Yorkville Blog
Upper East Side New York City

Down by the waterfront, Yorkville has a really nice park. Carl Schurz Park runs from 84th st to 90th st along the East River. It has a litlte bit of something for everyone:
* A riverfront esplenade with plenty of room for jogging and casual strolling
* Basketball court
* A very large playground for kids
* Dog play areas for canines large and small
* Gracie Mansion, the official New York City mayor's residence

Some photos from the park in March:

DTUT: 1626 Second Avenue (between 84th & 85th)

Guess I'm the last one to get the memo: DTUT is the coffee shop in the neighborhood. I grabbed my cup of coffee and spend a few minutes hovering through the nooks and crannies of this coffee shop looking for a free spot amongst all the places to sit. But it seems all of Yorkville goes to DTUT and so the tables were full of people with laptops enjoying the free wi-fi and the array of mismatched sofas were bustling with people chatting and reading. I settled into a comfy armchairs and read my book. Or as much reading as I could do surrounded by a million conversations. This definitely isn't your quiet study hall coffee shop. In a city with such tiny expensive apartments, coffee shops like this are everyone's surrogate living room. I think this is going to be my goto place for meeting up with people to chat.
http://www.dtut.com/
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/11274274/new_york_ny/dt_ut.html

I was always intrigued by the tiny sushi restaurant Poke. I always saw the tiny space packed to the limits with customers. Considering it couldn't hold more than 20 people at a time, that may not seem like a huge accomplishment but it was consistently that full. Well before I could get a chance to try them out they moved locations. Luckily it is only a few feet down the block. They're now at a much, much larger space on 349 E 85th st.

They just moved there last week and already it is filling up the new space! I gave them a try and really enjoyed the sushi. It has great sushi with a menu that tends towards the inventive. But like most high quality sushi it is slightly expensive. I'm definitely going back.

Each of the signs hanging in the windows of the closed down stores on 86th st say simply that the store has closed or moved. One might have thought that it was coincidence or simply a sign of a bad economy. (see NY Sun) But the economy is doing well and this is a bustling neighborhood.

The NY Times reports the explanation. The stores have closed down to make way for two new buildings. An apartment building is going up on Lexington Ave between 85th and 86th. On 3rd Ave and 86th st another condo building will go up.

I look forward to the further gentrification.