Mom & Pop Priced Out Of The UWS
Residents of the Lower East Side [may be mourning] the neighborhood's gritty edges now that migrating Uptown chic is slowly polishing away the last of them, but Upper West Siders have some beefs of their own. In the first installment of its [West Side Story](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=71891) series, NY1 documents the transformation of the neighborhood and reports that mom-and-pop businesses are being replaced by banks and national chain stores at break-neck speed.
Not surprisingly, long-time residents are angry. Jay Jay French, the guitarist of the heavy metal band [Twisted Sister] and a neighborhood resident since Eisenhower was in office, tells the station that even mainstays that have occupied the area for the last five decades are now cutting and running. He points specifically to [Embassy Florist](http://www.embassyflowers.com/), which has just closed shop and moved to the land of city escapees, New Jersey, after 87 years in business. Only in the last year has it been so startling that so many landmark stores have finally closed up, he said. We are watching the complete and utter mega-million dollar development of the West Side. Finally, at least one heavy metal-er whose still fighting the good fight (unless, of course, you consider living on the Upper West Side selling out).
To blame, as always, are rising rents. Randy Hirschorn, the manager of Embassy Florist, told NY1 that market prices are now up to four times his current rental rates. How can you survive? he asked. The reports sound a lot like whats happening to the bar and restaurant scene in Morningside Heights, just north of the Upper West Side. For our story on the transformation and residents reactions, click [here].
Photo courtesy of [scott keddy on Flickr]