Alternate-side parking is suspended until Sunday

     Alternate-side parking is coming back, but wth a change to the rules.

     Street cleaning will take place only once a week this summer. That means you will need to move your car only once a week!  Streets with multiple cleaning days will be cleaned only on the day which is later in the week.

     For example, a street with regulations posted on Tuesday and Friday will now be cleaned on Friday only.

     The change goes into effect starting Monday and last through Labor Day.

     Whether you’re training for a marathon or just a big race, here are the city’s choices of the best places to run in town.

      But hey, you don’t have to have a 26-mile endurance test on your calendar to boost your game. Try out one of NYC Parks’ hiking trails or running tracks today. 

     Three of the six suggested running spots are just stepts from your front door, including the scene in the photo from Fort Washington Park, under the George Washington Bridge.

     From late spring through the late autumn, the Fort Washington Greenmarket in Lower WaHi offers Mexican herbs, peppers, and greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit, produce grown in the rich soil of Orange County’s “Black Dirt” region, pastries and fresh bread.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.

     Tuesdays from 8 to 4 on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street. Through November 24.

    End your day outdoors with yoga before sunset, overlooking the Hudson River.

     A variety of certified yoga instructors will lead the sessions. 

     Arrive early. Take a towel or yoga mat and water, and note that the park is slightly sloped with uneven spots. Rain or wet ground cancels the event.

     Free. Wednesday evenings at 6:45 on Abby’s Lawn in Fort Tryon Park. Through September 9.

     A New York farmers’ market offers fresh fruit and vegetables from the Hudson Valley, the Garden State and beyond.

     The Lower WaHi market is open Thursdays on 175th Street between Wadsworth Avenue and Broadway.

     NoMAA presents a series of studio tours with Uptown artists each week.

     Open Studios are a much anticipated part of the Uptown Arts Stroll. NoMAA is continuing that tradition with our series of virtual tours.

July 9 Rosa Naparstek
July 16 Cornerstone Studios
July 23 Laurence Elle Groux
July 30 Rafaela Luna

     Register to get a reminder at https://nomaanyc.eventbrite.com

     Thursday evenings at 7:30 on Zoom.

     The Inwood Film Festival was postponed from the winter until the late summer. But why wait? Some films are going online.

     Watch a local filmmaker’s efforts in short film premiering weekly. Each film will also feature a small business that is open and needs your support.  

July 3 Our Picture by Mike Castro
July 10 Come Back Hailey, by Nabil Viñas
July 17 Savino, by Carla Franchesca
July 31 Seasoned, by AnA Collaborations

     Free. Friday afternoons in July at 3 through the festival’s web page.

      True, it’s not the same as finding a quiet spot on the lawn at your favorite park.

      Still meditation can bring peace — or at least less stress — in these trying times. Join ths session from Inwood Hill Park.

      Free. Friday online.

    The Inwood greenmarket is a year-round neighborhood favorite.
    People of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes gather each Saturday to meet and greet their friends and neighbors and do their weekly shopping. Even on the coldest, darkest winter Saturdays, loyal Inwood shoppers come out because they know they can’t get products like this anywhere else.
     A core group of 15 farmers attends every week of the year, and during the peak of the season, five more join to round out the offerings with the summer’s bounty.

     The collection of food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling is on hiatus during the pandemic.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street. Open year-round.

      Do some digging, then get in some riding with your BMX buds.

      Meet up for a day of work and play in the woods and learn what it takes to build, maintain, and ride the most progressive urban bike park in America, with the help of the New York City Mountain Bike Association.

     There will be light trail maintenance tasks for all ages in the morning. Every volunteer receives a free 20-minute clinic and, in the afternoon, a guided ride throughout the trails from 12:30 to 3. Even better, bikes and helmets are provided, so you don’t need your own.  

     Uptown is the home of the city's first mountain biking course, 3 miles of trails of varying difficulty and a free-ride trail that includes drops, steeps, and berms. The park also features a dirt jump park and pump track, making it a good place to develop different skills at all levels. 

     Updates are posted here. Its web site seems to be offline, and it hasn’t updated its Instagram account, where trail work days are typically promoted.

     Free. Saturday from 10 to 3 in Fort George at the BMX trailhead in Highbridge Park, on Fort George Avenue, just northwest of the Buxzek Ballfield. Monthly on the second Saturday.

