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The 914 Collective New York’s Digital Culture Magazine — born in the 914.

Food • Music • People • Local Stories

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10/18/2026

From our friends at Not Upstate Food Network: Have you ever had a filet mignon taco?

One of us hadn't, so we fixed that at Casa Fuego at Ridge Hill. It's a wood-fired Latin spot, and inside it feels like a party. We tried the filet mignon tacos and they were so tender. Some of the best tacos we've had in Westchester.

📍 Casa Fuego, 238 Market St, Ridge Hill, Yonkers

What's the best taco you've had in Westchester?

10/17/2026

Westchester's parkways were built as parks you could drive through. The road came second.

The Bronx River Parkway started in 1906 as a plan to clean up the Bronx River, which one official commission called "an open sewer." Planners turned the riverbanks into a long, thin park and ran a road through it. It was finished in 1925 and ran 15.5 miles, from the Bronx to the Kensico Dam.

That's why the bridges are low stone arches, and why trucks and buses were never allowed. The Saw Mill and the Taconic came after it, built the same way.

What's the prettiest parkway drive in Westchester?

On this day in 1789, George Washington spent his first night on the road as president in Rye.He left New York that morni...
10/15/2026

On this day in 1789, George Washington spent his first night on the road as president in Rye.

He left New York that morning for a tour of New England. He rode through Eastchester, New Rochelle and Mamaroneck, and his diary notes the pumpkins were still out in the fields. That night he stayed at the Widow Haviland's tavern. It's still standing as the Square House, home of the Rye Historical Society.

Photos: the Square House by Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington (public domain). Via Wikimedia Commons.

Have you ever been inside the Square House?

10/14/2026

From our friends at Not Upstate Food Network: Yonkers has its own Little Ireland, and it's one mile long.

Ian walked the Emerald Mile on McLean Avenue and hit four bars.

📍 Saints and Scholars, 790 McLean Ave. Great cocktails, great b**r, and a brunch worth coming back for.
📍 Rory Dolan's, 890 McLean Ave. A classic. Open late every night of the week, with a late-night menu.
📍 The Heritage, 960 McLean Ave. Traditional Irish food. Ian says the shepherd's pie is the best on the block.
📍 Tavern on McLean, 986 McLean Ave. It used to be Moriarty's. Live music on weekends and a good spot to catch a game.

Which McLean Avenue bar is your go-to?

Follow Not Upstate Food Network for more.

October 10, 2026. I married my best friend.Casey, standing across from you at Reid Castle was the best moment of my life...
10/14/2026

October 10, 2026. I married my best friend.

Casey, standing across from you at Reid Castle was the best moment of my life. I get to spend forever with you. I still can’t believe it. Casey Hagan

We have a lot of people to thank.

Shaun and Kendall, you handled every detail so we could just be there. Thank you. Manhattanville University Reid Castle Events

Misha, you caught all of it. We’ll look at these photos for the rest of our lives. Misha. Wedding photographer in Connecticut, Boston, New York

Francesco, Andrew and Platinum Entertainment, you kept the dance floor full all night. Music, Lighting & Event Experience Design

Chris, thank you for getting up there with me. For a few songs our wedding turned into a Shakeout show, and I’ll never forget it. Chris Beairsto Shakeout

Angel Elektra and Shay D’Pines, you gave that room a moment nobody will forget. Angel Elektra Shay D'Pines

Thank you to the Westchester Police Emerald Society for the awesome bagpipe performance to kick off the night.

The flowers were beautiful thanks to and our cernont was amazing thanks to on the harp 🪉

John, thank you for helping build the arch we got married under. John Rubbo

To our parents, everything good in us started with you. To Nick and Shannon, thank you for all the help. Frankie, thank you for the beautiful words when officiating. To our family, our friends and everyone who came out to Manhattanville, danced, cried and stayed late: you made this day what it was.

One day. One room. Everyone we love.

There's a 130-acre estate in Mount Kisco with a big brick mansion on it, and you can walk the grounds for free. Westches...
10/14/2026

There's a 130-acre estate in Mount Kisco with a big brick mansion on it, and you can walk the grounds for free. Westchester County owns it, and almost nobody I know has ever been.

