Sinclair Lewis in the Village When Sinclair Lewis accepted his Nobel Prize in 1930, the first American novelist to receive the honor, he disparaged his early writing for the literary magazine at Yale,then a college boy fresh from Sauk Center, Minnesota, as all about troubadours and jesters, “reeking with a banal romanticism.” That description of

John F.Twomey, a 44 year resident of Greenwich Village passed away on March 27th after a brief illness. John was born in Salem MA and upon graduation from Brandeis University, came to New York to pursue a career in theatre. He was also an accomplished singer and pianist. Aside from his beloved Greenwich Village, John

Eighty years ago, I stood over my toy block building on the floor of the Kindergarten class of PS 192 in the south wing of the sprawling Hebrew Orphan Asylum at 137th Street waiting for Miss Tweety who, as I expected, ohh-ed and ahh-ed at the product of my imagination and placed a yellow slip

Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to ban the 68 horse and carriages from Central Park where they have been carrying paying passengers since 1858. He is doing this at the behest of New York Class (NY CLASS), founded by developer Steve Nislick, former CEO of Edison Properties. Edison once obtained former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s support

As the new head of CECP, I am blessed to lead a non-profit organization founded by legendary actor (and salad dressing maker) Paul Newman and several New York business executives 15 years ago with the belief what “Corporate America can (and should) be a force for good in society.” Since then, CECP has now grown

Can de Blasio return it? “Huge tax breaks up to half a billion dollars a year were being given to developers to build luxury buildings,” argues the authors of Vanishing City in a 55-minute documentary screened by Community Board 2. It was followed by a panel who supported the premise that the Bloomberg administration overly

By 1969, we were wondering what the decade of the l970s would bring. As it turned out, the Seventies was a time of changes and again as in the Sixties, all of it seemed to be happening at a breakneck speed. In the early part of the decade, there was a continuum of the Sixties,

On February 16th,a crowd of music groupies from ‘the good old days’ gathered at Le Poisson Rouge(formerly the Village Gate) on Bleecker Street,to hear a new composition by one of their favorites, David Amram, and to enjoy what felt very much like a family reunion. After describing how he came to write his new Greenwich

“A 15-story apartment house behind St. Luke’s!” I repeated, stunned at the thought of the nice clerical caretakers of our historic 1821 church exhibiting Rudin-like greed. How could they do it? As the church development officer, John Donnelly, revealed the plan to exchange the vow of poverty for renting luxury apartments to Wall Street winners,

Late February 1860. Nearly two weeks before, Abraham Lincoln had turned 51 years old. He had been thinking back to the time of George Washington and the United States Constitution. On Saturday, February 25, 1860, Lincoln was staying at Astor House, at Vesey and Barclay Streets. He reckoned as how he had never worked harder

What exactly are the “stakes” behind high stakes testingin city schools that has caused such anuproar? In the Bloomberg era, the stakes werequite high,where tests could determine if a student repeats a grade, a teacher is fired, or a school closed.The Parent Action Committee (PAC) at PS 3 in the West Village, long known for

“George–too bad we couldn’t get Perelman to put his money where it’s needed. America–the land where the rich get richer and big get bigger…love his comment about St. Vincent’s.” I received this email from Dr. David Kaufman who, after 30 years at St. Vincent’s and an unsuccessful battle to save it, retired to Portola Valley

In New York City, a host of organizations offers parents, community members, college students, and even teenagers the chance to be surrogate teachers and real mentors to public school students. Most of these programs provide unpaid volunteer positions, but some even offer hard cash. If you have not spent time inside a classroom working side-by-side

This article marks three years of writing for WestView. Thank you, George. 2013 was a good year for birding in the West Village, and, indeed, was a memorable birding year in general. Millie looks up at me from the sidewalk (which as a corgi she has no choice because she’s so short) as though she

“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

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

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

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;

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

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

“George, hey George, Bill de Blasio here. I just wanted to offer my condolences. I heard the very sad news and just feel bad for you and want to let you to know I am thinking of you and admire you and admire your spirit and just hope you are hanging in and if I

