{"id":352470,"date":"2026-09-21T14:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352470\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T14:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T14:42:10","slug":"monday-bulletin-popular-central-park-pumpkin-flotilla-put-on-hold-uwser-competes-on-new-season-of-survivor-uws-eateries-highlighted-in-new-photo-book-on-city-diners-saturday-night-live-studio-to-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352470\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Bulletin: Popular Central Park Pumpkin Flotilla Put on Hold; UWSer Competes on New Season of Survivor; UWS Eateries Highlighted in New Photo Book on City Diners; Saturday Night Live Studio to Make Way for Brain Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The pickleball courts in Central Park provide a shot of blue in an otherwise gray grid. Photo by Gus Saltonstall.<\/p>\n

Today is Monday, September 21st, 2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll want to keep an umbrella with you this week; the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and the possibility of drizzle or showers every day through Thursday. Today\u2019s high of 68 is also the week\u2019s high; the mercury for the rest of the workweek isn\u2019t expected to rise above 65.<\/p>\n

On this day in 2008, the Yankees played their final home game in the old Yankee Stadium, aka the House that Ruth Built, beating the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3.) Fans will find a nostalgic (and fact-filled) account of the game, and the ceremonies that took place before and after it \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Notices<\/p>\n

Our calendar<\/a> has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the UWS Dish<\/a>, which normally runs on Mondays, will run on Tuesday this week, in honor of Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Economic Development Corporation is conducting a survey on residents\u2019 grocery-shopping habits, challenges and priorities, as part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s promise to establish public grocery stores in all five boroughs. Take the survey \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Autumn officially starts tomorrow, and to mark the occasion, here\u2019s the link to the\u00a0Central Park Conservancy\u2019s annual Fall Foliage Tracker. The leaves in the park haven\u2019t started changing yet, but when they do, you\u2019ll find the best places to see them \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

News Roundup<\/p>\n

Compiled by Laura Muha<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Halloween Flotilla. Photo courtesy WSR archives<\/p>\n

One of the city\u2019s most popular Halloween traditions appears to have become a victim of its own success, at least temporarily: The pumpkin flotilla on the Harlem Meer has been cancelled for 2026, because the event setup can no longer safely handle the thousands of people who show up, Time Out New York reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the cancellation may not mean the final voyage for the floating pumpkins,\u201d the publication added. \u201cThe [Central Park] Conservancy is reportedly spending the year exploring a new Halloween event for the northern end of the park \u2014 one that can welcome larger crowds and offer more ways for the community to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservancy has sponsored the pumpkin flotilla each October for more than 30 years. Pumpkins hand carved by residents were fitted with waterproof LED lights and placed on floats, which were towed across the meer at dusk. \u201cThe effect was equal parts enchanting and wonderfully weird: a small fleet of glowing gourds bobbing across the water next to the shoreline\u2019s autumn leaves,\u201d Time Out wrote.<\/p>\n

Read the full story \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mike Pinsky. Photo courtesy of CBS.<\/p>\n

When the 51st season of the CBS reality show Survivor premieres on Wednesday, keep an eye out for one of the neighborhood\u2019s own: UWSer Mike Pinsky will be among 21 contestants competing for the $1 million prize \u2014 an experience that, he told The New York Times last week was \u201cnot for the faint of heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no opportunity to turn it off,\u201d Pinsky, 32, said in an interview, which ran in The Times\u2019 sports newsletter The Athletic. \u201cYou are in the game, always. As long as you\u2019re out there, you\u2019re playing the game. When you\u2019re sleeping, you\u2019re playing the game. When you wake up, you\u2019re playing the game. When you have two seconds to go to the bathroom \u2014 and, by the way, there\u2019s no bathroom \u2014 you\u2019re still playing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Survivor, now in its 51st season, pits contestants against each other in a series of challenges designed to test their physical and mental endurance in an isolated location \u2014 in this case, Fiji\u2019s Mamanuca Islands. With each round, contestants are progressively eliminated, until only two or three remain; the contestants who were eliminated then vote for the winner.<\/p>\n

