By Charles Caruso No one should have guns but the police and army. Anyone found with a gun should be sent to Arizona for an extended stay in the sun and sand. The color blue is reason enough to be alive. A writer wants fame and fortune and beautiful women, but what he really wants
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
LAST CALL When the show opened last November, New York Times Art Critic Holland Cotter urged “MEET WARHOL, AGAIN, IN THIS BRILLIANT WHITNEY SHOW,” adding “the sweeping retrospective shows a personal side of the Pop master … and reasserts his power for a new generation.” And in the February 15th Times Weekend section, in a
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West Village Original: Marshall W. Mason
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is director Marshall W. Mason, born in Amarillo, Texas in 1940. Mason co-founded the Circle Repertory Company in New York and was artistic director for 18 years. He directed such plays as The Hot L Baltimore, Fifth of July, Talley’s Folly, As Is, and Burn This. Nominated five
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Theater Book Review: The Transcendent Years
By Robert Heide The title of Marshall W. Mason’s remarkable new book entitled The Transcendent Years—The Circle Repertory Company & The 1960s for which he was the artistic director for eighteen years is his homage to Harold Clurman’s Group Theater book The Fervent Years. Marshall Mason won a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and
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IN AND OUT
This month we saw mostly closings, something that often happens in the winter, with five on Bleecker Street alone. Hopefully next month we will have happier news to report. Open North Fork (122 Christopher Street and Bedford Street). This farm-to-table restaurant opened in the old Croman-owned Lima’s Taste space. I spoke with the Chef, Chris,
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Notes From Away: Winter Break
By Tom Lamia I write from Toluca Lake, California, long-time residence of Bob Hope and other early Hollywood notables. The weather is, of course, shockingly good; the sun blinding through the windshield as one drives east in the morning rush or west in the evening. One of my daughters lives here and is giving me
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Then&Now: Weehawken Street Historic District
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP As I look across Christopher Street from my living room window I see the Weehawken Street Historic District buildings and think of the changes that took place in the past. Utility workers are digging pipe trenches in the street into the 200-year-old landfill at the river’s former shoreline.
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Health Notes
By Penny Mintz Beth Israel Members of the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel met at Assemblyman Harvey Epstein’s office on February 7, 2019, to discuss the newest development in the ongoing Beth Israel saga. As an active member of PALM (Progressive Action of Lower Manhattan), Harvey Epstein had been instrumental in the creation of
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Jim Fouratt’s Reel Deal: Movies that Matter
As I write this I am into day two of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah. I have been coming to Sundance since the early ’90s. It is my favorite film festival in the world. Yes, we are fortunate to have had in New York City two major film festivals—the much loved and
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West Village Images by Joel Gordon: Art Illusions and Fantasies
Photographic series of digital computer art, illusions or fantasy featuring close up details taken from architecture and design elements of buildings. Other examples can be found on my website www.joelgordon.com. Photo credit © Joel Gordon 2019—All rights reserved.
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso It’s impossible to carry a pizza home with dignity. Tom Brady is Jack Kennedy. He’s a winner, rich and famous, Irish from New England, handsome with a beautiful wife. The truest test of friends is how they act when you’re broke. There’s so much walking in Hemingway’s Paris memoir that it could
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Understand the Essentials of Eczema—Your Skin Will Thank You!
By Dr. Peter Saitta Our city during the holiday season is a very special place. Streets are filled with Christmas cheer, Santa is on his sleigh, and shop windows are magnificently dressed for the occasion. But the freezing cold air and bitter winds of our famous New York winters can sting, irritate, and dry your skin, all of which
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Notes From Away – Winter Thoughts
By Tom Lamia It is cold in South Bristol, Maine. Of course, it is midwinter and this land lies east and north of all but Alaska among our states. There is snow on the ground and ice on the ponds and roads. One might say the landscape is bleak and the seascape forbidding, but not
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IN AND OUT
January was a quiet month for openings and closings. One trend we observed was that a number of shops that opened in challenging locations closed just as quickly. Chelsea Market/Gansevoort Market Update Big Mozz took over the Very Fresh Noodles spot in Chelsea Market (Very Fresh Noodles moved in to the larger space vacated by
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Then&Now: The Last One Left
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Greenwich Village has been challenged on many fronts, but the car-centric culture has been one of the biggest. You may already be aware that when the early civic leaders decided Manhattan needed a simple, logical street layout for the city to grow north of Chambers Street, The Village
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Notes From Away: War Story
By Tom Lamia I write on the day of the memorial service for George H.W. Bush. Today and during the preceding four days, many have spoken privately and publicly of the remarkable character of Bush 41. A connection between his character and the effect of his service in World War II has been noted as
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Jim Fouratt’s REEL DEAL: Movies That Matter
Best in Film 2018 I spent a lot of time watching movies this year, just as I did in the streets protesting! I see my role as a critic as sharing with you those creative works which made me feel human, helped me identify with the feelings of others and inspired me to have hope.
