Macaulay Honors College

Affordable Housing in New York:  The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City Book Talk with Nicholas Dagen Bloom & Matthew Gordon Lasner -- Tuesday, March 15, 2016 6:30 to 8:00 PM  Macaulay Honors College, 35 West 67th Street -- $10 for LW! members & students, $20 for non-members RSVP required (space is limited!) landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org or call (212) 496-8110 Reservations available online via Eventbrite -- Please join us for a book signing after the talk! -- Affordable Housing in New York, edited by Nicholas…

The 1969 Stonewall rebellion is largely regarded as the catalyst for the modern LGBT rights movement in the US. However, vibrant communities all over the city were making their mark on New York's civil rights, arts, and cultural scene. On the Upper West Side, the Continental Baths, perhaps the most famous gay bathhouse in the country, opened in 1968 in the basement of the Ansonia building at Broadway and W. 73rd. Live entertainment at the Continental included, most famously, Bette…

The Cinematic Cityscape of Woody Allen: The Wild Wild West Side on Film Thursday, September 14th, 6:30-8:00pm Woody Allen’s uniquely romantic and comically inventive use of the Upper West Side and its charms is at the thematic heart of some of his most iconic NYC films, including Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters. From the fabulous façades of the Ansonia and Alwyn Court to rambling Upper West Side interiors (oh those libraries!), it is clear that the UWS…

Thursday, October 26th, 6:30-8:00pm From Gangs to Ghostbusters: The Wild Wild West Side on Film The second in a series featuring clips from iconic films and filmmakers that use the equally iconic locations of the Upper West Side to tell their stories. In this cinematic stroll, we will explore the ways in which the beloved and identifiable locations of Manhattan’s Upper West Side have given it a starring role in so many films. Both timeless and reflective of dynamic cultural change, the…

LW! Partner-level Members get 2-for-1 Tickets!*  Join LW! for a fascinating evening where history, crime, and architecture collide. Author and New York Times editor Dan Wakin will discuss the roots of researching and writing his first novel–set in houses he passes every day in his UWS neighborhood. Period photos and rare video and audio clips will take us back in time to share the streets with an eclectic collection of Upper West Siders: a vicious crew of hoodlums who carried…

Every block has its secrets. Travel up(town) and back (in time) with master storyteller Anthony Bellov, who takes us behind the façades and deep into the provocative stories and nitty gritty tales of life above 96th Street. Historic buildings link us to an earlier era and the people who headlines–and sometimes made history. Enjoy an evening in Old New York, set in the historic upper Manhattan blocks and buildings where traces of the city’s best and most beautiful can still be…

An aspiring young model arrives in NYC and meets a wealthy, influential man three times her age. He initially plays the role of benefactor, then lures her to his apartment, drugs her, and all goes dark... She goes on to marry an (unstable) millionaire playboy, who, when she confides in him about the assault, shoots and kills her “benefactor” in a crowded theater. A sensational trial ensues. Newspapers can’t get enough of the tale of the model and the two…

Tuesday, August 21st 6:30-7:45pm Macaulay Honors College 35 W. 67th Street Award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke and producer Muffie Meyer take us deep behind the history of their acclaimed documentary, The Opera House. The film, which chronicles the complex 50+ year saga of the creation of the Metropolitan Opera’s home at Lincoln Center, surveys a remarkable period of the Met’s history and a time of great change for both the city and the Upper West Side. But just how does one tell…

When John Tauranac is not busy designing maps, he turns his talents to writing intriguingly on the city’s social and architectural history. In his latest book, “Manhattan’s Little Secrets,” Tauranac leads us on a fascinating hunt for the overlooked and under-seen around every corner. Come explore history hidden in plain sight on the Upper West Side! Do you know where to find actual stones from the dungeon where Joan of Arc was held? An ancient symbol of Christianity on an apartment…

“We Are Staying”: Author Jen Rubin in conversation with Amy Harmon of the New York Times Monday, October 15th 6:30pm-7:45pm For eighty years, Radio Clinic (R.C.I.), a family-owned and run appliance and electronics shop, was a fixture on the corner of 98th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side. When the 1977 blackout hit New York City, looters broke into the store, leaving the shelves bare. But Radio Clinic’s owner, Alan Rubin, wouldn’t consider giving up, posting a simple,…

“Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles” A LW! Author’s Talk with Fran Leadon Wednesday, October 24th, 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street   Partner-level Members Get 2-for-1 Tickets! Broadway, as locals all know, is much more than just the few blinding blocks of Times Square. On the Upper West Side, it is the heart of commerce and transportation, the historic Boulevard and Bloomingdale Road. In his latest book, architect Fran Leadon takes us along our own UWS blocks…

From rail yards to court yards; the Boat Basin to the Power Broker; and the yacht club to the First Lady, we’ll dive into the history of Riverside Park!  Lucie Levine, founder of Archive on Parade, brings the past vividly to life, weaving together the history –and the many lives– of our “other” great park to the West.

Think we’ve got it bad today? 19th century NYC was littered with hoaxes, tall tales, ultra-fake news–and the masses who fell for it all. Social historian Tom Miller (aka the Daytonian in Manhattan blogger) reaches into his mesmerizing bag o’ history to bring us tales of giant man-bats, sapphire temples and city streets overtaken by wild animals.

