Let’s begin our tour here, by the statue of William Tecumseh Sherman on Fifty-Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue.
You are standing in the midst of the Upper East Side – justifiably considered New York’s “Gold Coast” with Fifth Avenue its “Millionaires’ Row”. It is in this neighborhood that Lady Caroline Astor countenanced the four hundred most important New Yorkers (those who would attend her illustrious parties); it is on these streets that J.P. Morgan had built – “damning the expense” – his famous Metropolitan Club; and it is here that the longest single uninterrupted set of mansions once stood. If there ever was a competition for wealth and power in one neighborhood, the Upper East Side would win hands down.
Yet, despite its undeniable standing as an area of prominence and renown, the Upper East Side has a much broader appeal. The neighborhood maintains a diversity to its history that is often overlooked amid the goings-on of Manhattan’s haute bourgeoisie.
