De La Salle Academy

The Midtown West School (PS 212) and the Professional Performing Arts High School cohabitate in the same grand Beaux-Arts building, which housed PS 17 until 1989.

Opened in 1990, the Professional Performing Arts High School has been a magnet for performing artists from grades six through twelve. It counts Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg among its alumni.

Since its initiation in 1959, Tony's Di Napoli has thrived as a family-run Italian restaurant. The menu, more specifically, is inspired by Southern Neapolitan cuisine. Everything at Tony's is served family style. That is, one portion is large enough to feed two or three people. Over the years, many in the world of show business have come through their doors, thus inspiring Tony's to memorialize their visits with portraits lining the wall. Some subjects of these paintings include Antonio Banderas, Hugh Jackman, Bernadette Peters, Whoopi Goldberg, Alec Baldwin, and Christina Applegate. The food was good, but for added entertainment, it was fun for some members of the Manhattan Sideways team to stroll around the restaurant trying to name everyone on the walls.

When the City of New York acquired this lot to house Engine 65 in 1895, clubs and residents around the area feared it would disturb the peace. Having calls since their very first night on the job, and as the first responder to Times Square, it became clear that the service was needed and soon became wildly appreciated. One of the firemen, Chris, told me this was something he had always wanted to do. “I love the camaraderie between the guys, ” he said, a theme that seems to reoccur throughout all Manhattan fire stations.