transitioning
EAST SIDE OBSERVER
BY ARLENE KAYATT
Where the bus doesn’t stop — Riders who take the uptown M101, M102, M103 on 14th Street and Third Ave may think they’ve hit pay dirt with a bus stop on the northeast AND the southeast corners. Odd for sure but maybe to accommodate the busy location. Not so fast. Yes, there are two stops, but buses stop only at the southeast corner. Good old MTA has a huge yellow sign pasted on the kiosk of the original bus stop on the northeast corner announcing that THIS IS THE STOP. Believe it at your peril — you’ll never get to where you’re going if you do. The bus stops ONLY at the southeast corner. So why the misinformation? You won’t find out from the driver (when you get on the bus at the southeast corner). When asked why the two stops and why the sign, his profound and helpful retort: “You’re on the bus now, right?” Wrong. It’s really simple to get this one right.
Streets alive again — New businesses are back on the block and opening where once there was emptiness. The block between 88th and 89th on the west side of Third Ave is coming alive again with the opening of Siena, an Italian restaurant wine bar where the Starlight Diner once was. And mid-block, where Vanilla beauty salon once was, Roma Pizza is opening a second location several stores down from its corner sit-down/take-out pizzeria. Between the old and new locations is an empty store and Wok 88. Don’t know if the corner store will close or if there will be two Roma pizzerias on the same block. My guess is that the new one will be a full service restaurant, and the other will remain a sit-down/take-out. Another Italian restaurant opening on Lexington Ave between 90th and 91st — Marinara — is in the space previously occupied by a kosher pizzeria. In Gramercy, hadn’t noticed that Sal Anthony’s had opened on the northwest corner of Third between 19th and 20th. There was this big splash of white that wasn’t there before — and then it was. It turned out to be the return of an old local favorite. The original Irving Place location lost its lease in a rent dispute years ago. Sal Anthony has other businesses in the Gramercy area — not only a restaurant. And it’s good to have the old back as new.
New game in town — At Third Ave, between 54th 55th Streets, the storefront once occupied by Sam Flax art store — which closed several years ago — will soon be home to Title Boxing Club. The fitness center, replete with punching bags and all things boxing, is opening its second location in Manhattan on the ground floor of the office building at 900 Third, opposite the FDR Post Office and boxed in by Chipotle on one corner and Bank of America on the other. The first location is in the far West 30’s. Interesting commercial enterprises evolving in our town. No doubt that Equinox, with gyms all over Manhattan, will get into the ring and go for the title.
Judge time — Upper East Siders who made the cut and came out of the New York Democratic Committee Screening Panel and who are hoping to be on the ballot in November (unless there’s a Primary) are Suzanne Adams, Ariel Chesler and James Clynes. They and the other candidates will learn later this month who gets the party’s nomination. Then the public judging begins.