And it was where I chose to live when I moved to Manhattan from Canarsie in 1972. Mostly, its just a nice little bar with brick walls and a short menu of snacks, and its a good spot for a date or a low-key cocktail after work. I won a Halloween story writing contest at Eeyores ($25 gift certificate) and was a delivery boy for Video Connection. . Not the Hollywood stars with a party pad in some flashy glass tower downtown, but the ones who really live here. People know me from getting out, and introducing myself, instead of planting my face in my smartphone. The reason I love my neighborhood is I can walk up my street and say hello to my neighbors. The Gin Mill is owned by the same people as Jakes Dilemma, which is less than a block away, and it feels very similar. Does anyone remember a small bakery/kitchen on West 83rd between Columbus and Amsterdam. Tuesday Trivia. Wish my kids could have a similar space to grow up, warts and all. Im coming into this conversation very late but I have lived in this neighborhood all my life.since 1953. 1. e's Bar 511 Amsterdam Ave., nr. Loved growing up there. And I briefly lived on 85 street in the early 70s , so I was there a lot. Since I live only a mile from where I was born and raised, with only slight changes to the visual landscape, I find myself constantly under nostalgias threat. I loved that they were open 24 hrs. I now live on the upper east side, but will always remain true to my rootsthe West side is the best side! Every few years I will take my 20 block walk from my old apartment to 84th and Columbus. As Lyford wrote in 1966, a twenty-block site of a multimillion-dollar urban renewal program laying between Eighty-seventh and Ninety-seventh streets and bounded by Central Park on the eastand Amsterdam Avenue on the west was the fulcrum of this massive slum-clearance plan, involving the loss of 6,344 households. POWERED BY. We dont mean this as an insult to the land above 59th Street, but The Owls Tail is the sort of place you expect to find downtown. What other stores or restaurants have closed that you miss? She made awesome cookies with whole wheat flour. Open in Google Maps. People were afraid to ride the graffiti-streaked, crime soaked subways. Carmine's - 91st Street - NYC. She shares some memories below, and asks for some of yours. In part that was because the then-senescent New York Post hadnt brought new life to tabloid journalism and forced the fat and happy and rich New York Daily News to follow it, which is what happened in the summer of 1977, when the Son of Sam went on his rampage. The Loft sounds right. I have lots of memories of specific shops, and just as many holes in my memory! was racking my brain trying to come up with the name of the pub/restaurant on west side of Columbus b/ 70th & 71st when I came upon your posting. The whole theater got kicked out of Lowes 84th on opening night for Friday The 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, it was so rowdy, but Id been seeing movies there since it was the Lowes 83rd st, twin. Yes there was plenty of crime in the 80s, and the neighborhood has gone through change (for the better). (The church had become a hangout for drug addicts.) A mural on 8th St. at 1st Ave., along the side of what was once the St. Mark's Bar & Grill. The neighborhood has lost many small businesses such as delis, bodegas, pizzerias, barber shops, candy & stationery stores. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. You want to watch sports with some friends, and maybe share a couple pitchers of beer - ideally something other than Hoegaarden or Goose Island. It was a great neighborhoodbut you had to know which blocks you should avoid! And The House of Games. Zabars was open until midnight. Have a romantic date at the Arthouse Bar. Always had a good meal there. Thanks! The Upper West Side of my youth was in no way a fabled or especially notable area. What about doing a simple Lexis-Nexis search? Particularly the buffalo wings, which are some of the best in the city. Also, bagels at H & H! Madison & Vine, an American Bistro and International Wine Bar, has a menu that captures the diversity of America's culinary regions. Kyle: When I moved here, the hotspot was 8 th Avenue between 14 th and 23rd. Why should people be made to feel uncomfortable/unwelcome in a neighborhood they created over decades, with their hard work & fortitude? The Arthouse Hotel is a bit of a hidden gem in the Upper West Side but not for long. Neil Simon movie and yes a movie, but does show the charm and grit of the 70s. You can get food here until 2am, so keep this place in mind for drinks and a bite after a show at the Beacon Theatre a block away. You can see the dots on the map of Manhattan, and the peak is still in the 1980s in terms of the most bars. Lost your password? I was born and raised on same block, in same building since 1969. .) In a striking sentence reflective of the fatalistic attitude of the time, she writes, Crime prevention was, of course, the Police Departments first priority, as preventive medicine was the primary concern of health administrators. Huge packs of kids just playing in the park after school or even at lunch (with a letter you could leave 87 or 44 and go get a slice somewhere). But I had to wear my old prescriptions and couldnt see very well. Barbara, that was Sarabeths Kitchen on Amsterdam between 82nd and 83rd. Lets not forget about the orginal frozen cappuccinos on Columbus Avenue before Starbucks. Its a good spot to day drink with a big group, but theres no table service - youll be notified by a buzzer when your order is ready at the counter. At the same time, 86th & Amsterdam was notorious for being crime ridden. I remember as a kids being able to walk and take buses alone and feeling very independent. The Wildwood. But Malachy's a fixture on West 72nd Street off Columbus Ave. since the late '80s is the kind of place people like "because it's old and ugly," insisted Mike Mishkin, owner of . 