You are currently browsing the stories about the Upper East Side neighborhood
Local Stops
by Willie Perdomo 03/15/2008Neighborhood: Upper East Side
It’s brick outside, thermal-brick, coffee cup lids have coughing fits and a blind man with two good legs gets into my pocket by saying that I could be him one day. At the 116th stop Jane runs into Dick, all surprised and shit, she says, Wow, when did you move up here? Dick gives her [...]
The Calypso Women
by Thomas Beller 02/03/2008Neighborhood: Upper East Side
We went into Calypso, on Madison Avenue and 69th Street. The first thing I noticed upon entering the store was a young woman paying for something at the register while she distractedly texted. Then, as she texted, she got an actual phone call. She picked up and announced her coordinates and her purchase, “A gray [...]
Manhattan Elevators: They Have Their Ups and Downs
by Mr. Murphy 01/27/2008Neighborhood: Upper East Side
I return from my break to hear Vince screaming in Maltese. It seems two women, a real estate broker and her client, had been getting a little impatient waiting for the elevator and gave the button several long pushes. This would infuriate the most mild-mannered of elevator operators. Vince is not mild-mannered. “Who the fuck [...]
Eye Only Has Eyes For You
by Martine Byer 07/02/2007Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Luciana, my aesthetician, is administering my facial. I come to see her in this upscale New York city dermatologist’s office about every three months or when I just need a pick me up. As she is stroking my skin with a warm creamy make-up remover, we are sharing our usual catch up questions about kids, [...]
A Word From Number 4: Hat’s Off to the Homeless
by Jessica Mazo 06/09/2007Neighborhood: Upper East Side
At the risk of sounding insensitive – I normally have zero patience for whining panhandlers. I had an unpleasant experience a couple of years ago when I bought a homeless guy a slice of pizza. He then showed up five minutes later, with his friend, asking if I could buy them both a beef patty. [...]
Straggling at the Guggenheim
by Beth Schwartzapfel 12/31/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
It’s a freezing Friday night at the Guggenheim, 8:00, and technically the museum closed 15 minutes ago. Two gallery guides, as their bright red tags indicate they’re called, are following Cate and me down the spiral that swoops around the building’s atrium like some giant half-stretched slinky. In their early twenties, at times during our [...]
Harry and Winslow in the Gulf Stream
by Suzanne Comeau 12/31/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Harry’s back. It’s Wednesday, the middle of the week, and that means Harry is back to visit Winslow Homer. Harry visits his old friend Winslow Homer as if the two old friends were going to play their weekly game of checkers, as if this congenial game has been going on for fifty years with breaks [...]
A Barber’s Portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm
by Thomas R. Pryor 12/31/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Herman the German waited for his prey. He turned a small Iron Cross over in one hand slowly measuring the length of each of its four silver edges. His quivering lip shook an inch long ash off his cigarette’s end. It fell onto the top of his Austrian sandals with the matching black socks. A [...]
Fitzmas Past
by Mr. Murphy 12/22/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Last year, after the indictment of Dick Cheney’s chief-of-staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Maureen Dowd wrote a column praising the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald. “It was bracing to see the son of a New York doorman open the door on the mendacious Washington lair of the Lord of the Underground.” At first, I was gratified [...]
Hindsight is 13,000: Playing the Stock Market in 1999-2000
by Mr. Murphy 10/17/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
I have just taken over the passenger car from Roberto. There are three tenants in the elevator and they are discussing their vacation plans. 3A and her family will be hitting the slopes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; 5C is going to work on his tan and try his luck at the blackjack tables in Aruba; [...]
My Place in Women’s Tennis History
by Mickey Z. 06/29/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Sometimes I acquire personal training and kickboxing clients simply by correcting a stranger’s form. To put it bluntly, 90% of people in gyms are without a fuckin’ clue when it comes to proper training techniques. These folks can negotiate deals for zillions during the day at the office, yet they’re incapable of a quality bicep [...]
There’s No Rainbow on the FDR
by Josh Lefkowitz 05/31/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
It was an unseasonably cool Sunday evening in July, and, like the weather, I was feeling a bit out of sorts. I was looking for a new job and getting used to the pressures and angst of being in my first serious relationship. Walking on 78th Street between First and York, heading to the subway [...]