Tuesday, February 12th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street 2-for-1 Tickets for Partner-level Members! Author Constance Rosenblum introduces us to one of America’s most talked-about personalities, Peggy Hopkins Joyce. Although little remembered today, Peggy was the quintessential gold digger: think Anna Nicole Smith meets Kim Kardashian in the 1920’s. A Ziegfeld Girl and occasional stage and film actress, Peggy had no discernible talent besides glamorous looks and a flair for self-promotion. She did manage to find “love” with several millionaires and even…

Home Sweet Mansion: A Peek into the Domestic Lives of Gilded Age New Yorkers  Tuesday, March 5th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street 2-for-1 Tickets for Partner-level Members! It was good to be a prosperous New Yorker in the late 19th century: beautiful clothing, expensive furnishings, well-kept parlors, and tables laden with food. But someone had to do the hard work of actually cooking and cleaning, and it certainly wasn’t the prosperous New Yorker. Esther Crain, founder of Ephemeral New York, offers a peek…

Tuesday, March 5th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street SOLD OUT It was good to be a prosperous New Yorker in the late 19th century: beautiful clothing, expensive furnishings, well-kept parlors, and tables laden with food. But someone had to do the hard work of actually cooking and cleaning, and it certainly wasn’t the prosperous New Yorker. Esther Crain, founder of Ephemeral New York, offers a peek at just how the upper classes navigated the domestic side of life—and how a staff of…

Honeybee Hotel Tuesday, March 12th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street 2-for-1 Tickets for Partner-level Members! Spring is just around the corner! Think rooftop gardens, urban apiaries, and millions of bees traversing the city in search of new blooms. Leslie Day, author of Honeybee Hotel: The Waldorf Astoria’s Rooftop Garden and the Heart of NYC,  is our guide to the booming urban beekeeping culture that exists in New York City–and she starts at the top, at the iconic Manhattan landmark that is the…

Wednesday, March 27th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th Street Encore! New Date Added! Anthony Bellov (a LW! fan favorite) explores Rosario Candela’s Upper West Side architectural roots. We’ll enjoy gorgeous photos of our own local Candela treasures – many landmarked – and discuss the signature design features that typify Candela’s work, all told in Mr. Bellov’s inimitable style, bringing people, periods, and buildings to life as few can. Come see what the latest city-wide exhibitions missed – Candela on the Upper West…

Tuesday, September 24th 6:30-7:45pm   35 W. 67th Street She was everywhere, and more than 100 years later, she is still a New York City fixture: “The Perfect Woman”, “Miss Manhattan”, “American Venus”. If you have walked Riverside Park, Columbus Circle, Strauss Park, and Grand Army Plaza, you have seen her. Her real name was Audrey Munson, and for a short while, her figure and classical beauty personified the Beaux-Arts ideal of womanhood. Famous sculptors of the early 1900’s flocked to…

Please note that this event has been CANCELLED due to speaker family emergency.

Tuesday, October 29th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th St. Special 2-for-1 Tickets for LW! Partner+ Members! Dr. Bob Brier, one of the world’s foremost experts on mummies and Egyptology, excavates the events that fanned the flames of Egyptomania from the late 1800s through the 1930s. He’ll dig deep into New York’s own “Nile style” in fashion, art, film and design. From Cleopatra’s Needle to 1920’s gilded movie palaces ornamented with Egyptian motifs, join this expedition to unearth the architectural homages to…

Tuesday, November 19th 6:30-7:45pm  35 W. 67th St. 19th-century New York City was ruled by a turbulent combination of money and politics that came together, notoriously, in the infamous Tammany Hall and William M. “Boss” Tweed. His very name has become synonymous with the stereotypical political fat-cat. His corruption was total. His takings were immense. And his reputation is legendary. Social historian Keith Taillon takes us on a deep dive into Gilded Age NYC police corruption and Tammany Hall influence…

In this magical film-based presentation, Paula Uruburu takes us on a tour of a city transformed through filmmaker Nora Ephron’s unique lens. We’ll spot some of the city’s most beloved landmarks in Ephron’s iconic New York films-You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and more-and will look back on films where the Upper West Side is as much a character as its enchanted inhabitants. TICKETS

"The Upper West Side from the Air" with John Tauranac Tuesday, January 28th, 6:30-7:45pm Macaulay Honors College, 35 W. 67th Street 2nd Fl. Screening Room From the ground, New York City is a bustling, hectic streetscape. Seen from the air, it's an exotic, uncluttered, beautiful place. John Tauranac takes us airborne (virtually) to enjoy a truly spectacular UWS photo tour from above, compliments of his partnership with world-renowned aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand on the gorgeous book New York From the Air: A Story of…

You know that a myriad of iconic shows have been set in the neighborhood (hi, Seinfeld!) But did you know that even more have been filmed here? From daytime soaps to late night legends; old CBS studios to new PBS outposts, Lucie Levine looks at the Upper West Side through the lens of a TV camera, exploring the neighborhood’s long history as New York’s television city. TICKETS

Journalist and author Kevin Baker joins LW! to consider how life in New York City is rapidly changing—and not for the better. How most of us are being priced out of living here while almost everything that made the urban experience extraordinary—theaters, shops, restaurants, and every sort of affordable public amenity—is disappearing.