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Olive Oil 101
By Annunziata Gianzero What do you really know about olive oil? Most everyone in New York likes to think of themselves as a foodie, as we make great sport of knowing the latest restaurants, chefs, diets and even trendy kitchen gadgets (Whaaat? You do not own a home sous vide cooker and an Instant Pot?).
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Troy Conyers, “Keeper of the Karan Kingdom”
By Allyn Freeman The address bespeaks good luck and good fortune: 711 Greenwich Street at the southeast corner of Charles and Greenwich Streets. For decades, this spacious building served as a parking garage, and then, for a few years, it was converted into a paper-recycling center. In the late 1990s, it was sold, and the
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Notes From Away: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By Tom Lamia Next week (as I write this) I start a five- or six-week residence in The West Village—a kind of forced exile from my farm in Maine—during the highlight of the year, midsummer. I will, of course, survive this absence and will return for the glories of fall and the changing of the
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August Escapes
By Gordon T. Hughes II Among the things New Yorkers and Parisians have in common is summer travel. I love that about those two cities. Paris, like New York, has wonderful neighborhoods, and of course my favorite neighborhood in either city is the West Village. Most weekends you see people of all ages on Fridays with small
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The Legendary Caffe Cino Designated a NYC Landmark
By Robert Heide In 2015 the Stonewall Inn was granted landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. On June 18th of this year, six historic sites important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people movement were also designated historic landmarks. They are the LGBT Community Center on 13th Street, the former
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Book Review: Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge
Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge By Frederic Block ABA Book Publishing, Chicago, 210 pages, $34.95 In U.S. District Judge and West Villager Frederic Block’s new memoir, he explains the challenges of punishing people for criminal convictions. It is a book of great self-reflection, written in a plain and engaging style
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Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel Applies for Drastic Changes
By Penny Mintz Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel filed an application with the State Department of Health on July 22nd, 2019. The application seeks approval for the relocation and construction of a replacement building for the Beth Israel Hospital on 16th Street and First Avenue. If this application is approved, the hospital, with an 800-bed capacity, will
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West Villagers Can Walk to the Sea
By Deborah Clearman Once again, Pier 40 is in the news, as the State Assembly has amended the Hudson River Park Act to allow office development on the pier. However, with some stipulations. Remarkably, the legislation calls for a boathouse, at least the size of the current boathouse, providing small-scale boating and water access on
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On the Threshold of a Global Cure for AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. Since the 1980’s, the emphasis in the medical community has largely been on treating or preventing AIDS—not curing it. However, recent advances have created new opportunities to develop a global cure, which could end AIDS for good. Logically, the goal with any infectious disease must be to nip it in the
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Google Lease Opposite Pier 40 Big Loss for Our Community
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Folks who follow Pier 40 doings may remember a few years back when there was great noise and cheering for the sale of air rights from Pier 40 to the new owners of the St. John’s Terminal, a gigantic multi-block commercial office space running from Spring Street to Clarkson Street opposite
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The Hottest Street in the Village
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design It was a particularly warm day in July. I had barely parked my Citibike at the docking station at Eighth and Greenwich Avenues, when I felt the incredible heat reflecting off 1 Jackson Square. Completed in 2008, the 11-storey high-end residential condominium sits on a corner
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Polly’s Folly Will Be Adjudged This Month!
Disability Rights Lawsuit Against the MTA to Follow By Arthur Z. Schwartz I spent 24 years on Community Board 2. During those 24 years I interacted with numerous City and State Agencies (mostly the Parks Department and the Hudson River Park Trust), and I experienced the Community Board as a means by which the efforts
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Yesterday’s Justice, Today’s Dilemma
By George Capsis Oh wow—it was only a week ago that Dusty heard a rumor that our garrulous head WestView distributor (and former seaman) was retiring to Florida and I thought, “Where does he get the money to retire to Florida on the peanuts I pay him?” And, bang, yesterday I heard he was not going
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WestView Instagrams the Issues of the Day
By Karen Rempel Last month we reported that WestView News has begun a video interview series in which George Capsis speaks with prominent cognoscenti about newsworthy subjects. We discovered that George is a natural TV maven, delivering compelling stories and coaxing his subjects to tell all. This month, WestView is pleased to announce we continue
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Captain O’Hare: PO Israel Torres Has Got to Leave the 6th Precinct!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It isn’t often that I write about cases I lose, but this month I just must. During the third week of May I represented a former neighbor (whose privacy I will respect by calling him “J”) in a civil rights trial arising out of his arrest in 2014. The arrest was
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Tenant Protection and Drastic Rent Drop Came Too Late for Cornelia Street Café
By Karen Rempel The New York State Senate Bill S6458, the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019,” came a few months too late to save the Cornelia Street Café. But at least the Café’s former landlord and its managing agent, the terrible duo Mark Scharfman and Mitchell Rothken, are hoist on their own
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How to Celebrate an Urban Summer
By Naomi Sternstein It’s summer in the city, in case you haven’t yet heard! The grasses beg for our picnic blankets, the flowers and expansive trees muffle the usual bustle and noise. We will do anything to be outside (recent heat advisories aside, when outdoor tables on the porch of San Ambroeus or in Hudson
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Bleecker Flower Shop
By Salvador V. Bleecker Flower Shop opened in March 2019 as a flower studio located on Bleecker Street in the West Village in Manhattan. It was founded by two Spanish friends, Valeria Castillejo and Bebes Ferrer, who bonded over a passion for flowers, nature and artisan work. When Valeria was looking for an apartment they
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The Grey Marrow
