angles up from the lower right corner]]
buildings in the Upper East Side (45 East 66th Street as seen across Madison Avenue)]]
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street, 96th Street, Central Park and the East River. ZIP codes included in this neighborhood are 10021, 10022, 10028, 10075, 10065, 10128.
Once known as the 'Silk Stocking District', it has more recently retained its position as the most affluent area of New York City.
History
Before the arrival of Europeans, the mouths of streams that eroded gullies in the East River bluffs are conjectured to have been the sites of fishing camps used by the
Lenape, whose controlled burns once a generation or so kept the dense canopy of
oak-hickory forest open at ground level.
In the 19th century the farmland and market garden district of what was to be the Upper East Side was still traversed by the Boston Post Road and, from 1837, the New York and Harlem Railroad, which brought straggling commercial development around its one station in the neighborhood, at 86th Street, which became the heart of German Yorkville. The area was defined by the attractions of the bluff overlooking the East River, which ran without interruption from James William Beekman's "Mount Pleasant", north of the marshy squalor of Turtle Bay, to Gracie Mansion, north of which the land sloped steeply to the wetlands that separated this area from the suburban village of Harlem. Among the series of villas a Schermerhorn country house overlooked the river at the foot of 73rd Street, and the Riker homestead at the foot of 75th Street. By the mid-19th century the farmland had largely been subdivided, with the exception of the of Jones' Wood, stretching from 66th to 76th Streets and from the Old Post Road (Third Avenue) to the river and the farmland inherited by James Lenox, who divided it into blocks of houselots in the 1870s, built his Lenox Library on a Fifth Avenue lot, and donated a full square block for the Presbyterian Hospital, between 70th and 71st Streets, and Madison and Park Avenues. At that time, along the Boston Post Road taverns stood at the mile-markers, Five-Mile House at 72nd Street and Six-Mile House at 97th, a New Yorker recalled in 1893.
The fashionable future of the narrow strip between Central Park and the railroad cut was established at the outset by the nature of its entrance, in the southwest corner, north of the Vanderbilt family's favored stretch of Fifth Avenue in the 50s A row of handsome townhouses were built on speculation by Mary Mason Jones, who owned the entire block bounded by 57th and 58th Streets and Fifth and Madison; in 1870 she occupied the prominent corner house at 57th and Fifth, though not in the isolation described by her niece, Edith Wharton:
"It was her habit to sit in a window of her sitting room on the ground floor, as if watching calmly for life and fashion to flow northward to her solitary door... She was sure that presently the quarries, the wooden greenhouses in ragged gardens, the rocks from which goats surveyed the scene, would vanish before the advance of residences as stately as her own."
The picture has been uncritically accepted as history, Christopher Gray has pointed out.
, last of the East River villas]]
Before the Park Avenue railroad cut was covered (finished in 1910), fashionable New Yorkers shunned the smoky railroad trench up Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue), to build stylish mansions and townhouses on the large lots along Fifth Avenue, facing Central Park, and on the adjacent side streets. The latest arrivals were the rich Pittsburghers Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. The classic phase of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue as a stretch of private mansions was not long-lasting: the first apartment house to replace a private mansion on upper Fifth Avenue was 907 Fifth Avenue (1916), at 72nd Street, the neighborhood's grand carriage entrance to Central Park.
Most members of New York's upper-class families have made residences on the Upper East Side, including the oil-rich Rockefellers , political Roosevelts , political dynastic Kennedys , thoroughbred racing moneyed Whitneys , and tobacco and electric power fortuned Dukes.
Construction of the 3rd Avenue El, opened from 1878 in sections, followed by the 2nd Avenue El, opened in 1880, linked the Upper East Side's middle class and skilled artisans closely to the heart of the city, and confirmed the modest nature of the area to their east. The ghostly "Hamilton Square", which had appeared as one of the few genteel interruptions of the grid plan on city maps since the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, was intended to straddle what had now become the Harlem Railroad right-of-way between 66th and 69th Streets; it never materialized, though during the Panic of 1857 its unleveled ground was the scene of an open-air mass meeting called in July to agitate for the secession of the city and its neighboring counties from New York State, and the city divided its acreage into house lots and sold them. From the 1880s Yorkville, as it was known, extended east past Lexington Avenue and became a suburb of middle-class Germans, many of whom worked in nearby piano factories, stables, and breweries.
