Bwog stopped by the Upper West Side Obama Headquarters at 104th and Broadway today to see how things were going on Election Day eve.

We were informed that today has been extremely busy and that buttons and posters are being sold like mad. However, "what we're going to do on Wednesday" a volunteer told us sadly, "is another question."

Yesterday we heard from Brooklynite Mariela Quintana on the ins and outs of a brownstone Halloween. Today, Upper West Sider Eliza Shapiro weighs in on a more local type of trick-or-treating.

Mastering the art of a successful Upper West Side Halloween is a subtle craft indeed. The UWS proper (not truly Morningside Heights, mind you) is certainly not the ideal neighborhood for a college student: you will have maneuver roving bands of 11-year-old candy-fiends on Friday night. However, should you decide to venture below 110^th Street but still stay local, there is much neighborhood fun to be had this Hallows Eve.

Scoff all you want, if one was truly dedicated to some form of trick-or-treating, the Upper West is the place for it. If your slutty nurse costume is too revealing to gain to access to the treasure troves of huge apartment buildings on Riverside and West End, fear not. Costumed or not, just walk along Broadway from the 80's-100's and be on the lookout for stores giving out candy: Bwog recommends heading to the bodegas and older neighborhood places and then to Amsterdam and Columbus and following the same protocol.

A good seven months ago, Bwog began to hear murmurs on every city and/or foodie blog that the infamous Madison Square Park-based Shake Shack was to branch out and open an Upper West Side outpost. Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over. Beginning today, no longer will you have to consult the Live Shake Cam (we're not kidding) in order to determine your waiting time at 23rd street — just stroll down to 77th and Columbus for your burger and custard fix (every Sunday in October is Shake Shiraz Poached Pear custard day!)

The menu now boasts some UWS-specific options for "concretes," SS for "milkshake." Bwog looks forward to sampling the "Natural History Crunch-stellation" with vanilla custard, Valrhona chocolate crunchies, and caramel. The Shack will be open from 11 AM-9 PM for its inaugural first few weeks as an Upper West Sider, but will be open from 11 AM-11 PM once (we quote) "the Shack is really shakin."

Soul food lovers who enjoy not walking very far from campus to obtain your soul food, rejoice! Relatively recent neighborhood addition Rack&Soul has just reopened after a brief period of dormancy. The popular chicken and ribs purveyor has moved right next door to a smaller location on 109th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam.

Their new digs, with dark wood paneled floors and a curved saloon-style bar, are distinctly classier than their old Tom's Restaurant-variety ones. The nice man behind the counter explained that the rent was too high at their original location, prompting the move. Bwog welcomed him to the Upper West Side, where every vacant storefront becomes a bank or Duane Reade eventually, and skipped off into the lovely fall afternoon.

Photo by Liz Naiden

The rumor mill is spinning with reports that upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods is set to move into a new condo development to supplant Park West Village, along Columbus Ave. from 97th to 100th Streets. New York real estate blog Curbed notes that, "because something about these Whole Foods rumors always seems to play out, we're calling this one a done deal." Bwog speculates that this could spell salvation for Whole Foods fans otherwise disinclined to trek down to the Columbus Circle store for fancy foodstuffs, not to mention competition for uptown mainstay Fairway and nearby newcomer Citarella. With the long-departed West Side Market set to reopen at 110th and Broadway soon, our area's grocery store wars could be heating up again.

Meanwhile, the new luxury high-rise Fifteen Central Park West (designed, incidentally, by architect Robert A.M. Stern C'60, who also left his touch on our very own Broadway Residence Hall) will bring electronics megastore Best Buy a little closer to campus when it opens in the tower's Broadway base. The neighborhood's certainly come a long way ever since Meg Ryan learned, in that quintessential 90s romantic comedy, You've Got Mail, to stop protesting, and fall in love with chain stores- or at least their proprietors' charming online personas.

-CJS