East, West Sides Differences

just take a walk around on each sides of the park, you will definitely see a difference.

UWS: Overprivileged, overindulged, over-everything rich skinny-assed white women with too much time on their hands sitting in their overdone multimillion dollar apartments while black and brown women push their white babies around in strollers. With Zabars.

UES: Overprivileged, overindulged, over-everything rich skinny-assed white women with too much time on their hands sitting in their overdone multimillion dollar apartments while black and brown women push their white babies around in strollers. Without Zabars.

Eli's and Vinegar Factory and E.A.T. are all Zabars, so no.

JBAlbany, the West Side is smaller, much more beautiful and well-proportioned, and the most beautiful avenues of Manhattan are there: Riverside Drive (above 72nd) and West End throughout.
The buildings are pre-war. The similar buildings on the East Side are on Fifth and Park Avenues, the rest is this boxy highrise new crap. And on the East Side east of Lexington- forget it.

The West side is smaller? As in it now extends up to 135th Street?
And of course, all those pre-wars are just gorgeous, right? No 5 story old law walkups anywhere in sight?
Let's not forget all those new high rises (developed after the slums were torn down to make way for Lincoln Center) which now are everywhere. And all the postwar condos developed there in the last 10-15 years,

And no, I don't live on the UES, but I have noticed that the UWS looks more and more like the UES - same damned chain stores on Broadway as on Third Avenue.

It's very true that East of Third Avenue is almost completely post-war buildings (until you hit East End Avenue) but that's because the Third Avenue elevated train was torn down - leading to the wholesale leveling of all the tenements that used to be east o Third. Certainly increased the housing stock in Manhattan.

And, in general, the classic pre-wars between Lexington and Fifth will, IMHO, cost more than those on the West Side (excluding, of course, CPW)

In fact, now I'm going to try to see if this theory of mine borne out by a search on SE

East Side better private schools
better restaurants
more society
more tight
You get to see that great East River
West Side more casual
more relaxed
more athletic
You get to see that great Hudson River

So which is better Hudson or East?

ph41, smaller as in 6 avenues from the Hudson to Central Park. ANd 135th is hardly Upper West Side...
Yes, chain stores and accompanying shit, but that's the sign of the times across the world, and it's evil and vile but that's a constant now. Broadway is pretty bad, yes. But Yorkville is worse. I lived everywhere in Manhattan except Battery Park City - that's the line I'm not crossing - and I have to say that the UWS is the most pleasing to the eye and the most convenient place. Broadway shittification notwithstanding.

East side more WASPy, West Side more Jewish.

There I said it.

D_Pipe: don't know if that's actually borne out by statistics.

Prettiest NYC neighborhoods (shopping, convenience, amenities, transportation aside), I would say hands-down "brownstone" Brooklyn. The UWS was protected from development for a long time by its grittiness (minus the redevelopment of San Juan Hill & the terraforming of the high 80s, low 90s).

I'm not an UES fan because it feels too sprawling to me, and do you run into the same people over and over again? Certainly do on the UWS (as in mid-60s to 96th), which creates a sense of neighborhood for me. Hate all the big-box stuff coming in but on the other hand, is it better or worse than people crossing to shop at the same stores in NJ (which they already do and continue to do anyway)... Only fools like me overpay for stuff.

Commoner - 7 blocks from East River to Central Park - not much difference

East end to Central Park feels lot longer than Riverside to same

nyc10023 - I don't know if it is factually correct today, either. But that was the old adage for many years. Anecdotally, among my aquaintances that is still true. The other old adage was:

West side girls: More books than clothes
East side girls: More clothes than books

That's def not true anymore and would need to be updated as follows:

West side girls: More vibrators than shoes
East side girls: More shoes than vibrators. But barely.

7 blocks v. 6 blocks. Not really. Have to be very specific as to where you're comparing to. Just pull up Google Maps. At 72nd street, RSD to CPW is about equal to 5th Ave to 1st, but at that point, the UES extends 2 block out to East End Avenue AND the UWS is missing the Riverside Blvd block (which is a very wide one). And if you look at the map, the block width between WEA and Bway and Bway and Ams. And RSD curves in and out.

Now, south of West 72nd street, different story.

South of 72nd is SO different a sroey as not to be considered. Trump, among other things, solidified this.
On the UWS (72 to 106), the buildings, except for Broadway now, are somehow coordinated with the width of the street, and I just like it so much better. There, I said it. I used to live on the UES, between 5th and Park, and really hated it. Could be just me, but the OP asked for opinions and my opinion: despite being being recently stripped of much, the West Side is still much, much more preferable than the East Side.

