Upper West Side Architecture; Soldiers and Sailors Monument; Joan of Arc Statue in Riverside Park

Above: Fine Old Houses on Riverside Drive--side streets are loaded with great houses, too, some of them very unusual in design

Above: Sedate West End Avenue, a totally residential thoroughfare which became extremely fashionable about 1930 and was the scene of one famous shoot-out between police and a big time gangster who holed up in his mistress' apartment on the 14th floor of one of these buildings. (much to the delight of the New York tabloids, of course).

ABOVE: SOLDIERS AND SAILORS' MONUMENT IN RIVERSIDE PARK...ONE OF SEVERAL REALLY FINE MONUMENTS IN THE PARK INCLUDING THE FIREMEN'S MEMORIAL AND GRANT'S TOMB...

The one thing these pictures do not show about the Upper West side is the ever-present scaffolding of all the renovation/gentrification  etc. taking place ( drab old places being re-done as the " Paris New York Apartments" and so forth)

It is a treasure trove of stately older "Pre-War" apartment buildings and houses; Riverside Drive, another one of Frederick Law Olmstead's great works, rolls up and down and Riverside Drive flows along sinuously at the top of the ridge that rises up from the Hudson River..

ABOVE: JOAN OF ARC STATUE IN RIVERSIDE PARK; HORSE WITH ONE LEG RAISED MEANS SHE DIED OUT OF BATTLE ( DYING IN BATTLE= TWO LEGS RAISED)


The only drawback to Riverside Drive and Park in the Winter is that you have to watch out for black ice and slippery spots; sensibe shoes with good traction are necessary if the packed snow on the walks has not melted.

You will see plenty of scaffolding in this short video so no need to show it here...Hope you have as much fun watching this as I did making it!

http://youtu.be/1bDOvQAtmKs