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Curtain Up On New Rite Aid
“Where shall we walk today?” was my daily question to Maggie who, after lung surgery, couldn’t walk more than a block or two, and one of our frequent targets was the Rite Aid on Hudson and Charles Streets. When we made it to the door, I would grab a shopping cart as a walker (no [...]
Full StoryDe Blasio Looks Beyond Charter Schools with New Education Policies
Bill de Blasio’s stance on charter schools may feel like a bitter pill to swallow for charter advocates,after Bloomberg championed charters for the last 12 yearsas a key remedy for fixing an ailing school system. In de Blasio’s view, however, charter schools are only a small ingredient inhis formula of education policiesthatportend a major shift [...]
Full StoryDear Santa, Please Bring Me a Dreidel
When I was the10-year-old child of itinerant bohemian parents in the West Village, being Jewish to me was Kathe Kollewitz lithographs of thin women and hungry babies in your living room; Pete Seeger records on your hi-fi: If I had a Hammer, This Land is Your Land, There Once Was a Union Maid (who never [...]
Full StoryThe Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by West Village author Barbara Riddle
Download a FREE copy of the novel The Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by West Village author Barbara Riddle from December 6-10, 2013 This unique female coming-of-age tale is available for the first time as an eBook. Long a cult favorite, increasing attention in the media to the pressures on girls and women interested in [...]
Full StoryAir Rights: A Gift from the Gods
Our Hudson River Waterfront is on the verge of being overshadowed by oversized development enabled by the same agency which created such an exceptionally beautiful park along the river. On Wednesday evening, November 13, the Greenwich Village Society made the first presentation to discuss the possible negative impacts of recently passed amendments to the Hudson [...]
Full StoryBrownstone Makeover on Charles Street
Winter is coming! Fuel prices are up! My place is cold and drafty! Help! For over a century, one of the most popular types of single family homes in NYC was the “Brownstone,” so called because of the readily available sandstone’s brown color. After many years, townhouses in general were all grouped together under that [...]
Full StoryRent Control Terror
Inher90th year, my mother became an activist. She had been a singer, and with my dad had owned the Waverly Lounge in the Earle Hotel off of Washington Square Park. I grew up there, and have fond memories of the folks who passed through those legendary portals. Everyone from Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, to [...]
Full StorySkydiving
Early December. A birder’s doldrums. There aren’t actually many birds around Hudson River Park this morning, but the anticipation of a late migrant snuffling in the shrubbery or the arrival of our winter-only visitors crowd the air with unseen flocks. After decades (or centuries) of seasonal regularity, the recent years’ wonky weather leaves the migrating [...]
Full StoryThe Ink Pot
Until the early 1920s, the buildings around Sheridan Square were a lot shorter than they are today. With the exception of the eight-story building at the junction of Washington Place and West 4th Street, which still stands, the square was characterized by three- and four-story brick and wood structures. Around this time, in 1916, a [...]
Full StoryPOONING HI-HATS
When I was a boy of ten or twelve, we used to take pleasure in throwing stones. Sometimes we threw stones at trees; sometimes we threw them at houses under construction, nerving ourselves up to break a window or two; sometimes we threw them at each other. This activity was known as “pooning goonies.” Where [...]
Full StoryJim Fouratt’s REEL DEAL: Movies That Matter. December 2013
Quite frankly there are many major films of merit released in the last six weeks of the year to qualify for consideration in the upcoming awards season. Let me tell you about a few that, even in such vaulted company, may have become overshadowed by the enormous campaigns of the big contenders. All of the [...]
Full StoryRemembering Richard Barr in the Village and on Broadway
A new book has arrived entitled Richard Barr – the Playwrights Producer written by David Crespy, a Professor of Theater at the University of Missouri and published by Southern Illinois University Press. His previous book Off-Off Broadway Explosion was a study of off-off coffee house theater including the Caffe Cino on Cornelia Street that served [...]
Full StoryAmerican Jazz and Blues Get Persian
What happens when one blends exquisite Persian verses from masters like Rumi, Hafez, or Omar Khayyam to the rhythm and sultry sounds of American jazz, blues, and soul? Pure magic; and that is where Rana Farhan comes in. As the featured artist on November 16th, at the second concert of the newly formed partnership between [...]
Full StoryThe City
Poems by Sherri Felt Dratfield West Village resident Sherri Dratfield published her first book of poetry in June. Her second book, Water Vigils, is scheduled for publication next March, also by Finishing Line Press (now taking prepublication orders). Sherri is multi-talented; she is formerly an actor and theatrical producer and currently a practicing lawyer as [...]
Full StoryThe Sweet Stink
SnackBar I bought a pound of shiny brown chestnuts, all ready to inaugurate the seasonal spirit of gluttony by making a batch of marronsglacés. I set about weighing out the small snowy mountain of sugar,only to remember that I’m not all that crazy about syrupy chestnuts. These chestnuts were so naturally sweet and firm that [...]
