{"id":152305,"date":"2026-03-30T13:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/152305\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:07:08","slug":"cpw-ranked-most-beautiful-spring-location-pittsburgh-cantor-reflects-on-lessons-learned-from-uws-encounter-mural-to-be-installed-outside-lincoln-center-ground-broken-on-long-planned-uws-senior-hous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/152305\/","title":{"rendered":"CPW Ranked Most Beautiful Spring Location; Pittsburgh Cantor Reflects on Lessons Learned from UWS Encounter; Mural to be Installed Outside Lincoln Center; Ground Broken on Long-Planned UWS Senior Housing Project; Actor Tony Randall’s Widow Selling Apartment in UWS Millennium Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Tetris-like view of a building at West 79th and Amsterdam. Photo by Laura Muha<\/p>\n

Today is Monday, March 30, 2026<\/p>\n

The bad news: There\u2019s at least a little rain in the forecast for every day this week. The good news is that it will at least be warmer, with a high of 65 today and temperatures climbing into the upper 70s tomorrow and Wednesday.<\/p>\n

On this date in 1870, the 15th Amendment officially became part of the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying or abridging any person\u2019s right to vote \u201con account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.\u201d\u00a0<\/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

Two weeks ago, we noted in this space<\/a> that the UWS\u2019s Tarr-Coyne Wild West playground was a finalist in USA Today\u2019s Readers\u2019 Choice Awards for the 10 best public playgrounds in the country. At the time, it was No. 19 (out of 20 finalists), but now, with seven days left to vote, it\u2019s climbed in the rankings and currently is hovering at No. 11.\u00a0 If you want to help push it into the top 10, you can vote for it (once a day, in fact!) between now and the time balloting closes at noon next Monday. The link to vote is \u2014 HERE<\/a>. Winners will be announced on April 15.<\/p>\n

Residents inconvenienced by the ongoing closure of Columbia University\u2019s College Walk can now apply for campus access if they live in the geographic area bounded by West 135th Street on the north; West 103rd Street on the south; Riverside Drive on the West, and Convent Avenue\/Morningside Drive\/Columbus Avenue on the east. To register, fill out the form \u2014 HERE;<\/a> once the university receives it, you\u2019ll receive information on next steps. The university closed its campus to the public for safety reasons after protests broke out in response to the October 7th, 2023 terror attack by Hamas.<\/p>\n

News Roundup<\/p>\n

Compiled by Laura Muha<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Portland, Oregon, real estate firm surveyed 3,000 real estate agents across the country to determine the most beautiful places at this time of year \u2014 places \u201cthat truly come to life when spring rolls in,\u201d according to Matin Real Estate\u2019s blog.<\/p>\n

And the winner was \u2014\u00a0 drum roll, please! \u2014 our very own Central Park West, which came in first out of 145 noteworthy locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTopping the rankings, Central Park West comes alive in late March and early April when cherry blossoms and magnolias transform the western edge of Central Park,\u201d reported Matin. \u201cRunners, families, and visitors gather beneath the flowering canopy, while the pre-war apartment buildings along the avenue provide a stately backdrop. After winter, the park feels reborn, and few places in the city match this blend of natural beauty and architectural grandeur.\u201d<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t agree more!\u00a0Read the full story and see the rest of the rankings \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo by Mourad Ben Abdallah, courtesy of Wikimedia<\/p>\n

A conversation outside an UWS pizzeria earlier this month between a Jewish cantor from Pittsburgh and a young man who\u2019d been listening in on a Talmud discussion has become the subject of a gentle Passover essay about the lessons that can be learned from everyday encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the places I expected to meet Elijah the Prophet, the corner of 92nd Street and Broadway on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side would not have been my first guess,\u201d Kalix Jacobson,<\/a> cantor of Temple Emanuel of South Hills, Pa. wrote in the essay in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacobson, who uses they\/them pronouns, said they were in town at the beginning of March for the Hadar Institute\u2019s Rabbinic Yeshiva Intensive, which brings together Jewish clergy from across the country to take a deep dive into the Torah and Talmud. Because the weather was beautiful, Jacobson and their study partner \u2014 a rabbi from Syracuse \u2014 decided to work outside, at a table at a nearby pizzeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 20 minutes [later] \u2026 just as we began reading a passage from the Jerusalem Talmud, we heard a hesitant voice beside us,\u201d wrote Jacobson. \u201c\u2018Excuse me,\u2019 a young man said. \u2018I\u2019m so sorry to bother you. But I was wondering what you were studying \u2026 and whether I might be able to join you?’\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll leave what unfolded next to the essay, which we don\u2019t want to spoil. But suffice to say Jacobson felt they learned as much from the visitor as the visitor may have learned from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon, Jews around the world will open their doors at the Passover seder to welcome Elijah the Prophet, the mysterious herald of redemption,\u201d Jacobson reflected in the essay. \u201cTradition teaches that Elijah appears unexpectedly, in ordinary places, reminding us that a better world is still possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Lincoln Center. Photo courtesy of the WSR archives<\/p>\n

