More Than Stress
Xerostomia, or dry mouth, can be related to medications and cancer treatments
By Fred Cicetti
Q: I seem to have bad breath a lot. I’ve also noticed that my mouth is a bit dry most of the time. Could these two things be related? Read more
Bright Lights, Big City
Neighborhood hopping is the only way to appreciate this town
By Lorraine Duffy Merkl
“There’s no life above 14th Street,” a former colleague was known to say. She is not the only lower Manhattanite I’ve heard utter those words. Perhaps they think it has a certain cool downtown cachet, but all I ever think is, How limiting. Read more
A Nose for the Cold
When a chronic sinus condition has anti-social side effects
By Ben Krull
In wintertime my nose acts as a thermometer. As a cold front approaches I find myself using more Kleenex than usual. When freezing temperatures arrive, my sinuses function as though someone has clipped a clothespin to my schnoz. Read more
Join the Club
Italian fare, just like momma used to make
By Linnea Covington
Looking for East Side Social Club, you may walk right past the entrance, dissuaded by a grumpy-looking guy standing in front of the barely marked door. Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite, and you don’t need a password to enter—though you might need one to get a reservation, since this neighborhood hot spot tends to fill up most nights. Read more
City Week: Feb 26– March 4
A Selective Listing of Recommended Cultural & Community Events
Compiled by Shannon Geis
Friday, February 26
Artists in Training—The new exhibition “Becoming an Artist: The Academy in 19th-Century France” explores the technical and intellectual training offered by famous art school École des Beaux-Arts. The exhibit highlights the rigorous curriculum that attracted students to the academy from all over the world, the competitions, the hierarchy of subject matter and the variety of artistic expression generated by this system. The exhibit is sponsored by a partnership between Syracuse University and the Dahesh Museum of Art. The Palitz Gallery in Lubin House, 11 E. 61st St., 212-826-0320; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Free. Read more
Science, Straight Up
By Rochana Rapkins
For the last few months, crowds of youthful, well-groomed New Yorkers have flocked to the American Museum of Natural History the first Wednesday of each month to hear lectures on Darwin and social media, the search for life in the universe and the biological basis for greed. An added enticement? Free admission, a DJ and a cash bar, which are part of the museum’s bid to attract new visitors. Read more
That ’70s Movie
The Yellow Handkerchief may be an extraordinary film—but you wouldn’t know it from its hushed release
By Armond White
Time has shown that the 1970s was the greatest period for American movies since… the 1950s. But the ’70s—known as the American Movie Renaissance—are not coming back. That fact is proven by this week’s unheralded premiere of The Yellow Handkerchief alongside Film Forum’s revival of Five Easy Pieces, the 1970 New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture winner. Read more
Tracy Morgan may be in a worthless film, but the joke’s on Hollywood
Black academics like to hedge their career bets by justifying egregious pop culture stereotype as “tricksters.” Tracy Morgan is the first comedian to understand this game and plays it embarrassingly well in Cop Out, in which he portrays Paul Hodges, a juvenile, doofus black police detective and nine-year buddy/partner to Bruce Willis’ Jimmy Monroe. Read more
Where Has All the Moo Shoo Gone?
The rise and demise of the classic Upper West Side Chinese restaurant
By Nancy J. Brandwein
No sooner had I buzzed in the delivery guy from Sura Thai Kitchen than my children were circling like sharks for the kill. Releasing the fragrance of Thai basil and peanut oil from plastic containers of Pad Thai and Pad Se Ew, I suddenly realized I was part of the trend sited by Village Voice food critic and blogger Robert Seitsema in his end-of-decade round-up. Seitsema wrote, “Old-fashioned neighborhood Cantonese restaurants are on the wane, and they’re fast being replaced by neighborhood Thais.” Read more
Fence Gets Funds
By Samuel Chamberlain
Long standing plans for a new fence to ring the I.S. 44 schoolyard got one step closer to reality after the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District announced a new infusion of funding Feb. 11.
The BID received a $350,000 capital grant, arranged by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, to cover most of the project’s cost. The BID will cover the balance.
The new fence would replace the present chain-link fence that runs up the west side of Columbus Avenue, between West 76th and 77th streets, and extends halfway up each block to enclose three schools: West Prep Academy (which is being phased in as J.H.S. 44 is phased out), the Computer School and the Anderson School. Designed by Richard Dattner and William Stein, principals of Dattner Architects, the fence will also incorporate live plants that will grow up the façade. The architecture firm is best known in the neighborhood for designing the West 72nd Street subway station and plaza.
“I’m very happy that the grant has been awarded. I’ll be most happy when I see it up,” Rosenthal said. “Now the kids in the schoolyard won’t have to look out like they’re in prison.”
The current fence has been in the BID’s sights since the organization was established in 1999.
“This is something we’ve been looking at from the get-go,” said Barbara Adler, the BID’s executive director. “When we first got started, almost immediately, we decided the fence that was there was an eyesore, and we started looking at ways to replace it.”
The BID has also been raising funds to cover the cost of the project, estimated at $500,000, through its annual New Taste of the Upper West Side food festival, which West Side Spirit has joined as a sponsor. The festival raised $50,000 in start-up funds during its first year, 2008. The fundraiser, spanning two days this year—May 21 and 22—will include three separate events. Tickets are now available at www.NewTasteUWS.com.
