Yorkville

Yorkville, named after York Avenue which runs down its center, goes from 80th-96th Sts, 3rd Ave to the East River. 86th Street used to be known as the German Broadway. Once filled with dance halls, bakeries, beer gardens, movie theatres, German newspapers and residents, the area gave way to higher rents, immigrant assimilation and apartment block development, which knocked down many of the tenements residents lived in. Also, the demolition of the 3rd Avenue El contributed to the neighborhood’s gentrification, because the El was the boundary between the Upper and Middle classes of the Upper East Side.

Not known to tourists, now Yorkville is the everyman’s Upper East Side. It is still residential, but also assimilated, filled with the variety of small businesses, restaurants, bars and coffee shops of all kinds. 86th Street is far more generic, full of brand-name stores and soon to be home to a luxury high-rise condo building and more retail space. It’s a quiet place to live, away from the hustling and bustling “scene” of the rest of Manhattan. The style is more casual and the prices lower. And apartment-block development notwithstanding, the area is still populated with turn-of-the-century brownstones and Queen Anne-style housing.

Today it is home to young families, professionals and recent college grads. Realtors are buzzing about the Ruppert Yorkville Towers, four middle-income rentals that have been converted into luxury condos. The only subway is the 4, 5, 6, but there is crosstown bus service and express bus service to Wall Street. Yorkville also offers easy access to the F.D.R, and in the season, a ferry to Yankee Stadium.