📌 From the archives: Missed these? Your neighbors didn't.

⛺ Summer Camp 2026 Guide

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🌸 Spring Has Sprung: UWS Spring Guide 2026

It's Participatory Budgeting Vote Week — and yes, that means exactly what it sounds like. Between Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 19, you get to vote on how the city spends real money on real things on the west side. Tree guards, school bathrooms, park repairs, gym cooling systems, library upgrades — the unsexy stuff that actually makes things better. Residents age 11 and up can vote. Even your 11-year-old gets a say. Fair warning: these races are so close your 6th grader might have more political power this week than you've had all year.

District 6 (Gale Brewer) projects include tree guard installation, a bathroom upgrade at P.S. 84, Riverside Park wall repair, and cooling systems at William O'Shea and Frank McCourt. Vote in person at:

Or vote online starting 4/11 at pbnyc.org/vote.

District 7 (Shaun Abreu) projects include tech upgrades at the Hamilton Grange NYPL branch, bleachers and sports upgrades at Booker T. Washington, bathroom upgrades at the William Lynch School, and a science lab at P.S. 333.

This is democracy at its most local — no politicians, no parties, just you deciding whether your kid's school gets a new bathroom or the park gets a new wall.

The sidewalk tables are out. Outdoor dining season started April 1 and runs through November 29. Your favorite restaurants are reclaiming the curb lane and honestly, nothing says "I live in New York" like eating pasta six feet from a passing bus.

We did something fun: we mapped all 101 UWS restaurants with outdoor dining, color-coded by cuisine. We mapped them so you don't have to argue about where to eat. (You'll still argue. But now you can fight about it outside, at a table, with wine.) Full city program at diningoutnyc.info.

Pro tip: Click the ⭐ on the map to save it to your Google Maps. Next time you're standing on Columbus arguing about dinner, it'll be right there.

If you've gotten a letter (or two) from your building lately, you're not alone. 32BJ SEIU, the union representing about 34,000 doormen, porters, and handypeople, holds a strike vote on Park Avenue Tuesday, April 15. Contract expires April 20. If no deal, workers could walk as early as April 21. The sticking point: building owners want workers to start chipping in for healthcare premiums. Workers currently pay zero.

Important detail: supers and resident managers are on a separate contract — they stay. But if you live in a doorman building, here's what a strike looks like: no one at the door, no one sorting your packages, no one taking out the trash. The last time this happened was 1991. It lasted 12 days. Start being extra nice to your building staff this week. They deserve it either way.

Most of you have walked past him. Freckles — real name Ethan — has been living on Broadway near 75th for a while now, under the scaffolding just north of Citarella, with his cat Kitty and a small city of bags and bikes. The West Side Spirit reported this week that the city swept the area on April 1. By the next day, he was back. He told the Spirit he prefers to live outside.

We're including this because it's part of the neighborhood — and because a lot of you walk past every day wondering what the story is. Now you know. The city says homelessness is a priority. Ethan says he's not going anywhere. Both things are true at the same time.

Opened: Express Essentials — the long-shuttered newsstand outside the 96th Street 1/2/3 subway entrance is back. Broadway between 93rd and 94th. Newspapers, candy, lottery tickets, dog treats — and, in a somewhat unexpected twist, wheatgrass shots and sea moss. The UWS in one business.

Installed: New bike racks at Fairway — 74th and Broadway. Four racks. Already full. A neighbor asked Brewer, Brewer asked DOT, DOT showed up. Democracy in slow motion.

Opened: Springbone Kitchen — 541 Columbus Ave at 86th. Health bowls, soups, smoothies, and the end of a 12-year vacancy. That corner has been empty since 2014. We were starting to think it was haunted.

Opened: Longwood Fish Market — 903 Columbus Ave (104th-105th). Fresh fish, same block. Took over the old Moon Fish Market space.

Reopening April 13: Casasalvo — 473 Amsterdam Ave (82nd-83rd). Closed since February. We missed you. Don't do that again.

Moved: Runaway Poppy — hopping from 2244 Broadway to 461 Amsterdam (at 82nd). Opening party with a DJ on Thursday, April 16, 6-9pm. Gifts, ceramics, and a vibe.

Closed: Takeda — 566 Amsterdam Ave (87th-88th). The omakase spot has paper on the windows. Website says a new location is coming. We'll believe it when we're eating it.

Coming home: NY Loves Yoga is returning to W 83rd Street in June. Ohmmm. That means their current full-floor space at 180 W 80th St needs a new tenant — it could work for a studio, wellness practice, or anything that involves natural light and good energy. Know someone? Listing is on LoopNet.

