Uptown To Do List - Week of Feb 3, 2025
An ever changing list of things to do above the park
Hello and Happy Monday! We are writing to you from sunny St. Kitts and Nevis, where we are getting a much needed reprieve from the cold weather in NYC.
EATS AND DRINKS
Bo’s Bagels (3750 Broadway between West 155th and 156th Streets): Bo’s Bagels makes the best bagels in the City (we roll with the whole wheat everything and black Russian). Bo’s has two locations—one in Harlem on 116th (the original) and a second in the Heights. You have to be thoughtful about going to the Harlem branch at prime time because, while they make great bagels, they are easily overwhelmed by the crowds and the result is that your bacon, egg and cheese will inevitably end up with sliced turkey instead of turkey bacon, which will be disappointing. (Trust me, this has happened to me more than once.) The Heights is different. Same great bagels. Smaller storefront and smaller crowds. The hours are 7am-4pm whereas Harlem is only 8am-3pm. The Heights also has a “commuter special” from 7-8am when $5 gets you a bagel with cream cheese and a small coffee, and you can buy “dry” bagels for $1/each from 3-4pm. Of course, if you go to the Heights, you will miss the giant bagel hanging in the window on 116th Street but, if you take advantage of the commuter special, you’ll still have enough moulah in your pocket to take the train downtown!
Gigi’s Doughnuts (1 East 118th Street between 5th Ave and Madison): This is a (relatively) new vegan donut shop roughly halfway between Blink and Harlem Kettlebell (you see what we did there). Sweets are not my thing, but these donuts are fun. I’m particularly a fan of Matcha Made in Heaven and the Easterner (cardamom makes everything better). Take note of the store hours before you try to fit in a stop on your way home from your evening exercise class. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 8am to 4pm. Saturday and Sunday 9 to 5. Plot twist: closed on Tuesdays.
HAPPENINGS
Don’t forget to swing by Recirculation, a Word Up Bookshop project (located at 876 Riverside Drive at West 160th Street) tonight to hear Renee Watson talk about her new book: All the Blues in the Sky. There is a private author reception for teens at 5pm and the main event is at 6:30. The event is free if you are under 20 (including the private teen reception) and it is $5 if you are over 20. OR you can pony up $20 and get a copy of the book for yourself or to donate for a local kid. Remember, Renee will sign your book, take a selfie with you and even give you a high five if you tell her you are a friend of Above the Park. (We hope you’ll mean it when you do.) Get your tickets here.
Move and Groove Yoga at the National Jazz Museum (28 West 129th Street, between 5th Ave and Malcolm X), will be happening on Saturday, February 8 from 10:30-11:30am (doors at 10, first ohm at 10:30). We love this event because who doesn’t want to yoga to live jazz??? But also it happens once a month, so you can expect to see the Movers and Groovers on ATP on the reg. General admission is $20, which feels like a deal for a concert plus yoga class and you can register here.
Another option on Saturday, February 8th is a visit to Bronx Music Hall (438 East 163rd Street at Brooke), which will be playing a restored version of the film Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories (25th Anniversary Program). The film traces the migration of one family from Jamaica to Cuba and then to the Bronx! Doors open at 6pm, screening at 6:30, a talkback will follow the film, and the event will close at 8:30 with a short music set. For $15, it seems like a deal. Deets here. Even better, bust out your library card and reserve yourself a CulturePass so you can go for free.
Today, tickets went on sale for United Palace’s 95th Birthday Celebration, which will involve a TRIPLE FEATURE of Star Wars goodness: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The theater promises a giant screen, awesome surround sound and live performances all day–somehow they forgot to mention you’ll be sitting in the coolest theater in NYC while all of this is going on. Unlike the summer features, this birthday party isn’t free because the good people at United Palace are trying to raise money to support those free movies you love so much, so you can either pay $30/adult and $20/child OR you can splurge for the “Movies at the Palace Membership,” which is $95 (you see what they did there). For $95, you not only get into the triple feature TRIPLE FEATURE, you get a free ticket to all United Palace produced shows, priority seating, free popcorn, raffle tickets and a vote for a member’s choice screening. (Also your name on their big giant screen before every show if that is a thing for you.) The full list of benefits can be found here. Personally, they had us at TRIPLE FEATURE and sunk cost free popcorn but we also love a good raffle and also those free movies. The party starts on Saturday, February 22nd at 1pm. Get your tickets here before they get gone and you’re super sad you didn’t even make back up plans that Saturday.
A new batch of Morris-Jumel paranormal historical investigation tours at the Morris-Jumel Mansion (65 Jumel Terrace, just north of West 160th Street) which are always sold out and so hard to get, have just been released: tour dates on February 7 (Friday), and February 8, 22, March 8 and 15 (all Saturdays). Each costs $60/person, lasts 2.5 hours and is limited to 16 people, all of whom must be over 18. The mansion tells us you will learn about the background of paranormal investigations, some interesting info on the history of the mansion and its hauntings and you will then have access to an after-dark ghost hunt in the period rooms of the mansion, which are normally closed to the public. If that sounds awesome to you, you’d better sign up soon because tickets went live yesterday! Get yours here.
Head on over to Crotona Nature Center in Crotona Park (Crotona Park East and Charlotte Street in the Bronx) on Sunday, February 9th from 1-2:30pm when the NYC Parks Urban Park Rangers will be hosting a Black History Month celebration called Langston Hughes and Love Potion Brews. We don’t have a ton of info on this event but we hear there will be love potion making while enjoying the jazz poetry of Langston Hughes.
And not exactly a happening but February 14th is the deadline to register with a political party if you intend to vote for party nominees in the June Primary Election and you are not already registered OR you plan to change parties. Ahem—actually, if you are planning to register online, you need to do it by February 13th. February 14th only applies if you are dropping off your form in person. (What does this mean? Well, NYC’s primaries are “closed,” so you will want to register as a Democrat if you plan to vote in the Democratic Primary Election. Same for all of the other parties but Uptown mostly people are running for office on the Democratic line.) You can learn more here.
DID YOU KNOW?
A famous mastodon found in 1925 was dug up from beneath the streets of Inwood—at the intersection of Seamen Avenue and Dyckman Street to be exact. Some construction workers from a local apartment complex being built stumbled upon the lower jaw and teeth of a young mastodon. Naturally, the American Museum of Natural History was immediately notified, but (that C train is slow and) their scientist arrived to discover that some Inwood locals had absconded with most of the fossils. Sounds like there may have been one or two more fossil swipes until the fossils eventually made their way back to the museum. Sadly, these fossils are not presently on display (dm us if you want to talk about a letter campaign), but I am assured they are tucked safely away backstage at the museum.