By Isa Covo When we moved to the Village over thirty years ago there were several bookstores in the area, some small and intimate, a few large. There was a largish bookstore just around the corner from where I live, where I bought my first book by Kazuo Ishiguro, (which was his first book also),
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IN AND OUT
This month saw a continued proliferation of vegan and Mediterranean spots, particularly in the Bleecker/Carmine/MacDougal corridor. Some popular bars/restaurants are opening new locations in the West Village, and some places that had been limping along for a while have finally closed. Open Top Openings Llama San 359 6th Avenue near Washington Place Villagers may
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How Can You Borrow Money on a West Village Brownstone Co-op?
By Robert Kroll How tough could it be to refinance an old high-interest $500,000 loan on a nice, well-maintained brownstone building in the West Village? Damn hard, it turns out! With interest rates on residential properties at 3-4% nowadays, I was tempted to refinance a 5-year ARM loan presently set at 6.8%. Every interest point
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Notes From Away: Crossed Paths in a Small World
By Tom Lamia A friend in California occasionally sends me books. One that arrived six months ago became fallback reading recently. My eyes were opened by its connections to several hallmarks in my life thus far, including where I now live (Maine), where I was born (Santa Monica, California), and my ten-year residence at 54
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HRPT Will Build a Full-Size Field on Gansevoort Park!
By Brian J Pape, AIA Cautious optimism filled the air as residents reconvened for the last Gansevoort Peninsula “concept phase” joint meeting of the Community Board 2 (CB2) Parks & Waterfront Committee and the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) at the 75 Morton middle school cafeteria on September 10th. James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), the
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My 9/11 Come From Away Experience Taught Me Compassion for Refugees
By Kevin Tuerff On September 11, 2001, I saw actions that restored my faith in humanity. It all happened on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, in a foreign country. I never expected that my story of being a 9/11 refugee in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada), and the stories of many others who had
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Want Single Payer Healthcare in New York? Speak Up!
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD This isn’t a theoretical question. There is actually a bill in the New York State legislature sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera called the New York Health Act. It would provide extensive universal medical coverage for all residents of New York State, eliminate almost all private medical insurance
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Then&Now: Washington & Christopher High Line
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor Then: This 1940 Municipal Tax photo of 634-648 Washington Street views its intersection with Christopher Street, looking southwest. The New York Central Railroad built the St. John freight terminal and this viaduct from 1930-34, succumbing to pressure condemning the numerous pedestrian accidents while the 13-mile surface track, built in
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Villager Fires Lincoln Anderson!!
Community Newspaper Eviscerated By Arthur Schwartz For all the intrusion of the internet into how we get our news, and the availability of 24 hour per day updates, community newspapers retain a special importance. Local residents rely on community newspapers to get current information of local stories—whether it be the fight over a park, plans
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Companions for Elders Hold Organizational Meeting
By Hannah Reimann In response and follow up to the Senior Shares for the Village article in the September issue of WestView News, I met with several women ages 25-60 who responded via email to us. They are interested in possibly becoming live-in companions, paying reduced rent and providing selected services for an elder who
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Let’s Get Real About Aging
By Gail Evans Some of us are 80 but feel 50. Our health is good, our income comfortable. We have family and friends, we’re active and optimistic. We are “aging well.” But even exemplars of healthy aging are not exempt from its cruelties. Growing old brings needs that cannot be ignored. Perhaps the realization that
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UNA Honorees Working to Stop Human Trafficking
By Karen Rempel The work of the United Nations (UN) is near and dear to us at WestView News. Maggie Capsis started the Guides program at the UN Secretariat Building and was Head of the Guides there. Anyone who knows publisher George Capsis has heard the wonderful story of how they met at the UN.
