By Arthur Z. Schwartz For 40 years, David Heenan, who lives on West 8th Street, near 6th Avenue, has entertained people all over the world with his comedy routines. For 10 years, he was the house emcee at Dangerfield’s, and at NYC Improvisation. Heenan worked with Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and many more. Then, for the
-
-
Bleecker Street in the 1950s
By Naomi Sager You didn’t have to speak Italian but it helped. The open-cart Italian vendors had their fruits and vegetables (very fresh, picked early that morning, or the day before) on display in wooden crates stacked on pallets tilted toward the sidewalk. It was okay to just point, pack the produce in your bag,
-
Diller Island: The Continuing Saga
By Michael Gruen Opinions vary as to whether Pier 55 (a.k.a. Diller Island) is a desirable project. Does it benefit the public, and if so, do the benefits outweigh the harms? Many of us at The City Club of New York (City Club) have strong, negative feelings about the design and location of Pier 55.
-
Stop the Closure of Beth Israel by August 11th OR WE WILL SUE
By Arthur Z. Schwartz The following is a copy of a letter sent to Howard Zucker, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, threatening suit over the closure of Beth Israel Hospital. (Note: The content of the letter has been slightly edited.) _________ Howard Zucker Commissioner New York State Department of Health Corning
-
The How, When, Where of Joan McAllister
By Nan Victoria Munger “If I was a mayor,” wrote seven-year-old Shemarc, “all the homeless people would have a place to live.” In 2008, Joan McAllister created an anthology of poetry and artwork by homeless children in New York City, and Shemarc was one of the children featured. The anthology complemented a monthly publication Joan
-
District 1 Council Contenders Wrangle on Development
By Nan Victoria Munger If politics is “war without bloodshed,” then the race for District 1 City Council is pure politics. Eight-year incumbent Margaret Chin is opposed in the Democratic primary by Aaron Foldenauer, Christopher Marte, and Dashia Imperiale, who suggest that she is too pro-development. (According to a Common Cause New York report, the
-
Get to Know Your Neighbors – There are Heroes Among Us
By Ede Rothaus Next month marks the 50th anniversary of my living on Morton Street. So, I decided to try to get to know some of the people I have passed on the block or while climbing the stairs in my building. Recently, I sat down for the first time with my neighbor, Phyllis Jenkins,
-
Tribute to Segovia
By Catherine Revland I had the pleasure of hearing Andres Segovia perform in 1977, when he was 84 years old. Although I was sitting toward the back of the concert hall, I heard every note he played. “How does he do that?” I thought, “this little old man?” Not by playing loud, I have learned.
-
Down with the South! (Seventh Avenue South)
By Allyn Freeman Joyce Carol Oates once wrote, “She stayed in a loft on Vandam Street, below Houston; they’d met, for drinks, in a restaurant on Seventh Avenue.” Hoo-hah! No, they did not walk blocks uptown to find one of the few dining places north of West 14th Street on Seventh Avenue. Oates’ fictional character
-
Air Bird & Birth
By Mary Alice Kellogg The cooing of Mourning Doves was the sound of my childhood, spent in the desert Southwest. I called them ‘Morning Doves,’ as their sound was not mournful to me, but sweet music. Moving to New York four decades ago, I missed that. But, as I adjusted to the City symphony, I
-
The Play That Goes Wrong – A Gut-Busting Broadway Laugh Riot
By Robert Heide When I first arrived at the historic Lyceum Theatre for a Thursday evening performance, I headed straight to the box office to pick up my tickets. There, I was greeted by an attractive, smiling lady who, after a few minutes of searching and grumbling, told me that she had nothing, anywhere under
-
From Hollywood to the West Village:A Homeric Journey
By Gordon T. Hughes, Jr. This article was born on a Monday morning when I met George Capsis in his wonderful backyard. And what a delight it was. After getting acquainted, George said, “You need to write a story for my paper.” That was quickly followed by, “and I don’t pay.” I was hooked by
-
Remembering a Sculptor, and a Father’s Life in the Shadows
By Barbara Riddle As a born-and-bred “childhood survivor” of Greenwich Village in the 1950s, often engulfed in an almost-paralyzing nostalgia, I am drawn to any book title that promises revealing anecdotes or a new take on life in any Village subculture from the 1900s to the present. (A personal favorite is Anatole Broyard’s Kafka Was
-
Why Destroy the Elizabeth Street Garden When a Vacant Lot Will Provide More Housing?
