Our Town is a community newspaper serving the Upper East Side of Manhattan from Turtle Bay to Carnegie Hill. We cover the people, local businesses, schools, crime, real estate and human interest stories that make the neighborhood unique.
Complimentary copies of Our Town are distributed in more than 1,000 residential buildings and through community street boxes. Published weekly by Straus News, Our Town is chock full of information that helps residents and businesspeople keep up with the goings on in their neighborhood.
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This story has it all: family saga, inspirational business tale -- and tasty treats.
http://ow.ly/YOU250ypIhU
Nuts Factory opened its first U.S. location at 1030 Third Ave. with a drive to create a sensory experience for its shoppers. Aromas provided by three ...
An alternative plan for the redevelopment of Lenox Hill hospital emerges after a group led by Gale Brewer and Keith Powers asks for changes. @galeabrewer @KeithPowersNYC
http://www.ourtownny.com/news/new-lenox-hill-task-force-gets-results-BY908715
“Everybody was upset about everything,” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said, describing the months of turmoil that followed Northwell Health’...
Our columnist @JonMediaWeb, a former Bloomberg writer, explains how the ex-mayor is using the same tactics in his run for president that he used throughout his business career.
http://ow.ly/zu8A50ylPrF
I have to smile as I watch America trying to make sense of Michael Bloomberg’s insurgent presidential run. Journalists and pundits are racking their b...
How the 2018 challenger to Rep. Carolyn Maloney is gearing up for the 2020 ballot:
http://ow.ly/AdFt50yjOsk
Suraj Patel – son of immigrants, trilingual NYU professor, Stanford-educated lawyer, Obama campaign alum and family hotel exec, East Village New Yorke...
Check out today's Most Viewed story: Douglas Feiden's moving interview with Eleanor Reissa, host of a new podcast about the Holocaust:
http://ow.ly/rmnS50y7lZl
She’s been dubbed the “Jewish Beyonce” and the “Reigning Queen of the Yiddish Cabaret.” She’s a singer, actress, playwright, choreographer, librettist...
The most fun piece you'll read all day:
http://ow.ly/EefK50y3uSC
At nearly 7 a.m. daily, hundreds of West Siders head out of their apartments with their dogs for the first walk of the day in Central Park, often in p...
Despite bitter weather, rallygoers pack a punch at fourth annual Women’s March in New York City
http://www.ourtownny.com/news/rise-and-roar-HL805548
After three years, they’re still marching. Hundreds of protesters gathered for the fourth annual Women’s March in New York City Saturday morning, brav...
Merchants denounce a city plan to install bus shelters on the super-luxe shopping strip, saying they’ll obstruct storefronts, drive away patrons and ruin businesses.
http://ow.ly/u4wu50y1if8
A new threat is facing the crown jewel of American retailing. But it’s not from Amazon. Nor the explosion of cyber-spending. And it can’t readily be b...
Before lion and dragon dances fill the streets of Chinatown on February 8 and 9, check out some of the city's extraordinary and unexpected offerings.
http://ow.ly/ntGm50xWyU2
Lunar New Year celebrations fill the city with vibrant colors, flavors, and lots of sounds. January 25 rings in the Year of the Rat. According to the ...
Come springtime, New York City will have another professional sports team to call its own when Sky Blue FC moves to Red Bull Arena. We talked to the team's general manager about their upcoming 2020 season.
http://www.ourtownny.com/news/welcome-home-sky-blue-fc-CE789073
Come springtime, New York City will have another professional sports team to call its own. After years of playing at Rutgers University, Sky Blue FC, ...
“The future of the borough is on the line in 2021,” Council Member Mark Levine said in an interview with Our Town after launching his campaign for Manhattan borough president.
http://ow.ly/WW1w50xVtMv
Council Member Mark Levine announced his candidacy to become the next Manhattan borough president last week, touting a record of fighting for affordab...
It's Topic A in NYC: Will Fairway shut down? As the market seeks bankruptcy protection, shoppers spoke to about their concerns over the neighborhood grocer.
http://ow.ly/dZm550xQtLR
As shoppers picked through produce outside the Upper West Side’s iconic Fairway Market Monday afternoon, they did so with the knowledge that their nei...
Law enforcement and elected officials worry the new law will mean an increase in crime. And even Gov. Cuomo says bail reform be reformed -- there are "changes that have to be made."
http://ow.ly/oxdq50xPphG
The new year has ushered in the end of cash bail for many nonviolent defendants in New York, which advocates say will also end the practice of jailing...
2019 was a bleak year for NYC street safety: For the first time since Vision Zero was implemented in 2014, traffic fatalities have increased citywide.
http://ow.ly/p66B50xKLHZ
It was a challenging year under Vision Zero. For the first time since the street safety initiative was implemented in 2014, traffic fatalities have in...
