Events in the Neighborhood, March 30–April 5

     With miles of trails and the best vistas in Manhattan, Uptown is lucky to have amazing parks. 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 at night, stay near the street, and go with a friend — and maintain 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.
  
   

     Living indoors 24/7 has several down-sides, one of which is constantly cooking and cleaning. You can still venture outdoors for takeout, and here’s a partial list of neighborhood restaurants cooking for you.

     Are we missing your favorite spot? Send it here.

BUUNNI COFFEE 213 Pinehurst

LE CHÉILE Delivery, 839 W 181 • (212) 740-3111

FOREVER COFFEE 714 W 181 • (646) 882-0009

FRESCO’S PIZZERIA 804 W 187 • (212) 740-2737

GEORGE’S PIZZARIA 726 W 187 • (212) 568-6891

The Uptown Garrison

KISMAT 602 FWA, Delivery • (212) 795-8633

REFRIED BEANS 591 FWA • (212) 568-2299

SAGGIO 827 W 181, Delivery • (212) 795-3080

THE UPTOWN GARRISON Delivery, 821 W 181 • (917) 261-4680

Every Day

     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.

      Hat tip to Patch for sharing the info.

The Ivy League has canceled

all spring sporting events

     Columbia hosts St. John’s in another mid-week Uptown matchup. This one is the first of eight in a row at home for the Lions.

     Wednesday afternoon, April 1, at 3:3o at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 214th Street.

The screening is postponed until June 3

    Vengan a ver una selección de películas documentales de las Américas, presentadas por la candidata de doctorado en NYU, Daniella Gitlin.

     En cada sesión, empezaremos con una breve introducción de lo que vamos a ver y después de ver la película, charlaremos un poco sobre lo que hemos visto.

     Join a series of documentary films from the Americas, curated by NYU doctoral candidate Daniella Gitlin. She will begin every session with a brief introduction, and after the film host a short discussion.

     For each month’s films, see the list here.

     Free. Wednesday evening, April 1, at 6 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. On the first Wednesday of the month through June.

The performances have been put on hiatus until winter

     The spring production from Up Theater 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.

      $16.74 to $27.24. Wednesday through Saturday nights, April 1 through 4, at 8 at Good Shepherd School in Inwood on Cooper Street between 207th and Isham Streets.

The tour is canceled

     You’ve heard about it but you can’t quite imagine how this architectural confection came to be in WaHi.

     So here’s your chance to explore this stunning 3,400-seat theater, its mezzanine, grand foyer, balcony, exterior and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to go up on stage.

     The history of United Palace, Manhattan’s fourth-largest theater and now a landmarked building, began in 1930, when it was then one of five Loew’s “Wonder Theatres” across the boroughs and New Jersey. Designed by noted architect Thomas Lamb (Cort Theatre, the former Ziegfeld Theatre) with interiors overseen by decorative specialist Harold Rambusch (Waldorf Astoria, Radio City Music Hall), it was one of the region’s premier vaudeville and movie houses.

     $15. Wednesday evening, April 1, at 6 at the theater in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

The concert is postponed to August 6

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

     $49.50 and up. Thursday night, April 2, at 7:30 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

Postponed until 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.

     $164.17 (early registration, through February 4). Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 165th Street.

     With public concerts on the list of shuttered events, the WaHi Chamber Orchestra found a work-around.

     The Uptown ensemble will perform live on its YouTube channel, sharing classical and modern performances.

     The playlists are here.

     Free. Sunday evenings at 8 on YouTube. Through April 5.

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

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 4 at 555 Edgecombe Avenue, Apt. 3F, in Lower WaHi.

     Lately, Eliot has added her own playwrighting, with plays at 6:30.

     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.

     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.

     A New York farmers’ market is open Thursdays on 175th Street between Wadsworth Avenue and  Broadway.

    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.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street.

     From late spring through the late autumn, a 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. You can also take your food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling.

     You can also take your food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling.

     Saturdays in the spring and summer on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street. On hiatus until spring.

     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.

This event has been postponed but not rescheduled

     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 is hosting a dinner & movies, followed by a Champagne reception. The affair is supported by Inwood Art Works.

