Yorkville

Yorkville is a lovely ‘upper’ Upper East Side neighborhood in Manhattan that runs north/south from East 79th Street to East 96th Street and east/west from Third Avenue to the East River, and includes the glorious Carl Schurz Park. In the 18th Century and for hundreds of years, it was a blue-collar community where most residents were German or Irish immigrants. Today, only a hint of Yorkville’s past identity remains, peeking out from tiny pockets of Old World culture such as specialty meat stores, neighborhood pubs, and Austro-Hungarian restaurants. Side streets are narrow and very residential in their feel, while the north-south avenues are dense with businesses.

The Yorkville of the 21st Century is far more diverse and upscale than it was two hundred years ago, but no less lovely. It lacks the cachet of its downtown neighbor, the Upper East Side (which ends at 79th Street), but that makes living in Yorkville more affordable. One-bedroom co-ops in pre-war buildings to the west of York Avenue range can be had for as low as $200,000 up to about $500,000. And condo prices are even better: units in brand new luxury buildings start at about $160,000 and go up to $300,000. These apartments are made for modern life, with excellent plumbing, up-to-date wiring, and conveniences related to Internet access and cable TV.

Like all East Side neighborhoods in Manhattan, Yorkville is close to only one subway line along Lexington Avenue. A new subway line along 2nd Avenue is under construction and that should help alleviate some of the crowding at rush hour. Buses run north and south on all avenues except Park and you can grab a cross town bus at 79th, 86th and 96th Streets. The area is served by taxis, but during prime times such as rush hour and weekend evenings, they are hard to come by.

Its proximity to the River and distance from the subway makes Yorkville remote, but also affordable. Currently, a one-bedroom rental on York Avenue is about $2,100, and a two-bedroom about $2,900. But it’s the large apartments that are a real steal in Yorkville: the median price for a 4-bedroom apartment in an older building is just $3,400. This makes Yorkville a perfect area for families of modest incomes. And if you’re looking to buy, you’re in for a shock. Studios are selling for over a million dollars, but the median sale price for one-bedrooms is just $420,000.

Gracie Mansion, the residence of NYC’s mayor, is located on East End Avenue at 88th Street. This provides a tremendous boost to Yorkville’s security and the area is notably safe.

If you spend your time strolling through Central Park, Museum Mile and the shops of Madison Avenue dreaming of a lifetime where you’d be able to live near all of this (and still afford to do things like eat and have electricity), then you’ll be happy to discover Yorkville. A hop, skip and jump away from the Gossip Girls and Ladies Who Lunch, Yorkville only asks that you go a little further east in exchange for affordable apartments, laid-back pubs and an all-around easygoing attitude.

In fact, if you’re suburban at heart but want to be in Manhattan, Yorkville strikes the perfect balance between the two: boasting the nearby pulse of Manhattan’s culture next to Average Joe sports bars, families pushing strollers and walking dogs and all of those chain stores you’re used to seeing in the mall wherever you’re from. Take in stunning views of the East River while your pup plays nicely with others at Carl Schulz Park, get your errands done on 86th Street between First and Lexington Avenues at places like P.C. Richards, Barnes & Noble and Victoria’s Secret and make out-of-town friends feel at home with appetizers at Pizzeria Uno. When you’re ready to spread your city wings, leave all the suburban hubs behind by sampling the craft beer menu at David Copperfield’s, digging into spicy fish tacos at Cascabel Taqueria while taking in its Lucha Libre theme, being whisked away to Germany at the authentic, passed-through-the-generations restaurants and sifting through hidden treasures at thrift stores on Third Avenue. When you’re ready for a day of taking in Manhattan’s splendor, make the walk from Yorkville to Madison and Fifth Avenues, where gems like Central Park and the Guggenheim await you. It’s the best of all worlds: affordable living, the comforts of home, the quirks of only Manhattan, and culture at your fingertips.

Yorkville is a safe and simple place to live, probably most ideal for recent graduates. Moving to the city can be bit overwhelming at first, but starting in a neighborhood like Yorkville gives you a safe base to go back to as you slowly find your way around the city. The restaurants and stores aren't standouts, but you don't have to travel far to have a nice evening out. The architecture is distinctive and elegant, stoney reminders that Yorkville was the IT place to live in the late 18th Century.

However, nice as it is, it can get old after awhile. It's far away from nearly everything and people often don't want to visit you, as it's hard to get to. At first this won't bother you, but it will. The charm fades as you learn more about the city and other neighborhoods, but this is still a great place to start out.

If you're young, can get a good deal, and don't mind a long commute (and a long walk to the subway) then you might have a good time in Yorkville. Families can also probably carve out a nice home up there, but in general this is a place to introduce you to a city. If your world is set in Yorkville, you'll miss out on a lot of what the city has to offer, so you'll eventually want to graduate to something else.

Not a bad place to spend a year though while you find out if the city is right for you.

Yorkville both is and is not part of the Upper East Side. While it has the same safe sidewalks and mostly quiet evening, Yorkville has a younger feel than the rest of the Upper East Side.

I don’t mean younger like the architecture is younger. Really many of the buildings lack the clean polished found in nearby areas. Some of the buildings look weirdly European, like you suddenly stumbled into Bavaria. But for the most part, it’s a well-maintained, normal-looking Manhattan neighborhood. What I mean by younger is that many of the residents are younger. Many are students from Hunter or Columbia or even Julliard or AMDA across the park. Rents are lower here than in the rest of the UES, but still pricey for the amount of space you get.