By Jeannine Kiely The City wants to destroy a park used by thousands of downtown residents and visitors in order to build a small number of affordable housing units. The Elizabeth Street Garden, which hosts hundreds of free community events, including movie nights, yoga, children’s crafts and story time, and an annual Harvest Festival, is
-
Kill the Zombie Park Already Part III: The Hidden Problem
By Alec Pruchnicki When I started writing about the Elizabeth Street Garden last year, I made about a dozen trips there and to the surrounding parks, playgrounds, and gardens and became aware of an aspect of this controversy that has been unmentioned: race. This year, to confirm or refute my suspicions, I completed a very
-
Kathy Chamberlain’s Jane Welsh Carlyle and Her Victorian World
By Anne Olshansky During the 1840s, Jane Welsh Carlyle led a stimulating and privileged life. As the wife of the greatly admired but tormented and self-absorbed author Thomas Carlyle, Jane associated with London’s literary elite—surrounded by writers, artists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries during a period of social and political change. Many of the frequent visitors
-
Glimpse of Success: Complicated by Feelings
By Janet Capron A review of my debut memoir, Blue Money, appeared in the July 14th issue of Shelf Awareness, a well-regarded online newsletter about books and the book industry (shelf-awareness.com). “Capron writes with the fearless, experiential drive of a Beat poet, though her images are more controlled and precise than the subject matter would
-
New York Times Best-Selling Author Loves Blue Money
Caroline Leavitt, a New York Times best-selling author, read Blue Money two weekends ago and right away, on Monday, July 24th, published an interview with the author, Janet Capron, on her influential blog, carolineleavittville.com. Leavitt led off with, “Come on, who doesn’t want to read about NYC in the 1970s, when it was the most
-
Bring Back Commercial Rent Control?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Bring back? Until recently, I never knew it had existed. All we hear is how high rents and taxes are devastating the mom-and-pop retail communities. Even our State Senator, Brad Hoylman, recently published a report entitled “Bleaker on Bleecker” on his website. The survey found 18.44% storefronts vacant on West
-
Vermeer Senior Chess Club: Promoting Health, Community, and Plenty of Fun
By Nina Leto Mayleas If it’s Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., the Vermeer Senior Chess Club is about to meet. Chessboards are lined up, and members take their seats for an interactive chess lecture and demonstration, followed by their own competitive games. Chess, the game of kings, is inspirational, fun, and a bright highlight of the
-
Calvert Vaux and Frank Lloyd Wright: Two Architects, One Vision
By Barry Benepe Art is a form of searching where artists sometimes independently reach a common form or truth. I found this to be the case with Calvert Vaux and Frank Lloyd Wright who were two generations apart. Vaux was brought over from England by his mentor, and later his partner, the horticulturist Andrew Jackson
-
Edward R. Enderlin, ‘Mayor of Perry Street,’ Dies
By Paul Critchlow Edward R. Enderlin, who considered the streets of the West Village his true home for the past three decades, died on June 17th. Mr. Enderlin, who was 64, had suffered from heart and pulmonary conditions and passed away at The Lee (133 Pitt Street, near East Houston Street)—the subsidized housing facility where
-
St. Veronica’s Church: Telling the Neighborhood Story
By Terri Cook The Irish dockworker’s life revolved around the river, his family, and his church. St. Veronica’s Church on Christopher Street was his church. Longshoremen would attend early mass in the sanctuary before heading to the docks where the work was physical and not without danger. Oral historians tell of hearing the thump of
-
Helping Children Locally
By Peter Alson In these mean times, it can be painful to think of the world into which we have brought our children. But it can also be inspiring to see how our children respond to hardships and what they do, together, to make the world a better place. This spring, a small group of
-
The Healthcare Conundrum
By Nan Victoria Munger Consuming 17% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), “medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness,” says billionaire Warren Buffett. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country. However, a 2014 report by The Commonwealth Fund compared the health care performance of the U.S. to that
-
Fresh Food for Seniors
By Andreea Ioana Pantor On Tuesday, June 27th, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer announced the return of the Fresh Food for Seniors Program. This initiative began in 2012 when Brewer partnered with GrowNYC (an organization which utilizes environmental programs to improve quality of life), the NYC Department for the Aging, and over a dozen
-
“What, No Hellman’s?”
