Why is the Upper East Side still considered so "chic"?

[Anonymous]

Just got back from a wonderful few days in NYC and had this random question nagging in my mind - I don't get it. Obviously Madison Avenue is lovely and filled with designer stores, Park Avenue is a nice and prestigious street, and there are a few very nice restaurants but I have to say I don't really get the appeal of the rest of the neighborhood. Everything from Lexington Ave down to York is... fine. A little run-down looking, a bit tired, small sidewalks and quite dark. Compared to - say, the Upper West Side or some downtown neighborhoods that have nicer architecture, wider streets, cute cafes and bistros on side streets, etc... I came away not understanding the prestige of this neighborhood!

[Anonymous]

It’s not.

[Anonymous]

I think Tribeca is the most experience neighborhood now?

[Anonymous]

UES is an actually a relatively cheap neighborhood to live in these days. I think it’s lost a lot of its luster.

[Anonymous]

On what planet?

[Anonymous]

The prestigious part are those prime stretches of Park Ave and the blocks off 5th near park. 79 to 96, east of 3rd Ave is Yorkville which is obviously expensive now (as is the rest of NYC), but historically has been a less upscale neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

From my experience, UES tends to be more centered around private events and school days. Many people leave during the weekend and summer creating a different vibe.

The ladiesofmadisonave instagram tries to capture the elegance and prestige side.

[Anonymous]

Eh, it’s not chic.

West of Lex between, say 65th and 96th has some of the most beautiful homes and exclusive apartment buildings in the city (in some cases the world). There’s the Met and other museums, which are great, lots of chi-chi art galleries owned by ex-goldman sachs executives, a bunch of ladies-who-lunch restaurants - some good, some bad, but all over priced, and it mostly consists of white, well-monied families (perhaps the last bastion of old money in manhattan). It also has a handful of the best k-12 schools in the world, many of which are attended by the children of famous/infamous people.

But again, in a lot of places it’s all either rich olds or young hedgefunder families, i.e. borrrriiinnnngggg. (I was born and raised on the UES, my parents still live there, and I can now see it from my happy home on the UWS.

Definitely NOT chic. Just rich.

HOWEVER, if you go east past third, it gets more interesting, less expensive, and more diverse. Still not chic, just better.

[Anonymous]

As a well known UES native once said “East of Lexington is, like, where your doorman lives.”

[Anonymous]

As has been mentioned above, the "cool" money moved elsewhere a long time ago. Any notion of the UES as "chic" is dated. Back in the 70s and 80s people who lived in Manhattan barricaded themselves in effect on the UES, because the rest of the city was dangerous, and therefore undesirable. I work on the UES and it's so many old people, because they moved there in their 20s and 30s years ago and are now in their 70s and 80s.

[Anonymous]

In 1900? Maybe, but it hasn’t been the case since 2000s.

[Anonymous]

I lived there in the early 2000s and it was not chic then

[Anonymous]

Not chic. Old money with an emphasis on old (all their kids and grandkids moved elsewhere a generation or more ago).

[Anonymous]

it's not.

[Anonymous]

When I moved to NYC in my 20s I lived on the UES because it was "cheap" (as in the cheapest area of Manhattan below 96th Street). It's only ritzy right off the park and it skews old money, not chic or trendy.