Back HomeUpper West Side: Upgraded
The Upper West Side has undergone many transitions over the past few decades. Among the beloved prewar walkups and buildings that give the neighborhood its charm, are high rises that are popping up throughout the neighborhood. Even restaurants, boutiques, and grocery stores have opened up recently, especially near the Columbia campus. The Upper West Side is just a small sampling of the changes to come in New York City real estate development.
The high rise buildings bring “modern” change to the Upper West Side and with that, the mom and pop shops and delis are replaced by chains. In an interview / profile piece in the New York Times, Joyce Cohen writes that “He [Mr. Zoglin] misses some of the small shops in his old neighborhood, especially the Broadway Farm market, open all night…He makes do with the nearest options — a tiny deli and the grocery section of an enormous Duane Reade” (1).
Some of the other things the Upper West Side is famous for are the family owned, hole in the wall restaurants and bars that you cannot find anywhere else but in Manhattan. Recently, Joshua David Stein of Gubstreet did a piece dedicated to the Upper West Side, featuring some local spots. One of which, Absolute Bagels, is an neighborhood gem where the infamous Ess-a-Bagel, has been perfected.
Even individual apartments, buildings and townhouses are all seemingly receiving upgrades. For example, “55 West 95th Street will be renovating their lobby by building a custom desk for the doorman [and] updating the interiors of their elevators” (3). Albeit small, these changes add much more value to an existing apartment and attract a different kind of buyer altogether.
It is the community and the atmosphere that gives each New York City neighborhood its charm. The people living in the Upper West Side can usually identify with its surroundings; and with the change in real estate development, comes change in atmosphere.
(1) New York Times
(2) Grub Street
(3) Corcoran
