From I love the Upper West Side…
My family thought of West 86th Street – only a few blocks away from our apartment, as if it were a very rich, pretentious relative with whom you found fault, but in some ways also admired. For my mother, “West 86th Street ladies,” represented all that she considered “nouveau riche arrogance, wrapped in mink coats, clothes from Saks Fifth Avenue, with gold bracelets hung with large disk-shaped charms embedded with birthstones marking grandchildren’s birthdates.
Source: 86th Street: Mixed Memories