DEBORAH GLICK MUST GO!
By Arthur Schwartz
After Pier 40 Air Rights Debacle and Lies . As the Pier 40 air rights drama unfolds, there will be many fingers pointed. The saga is full of secret deals and a lack of “transparency.” In fact, as WestView goes to press no one, not even The Times, has a copy of the secret deal [...]
Full StoryTHE NIGGER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Jim Collier is a straight talking man so when a few months ago he wanted to use the word “nigger” in an article to shock us into accepting that there still are people who believe and use this outrageous word, our editorial staff took collective objection and we did not print it. The editorial staff continues to object. [...]
Full StoryThe Headline Offends Me
I am certain this phrase has been said openly and boldly in living rooms and private clubs, on golf courses, in bars, and during production meetings of conservative media pundits all across America before and after Obama was elected. Certainly the not-so-coded language used by conservative senators, representatives and media pundits and the blatant disrespect [...]
Full StoryWRITING FICTION WITH FORENSIC TOOLS
On 9-11, forensic dentist, Dr. Stanley Woods-Frankel got a call from the police to help identify the mutilated and burned bodies at Ground Zero. Brutal nightmares forced him to leave the morgue, reluctantly, after two days. Surrendering does not come easy for him. Before and since those all too real days, Woods-Frankel, has been writing [...]
Full StoryWASHINGTON SQUARE CONSERVING BEAUTY
Why does Washington Square Park need a conservancy? How does the park benefit? Or the rest of us for that matter? I met one sunny weekday morning with the Executive Director of the Washington Square Park Conservancy, Sarah Neilson, and two members, Betsey Ely and Gwen Evans. Sarah wears two hats. She is a full [...]
Full StoryWASHINGTON SQUARE RIBBON CUTTING
READY, SET, CUT: “It looks better than ever,” was the verdict of Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, speaking at the June 10th ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of the third phase of Washington Square Park’s continuing renovation. Council Member Margaret Chin was appreciative of how Parks Landscape Architect George Vellonakis’s upgrade had preserved the park’s [...]
Full StorySuddenly Poor and Homeless at 70
How terribly strange to be 70, the song goes. Even stranger, to be 70, and homeless. Truth be known, most of us are hanging by a thread, keeping up appearances. We’re all just one bad thing away; one illness, one firing, one SUV coming out of nowhere and mowing you down. So, when the Mayor [...]
Full StoryOral History at the Jefferson Market Library
More than 100 longtime community members recently shared their stories as part of The Jefferson Market Library’s Greenwich Village Oral History Project. This project has been an overwhelming success because of the dedicated participation of all the volunteers, interviewers and storytellers that make up the heart of this neighborhood, both past and present. These memories [...]
Full StoryNeedles to the Sky
At one time (over 100 years ago), any building taller than the walk-up height of seven stories might have been called a skyscraper. Since the safety-brake passenger elevator was patented by Otis & VonSiemens in 1853, buildings could be built taller and taller. Iconic skyscrapers are now part of our urban lore- King Kong grabbing [...]
Full StoryTEICH TOYS & BOOKS
573 Hudson Street (near 11th Street) http://www.teichdesign.com Interview with owner Allison McGowan: This spacious store which opened on June 7 is family owned. (Teich– pronounced “tie-sh”– is Allison’s maiden name). She and her husband and 3-year old son live in the neighborhood. Their small boutique Teich Design on 8th Avenue near 12th Street did very [...]
Full StoryWalk About New York
In a Greenwich Village guidebook written in the 1880’s, the author decried the row of ugly new brownstone townhouses on Charles and Perry and the tearing down of Sir Peter Warren’s mansion. Indeed, if you look at a map of the Village before 1866 you will discover the last square block of green between West [...]
Full StoryWest Village Original: Three Lives & Company
This month West Village Originals is doing something different: focusing on a long-time neighborhood business instead of a particular resident. Of course, the venerable bookstore Three Lives & Company can’t speak for itself, so we spoke to current owner, California-born Toby Cox. Toby lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and travels into Manhattan every day to [...]
Full StoryDon’t Get Me Started
It’s summer. I wrote this right before the Summer Solstice but now that you’re holding WestView in your hands, yes, summer has officially commenced. (Just don’t think about the days already getting shorter, and summer slowly ending). My work is on an academic schedule, so part of the pomp-and-circumstance of wrapping up the school year, [...]
Full StoryTHEATER THREADS
“The Village Bike” – at the Lucille Lortel Theatre It has been called The Lucille Lortel Theatre for a long time, yet in my head I hear, “The Theatre de Lys.” This theater at 121 Christopher Street in the heart of the West Village has long been a theater landmark—the go-to destination for unique theater [...]
Full StoryNew to eat on the west side of Hudson Street
Some less typical eateries have sprung up in the last few months on the west side of Hudson. They are not completely new, in that they are extensions of some more tried-and-true restaurants. Bar Bolonat and Decoy are both a few months old yet have some serious food talent behind them. Einat Admony, the chef [...]