It's not just mom-and-pop shops that are shutting down in Manattan. @DougFeiden reports on the changing chain-store landscape in the city.
http://ow.ly/mePw50xKerW
Remember Radio Shack? In 2014, the popular electronics chain boasted 30 shops in all the retail corridors of Manhattan. Today, there are zero. Also va...
The Met’s Costume Institute struts the extraordinary collection of Sandy Schreier, by @valenicec
http://www.ourtownny.com/newsletter-section/the-wow-parade-DX743885
Sandy Schreier, who is coy about her age, has been collecting clothes since she was a child. She would frequently tag along to work with her father, a...
They're young and they're eager to serve. How two political neophytes from Manhattan became candidates for elected office.
http://ow.ly/Qe8Z50xHxiy
From Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to Julia Salazar, New Yorkers have followed the national trend of voting young people into office. But as New York Count...
http://www.westsidespirit.com/home/a-lasting-arts-legacy-KB737905
Dinaw Mengestu, the well-known Ethiopian-American novelist and writer, would regularly walk past the Bernie Wohl Center of the Goddard Riverside Commu...
http://www.ourtownny.com/newsletter-section/tiffany-lamps-and-the-women-who-created-them-BD731113
Anyone looking for an oasis of calm during the frenzied holiday season will find a refuge of beauty, craftsmanship and serenity – and get a history le...
All Souls Unitarian Church celebrates its 200th anniversary. Read all about their history during the Civil War:
http://www.ourtownny.com/home/a-church-s-milestone-anniversary-IC730912
The Unitarian Church of All Souls last month celebrated its 200th anniversary as a house of worship that embraces everyone, regardless of their religi...
A controversial plan that sacrifices 400 parking spaces in favor of cyclist safety sparked a furious debate
Residents and Community Board 7 members yelled and interrupted each other for more than two hours in a tension-filled meeting last week before the board passed a resolution approving a northbound protected bike lane on Central Park West. The contentious session, on July 2nd, came after three cyclist...
After a rash of cyclist deaths, the mayor calls for a new bike safety plan
Hours after a cement truck killed a 29-year-old cyclist — the third bike death in a week and 15th of the year — Mayor Bill de Blasio declared an “emergency,” ordered an NYPD crackdown on reckless motorists and told transportation officials to develop a new bike safety plan.“We absolutely h...
On the twentieth anniversary of his death, a look at 10 books about a New York and American icon
I did not know John F. Kennedy, Jr., but he was one of those high-profile New Yorkers who I had happily in my orbit purely by happenstance.In the early 90s, I lived on the Upper West Side. Many a morning when I walked from The Ansonia to my midtown ad agency, I would spy him in a suit coming out of....
Goddard Riverside’s newest program helps lift young adults out of poverty
Our country is built on immigrants driven to improve family chances, lives and legacy. My father’s 1930’s high school diploma is three times the size of today’s and is embellished with broad calligraphy. Completing 12th grade in Illinois farm country was rare. My grandfather had a fourth grade...
It really is, but experts and elected officials say a lack of public awareness hinders city recycling programs
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new Green New Deal for New York City doubles down on the city’s goal of ‘zero waste’ by the year 2030. Even so, citywide expansion of curbside collection for residential organic waste, an essential element in reaching that goal, remains on hold.In 2017, New Yorkers pro...
As the end looms for the popular bookstores, their owner says government should offer small businesses the same kind of support it provides to corporate giants like Amazon
Book Culture owner Chris Doeblin thought his business had adapted to a market place dominated by Amazon. In fact, Doeblin has been dealing with the corporate giant since his store’s inception: both companies began at about the same time, Amazon in 1994, Book Culture in 1995, and both initially foc...
We love it, we hate it, we can’t live without it. Here’s the latest about the system we all depend on🚉
It’s raining hard and you race down the slippery sidewalk and into the subway — only to find it’s pouring down there, too, through cracks and gaping holes in the ceiling.It’s the dog days of summer and you head into the subway in search of an air-conditioned car. Just your luck, the temperat...
Thoughts?🤔
This week, the Supreme Court issued a decision blocking the Trump administration’s controversial move to add an untested and unprecedented citizenship question to the 2020 census. The court rightly rejected the administration’s preposterous assertion that the question will help the federal gover...
Hazards❌🚫
Dodging bikes — So far, Manhattan is exempt from legalizing electric bicycles in NYC’s bike lanes. The new legislation gives localities the ability to regulate the top speed of e-bikes. Hence our Mayor will be taking time out from his cross-country travel to figure out how to keep the traffic on...
