When longtime Upper West Sider and author Terena Elizabeth Bell was hit with an unaffordable rent increase, she endured a stressful four-month search for a new place and finally landed on the Upper East Side, land of well-behaved dogs, expensive groceries, and busy streets. Here's her story.
I was born and raised in Sinking Fork, Kentucky, and had been living in Washington, D.C., before I moved to New York City in 2015 for work.
I've been on the Upper West Side ever since. Initially, I rented a studio for five years but then upgraded to a one-bedroom unit in the same building. For the last three years, I was paying $2,950 per month for a large one-bedroom, two-bath apartment with generous closet space, a fully equipped kitchen, and two balconies—one with a view all the way to Times Square!
The staff in the doorman building was wonderful. I lived there for so long that I really got to know them, as well as everyone else who lived there, plus our mail deliverer and the super who worked in the building next door. There was very much a true sense of community.
Editor's Note
Brick Underground's series “Transitions” features first-person accounts of what it’s like to move from one New York City neighborhood to another. Have a story to share? Drop us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.
What she loved (and hated) about the UWS
Living on the UWS was also a large part of my identity as an author (my official headshot was taken on West 79th Street). My debut short fiction collection, "Tell Me What You See," was published in December. The book contains 10 stories about living in Manhattan during the early days of the pandemic.
From Jack Kerouac to Dorothy Parker, so many greats have lived on the UWS. It’s long been where you lived in NYC if you were a writer. Now this has changed over the past decade as the neighborhood has gotten more expensive, with many authors pushing out into Brooklyn, but writing is still a common career there.
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The neighborhood paper, West Side Rag, profiles a new UWS writer each month (I was in the December issue). It isn’t at all uncommon to sit in a restaurant and hear someone at the next table talking about the publishing industry or their novel in progress. I had multiple author friends who lived within blocks of me. Philip Roth was my first landlord in NY as well as my next-door neighbor until he died. To Upper West Siders, he’s a sort of demi-god—a household name. (Spoiler alert: This is definitely not the case on the UES.)
I loved how many bookstores there were within a short distance. I could walk to five or so in 10 minutes or less. And I very much miss how green everything is, as well as all the benches along the sidewalks. You never have a hard time finding somewhere to sit down when you’re tired. Teddy Roosevelt Park was half a block from me, Central Park was a block and a half, and Riverside Park was also right there, so friends and I would walk a lot.
I really liked The Vitamin Peddler—the man who works there is just so knowledgeable, and they really do have everything, even after they moved into a smaller store. I was also a regular at Délice Macarons and a big Tacombi fan; I ordered take-out from their West 78th location all the time. Wafels & Dinges had just opened at the end of my block, which was great.
The UWS is a bit sleepy, so walking was pretty much all I did in the area for social activity. Thankfully, my place was big so I could host friends for dinner or parties.
Groceries were from Zingone Brothers — their staff is WONDERFUL. Once Covid hit, I stopped ordering in because our building imposed a rule that delivery people weren’t allowed up. Instead, staff would put the food on the elevator floor where — you guessed it — people’s dogs would step in it, stick their noses in it, lick it, etc. Not letting deliverymen up made sense during the pandemic (we didn’t know how it was transmitted!), but continuing to put people’s food on the floor today is just dumb.
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While there are many things to love about the UWS as a neighborhood, there are a few drawbacks. I like dogs but I hate irresponsible dog owners, and lord knows the UWS is filled with them. A lot of people got pets for the first time during the pandemic, and these newer dog owners never care where their dogs are going, letting their leashes stretch across the whole sidewalk. They don’t curb their dogs at all or keep them from jumping on people. I’ve had older friends trip over leashes and fall.
Several times dogs have come out of nowhere and jumped on me so forcefully that they almost knocked me down. Some just run up and put their heads in my crotch. You ask the owner to help get the dog off you, and they refuse. So, when you try to gently push the dog off by yourself, they start yelling for you to stop manhandling their dog. Over the last year, this has become an almost daily occurrence.
Why she moved to the UES—and how she survived the search
This March, my rent was being raised to a whopping $5,200! As soon as I found that out, I decided to head east.
That’s when my saga began. First, I tried to find a no-fee apartment, but since the last time I moved, all landlords apparently started taking multiple applications—like “The Bachelor,” except instead of a rose, you get somewhere to live. No-fee apartments are often individual-owned, which means they don’t follow Fair Housing laws. One owner didn’t choose me because I’m single (she wanted a couple with two incomes), another because her mother didn’t like me, and still another because I’m an author. Some wouldn’t rent to me because I was laid off during the pandemic—surprising since so many other New Yorkers were, too. The thinking was that if you were disposable in 2020, you’re disposable now; they were afraid of another economic crisis.