     More than 100 of your Uptown neighbors submitted entries in the NYC Quarantine Film Festive, and the winners have been chosen.

     With more than enough titles to fill a suburban mega-plex theater, the entries will keep you entertained for … one to three minutes at a time.

     Free. Through the festival’s YouTube page.

     This year, the Morris-Jumel Mansion will mark the annual George Washington Dinner by virtually commemorating the 230th anniversary of the cabinet dinner held on July 10, 1790, on the Mansion’s lawn.

     Join a special afternoon with engaging presentations exploring the various components of what made this evening so special.

     Discussions will cover the Palladian architecture of the mansion, eighteenth-century table settings, and the historical significance of the meal. Register here.

     Sunday afternoon at 3 online.

     Famous and up-and-coming artists perform at Eliot’s weekly sessions and her free concerts are legendary among jazz aficionados.

     Before the pandemic, Eliot welcomed aficianados to her Inwood apartment to listen live. Now she streams her performances.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3:30 online.

     Durante el verano de 2016, poco después de comenzar a trabajar en el Departamento de Educación de la Hispanic Society, hice el Camino de Santiago desde Jaca hasta Santiago de Compostela. Cuando paré en Bilbao para visitar el Museo de Bellas Artes, me encontré por primera vez con la impresionante obra de Ignacio Zuloaga, La víctima de la fiesta. Mientras subía las escaleras del museo, reconocí de inmediato el enorme lienzo de la Hispanic Society que estaba en préstamo en Bilbao.
     Zuloaga nació en Eibar, en el País Vasco, pero pasó tiempo en Andalucía, Salamanca y París. Algunos han identificado en este trabajo la visión de una España vieja y cansada después de la derrota sufrida en la Guerra Hispanoamericana de 1898. Zuloaga tuvo amistades con los escritores que formaron parte de la Generación del 98, un grupo profundamente afectado por la crisis moral, política y social provocada por el declive de la posguerra española. Muchos de sus críticos, sin embargo, vieron una visión de España que era demasiado pesimista, y prefirieron el trabajo del contemporáneo y rival de Zuloaga, Joaquín Sorolla.
     La sorprendente imagen de un picador derrotado en un caballo blanco ensangrentado y demacrado contra un paisaje oscuro y misterioso evoca una especie de fantasía, pero también obliga al espectador a confrontar la posibilidad de que esto también refleje cierta verdad nacional (aunque exagerada). Al comentar sobre este trabajo, José Ortega y Gassett declaró: “es catacterístico de los cuadros de Zuloaga que, apenas nos ponemos a dialogar sobre ellos, nos hallamos complicados en esta cuestión: ¿es así España o no es así?”
     Mientras seguía mi peregrinación, la imagen de Zuloaga continuó obsesionándome. ¿Estaba el cansado y viejo picador quijotesco atravesando la misma España con la que me encontré, o eran los efectos de mi exhausto cuerpo de peregrino entrando en otro tiempo y espacio-- un paisaje de fantasía visto aquí y haciendo eco de la Vista de Toledo de El Greco, en el Metropolitan Museum de Nueva York? La recompensa de la majestuosa catedral de Santiago me despertó de mi confusión. Solo entonces pude apreciar plenamente la capacidad de Zuloaga para desafiar a su espectador a confrontar una identidad española compleja que se puede encontrar con una respuesta contundente y retrospectiva, incluso introspectiva.

      Among the things WaHi is famous for is the noise. Lots of it!

      But does it seem eerily quiet now? You may not miss the auditory assaults, but the sounds of people mingling and waiters serving are becoming memories.

      Refresh yours with the New York Public Library’s new online album: Missing Sounds of New York. It probably won’t win any Grammys, but each track uses a combination of sounds to create familiar canvases on which mini stories are placed: a glass breaking in a bar, a dance performance on the subway, an overly enthusiastic baseball fan.

      It’s free and it’s available from the library. (No need to for a library card!)

     Margaret Corbin Drive in Fort Tryon Park is closed to vehicles starting so you can stroll on the street, making social distancing easier. In another change, the park is closing nightly at 10.

