Trying Upper East Side history on for size

Welcome to the Upper East Side: home of Museum Mile, Millionaires’ Row, Madison Avenue Boutiques, and of course, Gossip Girl. What do all of these things have in common? They all portray the finer things in life: high art, high prices, high fashion, and high drama.

The Upper East Side is perhaps the most recognizable neighborhood by name in all of Manhattan. Yet at the same time, it may be one of the hardest to characterize. Its initial character began to emerge in the 19th century when the wealth of the Vanderbilts and other representatives of the Gilded Age could no longer be contained within the limits of Midtown.

Slowly their “townhouses”—if they can be called that—made their way up the east side of Manhattan. Whole blocks were consumed by opulent mansions that faced then newly planted Central Park. Today, the neighborhood is still home to New York’s richest and most established families, such as the Kennedys, the Whitneys, and the Rockefellers.

But a large portion of Fifth Avenue, once dubbed “Millionaire’s Row,” has been transformed into “Museum Mile.” Between East 59th Street and East 96th Street there are more than eight museums. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Frick, the Whitney, and the Neue Galerie were all generously funded by the one-time residents of the neighborhood.

While the museums act as a form of cultural education for the masses, they also remind most of us that we don’t belong on the Upper East Side. Symbols of old money and opulence, they mark the exclusive attitude of the neighborhood.

Perhaps it is because the Upper East Side seems so unapproachable that it is a favorite topic in pop culture. As the stomping ground of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the backdrop of twisted teenage affairs in Cruel Intentions, the Upper East Side has provided the perfect backdrop for many Hollywood fantasies. Any mention of the UES in pop culture is synonymous with luxurious fashion and jewelry, expensive lifestyles and nonchalant attitudes.

From visiting the museums to learn about art and architecture (the Frick Collection is displayed in Henry Clay Frick’s actual residence), to watching fashionably dressed ladies exercise their credit cards in the boutiques, to catching the filming of a TV show or movie on location, it’s easy to find a feast for the eyes and the imagination in the Upper East Side.