Wednesday, September 16, 2026 · No. 35
Wednesday's ledger starts at the river: the big esplanade rebuild that begins at East 94th Street has quietly gotten smaller, and the stretch at our end drops from a full rebuild to sinkhole patching. Also today: the wait for Doria on Second Avenue goes on, PS 151 does pizza in the park Friday, and a free movie night lands at 96th and Lex later this month. The history corner steps off early for Saturday's parade. Here's your Wednesday.
The Lead
The esplanade rebuild has been scaled back — and our stretch is the one downgraded
The rebuild of Bobby Wagner Walk — the East River esplanade project that begins at East 94th Street — has been scaled back, Streetsblog reported in late August, with Our Town also covering the cutback. Per Streetsblog's account, the eleven blocks between East 94th and 105th Streets lose their planned full reconstruction — crews will repair sinkholes along that stretch instead, while full rebuilds continue on stretches farther north — and a planned restroom at the new Pier 107 has been dropped. Streetsblog attributes the retreat to DOT declining to grant enough construction staging zones along the FDR. A June 2026 NYCEDC fact sheet, published before the cutback, put the overall project at $294 million, with design and permitting for the pier due to wrap in fall 2026. The pushback is already public: Julie Menin, whose district includes this stretch, joined advocates in blasting the scale-back in a follow-up Streetsblog report last week.
via Streetsblog
Openings & Closings
Doria, taking over the old San Matteo space at 89th, is still a construction site
The Northern Italian restaurant headed for the former San Matteo space at 1716 Second Avenue at 89th Street — from a team whose résumés run through Sant Ambroeus and Felice, per earlier Patch reporting — is deep in renovation with no opening date announced, Upper East Site reports, confirming the Doria name first pitched to Community Board 8 in August. We'll flag a date when one exists; until then, the paper is off the 'coming soon' clock.
via Upper East Site
Schools & Kids
Friday: PS 151's Pizza in the Park returns to Carl Schurz
Yorkville Community School's family Pizza in the Park is listed on the school's events page for this Friday, Sept. 18, at 4 p.m. in Carl Schurz Park, with a $5 suggested donation and all families welcome. That's the school's own listing — as always with single-listing events, a quick check before you head over doesn't hurt.
via Yorkville Community School
Mark the calendar: the YCS Fall Festival takes East 88th Street on Oct. 25
PS 151's PTA closes East 88th Street between First and York Avenues on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for its fall block-party fundraiser — pumpkin and cupcake decorating, a costume parade, bouncy castles, kids' sports and crafts, per the school's event page and Time Out New York. It's over a month out; we'll re-up closer to the day.
via Yorkville Community School
This Week
Nearby: a free movie night comes to 96th and Lex on the 26th
Movies Under the Stars comes to Samuel Seabury Playground at 96th Street and Lexington Avenue — a block west of our patch, close enough — on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m., per a Community Board 8 posting, with Council Member Julie Menin, NYC Parks and the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment behind it. It's free; listings suggest arriving before 7 for a spot and bringing a blanket. The film hasn't been confirmed by the organizers' own posting, so we're not printing a title yet.
via CB8
Yorkville, Remembered
The Steuben Parade's Fifth Avenue debut turned onto 86th Street
The German-American Steuben Parade - named for Revolutionary War hero Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben - began on Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens, in the mid-1950s. On September 20, 1958, it came to Manhattan for the first time: up Fifth Avenue, turning onto East 86th Street - the heart of German Yorkville, a strip the parade committee calls the 'German Boulevard' - and down to Second Avenue. The NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project places that first Fifth Avenue march's start at East 61st Street. The parade still marches up Fifth Avenue each September, though today it ends at 86th Street rather than turning east through Yorkville.
That's Wednesday: a scaled-back esplanade, a longer wait for dinner at 89th, and pizza in the park to close out the school week. The corner above is why Saturday's parade up Fifth Avenue is, at heart, a Yorkville story. See you tomorrow.