FRIENDS' dedication to our neighborhood remains steadfast, even in this most unusual of years. Despite the pandemic, our office continued to educate and enrich our understanding of the Upper East Side; we have offered almost 27 hours of Zoom programs with a range of topics and formats from panel discussions, to virtual walking tours, book talks, and scavenger hunts.

We are thrilled that over 1,300 people have joined us (greater than the number of buildings within the Upper East Side Historic District!), from the comfort of their homes, to learn more about rowhouses, tenement buildings, monuments, remarkable women, hotels, Yorkville, immigration, historic building materials, preservation battles, and much more. All our programs were free and recorded, and are available for viewing here!

In addition to live events, FRIENDS started a series of in-depth pieces focused on local history and preservation called "East Side Extra!" Each piece in the series offers a close look at a lesser-known area of local history or advocacy, and is housed as a dedicated collection on our website.

Dan Allen:
Historic Building Materials

Our Young FRIENDS Education program, which served over 2,400 school children last year, has also been adapted for remote teaching, and is proving to be a very welcome resource. All four of our programs use architecture and the city around us to show students that buildings have stories to tell. Young FRIENDS programs can be taught as live online lessons with our intrepid educators, who have even managed a couple of safe, outside walking tours this fall.

For a taste of this program, we invite you to enjoy a family walking tour of Yorkville, with Director of Education Heidi Carey.

Please support these programs in the year to come with a year-end with a year-end gift to FRIENDS of $100, $1,000, or more. Your contribution enables us to continue a robust calendar of discussions, lectures, book talks, and virtual walking tours, until we can all be back together in person.

Cheers to 2021!