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A young red-tailed hawk glares at passersby outside the American Museum of Natural History last week. Photo by Ann Cooper.<\/p>\n A young red-tailed hawk glares at passersby outside the American Museum of Natural History last week. Photo by Ann Cooper.<\/p>\n
Today is Monday, August 17th, 2026<\/p>\n
The forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds, with a high of 88 and the possibility of a morning shower. Ditto for most of the rest of the week (with slight variations in the daily high temperatures, which will trend down a few degrees as the week wears on).<\/p>\n
On this date in 1994, the reservoir in Central Park officially was named after the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in honor of her many contributions to the city. Before her death in May of that year, Onassis had often been seen jogging around the reservoir, and the windows of her Fifth Avenue apartment looked out over it. The 106-acre, billion-gallon reservoir, which was begun in the late 1850s and completed in 1862, originally supplied some of the city\u2019s water, but it was decommissioned in 1993 after a new water main running under 79th Street made it obsolete; it does, however, still supply water to the Harlem Meer and nearby Pool.<\/p>\n
Notices<\/p>\n
Our\u00a0calendar<\/a> has lots of local events.\u00a0Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.<\/p>\n Lit Club NYC, a group that describes itself as \u201ca literary community for the culturally curious,\u201d is holding a \u201cRest and Read\u201d tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the West Side Community Garden. Bring a book and a bottle (if desired) and make a dent in your reading list, then gather in small groups for conversation about what you\u2019re reading. The garden is located at 55 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West). More information on the club \u2014 HERE<\/a>, and tickets ($15) for tomorrow\u2019s event are available \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n A note from WSR editors: It\u2019s August and our full-time reporting staff of one has earned a rest, so you may notice us posting fewer stories than usual this week. But don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll still be publishing our regular daily columns. Wishing all our readers a restful countdown to summer\u2019s end!<\/p>\n News Roundup<\/p>\n Compiled by Laura Muha<\/p>\n Nearly 500 parents whose children use the Gertrude Ederle Playground are documenting what they say are safety concerns related to a homeless shelter that recently opened nearby, WABC reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was always a safe haven for families and children, especially this playground, and now a lot of us are scared to come here,\u201d said a woman who identified herself to the station only as \u201cHeather.\u201d \u201cWe feel unsafe. There\u2019s loitering, public nudity, public vomiting, urination, drug use, drinking, needles and bottles being left in the playground.\u201d<\/p>\n The park is located on West 60th Street between West End and Amsterdam avenues, about a block from a 200-bed shelter for single women that opened in May.<\/p>\n Project Renewal, a nonprofit associated with the shelter, told WABC that the city\u2019s Department of Social Services \u201chas met with the council member\u2019s office about these concerns and has also set up a community advisory board to work collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors. As we work on next steps based on the feedback of the community, we also continue to work to address the stigma against New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who have fallen through every level of the safety net and society at large.\u201d<\/p>\n Read\/watch the full story \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n Construction supervisor Pier Bueno got a big surprise when he reported to a worksite on West 95th Street last week:\u00a0 A\u00a0 large snake was lounging under the construction netting. The reptile apparently was just as startled, because it quickly slithered into one of the construction site\u2019s scaffolding pipes.<\/p>\n \u201cI have come across some other rodents \u2014 raccoons and rats and stuff. But never a snake,\u201d the supervisor, Pier Bueno, told NBC News 4. \u201cIt was pretty scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Officers from the NYPD\u2019s Emergency Service Unit came to the rescue, banging on the pipe and flushing it with water to force the snake from its hiding spot. \u201cOfficers did eventually free the snake and secured it in a cloth bag,\u201d NBC reported.<\/p>\n It was taken to the Animal Care Centers of New York City, where it was identified as a water snake. \u201cIt appeared to be molting, or shedding its skin, which according to experts would explain why it was in the pipe: Snakes are known to rub up against rough surfaces and hide while shedding their scales,\u201d NBC reported.