85th St.; 212- 877-0961. 29 Second Ave. (between 1st & 2nd St.) Via. If you are interested in answering a few questions email me at: [email protected]. I grew up Miss all of the mom and pop shops. Cocktails are pricey ($12-16) but it's just too fun to miss. Those rowdy kids are just young high school students who have just finished a full day of behaving properly in a boring, tedious, and often frustrating environment where their every move is monitored by unsmiling adults at least 10 or 20 years older (if not more) and most often NOT people of color like themselves. The Upper West Side ( UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. He lived on 75th Bet. A fine and forgotten 1975 book by Barbara Gelb called On the Track of Murderit reads like a nonfiction version of Ed McBains glorious 49-year series of police procedurals about the 87thPrecinct, a lightly disguised version of the real-life 24th Precinct on the Upper West Sidetells the story of the homicide squad formed to catch Charlie Chop-off. Not a longtime UWS resident (only two years) but I would warn the author against making what appear to be major overstatements. I remember turning the corner on 71st street one day coming back from PS 89 and discovering that my whole street (71st between Columbus and CPW) had been transformed so that Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand could perform a scene from The Way We Were. Dreamstime is the world`s largest stock photography community. Williamsburg is like New York in the 70s. Free or royalty-free photos and images. (Photo by Steven Siegel) Demolition began later that decade, which displaced the homeless who had by that point found shelter on the elevated roadway. If you visit Hi-Life Bar and Grill on your birthday, you get the usual complimentary dessert and a t-shirt with "NY" set in a martini glass graphic. An indifferent French restaurant occupies the space that once housed the record store where I bought my first 45 rpm disc of the Cowsills singing the title song from Hair, and standing in front of it I split into two, the 49-year-old in the present and the seven-year-old in the past crossing its portal with a little brown paper bag in hand, excited beyond measure to get its contents home to place the needle on the 45s ridge and watch it slide into the first groove, the sound of the scratches giving way to the opening blast of the Cowsills five-part harmony. John was a amazing teacher and he taught me to love learning! The broken windows theory propounded by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1983 has entered into the realm of clichthe idea that if you dont replace a broken window on an abandoned building, more of the windows will be broken and the area around them will decay as well. The Upper West Side is a great place to live: beautiful prewar buildings, Central Park to one side and Riverside Park to the other, Zabar's.It's one of the most popular residential areas of Manhattan and it's also a hotbed for celebrities. Vague memory of the window and lady on 83rd Street. We arent quite sure what Dakota Bar is trying to be, but its a useful place to know about if you ever need to get a cocktail with some acquaintances near Lincoln Center. I have lived on 111 street since 1975. For more historic images of the Upper West Side, check out our piece on a photographer who took pictures of storefronts in 1982, and a home movie shot in 1971. Bring a few relatives you havent seen in a while. Isnt the least bit fancy, but it also doesnt smell bad, and they even have some books you can read while you drink. I do remember cake masters on 99 street, party cake on 110, teachers, the gold rail, the American restaurant on 85 & Broadway. I also went to IS 44 and was blessed with being part of the Lab School which was the vision of Mr. John Gatto. Kelly Ramos: Favorite wings in the entire city. But this is the case in most major cities going through development and change. The Upper West Side, or UWS as it is often abbreviated, is a large neighborhood or series of smaller adjacent neighborhoods in northern Manhattan, extending from 59 th Street northward to 110 th Street, with Central Park to the east and the Hudson River to the west. But west end was great, and also 86th was great all the way over to the park. Vin sur Vingt | Best Things to Do Upper West Side. I always saw it as culturally vital and architecturally beautiful. Caledonia is, above all, a whiskey bar. Amazing roast chicken at Amsterdams. Go on Mondays for live jazz. Stephen Hanson's uptown "Chinese" fantasy, which he bravely launched on the un-trendy Upper West Side, was the big box that spawned all of the city's pan-Asian giants. 114 tips and reviews. 1980s-1990s: Boy Bar (15 St. Marks Pl.) 1470 First Ave. (between 76th & 77th St.) North East Bank. Awesome to read all the comments and Tnx to all my neighbors for taking time to reminisce West 72nd here from early 70s to 2012 Forgot so many places but this jogged a great deal to share nostalgically with my family I miss Eclaires, La Fortuna and laser rock of the early 80s and the many times I saw John and Yoko walking in the park as a kid .. Or the 72nd st Kung fu magazine store on the 2nd Memories are all we ever truly have. 226 W 79th St, New York, NY 10024. My father was the first tenant of the building and moved in in 1929. They might have called it the airmail theory. 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