     Margaret Corbin Drive en Fort Tryon Park estará cerrado a los vehículos a partir de hoy. Los visitantes podrán caminar en la calle para facilitar el distanciamiento social. En otro cambio, el parque cerrará todas las noches a las 10.

     If you’re staying in, you can still enjoy the city’s green spaces from home. Here’s a selection of video tours, meditation, fitness classes, and activities for kids.

     Getting out in one can help you relax and excercise at the same time. Just be sure to follow these common-sense guidelines:

• Go out in small groups no bigger than three, making sure that everyone remains at least 6 feet from each other at all times. 
• If you go out after dark, stay near the street (or walk on Margaret Corbin Drive), and go with a friend — maintaining that distance of at least 6 feet. 
• Bike or stroll on the Greenway along the Hudson or Harlem Rivers. 
• Do not engage in team sports or other group games. 
• Use playgrounds at your own risk. Although playground bathrooms remain open and are disinfected daily, the playground equipment is not disinfected. Avoid using playground equipment, but you do, take wipes to sanitize anything you or your child may touch and play on equipment only if you can remain at least 6 feet apart from anyone not in your household.
   

     Uptown’s haven for bibliophiles is looking for your help.

     Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria has been closed since March 13, before the city went on pause.

     That means the shop’s sales and multilingual events are on hold, including readings and workshops for kids.

     Word Up is asking for the neighborhood’s help to cover costs, and since it’s a non-profit your donation is tax-deductible. You can donate directly to the shop here or you can contribute to its fund-raising drive.

     The faculty of Columbia University’s School of Social Work have mobilized to form Covid-19 Action, with the mission of monitoring developments and disseminating information that can be helpful to social workers and the clients they serve.

     They’re asking for your help. Anyone can join the effort, so you can find a way to help that suits your interests and abilities.

     Whether you are a neighborhood resident with a big heart or someone with social work training, there’s a task that needs to be done. Find what suits you from these volunteer opportunities.

     Actors including Lupita Nyong’o, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Kerry Washington expressed their gratitude for workers on the front lines of the fight against covid-19 at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

     The campaign, which salutes health care providers, maintenance teams, food service pros and EMS, has yielded nearly 200 donations ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 since April 13.

     Support the hospital staff or the patients by making your donation here.

     If you’re going out for cleaning supplies or to pick up a prescription and you find yourself at Hilltop Pharmacy, consider dropping off something to help your neighbors.

     Dry goods, food in cans or jars, personal items, household items, and baby items such as diapers and wipes are all the sort of thing that could make a difference for a family facing economic straits.

      The pharmacy is in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue near 187th Street.

     The Community League of the Heights pantry in Lower WaHi on 159th Street is expanding its hours. It needs volunteers to help organize lines of food recipients, ensure social distancing, place packages on stoops for pick-up, pack bags of food, stock shelves and unload trucks. Volunteers will be provided with masks; safety measures will be strictly enforced.

     The pantry run by the Jewish Community Council of Washington Heights-Inwood, in Hudson Heights at 121 Bennett Avenue (at 187th), is looking for volunteers and donations.

     There are plenty of other ways to help the city. Volunteer, donate or partner with the City of New York. Visit NYC.gov/helpnow to learn how to get involved.

     Have an organization in mind that you’d like others to know about? Tell us and we’ll share it!

     The publishing industry has been slow to become diverse in race, class, gender, ability, and more. As initiatives like internships and coalitions focused on Black, Indigenous, and people of color have helped change the landscape, more change is needed.

     The desire to create the best books for readers still drives many BIPOC writers to keep writng. Four book publishing professionals discuss why they entered publishing, the challenges they have faced, and how to ensure that books reach all audiences.

     Ibrahim Ahmad (Akashic Books), Angela Abreu (Dominican Writers Press), Chantz Erolin (Graywolf Press), and Nicole Counts (One World/Penguin Random House) will join a panel moderated by Jennifer N. Baker, the host of the podcast Minorities in Publishing. 

     Register here.

     Monday night at 7 online.

     The three-month extension is over: your taxes are due today.

      Postponed by the coronavirus, New York taxes paid by today will be assessed no late fee.

     Wednesday, July 15.

     Ready to get back in the dirt?

     Wear long pants and sturdy shoes and join the Friends Committee of the Fort Tryon Park Trust at its monthly beautification days.