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
TO ALL MY FELLOW ‘CREATURES OF HABIT’: MAY YOU, AND ALL THE READERS OF WVN, HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR—maggie b All photos by Maggie Berkvist, with the exception of photo bottom right credit: Laurence Edelman.
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Bird of the Year 2018
By Keith Michael As the National Audubon Society wraps up this Year of the Bird 2018—bringing international attention to the plight of countless bird species and the effects of climate change for us all—it is time, once again, here in the West Village, to celebrate our local ecosystem with the 13th Annual Bird of the
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IN AND OUT
Open Top Openings: Encore 1 Little West 12th Street (between Gansevoort Street and Ninth Avenue) When I spoke to Harold Moore a few months ago about his just-opened French spot Bistro Pierre Lapin, he explained that French food had fallen from favor in New York but that recently it was making a comeback, following the
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Sex is undignified. Often the people in our fondest memories don’t even remember the event. Booze tastes good and it makes us feel good. What more do you want? When we’re children the priests tell us we have souls. When we’re students the professors tell us we have intellects.When we’re old, the
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Why All the Robocalls? Because they’re cheap! You can now call anywhere in the 50 states 24/7. If you’re getting more robocalls now you’re not alone. The reason for the proliferation is that technology has made it cheap. The sheer number of people that scammers can reach makes
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Too much is just right. Christmas lights: Signals of love and loneliness. The moon is useless. At least the sun warms us and lights things up. The moon doesn’t want to get involved. It just floats around up there aimlessly and then suddenly disappears. Some people are linguini, others are rigatoni. We
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IN AND OUT
Correction: in the October In & Out, we reported that Toosh, a shoe store at Bleecker Street (east of 7th Avenue South) was closing. We hear from the owner that it is not, and a further check reveals that it is very much open. We apologize for the error. High rents and real estate taxes
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Holiday Decorations in the West Village
West Village Images by Joel Gordon Other examples can be found on my website www.joelgordon.com. Photo credit © Joel Gordon 2018—All rights reserved.
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Shopping Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year, and they officially kick off holiday shopping online. Before buying anything online, there are two tools you should use to make sure you’re getting a good deal. www.camelcamelcamel.com is an Amazon product price tracker. It
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Goodnight Irene, I’ll See You in My Dreams
The Death of Maria Irene Fornes, Genius Greenwich Village Playwright—1930-2018 By John Gilman Maria Irene Fornes, known to her friends and peers as just Irene Fornes, was unpretentious and fun loving, but at heart a serious playwright. For many years Irene lived in a loft-sized apartment filled with books stacked to the ceiling as well
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Not “The Duck”
By Keith Michael I throw a (small) handful of kibble across the floor. Millie takes up her cue to hit the boards for her famed “corgi kibble dance.” The Prelude: Two rapid spins. Act I: Pick up only one kibble, toss it in the air, pursue (into a far corner if necessary). Act II: Methodically
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West Village Original: Jenny Tango
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is artist Jenny Tango, born Florence Exler in Brooklyn in 1926. A visual artist working collaboratively and individually in painting, communications media, artist’s books and comic strips, Tango received both a BA and MA from Brooklyn College. A former educator with a list of both solo
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Then & Now: Bleecker Playground Park
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Pick any public park, and it has a story to reveal about what it once was, and how it came to be a parkland in a densely built metropolis. In this ‘bird’s-eye’ rooftop view, Hudson Street heads straight south from the Meat Market district, with Bank Street intersecting in
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Do You Know Who Has Your Personal Data? Besides Facebook and Google, do you know who has your data? What are they doing with that data? Have you heard of Google Timeline? What is Google Timeline? I recently received an email from Google Timeline. Google has information on
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IN AND OUT
Correction: in the September In & Out, we reported that Ghandi Café (283 Bleecker Street east of 7th Avenue South) appeared to have closed. Not so! We apologize for the misinformation. The big news this month was that the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) had a hearing at City Hall on October 22. The
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Ready to Eat
By Caroline Benveniste The retail activity on Hudson Street waxes and wanes with the seasons. Sometimes many of the restaurants and shops on one block close en masse (like Bespoke Kitchen, Tavo and La Maison Supreme), and other times improbably fancy stores open on a formerly bleak block (Günter Seeger, Sherri B and Martial
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First Class
By Keith Michael I feed my first of the month stamped envelopes of bills into the big blue mouth of the mail box on the corner and, of course, jiggle its jaw (as my mother taught me) to be sure that my envelopes haven’t gotten stuck in its craw. Yes, I still pay bills with
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Notes from Away: Judicial Notice
By Tom Lamia Like you, perhaps, I spent time recently watching the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have views on this sort of thing that are deeply associated with my past life as a lawyer. I went to Harvard Law School, graduating in the mid-1960s, a classmate and friend of Stephen
