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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Style on the Street: Cool as Watermelon
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Last month we looked at how the men handle the heat in the city, so this month it’s the women’s turn. Here are three unique takes on New York summer fashion—with fab black footwear. FLARE (photo left): Daniela Diletto and her son Luca pause on their stoop on the
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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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Last Licks
By Roberta Curley Eating ice cream is like breathing. It jumpstarts day and night. I mourn summer’s end. It often spells doom for free flowing ice cream. Licking each novel flavor keeps me from obsessing over my jewelry stash. Jewelry may be heavy but it’s not fattening. It is said: “a thing
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
NOT ALL OF US LEAVE TOWN IN AUGUST. MANY OF US APPRECIATE THE CHANCE TO RELAX AND ENJOY PEACEFUL PLEASURES. VISITORS COME TO EXPLORE AND SOME PEOPLE FIND THERE’S STILL WORK TO BE DONE. All photos by Maggie Berkvist.
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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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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
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Mia Says
Mia Says: The better you listen to a complaint the better you can answer it. Photo by Dusty Berke.
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel Fashion Editor Confession time. I’m a shoe fanatic! I have a friend who decides what she’s going to wear on a given day based on which pieces in her remarkable jewelry collection she feels like displaying. For me, it’s all about the shoes. I will often pull together an outfit based on
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What’s Happening at Clarkson Square?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Architecture Editor Chances are you don’t recognize the name, but in the real estate world you can choose any name you want for your projects or even for whole neighborhoods. Witness the One Morton Square moniker from a few years back and, now, the West SOHO label for Hudson Square.
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso You can do anything they can’t stop you from doing. A man who calls a woman ‘baby’ doesn’t know much about women —or babies. Some people are jelly, some are jam. Power complaint: These outages are outrageous. Dallas was a much greater shock than Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Dallas involved someone we
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For Every Season
By Keith Michael …tern, tern, tern. It’s hot out here. A moment ago, when I offered Millie a treat to join me for this walk to Hudson River Park, with classic corgi insolence she raised her head from her chill spot under the air conditioner, inches from her water bowl that might jingle with the
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A View from the Kitchen
By Isa Covo So, how are you enjoying this summer? Are you traveling? Going to the beach and walking on the scorching sand? Do you have to go to work stranded on the stifling subway platforms before squeezing into the somewhat air-conditioned compartments of the train that takes you to your destination feeling sticky and
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IN AND OUT
As usual, July was a quiet month. Two spots opened that are not what they seem, and there was also activity in French and Italian establishments. Open Top Openings L’Accolade Natural Wine and Neo Bistrot—302 Bleecker Street at Barrow Street. It seems like every wine list now touts natural wines, but this French spot which
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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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Mia Says
Mia Says: Protested eternal love without a ring is a contract without a signature. Photo by Dusty Berke.
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Too much is just right. The one who calls is the one in need. From the cosmic to the comic to cognac. Sign outside geriatric clinic: Geezer Diseases. Tea is a slap on the wrist. Coffee is a punch in the nose. Delay is death to the petitioner. The one who calls
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Style on the Street: Paris Pairs
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Paris is a walking city, much like New York. With very few exceptions, people wear sneakers, flats, and low boots of every variety. The man center right was an exception of sorts in socks and sandals. I love his friend’s look with the patterned shirt tucked into beltless trousers.