It is called Merestead. William Sloane ran the W and J Sloane furniture company and bought the land off Byram Lake Road in 1905. The family story is that he rolled a gold piece down a table and said, "Build it big, boys." His wife wanted something small and intimate. The county's history says the house was the compromise, which tells you plenty about how that household settled an argument.

The detail I cannot get over is the doorbells. They were set at a height you could ring while still sitting on your horse. A driver took William to the train in the morning. When the weather was nice, he drove a horse and wagon home. He never learned to drive a car.

Their daughter Margaret Sloane Patterson left all 130 acres to the county to be kept as a park. The county is now in the middle of a $5.4 million restoration, with more than $3 million going to the old farmhouse and the buildings next to it. The grounds and trails are open every day from 8 a.m. to dusk, and you don't need a park pass.

The history and the photos here come from Westchester County Parks and the Merestead Conservancy, the volunteer group that looks after the property.

Has anyone actually walked the trails at Merestead? Tell me what is back there, because I am going.

10/13/2026

Tarrytown starter pack. Small town, better shows than places ten times its size. Tarrytown people, what did I miss?

The bee on Westchester's buses was drawn by a MAD Magazine legend.For years, a bunch of different companies ran Westches...
10/13/2026

The bee on Westchester's buses was drawn by a MAD Magazine legend.

For years, a bunch of different companies ran Westchester's buses, and nobody could tell who ran which one. So in 1987 the county gave them one name, the Bee-Line, and asked Jack Davis to draw a mascot. Davis helped start MAD Magazine in 1952. He drew movie posters and covers for Time and TV Guide. Then he drew the bee.

Thirty-nine years later it's still riding, right on the side of Bee-Line buses.

What's the Westchester thing you've walked past a thousand times and never thought about?

Westchester has its own tea party story, from 1776.Here's how the old story goes. A New York grocer named John Arthur mo...
10/12/2026

Westchester has its own tea party story, from 1776.

Here's how the old story goes. A New York grocer named John Arthur moved to a quiet corner of Westchester with a chest of tea and told nobody. Word got out. About thirty women rode over on horseback from Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow and Sing Sing, led by a woman the old account only calls Madam Orser.

They got lost and asked a passing rider for directions. The rider was John Arthur. He sent them the long way, then rode home to warn his family, and they barred the doors. The women left with a promise. Later, Arthur sold them the tea.

The story was told to the New-York Historical Society in 1862. The British Museum later checked for an English village called Teatown and found none. So the tea story is the best answer anyone has, and 1,000 acres near Ossining still carry the name.

Photos: Teatown Lake Reservation (cover and last slide). A 1768 view of New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Period portrait by Giacomo Ceruti, Wikimedia Commons. 1776 Sauthier map, Library of Congress.

What's the best place-name story in your town?

USA Table Tennis ranks every club in the country: prize money, sanctioned events, star level, all of it. The club sittin...
10/11/2026

USA Table Tennis ranks every club in the country: prize money, sanctioned events, star level, all of it. The club sitting at number one isn't in Los Angeles or Chicago. It's in a converted warehouse on Tompkins Ave in Pleasantville, and it's finished first four years running. It hosted the New York State Championships in August, 16 events, everything from 11-and-under to 70-and-over.

The owner is Will Shortz. Yes, that Will Shortz, the crossword editor of the New York Times. He opened the place in 2011 with Robert Roberts. The man edits the hardest puzzle in America, and he also runs the top-ranked table tennis club in it.

Inside, there are more than 150 members from over 30 countries, ranging from pre-teens to players in their 80s, and 40 to 50 of them just turn up on a normal day. One of the coaches spent 15 years running Barbados' national team. Another is a 2020 Olympian. In Pleasantville.

That shot of the main hall is by Warren Rosenberg, from the club's own site.

So who's coming with me? I'll lose in straight games and I won't be quiet about it, but I really want to stand in that room.

Link to the full story in the comments.

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