Jacket or No Jacket? 🌤️🌤️🌤️ — The weekend is giving "light layer and optimism." Friday 62°F, Saturday 60°F, Sunday mid-50s. Monday hits 73°F — the best weather of the week lands on a workday, because of course it does. Take a long lunch. You deserve it.

Friday, April 10 (today! Orthodox Good Friday)

American Folk Art Museum: Two New Shows Open Today — 2 Lincoln Square, Broadway at 66th St. Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists spotlights sixty self-taught artists. Folk Nation: Crafting Patriotism in the United Statesexplores how vernacular art shaped American identity after the Revolution. Both through September 13. Always FREE. This is one of the most underrated museums on the UWS and today is the day to finally go.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Liszt & Bartók — Alice Tully Hall, 7:30pm. Four Hungarian composers, from ultra-Romantic Liszt to ground-breaking Ligeti. The kind of Friday night that makes you feel like you have your life together. Tickets $33/$53/$73.

New Directors/New Films — Film at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater & MoMA. Running through April 19. The 55th edition of this festival showcases 24 features and 10 shorts from emerging filmmakers — Sundance favorites, Cannes winners, and names you'll be dropping at dinner parties next year. Tickets $19 (students/seniors $16). Multiple screenings all weekend.

Jim Gaffigan: Everything is Wonderful! — Beacon Theatre, Broadway at 74th. Four nights of Hot Pockets jokes in your backyard (tonight through Saturday). Ticketed.

NYPL: Monk Pieces — Documentary Film Screening — NYPL for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center. A screening about the legendary Meredith Monk. FREE.

Columbia University Orchestra — Alice Tully Hall. Tickets under $10. For real. A full orchestra at Lincoln Center for less than your morning coffee order.

Saturday, April 11

60°F and dry. Not the 72°F blockbuster we got last week, but the cherry blossoms don't care about your jacket preferences. CPW and the Reservoir are peaking. Bring your phone. Bring your kids. Bring a blanket and pretend you planned this.

🚗 NY International Auto Show — Last Weekend! — Javits Center, 11th Ave at 34th St. Through Sunday April 12. Over 850,000 square feet of cars, concept vehicles, indoor test tracks, a Jeep obstacle course, and a Kids EV Test Track. Saturday 10am-10pm, Sunday 10am-7pm. $22 adults, $8 kids (3-12), under 2 FREE. If your kid loves cars — or if you secretly do — this is the weekend before it's gone.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 NYC Tartan Day Parade — 6th Avenue, 2-4pm. FREE. Thousands of clans, pipers, dancers, and Scottish pups marching up Sixth Avenue. The NYC Scottish cultural event of the year. Pro tip for families: head to Bryant Park around 11am for a pre-parade Pipes and Drums performance before little legs give out.

Seen, Sound, Scribe — David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center. 7:30pm. FREE. Lincoln Center's poet-in-residence Mahogany L. Browne curates an evening of spoken word, poetry, and new work. General admission, first-come first-served — or grab a Fast Track pass.

Sunday, April 12

CMS: Fauré's C-Minor Piano Quartet — Alice Tully Hall, 5pm. Sunday afternoon chamber music at Lincoln Center. Tickets $42/$61/$85.

The 9th Annual NextGen National — Lincoln Center, Sunday April 12, 2pm. The American Pops Orchestra's national vocal competition — aspiring singers mentored by Broadway performers, competing for cash prizes and paid gigs. It's 100% FREE to attend, you get to vote for your favorite, and there's a decent chance you'll be telling people "I saw them before they were famous."

Last week we asked: What's the real traffic problem on the Upper West Side? Here's what you said (26 votes — might as well have been 18,347 for how decisive it was):

🚗 Cars using our side streets as a shortcut: 8%

🅿️ People from outside the neighborhood parking here to dodge congestion pricing: 31%

🚗🅿️ Both — cars cutting through AND non-residents parking for free: 54%

🤷 I drive and park here — leave it alone: 8%

92% of you said there's a problem. Over half said it's both. One reader put it plainly: "Free parking is a giveaway to those who don't need one. Given the wealth of transit options now available, a car is a voluntary luxury item at this point." Another noticed the NJ plates filling up the neighborhood and called for residential parking permits. Two readers said leave it alone — and one pointed out that the CB7 meeting was scheduled during spring break. Fair point.