Gracie Mansion, the last remaining suburban villa overlooking the East River, became the home of New York's mayor in 1942. The East River Drive, designed by Robert Moses, was extended southwards from the first section, from 125th Street to 92nd Street, which was completed in 1934 as a boulevard, an arterial highway running at street level; reconstruction designs from 1948 to 1966 converted FDR Drive, as it was renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt, into the full limited-access parkway that is in use today.
Geography
Generally speaking, the Upper East Side stretches from
59th Street to
96th Street (in the zip codes of 10021, 10022, 10065, 10075, 10028, and 10128).
Many realtors used the term "Upper East Side" instead of "East Harlem" to define areas that are north of 96th street such as on 5th ave or areas close by such as 97th street to avoid the negative connotation since people associate the latter with being a less prestigious neighborhood . However, zip codes 10029 and the elected officials that represent east harlem never cross 96th street and they do not refer to their neighborhoods as being part of the Upper East Side.
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).
Demographics
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), making
Manhattan Community Board 8, coterminous with the Upper East Side, the densest Community Board in the city. 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. Twenty-one percent of the population was foreign born; of this, 45.6% came from Europe, 29.5% from Asia, 16.2% from Latin America and 8.7% from other. The female-male ratio was very high with 125 females for 100 males.
Given its very high population density and per capita income ($85,081 in 2000), the neighborhood is believed to contain the greatest concentration of individual wealth in the world. As of 2000, 75.6% of adults (25+) had attained a bachelor's degree or higher.
Politics
The Upper East Side is one of few areas of Manhattan where Republicans constitute more than 20% of the
electorate. In the southwestern part of the neighborhood Republican voters equal Democratic voters (the only such area in Manhattan), whereas in the rest of the neighborhood Republicans make up between 20 and 40% of registered voters.
The Upper East Side is also notable as a significant location 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.
Economy
Many diplomatic missions are located in former mansions on the Upper East Side. The
Consulate-General of France in New York is located at 934 Fifth Avenue between 74th Street and 75th Street. The
Consulate-General of Greece in New York is located at 69 East
79th Street (10021), occupying the former
George L. Rives residence. The
Consulate-General of Italy in New York is located at 690 Park Avenue(10065). The
Consulate-General of India in New York is located at 3 East 64th Street between 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue. The
Consulate-General of Pakistan in New York is located at 12 East 65th Street (10065).
Missions to the United Nations in the Upper East Side include:
Albania
Belarus
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Côte d'Ivoire
Czech Republic
Iraq
Mali
Mongolia
Myanmar
Poland
Serbia
Cost of living
The Upper East Side maintains one of the highest pricing per square foot in the United States. A 2002 report cited the average cost per square foot as $856; however, that price has noticed a substantial jump, increasing to almost as much as $1,200 per square foot as of 2006.
The only public housing projects for those of low to moderate incomes on the Upper East Side are located close to the neighborhood's northeastern limits, the Holmes Towers and Isaacs Houses.
Government and infrastructure
The
United States Postal Service operates post offices at Lenox Hill Station (10021), 221 East 70th Street; Cherokee Station (10075), 1483 York Avenue; Gracie Station (10028), 229 East 85th Street; and Yorkville Station (10128), 1617 3rd Avenue. [1] [2] New Zip codes now include 10065 and 10075
Transportation
The Upper East Side is currently served by one subway line, the four-track
IRT Lexington Avenue Line (), and local bus routes. Due to severe congestion on the subway and buses, the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority is currently building a new subway line, the
Second Avenue Subway, along
Second Avenue. The first phase will run from
96th Street to
63rd Street, where it will physically connect with the
BMT Broadway Line; service will be provided by a northern extension of the
Q train. In later phases, the line will be extended north to
125th Street/Park Avenue in
Harlem and south to
Hanover Square in the
Financial District, and a new
T service will run its entire length.
Landmarks and cultural institutions
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:
The 92nd Street Y
The Asia Society
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum
The Frick Collection
Goethe-Institut New York
The Jewish Museum of New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
El Museo Del Barrio
The Museum of the City of New York
The National Academy of Design
Manhattan House, the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed mid-century modernist white brick building at 200 E 66th Street, once home to Grace Kelly and Benny Goodman. Landmarked in 2007
The Neue Galerie
Society of Illustrators
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art
The Irish Georgian Society
;Political institutions
The Council on Foreign Relations
;Hotels
Plaza Hotel (technically in Midtown)
The Carlyle Hotel
The Pierre
Bentley Hotel
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Private schools
;Girls' schools
The Brearley School
The Chapin School
The Convent of the Sacred Heart
Dominican Academy
The Hewitt School
Manhattan High School for Girls
Marymount School
St. Vincent Ferrer High School
Nightingale-Bamford School
Spence School
St. Jean Baptiste High School
;Boys' schools
Allen-Stevenson School
The Browning School
The Buckley School
St. Bernard's School
St. David's School
Regis High School
;Coeducational schools
Birch Wathen Lenox School
Dalton School
Loyola School
Lycée Français de New York
La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi
Park East School
Rudolph Steiner School
Trevor Day School
Ramaz School
Public schools
New York City Department of Education operates area public schools.