The Ivy League has canceled all spring sporting events      

     You may not think of the Army having a baseball team, so go see for yourself then the Mules travel down the Hudson to take on the Lions.

     Wednesday afternoon, April 8, at 3:30 in Satow Stadium at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood.

The Ivy League has canceled all spring sporting events

     Tiger and Lions meet in Upper Manhattan for a three-game series.

     Princeton and Columbia start the Ivy battle with a double-header.

      Saturday, April 11, at 11:30 and 2:30, and Sunday, April 12, at noon in Satow Stadium at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 214th Street.

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.

     Start tuning up for The Great Saunter, the 32-mile hike around the Manhattan shoreline on May 2. On this hike the Shorewalkers will walk the second part of the route, 11 miles. Pack a lunch and water.

     You’ll walk into Riverbank State Park for restrooms and then take the stairs down to the Great Saunter route, walking north through Fort Washington Park and into Inwood Hill Park. Then you’ll head south along the Harlem River Path through Harlem River and Highbridge Parks. Walk beneath the Washington, Alexander Hamilton and High bridges and then over the ramp at 155th Street.

     Free. Saturday morning, April 18, at 10:15 at 145th and Broadway in Sugar Hill next to the McDonald’s and outside the 1 train stop.

      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: Saturday, April 18, at dawn and dusk.

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

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

     Thi month’s readings feature Tori Fullard and poets from Soul Sister Revue.

     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, April 19, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens, in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street. Monthly on the third Sunday, September through May but not December.

The Ivy League has canceled all spring sporting events

     An inter-borough rivalry comes to life when Fordham crosses the Harlem River to play Columbia. 

     Wednesday afternoon, April 22, at 3:30 at Satow Stadium in the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 214th Street.

The Ivy League has canceled
all spring sporting events

     Columbia’s lacrosse team closes out the regular season with an intra-league match hosting Brown. It’s senior day and it’s alumnae day too.

     Saturday, April 25, at noon in Satow Stadium at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 214th Street.

     Award-winning violinist Rebecca Fischer and visual artist Anthony Hawley present The Afield, exploring the space between sound and sight.

     The husband-and-wife duo combine new and original compositions for violin, voice and electronics with video and other media. The performance will include original works as well as pieces by Telemann, Matthew Fuerst, and others.

      $15 donation; students and seniors, $12; kids 7 and under, free. Saturday evening, April 25, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street.

     Over its almost 30-year history, the vocal ensemble Amarcord, from Leipzig, Germany, has developed an international reputation for its unique tone, breathtaking homogeneity, and musical authenticity.

     In their only New York City appearance this season, they bring their consummate artistry to the haunting Cloisters to perform music by Dufay, Ockeghem, and Josquin, alongside other luminous works from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

     $65; children, $1. Sunday afternoon, April 26, at 1 and 3 in the Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Antonia Vega, the writer at the center of the new novel Afterlife, has just retired from her job as an English professor when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. After her big-hearted but unstable sister also disappears, Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep.

     The author Julia Alvarez will read from her novel, her first for adults in twenty-five years.

     Tuesday night, April 28, at 7 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.

     ​The High Baroque is in full bloom in this program of quartets by Vivaldi, Telemann, and Johann Christian Bach with guest flutist Melanie Williams. These conversational pieces are by turns light, airy, fanciful, and virtuosic.

     House of Time, known for its “fluency and command” (San Francisco Classical Voice), is dedicated to well-known and underperformed repertoire of the 17th through the 21st centurites played on period instruments.

     $25; at the door, $30; students, seniors, $10 off. Thursday evening, April 30, at 6:30 at The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd 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; the battle of Marble Hill commences once the tab is settled.

The Ivy League has canceled
all spring sporting events

     The boys of summer close their regular season this spring weekend.

     Penn arrives in town to play Columbia in a three-game stand, starting with a double-header.

     Friday afternoon, May 1, at 2, and Saturday, May 2, at 11:30 and 2:30 at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood on 214th Street.

     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.

     Note the new days and times:

     $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.

     Shadoes and light workshops for adults (in the morning) or children (in the afternoon) with learning or developmental disabilities and accompanying friends and family members include a gallery tour and an art activity.

     Reservations are required. Contact the Met at (212) 650-2010.