Timely discussion for me. I live downtown but am sick of the lack of green and lack of a neighborhood feel (sure, Tribeca is "edgy", but why don't you plant a TREE once in a while, fellas??) I'd like to move to a 2BR on the UWS. My budget is about $1.4 million and i'd like to get something updated in a pre-war building about 1,200 sq ft within 2 blocks of the park, or perhaps on Riverside Dr or CPS. I can put 20-30% down. Am i being realistic or do i need to save another year or two?

UES - home of the geriatric pub crawl and the blue hair olympics

I agree with ph41 in her post, except about the width of the neighborhood.

But first let me clarify that what many people call the "Upper East Side" today is really two very distinct neighborhoods. The actual Upper East Side, sometimes called the Silk Stocking District, is from 5th to not quite Lex, ultrawealthy, and for the most part has no retail of any sort. For that, its residents can cross over to the aspirational middle-class (and formerly very very working class, if not industrial) area known as Yorkville.

The easiest way to understand the width is not to count the streets as they are, but to extend the numbered avenue grid up. These are evenly spaced, at 1/6 mile. UWS is pretty much 8th to 11th, with the varying bonus block to Riverside added in ... 1/2 mile plus. UES is Fifth to First, plus Avenue A (York) and partial Avenue B (East End). Fully twice as wide as UWS.

By the way, OP didn't specify Upper West vs. Upper East, just West vs. East, and for all we know he's referring to the whole county, so EVil vs. WVil, etc.

JuiceMan, I miss the Madison Pub ... where'd the geriatric pub crawl move to? I'm in.

Let's not forget all those new high rises (developed after the slums were torn down to make way for Lincoln Center) which now are everywhere. And all the postwar condos developed there in the last 10-15 years,

Boy, is that the truth. If you have lived on the UWS for many years, it is a kick to walk down Broadway from 68th street down to 60th. I think all that remains is The Hotel Empire and the AAA building. The rest has a contemporary look that if not for the Broadway Concourse you might think you were in Chicago.

"UES - home of the geriatric pub crawl and the blue hair olympics"

That's what I like. All the hipster wannabees and bridge & tunnel types are downtown.

East Side seems to have more buildings put up between WWII and the late 70's ,, the worst period of NYC construction in my opinion.

NYCMatt, what's up with the misogyny?

Geographically....

East Side slopes down to river, gets sunrise (On 5th ave you may get both). More high rise buildings.

West Side sits higher. Gets sunrise and sunset . Brighter perhaps. More Brownstones.

The people? Same sort of characters. Old School.

Great point. The sunset on the Hudson is amazing. If you are fortunate enough to live on the last block of the West Side you really get a nice evening treat.

west side is mindnumbingly liberal, whereas the 16 republicans in manhattan most likely live on the east side.

If I had a choice it would always be the West Side, East Side is horrible..I don't live either place.

Has anyone considered moving to Huntersburg?

no

hey, if we can get that in writing, that's a total win for the lovely huntersburg neigborhood. no possibility of columbiacounty, ever. that's a better draw than a free month's rent!

provoke.

stuttering columbiacounty

This is a silly thread. I'm going to start a new one that is far more pertinent and can actually be answered. Ice Cream, is chocolate or vanilla better?

Vanilla.

"NYCMatt, what's up with the misogyny?"

BossTweed, what's up with the labelling?

What's up is that I found your post misogynistic and wanted to ask you why such misogyny was necessary.

I'd appreciate it if you found some metaphor for your generalizations that wasn't so hateful.

Thanks.

I'm not seeing the "hate", BossTweed.

Please elaborate.

matt you know you don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die. and why would you? bitches be running wild.

I divide the UES into 3 neighborhoods. What Alan mentioned above - (1) the true UES which is Fifth and Park, 60s, 70s, 80s and low 90s; (ii) Yorkville, which is 80s, low 90s York, First, Second and Third and (iii) Lenox Hill, which is 60s, 70s, York, First, Second and Third. I have lived in both Lenox Hill and Yorkville so I will only comment on those areas. In my opinion, Lenox Hill has a slightly more upscale feel, but both areas are populated by upper middle class people (and some less afluent) who often are not native NYCers like myself. Probably, a native NYCer might feel that Yorkville and Lenox Hill have some suburban feel to it. What I generally see walking around the streets are young singles, young families and middle aged singles or couples. Most people look comfortably well off, but not extremely wealthy.

Timely discussion for me. I live downtown but am sick of the lack of green and lack of a neighborhood feel (sure, Tribeca is "edgy", but why don't you plant a TREE once in a while, fellas??) I'd like to move to a 2BR on the UWS. My budget is about $1.4 million and i'd like to get something updated in a pre-war building about 1,200 sq ft within 2 blocks of the park, or perhaps on Riverside Dr or CPS. I can put 20-30% down. Am i being realistic or do i need to save another year or two?