But with the younger people come more bars and a few clubs and pizza places that are open all night. It’s definitely a more relaxed feel. And there are way fewer children than you’ll see toddling around than if you were to go a little farther west.

Yorkville has mostly lost all its ethnic edge. Little remnants of the German occupation remain, but they are few and far between. It’s mostly residential and mostly quiet. There are long, odd blocks containing residences with no retail locations on street level. It’s very strange for New York and can seem almost desolate at night. But, it’s a reasonably affordable neighborhood with nice residents and definitely worth looking into.

The enclave of Yorkville is located within the Manhattan larger neighborhood of the Upper East Side. Yorkville has long been associated with New York City’s Eastern European populations as the area was settled as a village in the late 19th and 20th centuries by the city’s Albanian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Irish, Polish, and Slovak immigrant populations. Many of the descendants of these populations continue to reside in Yorkville until today though the boundaries of this neighborhood are loosely defined to extend from the East River to Third Avenue, from 72nd to 96th street.
To cater to the needs of its ethnic population, Yorkville was once populated with several Hungarian, Czech and German business of which only few remain namely the Hungarian Meat Market which is located on the corner of 80th Street and Second Avenue, and which continues to sell Eastern European delicacies like smoked meats, canned and jarred fish, pickles, cold cuts and wursts , Andres café which is also located on Second Avenue between 84th and 85th street and offers its patrons a wide array of Hungarian pastries, strudels and palacsintas and the Heidelberg Restaurant which is a faux German Beer Garden located on second avenue between 85th and 86th street.
Yorkville which enjoys the reputation of being a relatively affordable section of the Upper East Side has in recent times also become home to some of the most uber-expensive luxury condominium buildings in New York City like the Georgica , the Brompton and the Lucida which now tower over the area’s original low rise walk-ups and townhouses

While much of the Upper East Side is decidedly aristocratic in character - grand, tree-lined boulevards, white-gloved doormen at each apartment entrance, great fashion houses lining Madison Avenue - Yorkville is a welcome relief from the sometimes snobbish grandeur of other regions of the UES. A mostly residential district with a heritage of middle-class German immigrants, Yorkville today is a calm and relatively inexpensive district, with some of the best big-chain shopping on the UES (think Strawberry Jam, H&M, Barnes and Noble, and Best Buy rather than Fendi or Hermes) and a good amount of low-key ethnic eateries. Plus, the closer you get to the river, the nicer the views; Carl Schurz Park, a riverside enclave with playground and dog walk, is a perfect community gathering point.

The main shopping drag runs along 86th Street, starting at Lexington Avenue and trailing off around 2nd. The area can be a bit unpleasantly crowded, especially around the 86th Street 4/5/6-train subway stop, but it's safe and convenient; even the Park Avenue matrons do their less high-end shopping here. The flagship Tasti-D-Lite store (New York's low-calorie ice cream substitute; a venerable institution) is here, and other good eateries include greasy-spoon diner The Mansion on 86th and York (also popular with students from nearby girls' school Chapin) and the nearby Ethiopian Restaurant (that's really its name!) Also check out the Vinegar Factory for delicious organic and farmers' market produce, and the Asphalt Green Sports Complex for some swimming, running, or other activity.

Yorkville is located in Upper East Side Manhattan and is most prominently known at the neighborhood of Gracie Mansion. Gracie Mansion is the official home of the New York City mayor.

There are few hip clubs in Yorkville, but the coolest piano bar I have ever been to is located on 84th Street. The next in line is at the New York New York in Las Vegas, Nevada – imagine that. The bar host’s one of New York City’s largest St. Patrick Day parties, taking place after the parade and going to the breaking hours of dawn.

There is a college student presence along 81st Street due to Fordham Graduate School. The college itself is located on the West Side, but for safety reasons the university bought buildings along 81st to accommodate their grad students. This is a very affordable community for students, in part because Yorkville is so isolated from the subway. You will find most young married couples and singles living along 1st Avenue and East End Avenue.

Yorkville is a more down to Earth section of the fabulous Upper East Side. Home to Gracie Mansion, the residence of current New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Yorkville is a popular place for young professionals as well as families. The youthful nature of this section of the Upper East Side has much to do with the various colleges and universities with housing and buildings throughout the neighborhood, including the City College of New York’s Hunter Campus, as well as buildings annexed by Fordham University, its main campus located in the Bronx. Other institutions include the New York Film Academy and Berkeley College. Yorkville is in great proximity to a fabulous section of Central Park, and is filled with many high rise exclusive apartment buildings, as well as some co-operative housing options, not to mention some streets lined with beautiful brownstones. Though this neighborhood is more affordable than other sections of the Upper East Side, renting a small, sometimes called “shoe box” apartment in Yorkville is pricey, many units starting at $1500 or more. Shopping and Entertainment in Yorkville proper isn’t as diverse as in the other neighborhoods, but with its close proximity to the greater Upper East Side and the rest of Manhattan and New York City. Though constantly developing, Yorkville maintains a classic essence of New York City, filled with both charm and elegance all its own. One aspect of Yorkville is that it strips away the snobbery of the Upper East Side to reveal a more lax environment, while still being accessible, well-connected, diverse, and current.

Dining:
Heidelberg Restaurant - 1648 Second Ave., near. 86th Street
Pinocchio Ristorante - 1748 First Ave., at 90th Street
Zebú Grill - 305 E. 92nd Street, near. Second Ave.

Transportation: 4,5,6 trains along Lexington Avenue and the M15, M31, M86, M96, M98, M101, M102, and M103 buses.