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Conquering AIDS in the LGBT Presidential Town Hall: Top 10 Questions Regarding Curing AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. The upcoming town hall among U.S. presidential candidates on October 10th will focus on LGBT issues. The choice to address AIDS in this debate could surprise and disrupt the current HIV/AIDS landscape. It’s remarkable that during the last presidential election, a coalition of AIDS activists adopted the following (invalid) consensus position:
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Pier 40 Construction Report
By Brian J. Pape, AIA The on-going construction and locked gates to the surrounding walkways at Pier 40 have prompted readers’ questions about what is going on. We’ve reported previously that this work is primarily for the repair and reinforcing of the hundreds of pilings that support the Pier 40 platform. Sometimes the contractor has
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Update: 14th Street Busway: Court Allows DOT Busway for Now. The Fight Isn’t Over.
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In what has become a fight between the rights of Village and Chelsea residents against a callous, uncaring City bureaucracy, an appellate court on September 27 lifted a stay which has been in place since June 26. The lifting of the stay means that starting Thursday October 3 no cars or
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Update: 14th Street Busway: “Polly’s Folly” Raises Ghost of Moses: 14th Street “Busway” Begins October 3
By Brian J Pape, AIA Somehow the city police will be expected to stop cars and trucks from travelling on 14th Street on Oct. 3, unless they can prove they are car-owning residents on those blocks or deliveries are going to those blocks. Are we to anticipate road-blocks at intersections? Everyone else will be forced
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Chelsea’s Fulton Houses Get Gentrified
By George Capsis Any historic review of public housing in cities like Chicago or St. Louis offers images of massive controlled demolitions when the sprawling public projects, which have run out of money to make even essential repairs, have turned into leaking, rodent-infested, crumbling prisons for the poor. When it is clearly apparent that the money to fix them
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WestView Needs to Cry “Stop Thief”
We need to go online! By George Capsis Dusty got a call from an anxious landlord that offered that a retail shop tenant of hers had received a very legal looking “Summons and Complaint” document that offered that because the shop did not have a proper handicapped ramped entry they were being sued by a
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A Night Out with Noel Coward, Steve Ross and KT Sullivan
By Robert Heide The great New York singer Steve Ross—dubbed the “Crown Prince of New York Cabaret”—with the dynamic, amazing KT Sullivan—the artistic director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation—appeared in the past month of August in a show devised and written by Barry Day entitled Love, Noel—The Songs and Letters of Noel Coward. The program
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Smalls Jazz Club—25 Years of Bringing Up the Jazzcats
By Karen Rempel Smalls Jazz Club, in the cellar at 183 West 10th Street, makes an incalculable contribution to jazz music every day, incubating hundreds of talented young jazzcats since its inception in 1994. Owner and jazz pianist Spike Wilner tells us a bit about the history of the club as Smalls celebrates surviving and
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Puppet Master Penny Jones: 90 Years Young
By Stanley Wlodyka “Toby!” the gaggle of toddlers scream, some incessantly and with all their might pointing at the puppet stage, where the head of a pint-sized pup appears from behind the curtain. Toby snatches a feather from the cap of the master of ceremonies. Dressed as the pied piper in a frock pocked by
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Magic Time! Art & Ephemera of the Caffe Cino
By Robert Heide Following on the heels of my last article entitled “The Legendary Caffe Cino Designated a NYC Landmark” for the August 2019 edition of WestView News along came an invite to attend a dual exhibition at the ClampArt Gallery at 247 West 29th Street. Opening night was August 15 and the exhibit of
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The Creative Genius of Diana Broussard
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Diana Broussard is a creative force of nature. She’s a true pioneer in fashion design, from Calvin Klein’s eponymous underwear for women to the latest in wearable tech—exclusive, sleek handbags with customizable video displays. She has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Dior and
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel, Fashion Editor “Karen’s Quirky Style” is all about expressing my inner joie de vivre through color and fun combinations of clothing and accessories from different sources and time periods. I love walking down the street and seeing people’s faces light up with delight at the unexpected sight before their eyes. (Namely, moi.