<\/p>\n Read\/watch the full story \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n A West 87th Street townhouse once owned by an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt is being quietly shopped off-market for $10.28 million,\u00a0the real estate website Mansion Global reported.<\/p>\n The 6,414-square-foot home is known as the True-Littauer house, after its architect, Clarence True, and one of its early owners, Roosevelt political advisor Lucius Littauer. Located at 64 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West), it features five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a foyer that doubles as a sitting room, a chef\u2019s kitchen, a roof deck, a south-facing private garden, and multiple fireplaces, including one with a full-height, carved-wood mantel and a pink mosaic interior.<\/p>\n Tom Miller, author of the blog Daytonian in Manhattan<\/a>, wrote about the home\u2019s history in 2015, describing how True had been commissioned in the early 1890s by developer H. Ives Smith to design a row of three four-story homes on West 87th, each of them costing $18,000 to build \u2014 the equivalent of about half a million in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. 64 was, perhaps, the star of the show,\u201d Miller wrote. \u201cFaced in rough-cut limestone, it sat aloofly back from the property line. A four-story bay projected slightly forward, giving dimension to the fa\u00e7ade.\u201d<\/p>\n The homes were completed in 1895, and Littauer, then 36, bought No. 64 in April of that year \u2014 \u201cbarely before the paint was dry,\u201d as Miller put it. At the time, Littauer was 36, a Harvard classmate and close friend of Roosevelt, who would be elected to Congress two years later. He lived in the townhome on and off until his death in 1944, after which it passed through a succession of owners. Zillow reports that it most recently sold in May 2025 for $10.44 million.<\/p>\n Read the Mansion Global story \u2014 HERE,<\/a> and see particularly good photos in northjersey.com \u2014 HERE<\/a>. The history of the home is \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since we\u2019re on the subject of aspirational real estate: Elle Decor UK recently featured a Lincoln Square townhouse that looks like a classic Beaux-Arts townhouse from the outside. But inside, the five-bedroom home is anything but traditional.<\/p>\n \u201cThe homeowners, a couple with three young children, wanted to turn the traditional building into a vibrant, indoor-outdoor multigenerational home for their nuclear family, plus the wife\u2019s parents, who would live in a private on-site suite,\u201d reported Elle. \u201cThroughout the home, spaces are decorated to honour the family\u2019s Japanese culture and heritage. For example, most of the bedrooms have tatami mats (traditional woven floor coverings made of grass or straw) instead of beds.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the full story and see photos \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n In Other UWS News<\/p>\n WPIX talked to UWSers about how they were feeling after multiple gunshots were fired\u00a0<\/a>during a dispute between three men on Central Park West last week. Read\/watch the full story \u2014 HERE<\/a>. ICYMI<\/p>\n The Best Gluten-Free Restaurants on the Upper West Side<\/a><\/p>\n A Strangely Beautiful Bike Rack on the Upper West Side<\/a><\/p>\n Upper West Side Tragedy and Everyday Miracles<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young red-tailed hawk glares at passersby outside the American Museum of Natural History last week. 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<\/a>Gertrude Ederle Playground. Photo courtesy WSR archives<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Nerodia_sipedonPCSL02111B1.jpg\")
<\/a>Water snake. Creative Commons<\/a> photo by Patrick Coin, courtesy of Wikimedia<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screen-Shot-2026-08-16-at-2.49.49-PM-723x1024.png\")
<\/a>64 West 87th Street. Photo via Google Maps<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screen-Shot-2026-08-14-at-10.14.47-AM-1024x424.png\")
<\/a>They look alike from the outside, but from the inside, one of these townhouses is very different. Photo via Google Maps<\/p>\n
\nThe New York Times\u2019 Metropolitan Diary had a fun story last week by longtime UWSer Susan Rubin, who decided to catch up with an Upper East Side friend while riding the crosstown bus. Read what happened \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nAnd speaking of the Times: When a reader wrote to the publication\u2019s food newsletter, asking where to find great steak tartare in the city, the editor sent them to the UWS. Read her recommendation \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n