;Public lower and middle schools
PS 183 (Robert Louis Stevenson School)
PS 77 The Lower Lab school
East Side Middle School
PS 6 (Lillie Devereux Blake School)
PS 158 (East Side Middle School)
Senator Robert F. Wagner Middle School (JHS 167)
;Public high schools
Talent Unlimited High School
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Hunter College High School
Urban Academy Laboratory High School
Colleges and universities
Cornell University Medical School
Hunter College
Marymount Manhattan College
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Rockefeller University
Metropolitan Hospital (NY Medical College)
New York School of Interior Design
JHS 22 Houston St Lower East Side
Public libraries
The
New York Public Library operates the 67th Street Branch Library at 328 East 67th Street, near First Avenue, the Yorkville Branch Library, 222 East 79th Street and the 96th Street Branch Library at 112 East 96th Street, near Lexington Avenue.
In popular culture
The Upper East Side has been a setting for many movies, television shows, and many other media due to its world-class museums, expensive restaurants and boutiques, proximity to Central Park, elite schools, and influential residents.
Movies
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
The Boys in the Band (1970)
Live and Let Die (1973)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Metropolitan (1990)
Juice (1992)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
''Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Ransom (1996)
One Fine Day (1996)
''The Devil's Advocate (1997)
''Men in Black (1997)
A Perfect Murder (1998)
Cruel Intentions (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)(Although this film puports to depict the UES, the film's principal photography with all the actors and actresses was done in the UK. Including the scenes, where the Tom Cruise character was seen walking around were in fact all sound stages.)
Autumn in New York (2000)
American Psycho (2000)
Tart (2001)
25th Hour (2002)
The Producers Roger De Bris townhouse. (2005)
The Nanny Diaries (2007)
Two Weeks Notice (2002)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The Devil Wears Prada (2007)
(2008)
Made of Honor (2008)
The Wackness
The Women (2008)
Bride Wars (2009)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
The Back-up Plan (2010)
Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Sex and the City 3 (2012)
TV
Friends (1994-2004)
Gossip Girl (2007–)
How I Met Your Mother (2005–)
The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986)
The Nanny (1993–1999)
Sex and the City (1998–2004)
Will & Grace (1998–2006)
Lipstick Jungle (2008–2009)
Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2008)
Ugly Betty (2006–2010)
The Real Housewives of New York City (2008–)
NYC Prep (2009–)
High Society (2010–)
Sesame Street (1969–) (Various clues over the years suggest this)
Books
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
by Cecily von Ziegesar
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin
The A-List by Zoey Dean
The Au-Pairs and Blue Blood Novels by Melissa de la Cruz
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
The Analyst by John Katzenbach
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
Fictional places
Treadstone Seventy-One
Constance Billard School for Girls
St. Judes School for Boys
The Duchesne School
Notable residents
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 notable people who have lived here include:
Woody Allen, film director, screenwriter, and actor
Joan Didion, Award-winning author
Jonathan Franzen, Pulitzer prize-winning novelist
Gerald Garson, former NY Supreme Court Justice convicted of accepting bribes to manipulate outcomes of divorce proceedings
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Award-winning actress
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
Spike Lee, Emmy Award-winning director
Madonna purchased $40 million mansion on East 81st Street at Lexington Avenue in 2009
Barbara Margolis,
prisoners' rights advocate who served as official greeter of New York City.
Malachi Martin, best-selling author
Ricky Gervais, comedian
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady
Lynn Pressman Raymond, toy and game innovator who was president of the
Pressman Toy Corporation
Martin Scorsese, Academy Award-winning film director
Eliot Spitzer, former governor of NY State
Massimo & Lella Vignelli
See also
East Side (Manhattan)
References
External links
Community interest sites
Uppereast.com
Wikipages Upper East Side
Carnegie Hill Review
Upper East Side Neighborhood guide