By Loraine Gibney The 20th century saw many advancements in the medical field; however, many people in Greenwich Village, New York experienced much loss and calamity. In the West Village, the Northern Dispensary was established for the treatment of the poor in 1791 in the neighborhood of City Hall. As the West Village grew the
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Envisioning Its Future: Challenges for the Country’s Only Music School for the Blind
Interview with Dr. Leslie Jones, executive director of The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School (fmdgmusicschool.org) By Barbara Chacour SURPRISING HISTORY: The New York Lighthouse for the Blind was started in 1905 by sisters Edith and Winifred Holt (of the Holt publishing family), who had been inspired by a group of blind schoolchildren’s enthusiastic attendance
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The Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders, and Victims of the Holocaust
By Leila Amin Attempting to explain human behavior during an event as unfathomable as the Holocaust can seem like an impossible task. However, although a nation of bystanders was crucial to its implementation, so too was an army of active perpetrators, each of whom had to undergo a transformation of their own in order to
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Cell Phone Free Restaurants, Please
By Jill McManus Can anyone tell me of a good restaurant where I can be spared the self-absorbed conversations of cell phone users all around me, and rest my body from microwaves? Many people are trying to fight a robotical addiction to their cell phone. And many others are becoming EMF-sensitive from an overload of
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50th Anniversary of Stonewall: Remembered through Dramatic Work
By Celeste Kaufman Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, a ceramicist, photographer, and mixed media artist, has a story to tell; and what better time to share her story than during the celebration of the Stonewall uprising? She explores themes related to queer communities, and the violence perpetrated against them. Originally focusing on photography, earning degrees from Parsons School
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Rocketman Launches Taron Egerton into Stardom
By Raphael Carty Rocketman is an audacious reimagining of Elton John’s life as a musical set to the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songbook, with touches of whimsy and surrealism creating a fantastically entertaining film. Beneath the stardust and sequins is a darker story than I had gleaned from the headlines over the years. From his parents
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The White Horse—A Pub with Food
By David Porat Having spent a good bit of time in London and England (having visited many times over four or so decades), I have seen and tasted some very poor English food. But I have also had some very good meals in rustic pubs in unassuming, unpretentious, settings. These meals can be straightforward and
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A Banner Year for Terrence McNally
By Robert Heide The year 2019 has certainly been a banner year for playwright Terrence McNally. He won a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, has a Broadway revival at the Broadhurst Theater of his 1987 two-character play, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, starring Audra McDonald as Frankie and Michael Shannon as Johnny; and
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Nicky and Me
By Webster Stone I am not the guy you’d expect to know a 1970s heroin kingpin. But I knew Nicky Barnes pretty well. I first met him fifteen years ago. He didn’t go by Nicky Barnes, not anymore. He was in the U..S. Federal Witness Protection Program. He went by Clayton “Clay” Williams. The name
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The Dignity of Work
By Siggy Raible I am retired now and have been for almost eight years. But when I worked I found what I did to “earn a living” dignified and fruitful—I managed my husband’s small law firm. We did not make a ton of money, but we earned our keep. I was floored by the news
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Six Patients Thank Their Northwell EMS Providers
Six patients who received life-saving care from the first responders of Northwell Health’s emergency medical services (EMS) came back during EMS Week to personally thank the medical professionals who helped save their lives. Sam Swartz (center), who was shocked back to life after his heart stopped while en route to Lenox Health Greenwich Village during a harrowing day in
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St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In 1916-1919, five Greek families raised $25,000 to buy a tavern at 155 Cedar Street, a three-story rowhouse built around 1830 as a private residence, and transformed it into a church in the bustling immigrant neighborhood populated by large numbers of Greek, Lebanese and Syrian immigrants. It was destroyed in
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IN AND OUT
Things were quieter this month, both for openings and closings, with most of the activity concentrated in the Meatpacking area. Chelsea Market and Gansevoort Market Update Hot Bread Kitchen, the organization which sells ethnic breads made by immigrants has a food incubator to help people interested in food entrepreneurship. Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue between
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Climate Change Victories
By Tom O’Keefe New York State has witnessed two major climate victories in recent weeks. First, on May 15th, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation rejected the Williams Company’s proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline which would have carried fracked gas under New York Harbor off the coast of the Rockaways to Long Island.
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New Pop-Up Park on Thompson Street
By Jane Heil Usyk We have fond memories of the pop-up park that was on Sullivan Street for a few years. We waited every April for the park’s sponsor to take it out of his basement in big pieces and set it up. He had gone through a lot to get permission to put it
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Country Mouse, City Mouse
By Gordon Hughes One morning while sitting in my favorite coffee joint, Cafe Panino Mucho Gusto, I overheard a couple talking about Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. Now that’s not something one is likely to hear about while sipping a cup of joe with a little skim milk here in the West Village. So ears perked
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We’ll See What Happens
By Tom Lamia With the late arrival of spring here in Maine, there are smiles, greetings and courteous conduct among all about me. The world is right again. Snow tires off, door and window screens on, lawn furniture and Weber barbecue laid out in a circle awaiting family and friends. What’s wrong with this picture?
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A Requiem For Celeste
Celeste Martin: November 11, 1927—December 13, 2018 By Denise Marsa How many times have you heard about a New York City landlady giving every tenant in her multiple landmark rental buildings a special gift bag filled with Christmas goodies? Every year Celeste Martin looked forward to taking her staff, including her driver, carpenter and super,
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Request to Albany: Do the Right Thing
By Penny Mintz There was an exciting and promising development in Albany that bears directly on the Lower Manhattan community’s struggle to save Beth Israel Hospital. It may come to nothing this year, because the legislative session ends on June 19th. But as of this writing, there is still a possibility that both the State
