Tag: Upper West Side

  • A Visit to Mount Tom

    One of the things I miss doing in New York, is wandering around the City. Just walking the streets, seeing what I can find, and discovering things. When I first moved here, and I was temping in different parts of Manhattan, I would use my lunch breaks to walk up and down the streets, hoping that something unexpected would be around the corner, or I would find a shop that I never knew I needed.

    This past Sunday, I was afforded an hour up around Riverside Park, and I knew where I wanted to go; to visit Mount Tom.

    See, the legend is that Edgar Allan Poe used to come out and sit on the top of this giant rock, and look out on the Hudson River. This was back in 1844, when he and his wife were renting a room at a farm that was located around 84th and Broadway today. I had read about here, some time ago.

    Rather moody and bleak out this past Sunday. Not the weather that Poe would have gone out in to sit on Mount Tom, but still fun to be in a place where Poe once sat, and thought, and possible even worked.

  • Personal Review: In a Taxi on the Upper East Side

    I found myself, on this very rainy Thursday, in the Upper East Side at 3rd Ave and 80th. I had taken my dog to the vet we liked; The one the wife had found during the Pandemic, who was far away from our neighborhood, but as we only made this trip once a year, the distance wasn’t disqualifying. An Uber had brought me down here, and as I contemplated in the rain how best to get home, an open taxi waiting at the light decided for me that surge pricing would be forgone on this return trip.

    I was asked by the driver if cutting across the park, and heading up Central Park West was okay, which I felt it was. Maybe the FDR would have been faster, but with the trifecta of Biden-Obama-Clinton in town, and with a rumor of Trump hanging around the city as well, my thought was that the highways were surely clogged as much as the streets on this day.

    And it was a slow trek across Manhattan, which provided the opportunity of watching the city go by in gray clouds and black umbrellas. I’m never in the UES, so cutting through those streets was like exploring a new world. I wonder what life would be like if I lived there; if that restaurant were around the corner, or that coffee place, or how loud does that bar get on a Saturday night? How would life be different down here as compared to up there?

    If you have lived in New York for twenty years, you are bound to have taken numerous, if not uncountable, taxi rides, which all, more or less, are utilitarian and forgettable. But I do remember my first; JFK to Manhattan in the Summer of 2003. The cab had no air conditioning, and the driver blared Prince out of the speakers. And then there was what I thought would be my last after a goodbye dinner with friends; West Village to Harlem care of the West Side Highway – Late at night, the city lit up and passing in a blur.

    In my current taxi, a silent trip. No forced conversation, or weird shortcuts that are only meant to ride up the meter. No, it was a calm affair with my dog on my lap. I wondered why I still stay in the City, I wondered if I will ever leave this City?

    It’s easier now because all taxi’s take cards, because before that, sometimes you’d accidently not have enough cash, and that always made for an awkward conversation with the driver. This diver gave me a nod with a “thanks” when I tipped 20% and got out of the cab quickly, not letting too much rain in.

    Four Stars…

  • Coronavirus in NYC: Trader Joe’s Edition

    Again, 24 hours later and things have changed yet again in New York.

    I wouldn’t say there are a great number of people out in gloves and masks, but they are now clearly present wherever you go in the City.

    When I took the kid to school this morning, it was clearly noticeable that other students were absent, as parents were keeping their kids home. Also, the school was eerily quiet. It was a very rainy and cold morning, but even still, that school usually is boiling over with exuberance and energy in the mornings

    The wife and I both feel that it is only a matter of time before NYC will close all of the schools. As such, we might need to hunker down in the apartment for a couple of days. Which meant, we had to go grocery shopping to stock up.

    We are taking this seriously, but not THAT seriously. Not panic shopping over here.

    We headed down to the Trader Joe’s on West 93rd, but before we went over there, we ran some other errands, and walked around that part of the City, as we are rarely over there. Either way, by the time we got to the Trader Joe’s, there was a line out the door, that did wrap around the block. This wasn’t our first “end of the world, let’s go to Trader Joe’s” shopping experience. We dealt with Superstorm Sandy, and the Kincade Fire in California.

    So, we got in line, and it did move rather quickly. (Trader Joe’s does know how to handle a large crowd.) When we were in the final stretch of the line so we could get in, the wife and I noticed that people were taking pictures of the line. Clearly to prove to the rest of the world what happens on the UWS when shit gets real. So, being the mature and stoic people that we are, we attempted to make the most revolting faces that we could when we saw someone taking a picture.

    You’re welcome interwebs…

    It took about an hour and a half to grocery shop, which normally it takes us an hour, (See; Trader Joe’s knows how to handle a crowd.) and the people in there were all behaving normally for New Yorkers. To me that says, people are being cautious about all of this, and not panicking.

    Now, every day this week, things have changed, and not for the better. Sadly, I’m not hopeful for things getting better. I mean, it will get better and we’ll all get through this, but we haven’t hit that turning point just yet.

  • Coronavirus: Observations in NYC

    I know that earlier today the WHO officially called coronavirus a pandemic, and again, not too surprised nor too worried about it. I am following all the suggestions, and I am washing my hands, keeping sanitizer on me, and trying to limit my exposure to large groups. Also, I am trying to eat healthy, exercise, and get a good night’s sleep as well. Trying to be healthy all around.

    I did have to run some errands today in the City, and I was limited to Harlem and the Upper West Side, but this is what I observed:

    The number of people on the streets in Harlem seemed normal, such as, not smaller than would be expected for the time of day I was out.

    On the subway, I did see people in masks. Now, people have always tried to put as much space between them and others when riding, so again, people looked to be behaving normally.

    I was around the Lincoln Center area, and people looked normal going about their business.

    I stopped off at a Trader Joe’s, and the store was out of toilet paper, paper towels, and ice cream. The ice cream I get; you’re stuck in doors watching, or catching up, on your shows. Binge watching leads to binge eating. I get it. The paper towels and toilet paper thing still blows my mind, as in why hoard that? I first read about these shortages in Seattle on BuzzFeed, and I thought how odd. I had no idea that a run on toilet paper could be the carney in the coal mine for coronavirus.

    Other than that, all seems normal in NYC.