Hot weather and dehydration can pose a real threat to these vital organs
Sunburn and sunstroke are often what people fear when a heat wave is coming. But when the temperatures soar, so does the risk for your kidneys. Recurrent heat exposure and inadequate hydration strains the kidneys, especially if there’s a pre-existing kidney condition. And frequent dehydration, eve...
Author Patricia Bischof on how the Holocaust affected her parents, and her upbringing in New York
By Michelle Naim The atrocity which left approximately 6 million Jews dead did not only follow with the pain and trauma of those who were lucky enough to survive it, but also their children who had to live with their parents’ roaring silence day in and day out. In her book, “Memoir of a 2G: Stor...
As the Democratic presidential candidates court wealthy donors, an early look at who’s ahead in NYC’s dollar derby
The Democratic Dash for Cash is in high gear as presidential candidates — from frontrunners to likely also-rans — are courting mega-rich Manhattan donors as the race for the nomination heats up after the first round of debates.Former Vice President Joe Biden swung through Manhattan on June 17 an...
Author and filmmaker David France reflects on Stonewall, the AIDS epidemic, building walls and tearing them down💪
David France was 10 years old in 1969, when the Stonewall Uprising changed the course of gay life in America. He didn’t hear about the historic event until 1979, when he was a student at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. “I had just come out,” he recalled in an interview, “so I must have been 2...
An Upper East Side organization helps Medicaid-eligible women have healthy pregnancies and become self-sufficient😌
by emily higginbotham When Zaiane Alawade found out she was pregnant following her freshman year at Fisk University, she resolved to continue on with her education and raise her child. After completing one more semester of courses in Nashville, the Harlem native moved back to New York and gave birth...
Activists opposed to the role that corporations play in NYC Pride events are staging a march of their own 🏳🌈
Fifty years after the Stonewall rebellion launched the modern LGBTQ rights movement, New York City is playing host to the World Pride celebrations. As Pride has grown, it has also changed in nature. What began as a scrappy, community-based political protest has become a mammoth, rainbow-hued festiva...
The celebrated and beloved concert series is moving indoors this season, but the music will soar as always 🎶
Elkan Naumburg (1835–1924) was a contemporary of J. P. Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Carnegie. Like them, he made a fortune in the early years of the 20th century, and like them, he was a major philanthropist. Unlike them, he was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to the United States ...
Proposals to replace Rikers with smaller borough sites have been rejected before 📰
If you think the city’s plan to get rid of Rikers Island and replace it with smaller community jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens — and the pitched battle against it — feels like déjà vu, you’re not hallucinating.Back in 1978, the Koch administration hatched a plan to lease...
You have a few decisions to make before the weekend commences : 1. Grab the last tickets to #PourTour and start summer right🍻 or 2. Spend a beautiful Saturday at home 😓 the choice is yours! Go grab those tickets - there are only a few left!
It's FINALLY going to be a beautiful day with no rain!🌞🤗
pour-tour.com
Thirty years after his death, Alvin Ailey’s genius is still making the world a better place 🌎
Alvin Ailey didn’t make it to 60. He died in 1989 at age 58 in Lenox Hill Hospital due to complications from AIDS. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, however, continues his legacy and vision and is celebrating its 60th season. In 1958, Ailey led his troupe of young African American performers...
This year’s spring exhibition at The Costume Institute, a multimedia experience, traces the origins of the aesthetic style and its impact on fashion and more 👗
Who knew the term had so many meanings and layers? The first section of this ambitious show is devoted solely to contextualizing and defining the elusive word — “camp” as a verb, an adjective, a noun — with a soundtrack featuring Judy Garland singing camp anthem, “Over the Rainbow.” Susa...
A day in the sun with the longest-running softball team in Central Park ⚾
By Meredith KurzNew York was founded in 1624 and about 60 years later Madison Square Park became public and about 160 years after that, baseball was born, in that park, in New York City. Sure, you’ve heard Cooperstown, but I’m sorry. The Knickerbocker Rules? From the Knickerbocker Club right her...
A grassroots campaign to fight the spending reductions reveals New Yorkers love for their “de facto community centers" 📖
On a muggy June afternoon, the Columbus Library on Tenth Avenue at West 51st Street is a calm, cool refuge from the noisy streets outside. Vanessa Watson, an office associate, has worked at this branch for longer than she wants to say. She has watched the community transform as more families with ch...
Ribbon-cutting for a new senior kitchen and youth center on the UES 🎉
A facility that serves more than 6,000 children and low-income families, out-of-school and out-of-work youth and older adults annually on the UES recently received a $2.1 million facelift.On June 3, the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center at 415 East 93rd Street unveiled its new senior kitchen, yo...
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Editorial Board Meeting with the District 4 city council candidates
