A day on Manhattan's Upper East Side

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Tuesday, November 5. 2013

A day on Manhattan's Upper East Side

We have some number of readers who think NYC is Gomorrah. It's Gotham, not Gomorrah. I'm a country boy, but I love it and find the neighborhoods endlessly fascinating.

I spent yesterday overseeing a relative who had a procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery. It's ranked #1 in the world for Orthopedics. I have rarely seen any place run in such a friendly, cheerful, efficient, and well-organized manner. Even their security people are full of Good Morning and Welcome and How Can I Help You?, etc.

A chilly day in New York. As various things were going on, I got out to stroll around 1st and 2nd Avenues a bit, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the pleasant but not fancy part of the East Side, and I made a wonderful new 83 year-old friend in the Ambulatory Surgery waiting area too. A retired Econ. Prof from Chicago with a remarkable life story but I won't go into it. Everybody has a story, don't they? His wife was getting a shoulder repair.

Tourists never see the Upper East Side, way over near the East River. Lots of people live and/or work there, but it's a hike to the Lexington Ave. line (The Second Ave. El was torn down in 1942, and has not been replaced yet).

Marianne used to enjoy these sort of pics - just a random street photo gallery -

More random street pics below the fold -

I never saw this before - The Mount Vernon Hotel (1826) - on 61st St.

The citadel of American medicine: New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center:

Bike path on 2nd Ave. I noticed that lots of workmen buy bananas on the street:

Queensboro Bridge, with the Roosevelt Island Tram

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:48 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (0)

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In 1961 a friend and I went to NY City to try to get into the Peppermint Lounge to see Chubby Checker. We stood in line for hours but were never admitted. The "in crowd" was there but no room for us. We ate hamburgers at these tiny store front stands. They had four stools bolted to the sidewalk where you would sit. The store was about 8 feet wide. You stood behind the seat you hoped to use when the person in it left and ordered. Once you sat down they served the burger and you ate fast because someone else was breathing down your neck waiting for the seat. We tried to sleep in Central station but the police kept making us move. We finally went to an all night movie to at least sit down until morning but you dare not sleep in there. There were strange people who would move seats every few minutes until they were behind you. The trick was to get up just before they got behind you. I guess we were lucky because we stayed two nights and weren't mugged or arrested.

#1 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-11-05 19:43 (Reply)

Leaved there for 25yrs.
Done that.
They deserve what is coming to them.
That is all.

Although ... I pity the children.

#2 g6loq on 2013-11-05 19:58 (Reply)

NYC is a good city for walking around. You never know what you are going to see.
As for living there- I don't have the money.

#3 Gringo on 2013-11-05 21:26 (Reply)

I know you love it, but you don't have to live in it. I have visited several times and driven through the city many times. It makes me very uncomfortable. It is too strange. And there are way too many people milling around.

#4 annieoakley on 2013-11-05 21:48 (Reply)

Yes, it has some nice points. It's also stuffed full of people who are voting for the ruin of this country. So if they're also about to ruin their own city as they did in the 70s, I'm less concerned than I might otherwise be.

#5 Texan99 on 2013-11-05 22:10 (Reply)

There you go again with that "east coast arrogance" thing: ". . .the Citadel of American medicine" No it's not: there are many, many other fine institutions:
1. UCLA
2. Stanford
3. Cedars of Sinai (LAX)
To name just a few. There are also hospitals with a stronger more robust research/practice in specialized areas:
Swedish for Cancer for instance
You are a nice guy BD--but, we just got to get you to understand that the east coast is not always the best at anything! Not anymore--maybe in your grand dad's day. Oh, I forgot to mention one thing it's good at -- stealing from the American people through their WS system of cons, evasions, ponzi schemes, trading, etc. ad nauseum. Yup--NYC is still the best at all of that! OH, and don't give me that bit about the arts: the music--the best symphony orchestras are out of country and London does a fine job of theatre. Art galleries--yes you've got some nice collections, but there are other greats also (Louvre?),etc., etc., etc.

#6 faculty Wife on 2013-11-06 00:14 (Reply)

And when it comes to medicine, poor Cleveland should rank very high on the list but these days it gets no respect.

#6.1 Agent Cooper on 2013-11-06 02:18 (Reply)

Isn't the clinic ranked as the best hospital in the country? Even Chrispie Christie went there for his "don't eat so much" therapy.

#6.1.1 MTF on 2013-11-06 08:04 (Reply)

My theory is that visiting NYC is difficult for people from other parts of the country. Getting in and out is difficult. Visitors go to really crowded parts of the city, like Times Square and Fifth Avenue (Rockefeller Plaza area). Visitors don't get what a neighborhood-centric place NYC really is, and how wonderful a place it can be. I love New York, and we had two children at New York Hospital. Sorry about the election, which I think is very sad news.

#7 MTF on 2013-11-06 08:01 (Reply)

As a former long time UES resident I liked the article.

(1)New York Hospital did a good job on my cataract surgery but Andy Warhol didn't survive his "routine" gallbladder procedure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol#Death

(2) Bit of trivia most NYC residents do not know: York Avenue was named (in 1928) in honor of Sergeant York WWI army hero. (Prior to that it was Avenue A.)

(3) That part of UES has loads of good inexpensive restaurants and (in my day) was virtually free of chain restaurants.

(4) Upper Madison Avenue has the world's best array of fashionable shops. (Fifth Avenue is for tourists)

#8 JamesG (Link) on 2013-11-06 08:50 (Reply)

Enjoy NYC while you can. After a term or two of DeBlasio it's going to look like the setting of Taxi Driver all over again.

Investment tip: buy property in northern New Jersey. Lots of demand there pretty soon.

#9 Trimegistus on 2013-11-06 11:20 (Reply)

My Significant Other concurs with BD's assessment of the upper East Side. She really likes it and stays at The Lowell Hotel on 63rd.

#10 feeblemind on 2013-11-06 13:53 (Reply)

Thanks for your photos of NYC - they mean I don't have to ever go there to see what it looks like. Of course, every other movie or TV show was filmed there, so that is another reason to not go.

Sultan Knish has another take on your city: http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/11/its-de-blasio-time.html

#11 Sam on 2013-11-06 17:08 (Reply)

If its not Gomorrah yet, it will be when deBlasio gets started and he is there because New Yorkers WANT him

#12 bgarrett on 2013-11-08 08:50 (Reply)

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Tuesday, November 5. 2013

A day on Manhattan's Upper East Side