The concrete wall that separates Lincoln Center from Amsterdam Avenue has long been a neighborhood sore spot \u2014 a reminder of the many Black and Latino residents displaced by the center\u2019s construction in 1959, not to mention the separation between occupants of the nearby Amsterdam Houses from the New Yorkers (some with much higher incomes) who attend performances at the elite center.<\/p>\n

The wall will be coming down as part of a $335 million construction project that begins at the arts center this spring. But the project\u2019s completion is still a couple of years away, and in the meantime a construction fence has gone up in front of the wall. But not just any construction fence: This one will host a 6,000-square-foot mural designed and painted by neighborhood artists.<\/p>\n

The goal is to \u201cempower the community. Give a voice to the community and to the people who really make this area,\u201d artist Vanessa Alvarez explained to Eyewitness News, which visited a workshop held at the center last week for community members working on the mural. It is being painted in panels, which will later be assembled on the fence, and the sections include many images of historical figures from the pre-Lincoln Center neighborhood, called San Juan Hill.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The building currently at 103-105 West 108th Street. Photo by Gus Saltonstall.<\/p>\n

A non-profit that builds affordable housing for seniors broke ground last week on a long-planned project<\/a> that will replace a vacant city-owned parking garage on West 108th Street.<\/p>\n

The 12-story building, developed by the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, will contain 84 studios and one-bedroom apartments, about half of which will be reserved for seniors who were formerly homeless and are dealing with mental health or substance-abuse issues. Tenants will pay no more than 30 percent of their Section 8 vouchers in rent every month.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and for older adults, the need is especially urgent,\u201d said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who attended the groundbreaking. \u201cBy transforming an underutilized site into deeply affordable, supportive housing, this development will help ensure that older New Yorkers can remain in the neighborhoods they call home with dignity, stability, and access to care.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building, located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 108th Street, will join another senior building that opened several years ago on the same block. No timeline for the construction has yet been given.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Actor Tony Randall<\/p>\n

The widow of actor Tony Randall is selling her four-bedroom apartment overlooking Lincoln Center for $9.45 million, the real estate site Mansion Global reports.<\/p>\n

Heather Randall moved into the 19th-floor unit with the couple\u2019s two children after her husband\u2019s death in 2004. \u201cMy children were both already on their way to being artists, and I thought, \u2018What a great place for them to grow up with the energy of Lincoln Center coming right in,\u2019\u201d she told the publication.<\/p>\n

Originally owned by Sen. George Mitchell and his wife, the apartment started out as two adjacent units, but the couple combined them with the help of one of their friends: famed architect Robert A.M. Stern.<\/p>\n

It features floor-to-ceiling windows, a kitchen with a high-top bar, a gallery hallway and an outdoor terrace that faces Lincoln Center. \u201cI can sit on my terrace and hear opening nights of the opera here,\u201d Randall told Mansion Global. \u201cIt\u2019s so spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Randall was a television actor best known for playing Felix Unger in the 1970s television show \u201cThe Odd Couple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read about the apartment and see photos \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Other UWS News<\/p>\n

Last week, the New York Times\u2019 Affording New York series featured an UWSer who\u2019s found ways to survive in the neighborhood on $36,000 a year. (We wrote about it here.<\/a>) This week, the same series is spotlighting an UWS couple with a young son, who earn considerably more \u2014 $500,000 \u2014 but are trying to live frugally so they can afford a larger apartment. Read about it \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nPatch ran a piece last week looking at who\u2019s endorsing whom in the race for the New York State Assembly seat being vacated by Micah Lasher (who is running for Congress). Read it \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nPolice are looking for a man who punched a 21-year-old woman in the face at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station last week. Read about it \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nJoanne, the UWS trattoria owned by Lady Gaga\u2019s father, recently announced an \u201cemerging artist showcase\u201d on Thursday nights, and Highway 81 Revisited, a music-news site, paid a visit. Read about it \u2014 HERE<\/a>.
\nA man living in an uptown homeless shelter was convicted of attempting to rape a sunbather in Central Park in 2024. Read about it \u2014 HERE.<\/a>
\nStreetsblog, a site that covers transportation and advocates for alternatives to private automobiles, recently took a look at City Councilmember Gale Brewer\u2019s position on bike lanes in Central Park and found her (mostly) supportive. Read the full story \u2014 HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ICYMI<\/p>\n

Some of the Best Dishes and Meals I\u2019ve Had on the Upper West Side in the Past Year<\/a><\/p>\n

Rebel With a Clause: Family Grammar<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Does the Name Leslie Appear on the UWS Harry Shoe\u2019s Building?<\/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 Tetris-like view of a building at West 79th and Amsterdam. Photo by Laura Muha Today is Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-152305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-pittsburgh","9":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","10":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}