By George Capsis Even I, the Publisher of WestView, am sometimes surprised by how good our contributors’ articles are. One of the best was Russell Neuman’s price comparison of Hellman’s Mayonnaise, which dramatizes the insane differences in food cost. If you still have the June issue, I suggest you re-read the article. Russell discovered a
-
A Village Bird on the Wire
By Jim Fouratt There are secrets Greenwich Village holds that are whispered into ears about who and what is going on here. We want to share with you the topics being discussed locally. Lulu Bank Street spotted me sitting in the unnamed park that was to have been the AIDS Memorial Park. Lulu came over,
-
Tom Doyle—Justice Is Near
By Arthur Z. Schwartz WestView broke a story last October about Tom Doyle, who lived with his husband, Bill Cornwell, on Horatio Street, in a house Bill owned, for over 50 years. (The New York Times picked up the story from WestView and ran with it.) When Bill died in 2014, he left the house
-
The City Club Speaks
By Michael Gruen Resistance to Diller Island (Pier 55) has come from some key figures in the famed City Club of New York (they helped to save Grand Central Station). Here, the President of the Club, Michael Gruen, returns to the original charter of the Hudson River Park, which calls for the assiduous preservation of
-
Justified Outrage Against Verizon
By Ellis Nassour I recently came across a Verizon internet ad, which states: Ready for your free HBO NOW trial? One month FREE trial. All you need is your internet. But, I am not ready—because you’ve taken my internet. The headline from a 2016 New York Post story reads: “Verizon Is Supposedly Screwing Its Landline
-
VID—Democracy or Cronyism?
By Arthur Schwartz WestView has often featured reports on the most recent meetings of the Village Independent Democrats (VID), one of the City’s oldest “reform” clubs. This past May, the VID voted to endorse an array of candidates, including Bill de Blasio, Corey Johnson, and City Council hopeful Carlina Rivera in the district east of
-
Amidst Bleecker Street Closures, a Survivor and a Reviver
By Nan Victoria Munger In 1979, Afghan millionaire Abdul Nusraty fled the communist government of Afghanistan, leaving behind his four cars and a 180-worker jewel factory to become a West Village storeowner. Since moving to New York and opening Nusraty Afghan Imports, Nusraty has twice been forced to relocate, not by Communists, but by landlords.
-
Janet Capron: Uptown Girl Turned Prostitute in Blue Money
By Andrew Buemi The New York City of the 1970s, for many, represents some of the grimmest and grittiest times in the City’s modern history. The period brought economic uncertainty, increasing crime, and suburban flight. Yet, it was a time when fledgling creatives could still afford to live in Manhattan and burgeoning artists, activists, musicians,
-
Second Act
By Eileen Millan After a fairly successful career as an executive assistant and artist, I was able to buy my co-op apartment 20 years ago. As you all know, times have changed and we never know what life will bring us. This is the story of my second act. I had just retired and was
-
Take Broadway Home! Tony Award-Winning/Nominated Musicals
By Ellis Nassour “It’s been a season filled with creativity, diversity, innovation, exciting debuts, and a thrilling comeback,” says Charlotte St. Martin, Broadway League president. “There’s nothing like live theater, and no better way to see it than on Broadway.” If you haven’t been fortunate enough to grab tickets for the season’s hot musicals, however,
-
Drink Pink, By Victoria James—A Timely Summer Read
By Caroline Benveniste Victoria James is not your typical sommelier. In a field dominated by men, it is unusual to see a young woman, particularly one who has already received numerous awards and made Wine and Spirits Magazine’s list of ‘Best New Sommeliers of 2016.’ Victoria is a local celebrity: She is the wine director
-
Reflections on The Bitter End
By Anthony Paradiso The Bitter End club at 147 Bleecker Street, in the heart of the Village, has survived the test of time. Many stars, like Joan Rivers, Richie Havens, and even a guy named Bob Dylan, have come out of the club since its 1961 opening. There is no doubt that the Village scene