If you go to Abingdon Square Green Market on Saturdays, you’ve probably visited the Muddy Farm booth on the east side of the square. The produce at Muddy Farm is stunning, plainly organic, and consciously locavore. You may already know that you usually have to arriveearly before the eggs sell out—and no wonder—they’re the most

CORRECTION:   In the WVN October issue, the front page article “When To Ask a Politician For a Favor” included a photo caption incorrectly stating that the West Village needed 1,000 new elementary schools seats, when, as reported by WVN Education Editor Sara Hendrickson in her October article (also on the front page), the projected shortage is for 1,000 elementary school

At last you can read my version of the “slapping.” I was on every news channel and in all the papers (even the Greek ones) and made all the news blogs; even today, a week later, WNYC is still talking about it – “The campaign week started with a slap.” However, the slap really started

Greenwich House Music School Welcomes its New Director Meet Rachel Black, Greenwich House’s newly appointed Music School Director,a native of Mississippi and a classically trained actor and MFA graduate of the American Conservatory Theater. Before taking the helm of Greenwich House’s 108 year old Music School in June, Ms. Black was the General Manager of

When principals and teachers usher in their students on the first day of school September 9th, parent coordinators will be a magnet for parents, that go-to person who can answer almost any question, get almost anything done, and listen with almost unlimited patience. Along with serving as the connective tissue between parents and schools comes

How often does an urban city have the opportunity to build a city within a city? If it’s lucky, once. New York City has achieved this twice, with the development of the Hudson Yards. We may all remember the first time involving the luscious 96 acres of Battery Park City, which started with a landfill

“Life’s a banquet,” famously roared Auntie Mame, a West Village avatar by way of the woman who inspired her, the man who created her. Paraphrasing the words that followed, there were no poor suckers starving to death at the recent record-breaking 2013 Summer Fancy Food Show (SFFS) at Javits. The Specialty Food Association’s (SFA) massive

An enlightening mayoral forum on education was held on June 14th at Murry Bergtraum High School near City Hall, co-sponsored by Class Size Matters, NYC Kids PAC, and other parent organizations. Six candidates participated, including Democratic front-runners Bill de Blasio, John Liu, and Bill Thompson. Notably absent were Christine Quinn and Anthony Weiner, and none

For the better part of the 20th century, the block bordered by West, Washington, Bank, and Bethune Streets was the site of Bell Telephone Laboratories, the world’s largest and most profitable privately owned company, ever. Much of its success can be attributed to the policy of Bell’s research department to hire brilliant scientists and engineers,

As a developer, Steve Witkoff spoke before the Charles Street Association guests in the elegant 150 Charles showroom. He smilingly confessed that he was indeed a “Villager,” living here after law school, frequenting the Bagel Shop on West 4th Street and now will be returning as a tenant to what may be the most elegant

“You’ll never get a hospital,” declared Michael J. Dowling in his Limerick accent,receiving a roar of rage from a packed West Village audience at PS 41. This was after North Shore LIJ and Rudin were successful in the bankruptcy court over the 11 buildings of St. Vincent’s for a mere $230 million in April, 2011.

During the opening night curtain call for Culture Project’s current production ofShaheed: The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto, Allan Buchman, Founder & Artistic Director of The Culture Project, announced that their main stage theater, currently known as 45 Bleecker Street, would be renamed the Lynn Redgrave Theatre. A naming ceremony and commemorative gala will

Only months after protracted zoning battles had finally set boundaries for the new Foundling School (PS 340) at Sixth Avenue and 17th Street, the school finds itself yet again in a cross-fire. The Foundling School,so named since it will be located on the first six floors of the Foundling Hospital once construction is completed, is

Death of a son prompts $1 million grant for new hospital It was as if somebody were out there making things happen. I received a call on a Sunday from Steve Witkoff whom I had met briefly, maybe four years ago. He quickly began to tell me of the drug overdose death of his son.

Dear Editor, The photo accompanying this article says it all! What mastermind in the City administration arranged to have so many bike racks placed in the street in front of the entrance to 175 West 13th Street, a busy apartment building? These racks block the ingress and egress to the building and thus, apparently violate