloomingdale Library rediscovering a lost community on West 98th and 99th Streets between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. Created by Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group, the...
Ten Blocks Makes a Difference, and so does Debby Hirshman
By LANDMARK WEST! Debby Hirshman enters the diner from behind me, and arrives smiling—both of us simultaneously looking forward and back. As we lock eyes in one of the mirrored portions of the otherwise carpeted walls of Café 82 and sit in a hunter-green and dark...
A Musical Connection: Senior Cantor Shayna De Lowe
By Megan Fitzpatrick I catch Shayna’s attention in the golden-hued lobby of the historic synagogue of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, walking past a myriad of smiling children beaming with excitement on a Friday morning. She has just finished her morning Shabbat lesson at...
Succeeding on the “Wrong” Side of Broadway
By Claudie Benjamin Everyone knows, according to Danny Koch, owner of Town Shop at 2270 Broadway, that there is a good side and a bad side of Broadway on the Upper West Side. His family business was located on the “good” west side of the avenue since 1936 when in...
Priorities: Health and Sustainability
By Claudie Benjamin Emily Wang’s interest both in healthy food and maximizing sustainability in daily life goes back to her teenage years growing up in Michigan. These priorities developed through her graduation from Columbia in 2022 and remain important today. What’s...