     Activities will include some or all of the following: painting, planting preparations, planting, weeding, and more. Tools and gloves will be provided.

     Groups of more than five must RSVP by sending an email to  info@FortTryonParkTrust.org by June 15. Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

     Free. Sunday, July 19, from 10 to 2 at the Heather Garden at the Hudson Heights entrance to Fort Tryon Park. Also on August 16.

     The video vault from Lost Inwood present a brief history of Inwood from the end of the ice age to the present.

     The story includes the Lenape culture, New Amsterdam, an Uptown burial ground for the enslaved, the American Revolution in Inwood, early commuters and their lavish homes atop Inwood Hill, the arrival of the subway and the neighborhood's transformation from rural to urban.

     Video, created by Don Rice, will be available on the social media sites of Inwood Art Works.

     Wednesday night, July 22, at 7 online.

     Fonseca & Andres Cepeda continue their Compadres tour with a stop in Uptown.

     $49.50 and up. Thursday night, August 6, at 7:30 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street. Rescheduled from April.

     The High Bridge—New York City’s oldest standing bridge—is a landmark that connects walkers and cyclists with Manhattan and the Bronx.
     The High Bridge is a path from the neighborhoods of Washington Heights to Highbridge across the river, and is accessible from both boroughs.
     Free. Daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Enter from Highbridge Park, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue in the 170s.

      If you like outdoor geometry, get on the street for sunrise and sunset when the shadows line up with the streets.

      The “Manhattanhenge” effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      To see the sun line up with the streets in Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on April 18; it’s also on August 26 in Hudson Heights Henge. Fort George Henge is on the same dates as Manhattan, and Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south.”

     The effect works below 174th and above 174th if you go east of Broadway (for sunrise: sunset views may be blocked by buildings to the west). So if you want to see Manhattanhenge, as it’s dubbed, hope for clear skies on May 30 and June 12.

     Hudson Heights Henge: Wednesday, August 26, at dawn and dusk.

     You can look for the dates in all the city’s neighborhoods on this map from Carto.

     Stories of Uptown residents or by Uptown residents hit the big screen at the Inwood Film Fesitval. Now in its fifth year, the series screens new films that have a connection to our neighborhood. The films take place in Uptown and the Bronx, so you’re going to see your home in many of the screenings.

     For its fifth birthday celebration, the festival plans to host a dinner & movies, followed by a Champagne reception. The affair is supported by Inwood Art Works.

     $15 to $125. Tuesday, September 1, with details to come. Rescheduled from March.

     The reading series Bloom presents a variety of authors and genres.

     Bloom’s literary readings and discussions will get you to shake off your assumptions and think hard about everything. The evening includes wine and light fare. Pleasant as a tea party, but with booze and cutting-edge writing. More information at www.bloomreadings.org.

    $8 suggested donation includes wine and hors d’oeuvres. Sunday evening, September 12, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens, in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street. Monthly on the third Sunday (usually), September through May but not December.

     From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, Baz Luhrman’s 2013 producton of The Great Gatsby showcases the director’s visual style.

     A Monday night in September with details to follow at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

    The Medieval Festival is the most famous event in the Heights, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the neighborhood.

     Lords, ladies, knights and commoners bring to life the customs and spirit of the middle ages, transforming a slice of Upper Manhattan into a medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags. Visitors are greeted by period music, dance, magic, and minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters. The day concludes with a joust among four knights on horseback.

     Free. A Sunday in late September from 11:30 to 6 in Fort Tryon Park.   

     The jewel of Uptown turns 85 this year.

     On October 12, 1935, Fort Tryon Park opened with a ceremony, after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., donated the 67 acres to the city. The Cloisters opened three years later.

     Originally inhabited by the Weckquaesgeek Tribe, who lived in the area until the early 17th century, it was “Lang Bergh” or Long Hill to the early Dutch colonists.

     The Continental Army called the strategic series of posts along the Hudson River “Fort Washington” in 1776, until Hessian mercenaries fighting for the British forced the troops to retreat. The British then renamed the area for Sir William Tryon (1729–88), a Major General and the last British governor of colonial New York.

     More park history is here.

     Watch for celebrations and commemorations of the park, its hstory, and your memories.