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Millenary Moche Nights at the Hendricks
By Gy Mirano When Peruvian artist Julio Granados was last in Lima he received a call from New York confirming he had been selected to paint a mural in the heart of Manhattan. The honor had been a long time coming and well-deserved. It is a joy to view his work—which is lyrical, lighthearted, and
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Health, Wellness & Beauty
By Hannah Reimann Several stores in the West Village cater to shoppers like me who prefer to avoid toxic ingredients, to know what they’re putting on their skin and into their bodies, to be safe from contaminants, carcinogens and to protect their health. Since products in these stores tend to have a high price point,
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Long Island Fire Commissioners Call For 9/11 Review
For the first time ever, an elected government body in the United States has stated that it is “beyond any doubt” that explosives—and not just plane impacts and fires alone—were responsible for destroying the three World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Fire commissioners from the Franklin Square and Munson Fire District, located just
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A September Ritual
By Gordon Hughes Just like the swallows that return to Capistrano, New Yorkers return to the West Village at the same time every September. As I was sitting outside on one of the benches at Cafe Panino Mucho Giusto having my usual cup of joe (with some skim milk) on an early September morning, I
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Then&Now: Seventh Avenue South/200 West 11th Street
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor THEN: This site, addressed 192 Seventh Avenue South in the 1940 tax photo, was on a forlorn thoroughfare because the Seventh Avenue extension below West 12th Street cut a swath through the established neighborhood, leaving odd walls, yards and slivers of lot sizes, like this one just south
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Department of Health Set to Consider Plan to Close Beth Israel
By Penny Mintz On July 22, 2019, Mt. Sinai submitted an application to the State Department of Health for a certificate of need (CON) to build a 70-bed hospital on Second Avenue between 13th and 14th Street. If the plan is approved, the Beth Israel Hospital building on First Avenue and 16th Street will be
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Is the Bubble About to Burst?
By James Henry Where do bubbles come from anyway? With storm clouds looming over the economy, evidence of over-heated, over-inflated markets is accumulating. Many analysts believe we are on the edge of a bubble that’s about to deflate. Having lived through these booms and busts before should make us step back and ask—where do these
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St. John’s Resurrects Its Lost Fence
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Pastor Mark Erson, of St. John’s Lutheran Church at 81 Christopher Street, wrote to let us know that “after 21 years of being behind an 8-foot fence, we have restored a good portion of the [church’s] original fence” in front of the main church entry. It seems that 21 years
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NYU Development on Mercer Street Rises
By Brian J. Pape, AIA New York University’s (NYU) scope of development for their enlarged Greenwich Village campus includes razing the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center at 20–40 East Houston Street and constructing a massive 750,000-square-foot complex bordered by Houston Street, Mercer Street and Bleecker Street, located directly to the east of I. M. Pei’s
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A View from the Kitchen
By Isa Covo …the days grow short when you reach September… …and the leaves turn to gold… Those words are from a beautiful song, with music by Kurt Weil and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson; it is a little sad too, as it focuses on aging. Time seems to be galloping after a certain age, even
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Renovating 35 Perry Street: Thomas Merton Lived Here
By Brian J. Pape, AIA American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion, Thomas Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism. Merton developed his faith while living in New York City, not often thought to be conducive to spirituality. Merton was born on January 31st, 1915, in Prades, France, to Owen,
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In the Catbird Seat
By Keith Michael Meew. Meew. Meew. Presumably, that’s how the Gray Catbird got its name. At some point in ornithological history when the omnipotent Bird Naming Caucus convened on a backyard summer porch, someone drawled, “Oh, you’re ranting about that bird braying like a cat? I just call it that damn gray cat bird.” Done.
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What Has Happened to the Doctor-Patient Relationship?
I have been practicing internal medicine for 24 years and have seen a lot of change. I started after HMOs were already around, so I was not in medical practice when a physician billed a patient and the insurance company sent a check for that amount (or a portion of it). HMOs were conceived when
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Notes From Away: Deja Vu
By Tom Lamia Margaret Chase Smith was a US Senator from Maine whose life and political career offer proof of the power of independent thinking and the courage to act on it, even in the face of demands for loyalty to party doctrine. Just a few words of background should be enough to make the