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel Fashion Editor The drag queens and fashionistas in The West Village will laugh when you hear about my awkwardness with ballgowns. I may have worn a ballgown when I was seven years old and playing dress-up with my neighbor friend’s lovely box of treasures. Certainly I dressed my Barbie in lovely floor-length
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
IT WAS THEIR SILVER JUBILEE—so, on June 15th, Abingdon Square Greenmarket threw a party, and offered cake to the many regulars who came to celebrate, including Erik Bottcher from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s office, top right. All our usual favorites were there, offering their fresh fruit and veggies, fish, cheeses and baked goodies—and even
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A View From The Kitchen
By Isa Covo Summer is here: Time to enjoy the outdoors, the beach, time to travel. It is also the time to look at our bodies and decide that it may be a good time to consider if there is a need to slim down a bit. The advantage now is that with more felicitous
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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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Then&Now: 501 Hudson and Christopher Street
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Then: This March 1933 photo (matching an earlier 1927 photo) of the once four-story-corner-building-next-to-a-3-story-mixed-use rowhouse, describes both as 501 Hudson Street and 131 Christopher Street. Even the GVHD Designation Report of 4/29/69 describes these addresses as one lot, though clearly they are not one building. The 12 over 12
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Politicians: One year they’re inducted, next year they’re indicted. Confession may be good for the soul but it’s hard on a marriage. A president may be a clown but the system that produced him is not funny at all. You can tell a lot about people by how long they leave their
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor A killer look often starts with one piece to build on. I put this style together around these luscious cherrywine trousers, which I found for a luxe change-of-season steal at Tiziano Zorzan on 8th Avenue. Tiziano has three locations in the West Village where you can find exclusive capsule
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Moon Child Sprinkles Fairy Dust on Christopher Street
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Moon Child is a magical wonderland of fantastical creations by owner Irina Jatskova Corso. The first thing that catches your eye and draws you into the store is Irina’s mystical handmade dreamcatchers. Then you enter an enchanted forest of unique handmade jewelry crafted from earth stones and crystals for
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
Top row, L to R: The New Me, Outraged, Girl Power. Bottom Row, L to R: Follow My Lead, And Baby Makes Three, Ferguson is Everywhere. CONGRATULATIONS MAGGIE B! The Lucie Foundation is a nonprofit organization, based in Los Angeles, whose three-tiered mission is to honor master photographers, discover and cultivate emerging talent, and promote the
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A View from the Kitchen
By Isa Covo Here is what happened when women took matters into their own hands. Recently I read an article about some Palestinian women and children from Jubbet ad-Dib, a Bedouin village, who one day, and without warning, stormed the offices of their district council and demanded clean water and electricity for their village. They
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IN AND OUT
This was a fairly quiet month, but after a long wait, it finally appears that some tenants are coming to the old St. Vincent’s site on 7th Avenue. A number of long-awaited openings have materialized this month, and a new pizza place has replaced a short-lived pizza place in the Meatpacking District. Open Top Openings
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Let the Sun Shine
By Keith Michael Overheard on the street: “Who decides when is the first day of spring? Do a bunch of people sit around a table and say, ‘This would be, like, a good day?’” It’s hard for me to imagine thinking that “spring” is merely a marketing ploy and not that there are grand rhythms
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Notes From Away: The Past Is History
By Tom Lamia “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” is from William Faulkner and often used to show literary cool when saying there is nothing new under the sun. I am going to use it here to make a different point—that in older societies the past is revered and relevant. One such older society is
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Then&Now: The Grand Pier 54 of Titanic History
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP THEN: This row of grand buildings embellished with pink granite facades testifies to the world’s busiest seaport’s prominence in the early 20th century. Both freight and passengers moved through these gates which totally blocked the waterfront from the city. White Star Line’s RMS Titanic sank in April of 1912
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Mia Says
Mia Says: I tolerate the idiosyncrasies of others in the hope they will tolerate mine. Photo by Dusty Berke.
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso New York is the only city where you can see Dada at MoMA. Spring is a promise summer doesn’t keep. Dogs are not as stupid as cats think. The biggest pest is the right-on-time guest. Where were the Three Wise Men when he needed them? Sunrise doesn’t start the day. Coffee does.
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel For me, having fun with fashion is about finding pieces I love at the most unexpected moments, and then combining them with old favorites to come up with an entirely new, unique look. I call this “Karen’s Quirky Style” because you won’t find these ensembles in Vogue, they don’t cost a mint,
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks: ‘Tis the Season for Comings and Goings
—And all the signs that “Summer Is Icumen In”!
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IN AND OUT
This month we noticed a higher number of openings than during the colder months. A long-time Village bookstore returned, while another closed. Openings outnumbered closings on Bleecker Street, something that did not go unnoticed in a March 2019 article in The Commercial Observer which stated: “Bleecker Street retail has gone through several rapid changes in