My former landlady also refused to write my reference letter unless I paid her $2,950—no thanks! Not having this letter made finding a new place more difficult. So I gave in and found a broker. He showed me one place and when it didn’t work out, he ghosted me. Then a friend recommended Carol Nemeroff, an agent at Compass, who was absolutely fantastic.
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I lost count of how many places I saw, but it had to be at least 30 over four months. There were several times when I thought, “I’m going to have to leave the city. I don’t want to, but I need somewhere to live.” I looked into roommates, moving as far out as Rockaway and Bay Ridge, everything I could think of. I was terrified I was going to have to move back to Kentucky. Thank G-d I was able to stay.
Allowing multiple applications is absurd. My credit rating went down 83 points (from 805 to 722) as a result of myriad credit checks on denied applications—not to mention all those application fees. Each apartment I looked at had 20 to 50 applications. At a certain point, you know you’re not going to rent to all those people and you’re just taking their money. It’s a gross misuse of everyone’s time and an unethical workaround for landlords trying to recoup the perceived financial loss of no longer being able to charge higher application fees.
Pros and cons of her new place
I ended up renting a small studio on the UES for $2,595 a month. While I’m glad the building has laundry facilities, sadly the apartment has no dishwasher. What’s more, new tenants like me can’t even use the laundry machines because the money-card dispenser is broken. Long-time tenants can add money to their cards, but no new cards can be issued. So right now my laundry’s just a great big pile.
The kitchen is so small I accidentally burned myself twice last week simply turning to the side while boiling pasta. The place does get great natural light, though, which was tremendously important to me as a writer, and it’s large enough for my standing desk. When most people look at apartments, they ask themselves, “Can I live here?” My question was, “Can I write here?” Despite being on the second floor, this apartment is actually quieter than my 16th floor place was on the UWS.
And while my rent is cheaper than for my previous apartment, moving cost so much that I’ll need to be here two years before I benefit from the savings.
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What she thinks of the new nabe
The area is very busy! There’s always someone out on the streets, whereas on the UWS you could walk entire blocks sometimes without running into more than one other person. The 4, 5, and 6 stop at Lexington and East 86th is particularly chaotic. The pace is an adjustment. Sometimes while writing, I just need to get outside and clear my head and think about a character or plot line in a different way. Walks on the UWS allowed me to do that. They were soothing. But the sidewalks on the UES are narrower. There’s not as much space and there’s more people, so I wind up concentrating more on where I’m going than on taking that walk time to think. I don’t know the best routes to take a leisurely walk yet. And I have yet to see a single sidewalk bench on the UES!
I do like the change in scenery. I was in the city every day of the pandemic and was longing for a change of pace. The UWS has not fully rebounded from all the 2020 closures. There are still many empty storefronts. The UES feels more alive.
It’s so southern of me, but I’m thrilled to be close to Krispy Kreme. I’ve also become addicted to Fresh & Co, a NY chain that I didn't have on the UWS. Padoca Bakery has also been a nice find (their muffins are amazing). I’m trying to branch out into more UES-only places but haven’t had much time to explore yet, having just traveled on book tours. On that note, I adore how much closer I am now to LGA. From the UWS, I would allow an hour and a half to take the C train to the M60. From my new place, it’s a 15-minute cab ride!
Groceries are more expensive on the UES, something I didn’t anticipate. Fruit is relatively the same price, but other stuff, like tuna fish or Nutella or Coca-Cola, is higher. I’ve been going to Whole Foods and D’Agostino's so far, and I really miss having a Trader Joe’s. I’m also amazed at how many products are locked behind glass (you have to get an attendant to unlock the shelf for you). We had this in Duane Reade on the UWS with deodorant and mascara, but on the UES, it sometimes feels like every item I want is locked everywhere I go. I’d never seen a store keep food locked up before, like Target and others do here.
Groceries are more expensive on the UES, something I didn’t anticipate. Fruit is relatively the same price, but other stuff, like tuna fish or Nutella or Coca-Cola, is higher. I’ve been going to Whole Foods and D’Agostino's so far, and I really miss having a Trader Joe’s. I’m also amazed at how many products are locked behind glass (you have to get an attendant to unlock the shelf for you). We had this in Duane Reade on the UWS with deodorant and mascara, but on the UES, it sometimes feels like every item I want is locked everywhere I go. I’d never seen a store keep food locked up before, like Target and others do here.
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How her social life is going
I haven’t made any new friends in the area, but I did rekindle an old friendship. I went to the New York Society Library to see my book on display and ran into my friend Bill, whom I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic. Turns out he only lives a couple blocks from me.
So far, I’ve had three friends drop by the new place, and all said it was “cute.” Meanwhile, I still care a great deal about all the people at my UWS building and miss them every day.
I’m relieved I found an affordable place to call home and would like to stay on the UES for a while—I’m enjoying discovering a new neighborhood.