Haters will complain that this neighborhood has turned into a mall, and they’re not that wrong. Broadway’s dominated by Circuit City, P.C. Richards, Victoria’s Secret, and Gap, among other chain retailers. But no matter how shopped out the main thoroughfare has become, there’s no denying the singularly New York charm of this section of the Upper West Side. Sandwiched between Central Park and Riverside Park, it doesn’t lack in green space and playgrounds. Columbus Avenue still retains that mom-and-pop flair (fossil store Maxilla & Mandible survives against all retail odds), the public schools are excellent, and of course, there’s the enviable (and expensive!) housing stock: blocks of magnificent brownstones and prewar co-ops with canopied entrances. Traipse through them at open houses in the coming week, listed after the jump. —S. Jhoanna Robledo
One-Bedroom
70 Riverside Dr., nr. 79th St., Apt. 1C
Sunday, 1:30 p.m.–3 p.m.
$650,000
315 W. 86th St., nr. West End Ave., Apt. PHB
Sunday, 1 p.m.–2 p.m.
$1,390,000
Two-Bedroom
27 W. 82nd St. nr. Central Park W., Apt. B
Sunday, noon–1 p.m.
$1,450,000
225 Central Park W., nr. 82nd St., Apt. 1005
Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.–7 p.m.
$1,995,000
Three-Bedroom
221 W. 82nd St., nr. Amsterdam Ave., Apt. 2DSunday, noon–2 p.m.
$1,850,000