Full StoryDOWN THE SHORE EVERYTHING’S ALL RIGHT
After the particularly cold, long and dismal winter, into the chilly spring weather of 2014, summer is here at last and it is time to take a trip to the shore, lay in the sun, and jump into the ocean. It is not news that Hurricane Sandy inflicted damage everywhere from New York City to [...]
Full StoryDO NOT GO GENTLY DYLAN THOMAS
Remember my poetry not the White Horse nights . If you live long enough you become a witness to some small bits of history and so it was that in 1953, I, sitting with my two fifteen-dollar-a-month apartment mates, the undiscovered painter, John Ireland Collins and Colorado born would-be sculpture, Chuck Littler, downing fifty cents [...]
Full StoryWilliam Pedersen, a Profile of the Man and Architecture
My love for architecture started in college while I was studying fashion, when I looked at structures such as angles and curves as a form of inspiration. It was at the Strand Bookstore where I first stumbled upon a book on Kohn Pedersen Fox. Reading and observing the designs of William Pedersen, founding partner and [...]
Full StoryJim Fouratt’s Reel Deal: Movies That Matter July 2014
A heat wave is predicted for July and August on the East Coast, which is perfect air-conditioned movie theater time. Please keep that in mind when the air is sticky and even the air you breathe is hot so that sitting in a cool, dark, air conditioned theater may be a better choice than boiling [...]
Full StoryVID Covers Lots of Grounds
During its monthly general meeting on Thursday, June 12th at St. John’s Church on Christopher Street, the Village Independent Democrats (VID) heard from a wide variety of speakers. State Democratic Committeewoman Rachel Lavine, district leaders Keen Berger and Arthur Schwartz, State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, and State Senator Brad Hoylman all made presentations on a wide [...]
Full StoryDear Editor,
In the June issue of WVN I wrote that a friend who lives in the West 50′s in Manhattan fell and hit her head in her apartment. Please note this correction: My friend was taken by ambulance to New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center at 525 East 68th Street. … Not the hospital much [...]
Full StoryWestView Letter July 2014: Dear George:
Dear George: Would it be against WestView News policy to print the following: “Thank You Saint Jude, for answering my prayer. LR” I would be most grateful if you would print it. If you are willing to do it, please let me know the cost and I will bring you the money… and a plate [...]
Full StoryWestView Letter July 2014: Dear Editor,
Dear Editor, In his brilliant article in last month’s issue, Barry Benepe proposed that the two-story structure on Pier 40 be razed. Pier 40 would then resemble Piers 45 and 46 in being an essentially flat surface. This would remove a horrible eyesore from the park. As we walk along the river, we are distressed [...]
Full StoryGood Morning Greenwich Village!
The Village is a fascinating neighborhood. It is certainly the center of efforts to preserve some of the lifestyle which made NYC such a vibrant place to live for centuries. I know that while architectural preservation and efforts to stop increases in density are important driving forces in your neighborhood and your community. You have [...]
Full StoryPLEA TO A FLOWER THIEF
It was dancer and urban gardener, Peter Davis, who discovered the “Double Impatient”. We are all familiar with the ever-rushing to bloom “Impatient” (hence its name) but few of my readers, I suspect, know of the “Double Impatient”, a doubled blossomed miracle of botanical science whose single blossom looks exactly like a small rose. However, [...]
Full StoryTRIUMPH OF A SALES MAVEN
I belong to that vast group that will not, no, cannot, buy anything unless it is on sale. You see, you have to be careful; sales can be deceptive. Like, when you see “buy one, get one free” and the price on the one is boosted so the retailer doesn’t lose too much margin and [...]
Full StoryWhen Wonder Bread Was 11 Cents
I was born on December 20th 1927, on 103rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan and except for a very brief move to Astoria, around age six, I have lived and worked in Manhattan all my life. However, this story is not about my life but about inflation – what things cost then and what [...]
Full Story392 West Street, Then & Now
With the summer breeze finally here, a stop along the Greenwich Village waterfront to reminisce about its past seems in order. The building at 392 West Street (A.K.A. 6 Weehawken Street) is a charming physical reminder of the wooden buildings that once lined this stretch of our neighborhood. For its modest appearance, its history is [...]
Full StoryWestView Letter July 2014: George
George Many thanks for your time and kindness in sending the MIA issues (April, May) of West View. You should be made aware of the delight my brother has had in reading your paper. My brother because of health reasons had to relocate from the West Village …from people, places, and neighborhoods he loves and [...]
Full StoryAnswer to High Cost of Hospitals Opens
Walk-in Walk-out Urgent Care Center Opens . Lenox Hill HealthPlex is a freestanding, 24-hour, emergency department which is similar to hospital-based emergency departments in terms of staff and services. Patients with severe trauma (gunshot wounds, major motor vehicle accidents, etc.), and those requiring immediate surgical or cardiac interventions should not be taken here. However, patients [...]
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