     Free. Sunday, May 17, at 11 for adults and 2 for those aged 5–17  at The Met Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     See your island the way it was seen for centuries: by foot.

     The Shorewalkers lead this trek, which starts in front of the Staten Island Ferry terminal, walking along the west side at a brisk pace with numerous brief stops at sites and restrooms along the way.

     The group walks over the George Washington Bridge to end the hike after some refreshments in Fort Lee.

     It’s a one-way hike! A bus (jitney) will take you back to Manhattan to a convenient train station.

     Take your lunch and snacks since our lunch stop will be late lunch, around 2:30, outside of Harlem’s Fairway supermarket. Heavy rain may modify the route.

      Free. Monday morning, May 25, at 9:30 at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and ending in the early evening in Fort Lee.

     Take a break from the everyday with art.

     Individuals living with dementia and their family members or care partners participate in discussions, handling sessions, art making. These and other interactive and multisensory activities take place in the galleries and classrooms.

     Reservations are required. Call (212) 650-2010.

     Free. Wednesday afternoon, May 27, at 2 at The Met Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     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 starting May 27 on Abby’s Lawn in Fort Tryon Park. Through September 9.

     The performance event Friends and Neighbors is back to celebrate two anniversaries in 2020: Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th and longtime the birthday of Hudson Heights resident and composer Aaron Jay Kernis—his 60th.

     A concert will feature performances by members of the Kernis/Luest family as well as friends and neighbors. Kernis is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the 2019 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

     $15 donation; students and seniors, $12; kids 7 and under, free. Sunday evening, May 31, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street.

    His autumn concert was so popular to Uptown fans that Emmanuel is coming back.

     The gospel, pop, and romantic singer, songwriter, and musician, hails from Mexico City.

    Born to an Argentinian bullfighter and Spanish singer, Emmanuel released a string of albums toward the end of the ’70s, before finding popularity with the full-length “Intimamente” in 1980.

     $45 to $395. Friday night, June 5, at 8 in Lower WaHi at the United Palace Theatre on Broadway at 175th Street.

     The annual Drums Along the Hudson began in 2002 as a traditional Pow Wow to celebrate Native American heritage and culture, and also to commemorate the Lenape people who first inhabited Inwood Hill Park, or Shorakapok (“edge of the water”).

     The event features dancers and drummers from around the world, combining Native American heritage, culture and art with the diversity of New York City. Activities include a Tree of Peace planting, international cuisine, Native American storytelling, a Pow Wow and crafts.
     The event has attracted a growing audience, numbering from 400 in the first year to over 8,000 in recent years.
     Free. A Sunday in June in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.

     The WaHi Pop-Up Market hosts neighborhood shops, artisans, and art. Visiting them at their tables, booths, or trucks gives you the chance to small business.

     If you have goods to sell, you can even sign up to participate by contacting the Community League of the Heights.

     Saturday, June 13, from 11:30 to 5 at Edward Morgan Place in Lower WaHi between 157th and 158th Streets. Also on June 27.

     The Latin American boy band CNCO is on the precipice of international fame. They’re performing Uptown on one night only.

     Thursday night, June 18, at 8 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     The Ukrainian violinist and composer AndyDidorenko returns to Hudson Heights to perform a violin and piano duo recital with his wife, Yuliya Basis.

     Graduates of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, they have performed all over the world as soloists and chamber musicians. The duo will present a program of standard violin and piano works as well as Didorenko’s new Composition
Pieces. Also on the program will be another new piece, Triad, for three violins with Didorenko and two of his top students.

     $15 donation; students and seniors, $12; kids 7 and under, free. Sunday evening, June 21, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street.

     The Mexican rock sensation Camila performs from its album Todo Cambiö.

     $73 to $203. Saturday night, June 27, at 8 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Considered by some critics to be the funniest American movie of all time, Some Like it Hot stars Marilyn Monroe and her bosom buddies Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon.

     From 1959, the comedy was directed by Billy Wilder from his own screenplay.

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

     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. The United Palace calendar lists the date as May 23, but the band and its ticketing agency are promoting October 17; we’ve asked for clarification.

     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 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.

     Updated information from the MTA is here.

     The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2021.