🌷 The tulips have entered the chat. We've talked about these bulbs every week since Issue #1. At this point we're basically their publicist. The West Side Community Garden at 123 W 89th St (between Columbus & Amsterdam) is in bloom — over 100 varieties of tulips blooming in waves through early May. FREE. Dawn to dusk. Dogs on leashes welcome (paws off the petals). Special Information Days with garden volunteers giving mini-tours: April 11–12, 18–19, 25–26, 10am–6pm. Each bloom lasts about a week, so if you go this weekend and go again next weekend, you'll see a completely different garden. It's like Netflix but outside and it smells better.

🌸 Cherry blossoms are peaking. Central Park West looks like it hired a set designer. The Reservoir loop is the move right now — free, gorgeous, and you'll take 47 photos whether you mean to or not. If your feed is suddenly full of freelance photographers offering cherry blossom mini sessions — same. Need a recommendation? Email us.

🐦 Sundays 9am: Urban Park Rangers Birding Walks in Central Park. Starting at Belvedere Castle. 120 minutes, 0.75 miles. $35 (20% off for members). Spring migration is in full swing — the warblers are back and they brought friends.

🐦 Saturday 4/11, 9am: Spring Birding in Van Cortlandt Park — NYC Bird Alliance guided walk. 90 minutes. FREE.

🌿 The Green at the Davis Center opens April 16 in the northern end of Central Park — the seasonal lawn that replaces the Gottesman Rink. Picnics, lounging, and FREE community events all spring and summer. First event weekend: Saturday April 18 with lawn games, art workshops, and yoga. Your new favorite spot to do absolutely nothing.

🎨 Children's Museum of Manhattan — 212 W 83rd St. This week's lineup is absurdly good: ABT ballet workshop where your kid learns Swan Lake phrases (Thu), wearable textile art with artist Ebony Bolt (Fri, ages 5+), a season-long spring installation finale with Dan Jones (Sat 2-4pm), and Spellbound Theatre's immersive puppet show Under the Treefor ages 2-7 (Sun 10:30am & 12pm). Museum admission required.

📚 Your local library is low-key outperforming most kids' programs in the city. Just this week at St. Agnes Library(444 Amsterdam, 81st-82nd): 3D printing workshop for kids (Tue 3:30pm — only 3 spots, sign up early), Family Storytime (Wed & Fri 10:30am), a visit from I Stink! author-illustrator duo Kate & Jim McMullan with a live garbage truck drawing lesson (Wed 3:30pm), and teen stained glass crafting (Thu 4pm). All FREE. All with your library card. Check the other UWS branches too — they're all going off.

🌂 NEW: Big Umbrella Festival — Lincoln Center, April 10–26. Two weeks of performances, workshops, and interactive installations designed with and for neurodiverse audiences. Dance, music, theater, comedy, sensory-friendly art — all relaxed performances with fidgets, noise-reducing headphones, and chill-out spaces available. FREE and choose-what-you-pay. This is one of the only festivals in the country built from the ground up for neurodivergent kids and families. It's right in our backyard and it's extraordinary.

⚾ Jackie Robinson Day Weekend — Jackie Robinson Museum, 75 Varick St. Saturday April 11, 11:30am–3pm. Customize your own baseball cap with Jackie Robinson-inspired patches, turn the museum into a life-size game board, story time for ages 4-6 at 11:30am, photo stations, and prizes. Bring a cap from home or grab one at the museum. Sunday April 12, 1-3pm: sensory-friendly hours for families who need a quieter visit. If your kid loves baseball — or if you want them to know who #42 was — this is the weekend.

⚔️ Gladiators NYC — Lawn behind the Met Museum, Saturday April 11, 2-4pm. Bring a blanket, bring snacks, and watch gladiator-style fun in Central Park. Family-friendly and exciting for all ages. FREE.

Monday, April 13

RSMA Joint Public Hearing — 6pm via teleconference. The DOE presents its proposal to cut grades 6-8 at the Riverside School for Makers and Artists and relocate the Center School into RSMA's building. Register here or call 646-828-7666 (ID: 161-833-5287#). Speaker sign-up opens at 5:30pm.

Symphony Space: A Celebration of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours — 2537 Broadway at 95th. 8pm. The full album, performed live. Officially sold out — but people cancel plans, couples break up, babysitters fall through. Check the box office. You can go your own way, but you should try to go to this.

Tuesday, April 14

CB7 Transportation Committee: W. 72nd Street Redesign — 6:30pm. DOT wants to redesign 72nd Street from Riverside Drive to CPW — removing a travel lane, adding protected bike lanes both directions, pedestrian safety islands, and a center turn lane. This will generate opinions. The committee will hear 90 minutes of presentation and public input, then vote on a resolution. Also on the agenda: a proposal to co-name W 83rd & CPW after Cecile Richards. Attend in person at 250 W. 87th St or by Zoom. Email feedback to [email protected]. If you walk, bike, drive, or push a stroller on 72nd — this one's yours.