     The Iconic Tour of Zion and Lennox makes its way Uptown.

     $39 to $300. Saturday night, October 17, at 8 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     A yearly gathering on Thanksgiving will remind you of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     A short ceremony honors our duty to Mother Earth and our responsibility to the forest, the river, and each other.

     Free. Thanksgiving morning at 9 at Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park. From the intersection of 214th Street and Indian Road, follow the path that runs along the water; the boulder is on the far side of a large open field.

     The spring production from Up Theater, postponed until now, is A Barn Play, by Lizzie Donahue. A cast of farm animals performs a darkly comic fable for our time.

     Durng Thursday performances, the show wll be translated as the lines of the dark comedy are being spoken through headsets that audience members can wear.

      Rescheduled this winter from April, on dates yet to be announced at Good Shepherd School in Inwood on Cooper Street between 207th and Isham Streets.

     The elevators at the 190th Street Station are finally being replaced.

     That’s the good news. The bad new is it will take up to a year, and in the meantime riders will have to take a shuttle bus to catch the train.

     The shuttle is a free bus called the M191 which will run every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., except on Sundays when it will run  between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The shuttle is on hiatus during the pandemic.

     Updated information from the MTA is here.

     The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2021.

    With stops in London, Cape Town, Sydney and WaHi, the Colour Conference is a global women’s gathering that places value on everyday women of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures.

     As a movement, the Colour Sisterhood has inspired women around the world to rise up, champion womanhood and partner in advocating for justice and social change.

     The Colour experience also has a strong humanitarian mandate toward the issues that women face around the world.

     The event, originally planned for April 2020, will be rescheduled in 2021 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 165th Street.

     Only in New York ...
     One day late in most springs, The Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx comes together to claim the neighborhood of Marble Hill which, the group suggests, belongs to the only borough on the mainland on the basis that it was annexed by Bronx Borough President James Lyons in the 1930s.
     Care to fight back? Everyone is welcome, even hecklers.
     Free. A Saturday in early May beginning with pre-invasion cocktails at Mr. McGoo’s Pub in Kingsbridge on Broadway; the battle of Marble Hill commences once the tab is settled.

     Clean out your closets and recycle at the same time.
     Take clean and dry textiles like clothing, paired shoes, towels, sheets, scarves, hats, bags and belts for reuse or recycling. Sponsored by Grow NYC.
     Free. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Inwood Greenmarket (in Inwood Hill Park) on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street.

     Each month Uptown writers get together to workshop some prose based on the theme for the gathering.

     Join neighborhood authors who reflect on the theme’s meaning. Each writer will have five minutes to read to you.

     The group celebrated its tenth anniversary in November, so you can take part in the group’s second decade.

     $5. Typically on a Monday night around 8 at Le Cheile in Hudson Heights just off Lafayette Plaza on 181st Street and Pinehurst Avenue.

The tours have been suspended

     To celebrate the participation of the Hispanic Society of American in the exhibition “Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light” at the National Gallery in London and at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, the Society is reopening the Joaquín Sorolla Vision of Spain Gallery for a limited time.

     The gallery houses the monumental series of 14 paintings known as Vision of Spain by the Valencian master Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, the preeminent artist in Spain at the turn of the 20th century.

     Nearly 12 feet tall and 200 feet in combined length, the canvases that comprise Vision of Spain were painted by Sorolla at various locations in Spain between 1912 and 1919.

     Closed until later this year for extensive renovations, these tours will be offered if you book a visit in advance at visitsorolla@hispanicsociety.org.

      Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 to 4:30, by appointment only, at the Society’s museum on Audubon Terrace.

The screening has been postponed; no date is set

     Based on Alice Waler’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple stars Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover and was directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985.

     Monday night, April 13, at a time to be announced later at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

This concert is postponed

     Closing out the season, the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra presents a concert on the theme of destiny. 

     The program features Paul Brantley’s On the Pulse of Morning, Bienvenido Bustamante’s Concierto para Saxofón, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

     $5 ($7 at the door); kids 17 and under free. Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 16 and 17, at 3 at the Fort Washington Collegiate Church (Saturday) in Hudson Heights on 181st Street at Col. Robt. McGaw Place, and at the George Washington Educational Campus (Sunday) in Fort George at 549 Audubon Avenue.