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Upper East Side
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River.
The 1.8 square-mile (4.7 km²) neighborhood, with elegant rows of landmark townhouses, once known as the 'Silk Stocking District', has some of the most expensive real estate in the United States, and is believed to be the greatest concentration of individual wealth in the nation.
In the 19th century, and until the Park Avenue railroad cut was covered (finished in 1910), rich industrialists including Pittsburghers Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick began building stylish mansions and townhouses on the large lots along Fifth Avenue, abutting Central Park. One of the first sections to be developed was around 86th Street, where several prominent families of German descent, including the Schermerhorns, the Astors, and the Rhinelanders built country estates.
Yorkville as it was known, soon moved east past Lexington Avenue and became a suburb of middle-class Germans, many of whom worked in nearby piano factories, stables, and breweries.
A long high bluff fronting the river north of Beekman Place was dotted with fine suburban villas in the 19th century, the last remaining one being Gracie Mansion, now home of New York's mayors.
The Upper East Side is also notable as a significant source of political fundraising in the United States. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top ZIP Code, 10021, is on the Upper East Side and generated the most money for the 2004 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and John Kerry.[1]
Madison Avenue from 60th Street well into the 80s is the monied crowd's main shopping strip, recently vaulting ahead of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay to become the most expensive retail real estate in the world. Zip code 10021 has the highest concentration of stores in the United States with more than $1 million in annual sales each.[2]
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The Upper East Side stretches from 59th Street north to about 96th Street. Embedded within the Upper East Side are the neighborhoods of Yorkville, centered on 86th Street and Third Avenue, and Carnegie Hill, centered on 91st Street and Park Avenue and Lenox Hill centered on 69th Street and 1st Avenue. While still wealthy, Yorkville does not compare to Carnegie Hill in the scale of its wealth.
Its north-south avenues are Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Third, Second and First Avenues, York Avenue, and East End Avenue (the latter runs only from East 79th Street to East 90th Street).
As of the 2000 census, there were 207,543 people residing in the Upper East Side. The population density was 118,184 people per square mile (45,649/km²). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 88.25% White, 6.14% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.34% African American, 0.09% Native American, 1.39% from other races, and 1.74% from two or more races. 5.62% of the population were Hispanic of any race.
The area is host to some of the most famous museums in the world. The string of museums along Fifth Avenue fronting Central Park has been dubbed "Museum Mile." It was once named "Millionaire's Row." Among the cultural institutions on the Upper East Side:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
- National Academy of Design
- Neue Galerie
- The Asia Society
- Frick Collection
- Museum of the City of New York (north of 96th Street)
- The Jewish Museum
- The 92nd Street Y
- Museum of American Illustration
- Goethe-Institut New York
- El Museo del Barrio
- East Side Middle School
- The Manhattan New School
- The Allen-Stevenson School
- Brearley
- Buckley
- Cornell Medical School
- Chapin
- Convent of the Sacred Heart
- Center for Mankind
- Dalton
- Eleanor Roosevelt High School
- Hewitt School
- Hunter College High School
- Hunter College
- Loyola School
- Lycee Francais
- Marymount Manhattan College
- Marymount School, New York
- Mount Sinai School of Medicine
- The Nightingale-Bamford School
- P.S. 6 Lillie Devereux Blake School
- P.S. 158/East Side Middle School
- Ramaz School
- Regis High School
- Rockefeller University
- St. Bernard's School
- Spence
- Trevor Day
- Urban Academy Laboratory High School
The Upper East Side has been a setting for many movies and television shows due to its world-class museums, expensive restaurants and boutiques, proximity to Central Park, elite schools, and influential residents.
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
- Live and Let Die (1973)
- The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
- Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
- Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
- Ransom (1996)
- The Devil's Advocate (1997)
- Men In Black (1997)
- A Perfect Murder (1998)
- Cruel Intentions (1999)
- 25th Hour (2002)
- The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
- The home of Carrie Bradshaw, the iconic lead character of Sex and the City (1998-2004)
The neighborhood has a long tradition of being home to some of the world's most wealthy, powerful and influential families and individuals. Some of the notables who have lived here include:
- Woody Allen
- Kate Ayla Barut
- Candice Bergen
- Michael Bloomberg
- Joan Collins
- Sean Combs
- Walter Cronkite
- Katie Couric
- Howard Dean
- Greta Garbo
- Art Garfunkel
- Jason Giambi
- Rudy Giuliani
- Steve Hofstetter
- Nan Kempner
- Caroline Kennedy
- Ralph Lauren
- Mary Tyler Moore
- Rupert Murdoch
- Jackie Onassis
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- George Soros
- Eliot Spitzer
- Barbara Walters
The Upper East Side is also the location of Sutton Place, an enclave home to many notable residents. It is also the site of a four-story townhouse built for Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J.P. Morgan, and now the official residence of the United Nations Secretary-General.