Wednesday, April 15

Michael McIntyre: Hello America! — Beacon Theatre, 8pm. Britain's biggest comedian. First-ever US tour. Five million tickets sold worldwide. This one's almost gone. Ticketed.

Tax Day. You already knew that. File your taxes, then go to a free candidate forum:

92NY: NY-12 for Congress Candidate Forum — 7:30pm. Online. FREE. Jerry Nadler's seat is open, the Democratic primary is June 23, and you should probably know who's running to represent you. Register at 92NY.

Thursday, April 17

The Remission Film Festival — Symphony Space, 6:30pm. Here's one you won't see anywhere else: the first film festival dedicated entirely to what life actually looks like before, during, and after cancer. The founder, Edward Miskie, is a 13-year rare lymphoma survivor who literally wrote the book on it — it's called Cancer, Musical Theatre, & Other Chronic Illnesses and if that title doesn't tell you everything about his energy, nothing will. Tony-nominated Erin Neufer and Broadway's Hailee Kaleem Wright are on the jury. Every dollar from ticket sales goes to Blood Cancer United. Go for the films. Stay because it matters.

Saturday, April 19

John Oliver & Seth Meyers — Beacon Theatre, 7:30pm. Their ongoing residency continues — 45 minutes of standup each, then a joint Q&A. They've sold out 21 shows at the Beacon and counting. Ticketed. Get them while they still live in your backyard.

Save the date: Sunday, April 27 51st Chaplin Award Gala Honoring George Clooney — Film at Lincoln Center, 7pm. If you want to be in the same room as George Clooney and have the budget to prove it, this is your night. Ticketed.

Don't miss: ⚾ Want to play softball this summer? Manhattan Softball League plays all games in Central Park — registration is open now for Spring-Summer 2026. PlayNYC also runs coed leagues on Central Park fields. Grab some friends, dust off the glove, and get on a roster before spots fill up.

🗳️ $1 million doesn't vote on itself. Participatory Budgeting Vote Week runs April 11–19 and needs volunteers to table at ballot locations across the district. If you can spare a few hours this week, email Cynthia Hornig at [email protected] with "PB Volunteer" in the subject line.

ASP is suspended today (Orthodox Good Friday). Enjoy it. Normal rules resume Monday and it's a clean run of regular rules all the way through Friday 4/17. No holidays, no breaks, no mercy. The street sweeper is coming and it does not care about your zoom meeting.

Full calendar: nyc.gov/dot

Brian H. on Bodega 88: "Bodega 88 rocks!" Brian, we put it on the outdoor dining map. Literally.

Amanda V. on the 79th Street bike transverse: "You can transverse at 72nd!" She also wants to talk about the semi trucks blasting fog horns and idling on UWS streets. Amanda, we hear you. And so does everyone within six blocks.

Rachel L. called us "fantastic" and "so informative with a great upbeat tone" — we're framing that. She also asked about Classic Playground in Riverside Park — gorgeous shade trees, Hudson breezes, views from the swings, and... chipped paint, splintered seesaws, and a broken sprinkler. Has anyone tried to get it upgraded? Nancy Drew is on the case. Stay tuned.

Your turn. Quick homework assignment (no grade, no deadline): What do you like about The West Sider? What are you loving about the UWS right now? Bonus points for photos. Reply to this email or send it to [email protected]. We screenshot the nice ones and read them to each other.

📣 SHARE THE WEST SIDER Forward responsibly. Or irresponsibly. We're not picky.

That's Issue #6. The tulips have entered the chat, your 6th grader has more political power than you this week, and someone at Fairway is already double-locking their bike to the brand new rack. We mapped 101 outdoor dining spots, found you a gladiator fight behind the Met, and confirmed that the newsstand at 96th is selling wheatgrass shots next to scratch-offs. This neighborhood, man.

Every week this newsletter gets bigger because you keep sending it to people. We've had exactly one unsubscribe since Issue #1. One. We're not saying that means something. But we're not not saying it.

Keep sharing. Keep showing up. Keep being West Siders.

See you next week.

— The West Sider

P.S. If you've been here since Issue #1, thank you. If you joined last week, welcome — you picked a good one. If someone forwarded this to you and you're still reading at the bottom, just subscribe already. We don't bite. We just write a lot.