Full StoryWhere My iPhone Took me for Dinner Recently!
Being ambitious about where to eat used to be determined by reading the paper or a magazine, talking to people or noticing a new restaurant in the neighborhood. The world has changed and now it is often your smart phone that directs you where to go. Whether from an app like Zagat, a social media [...]
Full StoryWines from Portugal
Portugal has been on my wine radar from the very start. Having roots in two of Portugal’s former African colonies, I consider it to be my Fatherland. When I became a wine buyer, I made it a point to stock a diverse Portuguese selection to express the breadth of their national product. Sea Grape has [...]
Full StoryWestView Letter December 2013: Melissa Mark-Viverito
Melissa Mark-Viverito Dear Editor, A new political day is dawning …and not a minute too late. With progressive Democrats elected to office as Mayor, Public Advocate, and Borough President,hope is on the horizon. In my district we have a young, progressive, community-oriented, new City Councilman. I hope you will join me in encouraging Corey Johnson [...]
Full StoryAn Existential Christmas Carol
The author, Patrick Barlow, who adapted the Tony Award winning hit The 39 Steps for the stage has now done the same for Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. His new modern existential interpretation of the Christmas classic starring Peter Bradbury as Scrooge is now an off Broadway production at the Theatre at St. Clement’s Church at [...]
Full StoryNot an Entirely Ill Wind?
After Sandy blew through on the night of October 29th last year, leaving the neighborhood minus electricity for the next four days, one of the rare bright spots was Left Bank. From Day One the staff managed to open the restaurant every evening, light a multitude of candles, and provide food, drink and camaraderie to [...]
Full StoryOne Year Later:
When Left Bank, 117 Perry Street, decided to commemorate last year’s Sandy blackout with a repeat performance, October 30th through November 2nd,,of four evenings of candlelit dining, they pledged to donate 10% of the earnings to City Harvest, for those who had been less fortunate. As an added reminder of 2012, they mounted a display [...]
Full StoryTheater: This Town Needs More Than One Voice
Thank you to Robert Heide for restoring me to sanity. I’m a frequent contributor to the WestView News, and, after reading his recent review, more than ever proud to be one. I like to think that the WestView News speaks truth to power, but it’s good to know this policy extends beyond the political. Ben [...]
Full StoryWestView Letter December 2013: “Officer: ‘Old man beat, defamed me’”
“Officer: ‘Old man beat, defamed me’” Dear Editor, The publisher of this paper, George Capsis, didn’t make the front page of the Daily News. In fact, many readers may have missed the boxed article about him in the Saturday, November 23rd issue of the tabloid. Yet there he is, on top of page 24, photo [...]
Full StoryThe Pure Whiteness of Winter (February)
After Hanging scroll painting, ink on silk, by Xu Jing, (dated 1441), Metropolitan Museum of Art The pure whiteness of winter blankets plum blossoms as they seek Spring. They dance under snowy boughs and lap the melting drops as the icy trunk hides from the birthing branches in disbelief. Grief from the many deaths swirls [...]
Full StoryWe Can’t Afford to Keep Everybody Alive
One of the best ways for a newspaper to make money is to give a conference. Everybody from the Times on down does it. However, perhaps one of the most profitable are those given by Crain’s Health Pulse, a publication aimed at the business of medicine. I attended one in Brooklyn and it was packed; [...]
Full StoryAn Indian Gives Thanks
Who would have predicted the results of September’s primary election in the doldrums of last summer, when a shape-shifting of Bloomberg into Quinn was all but inevitable?The outcome would have been a double shock if we had known about it then. Not only was it a win for Bill deBlasio but a transcendent moment in [...]
Full StoryMrs. Green’s
COMING SOON? The rumor is true; Mrs. Green’s Natural Market, the Westchester chain specializing in natural foods, plans to open a branch, their first in New York city, in the space at 99 Bank, on the corner of Hudson; it was vacated two months ago by Duane Reade. Company headquarters has confirmed that a lease [...]
Full StoryLynne Stewart
Lynne Stewart is a true martyr for our time. None other than Ramsey Clark, our famous attorney general who marched by hand the first black children into newly integrated schools, spoke about her integrity, and, above all, her absolute innocence of the crimes with which she was charged and for which she has been persecuted [...]
Full StoryThe Villager Changes Pace After 80 years
While sidewalk chatting with Joan McAllister, the publisher of a 26 year old newsletter for homeless families, I caught with the corner of my eye a deliveryman accompanied by a shopping cart filled with copies of The Villager with a brand new logo. Wow! As the publisher of WestView News, approaching our 10th anniversary, I [...]
Full StoryBargain Wines
Everyone likes a good bargain. Everyone has a go-to wine. A bottle that consistently delivers each and every day at a reasonable price is a big deal for the budget savvy. Naturally, we follow the path of least resistance, which promises zero stress and all pleasure. The concept of cheap yet enjoyable table wine is [...]
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