Competing on the show was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, said Pinsky, who in his \u201creal\u201d life is the New York Yankees\u2019 assistant manager of baseball operations. He told The Athletic that he\u2019s been watching Survivor since he was 8, and has seen every episode; growing up in Manhattan, he said, he and his friends would make up challenges on a make-believe island, and would vote each other off. His marriage proposal to his high school sweetheart even involved a Survivor catchphrase. (She said yes.)<\/p>\n

The upcoming season was filmed earlier this year, and while Pinsky was able to discuss his experience in general in interviews, a confidentiality agreement with the network means he can\u2019t go into specifics \u2014 or disclose the outcome to anyone \u2014 until the show has aired. That includes his bosses in the Yankees\u2019 front office, who\u2019ll be watching along with everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all basically going to get our popcorn out and watch this thing play out,\u201d Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman told The Athletic. \u201cWe\u2019ve got no idea what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new season of Survivor premiers Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS. Read the Times story \u2014 HERE,<\/a>\u00a0and see a Major League Baseball release about Pinsky\u2019s Survivor experience \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tom\u2019s Restaurant. Photo courtesy WSR archive<\/p>\n

UWS eateries Barney Greengrass and Tom\u2019s Restaurant are among 30 city restaurants highlighted in a new book by husband-and-wife architectural photographers James and Karla Murray.<\/p>\n

Counter Culture: New York City\u2019s Greatest Diners and Luncheonettes,<\/a> was published by Penguin-Random House last week.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Gothamist, Karla Murray said the couple\u2019s goal was to \u201chighlight these places and bring light to them,\u201d because the diners \u201cneed customers more than anything.\u201d In fact, four of the diners that the couple photographed for the book closed before it was published.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt breaks our heart,\u201d said Karla Murray, adding, \u201cWe wish [the book] could have come out sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple has previously published books on the city\u2019s storefronts, its neon signage, and its bars. Read the full story \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>125 West End Avenue, which Bill Ackman\u2019s Pershing Square Foundation purchased for $190 million. Google Maps.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the summer, a foundation funded by billionaire Bill Ackman purchased a pair of buildings on West End Avenue where he plans to create a brain research center.<\/a> At the time, he mentioned that he also was in the process of acquiring an additional 120,000-square-foot space on 66th Street, which houses a studio used by Saturday Night Live.<\/p>\n

Ackman didn\u2019t give any further information on how he planned to use that space until last week, when he spoke publicly about his plans at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell Saturday Night Live yet, but we\u2019re going to tear that down,\u201d Fast Company quoted Ackman as saying from the stage. \u201cThey\u2019ll probably do an episode about me when we tear down the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ackman\u2019s interest in brain research is prompted by his 26-year-old daughter, who suffered a brain hemorrhage earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Read the full story \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

In Other UWS News<\/p>\n

The owners of the carriage horse that collapsed and died in Central Park after munching on Japanese yew have filed a legal notice accusing the city and Central Park Conservancy of negligence for planting the highly toxic bushes along the carriage horse routes without posting proper warnings; the notice is a precursor to a lawsuit, amNY reported. Read the full story \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nThe history blog Ephemeral New York recently ran an article about the smallest home ever to stand on Riverside Drive\u2013 an oddly modern (and long-gone) prefab cube that stood at the corner of West 107th Street in the 1930s and 1940s, and was once occupied by Thomas Dewey \u2014 then a prosecutor and later governor of New York. Read about it \u2014 HERE.<\/a>
\nConde Nast Traveler recently ran a short review of Carmine\u2019s, the UWS restaurant\/institution. Read what the publication had to say \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nChildren\u2019s book author Tish Rabe recently appeared on Spectrum TV to discuss her new book Central Park You Can See is the Best Place to Be, a rhyming book that explores the park through the eyes of a family of squirrels. Watch the interview \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nThe New York Post recently wrote about a new trend among NYC students, who are ditching designer clothes in favor of thrifted items. The story isn\u2019t UWS specific, but it\u2019s fun. Read it \u2014 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

ICYMI<\/p>\n

Limited-Edition WSR Print Newspapers Are at an UWS Coffee Shop: Can You Find Them?<\/a><\/p>\n

A Post-Grad\u2019s Guide to the Upper West Side<\/a><\/p>\n

Upper West Side, Unsolicited<\/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":"The pickleball courts in Central Park provide a shot of blue in an otherwise gray grid. Photo by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-352470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}