By Joy Pape and Brian J. Pape As soon as we started visiting Washington Square Park (WSP), we were entertained by the many musicians. One outstanding performer was Rasheed and The Jazz Collective. A friend introduced us to Rasheed, and we continue to be fascinated by his special talents; we even bought his CDs. Rasheed
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What Is Your Favorite Restaurant?
For those of you who regularly dine out, you have your absolute number one favorite spot where you love the food and maybe the modest prices, the décor, and perhaps the nice owner as well. Will you share your favorite West Village restaurant with the readers of WestView? Email them to westviewarticles@gmail.com. Please limit each
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Sex is like fire. It can keep the house warm—or burn it down. ___ A woman’s touch is always a signal. ___ Deep in March snow, shop windows have an April glow. ___ Small pooch, small poops, less to scoop. ___ Without women, all the men would have killed each other a
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“Ohhh…My Aching Feet!”
By Joy Pape, FNP-C CDE CILC Have you ever said or felt this? If so, you are not alone. Spring is here—time to get out and about—but your feet hurt. What can you do? Being the wife of an architect, I appreciate the need for strength and durability in the foundation of a building. Our
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Jim Fouratt’s REEL DEAL: Movies that Matter
APRIL 2017 April is here and that means Cannes on the Hudson hits Lower Manhattan. The Tribeca Film Festival is back and it’s bigger and better than ever. Due to the paper’s deadline, I will share with you what I know and what I intend to attend and see. You know that I go to
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West Village Original: Edith Stephen
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is dancer and filmmaker Edith Stephen, who was born in Salamanca, New York, in 1919 and grew up in Brooklyn. For years, she toured the U.S., Europe, and China with her dance troupe until she took up filmmaking. One of the original tenants of Westbeth, Stephen’s
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Notes and Perspectives From Away: New on Charles Street
By Tom Lamia Last month, I wrote of being “from away”—a Maine expression used for those “outside” of the local culture. In New York, the cultural divide comes up when “true” New Yorkers are recognized by their attitude and conduct, not in derogation of others, but as a tribute to an exceptional few. Several of
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Love is in the Air
By Keith Michael Kek kek kek kek kek drops like aural sleet from somewhere above the rooflines. Dragging me to the curb, Millie scavenges for an augmentation to her (obviously, according to her) inadequate continental breakfast fare. Corgi foraging leads her nose into the deepest footprints in the single leftover bank of February snow on
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
NOT EXACTLY YOUR RUN-OF-THE-MILL FEBRUARY: To refresh your memory, after a warm start and a record breaking 60-plus degrees on the 8th, on the 9th the temperature dropped to more typical teens, and nine inches of snow fell in Central Park, which meant—whoopee!—City schools were closed! But by the 19th—whoopee! again—it felt like spring at the
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IN AND OUT
By Caroline Benveniste All photos by Maggie Berkvist. It was a fairly quiet month for openings and closings in the West Village, but there were a number of widely-reported events, such as the opening of Do¯, Milk Bar, and the purchase of Murray’s Cheese by Kroger. Gansevoort Market/Chelsea Market Update As usual, much happened in
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Trump Trauma
A New Monthly Feature in WestView News Nothing in recent history has shattered the traditional acceptance that our national government, right or left, would somehow sustain a safe middle road between the financial and political perils of a planet now totally connected by smartphones. That is, until Trump. A psychotherapist called me to offer, with
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Trumphobia
By Christina Raccuia After Trump was elected, and even during his campaign, teachers noticed an uptick in bullying and distress in classrooms, as their students were, and continue to be, exposed to a president who regularly attacks his opponents in bombastic, even threatening terms. Trump’s crude boasts in 2005 about being able to kiss and
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Potters’ Protest
By Miriam Patterson Since January 20th, we have all witnessed the President’s need to assert his newfound power in a rapid-fire barrage of sweeping executive orders. With each passing day, we are confounded, and presented with a new conundrum. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are
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Scattered Rage Forms a Collective Fist
By Benjamin Yee The ascension of Donald Trump changed America in a political instant, upending everything we knew about politics and elections, and ushering in new societal norms that overtook the American psyche. Anyone outside of Trump’s vision of a “Great” America stood demoralized, paralyzed, and anxious for what lay ahead. I’ve been a grassroots
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso You can’t pray for yourself if you don’t believe in God. But you can pray for others. God will understand. Get mad, not sad. Anger is better than depression. When you’re sick, everything stops. The tiger-striped dawn. Did Frank Sinatra sing in the shower? In a big city, if you’re ever alone, you’re
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Not Me. Yes, You!
By Joy Pape, FNP-C CDE CILC I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We never think it will happen to us, but it will! I started in the health care field when I was in my early twenties and I remember talking with patients who were in their forties. I taught them that
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Jim Fouratt’s REEL DEAL: Movies that Matter
March 2017 Ah, too many quality films, too little print space. Please catch up with me on the WestView website: westviewnews.org. Let’s Go to the Movies… I went to the Athena Film Festival (which shows films by and about bold and creative women) at Barnard College. Among the terrific films I saw were these opening
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In and Out
Open Woof World (91 Christopher Street, near Bleecker Street): This shop hopes to capitalize on the large number of pets and pet parents in the neighborhood. The displays are spare and elegant and the staff is extremely helpful and solicitous. ………. 4 Charles Prime Rib (4 Charles Street, near Greenwich Avenue): The old El Charro
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Savvy Shoppers’ Feedback
We continue to receive astute feedback about food shopping in the West Village from our readers. Below, we have published a recent letter, along with a response by WestView’s own Caroline Benveniste. Dear Editors: May I add: Coffee, tea, and chocolate from Porto Rico Importing Co. on Bleecker Street; a real supermarket in Western Beef
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West Village Original: David Plakke
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is photographer David Plakke, born in Michigan in 1951. A resident of Westbeth for 22 years, Plakke has photographed architecture, fine art, cultural events, musicians, artists, and the corporate world. He has had two books of photographs published, was the photographer and videographer for Diana Gregor’s
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Notes and Perspectives from Away
By Tom Lamia Why “Notes from Away?” In South Bristol, Maine, where I live, I am identified as a person “from away.” The title I give to these notes is a tongue-in-cheek qualification of my expertise as an observer of life in South Bristol. My friends and neighbors up here would understand. A quick story
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Owl Fever
By Keith Michael I have to write this quickly while Millie is out with her dog walker. Yes, Millie is unfaithful to me daily, and goes out on the town with her friends. Whether she has converted her canine companions to bird enthusiasts, I don’t know. She’s mum about that. The reason I have to
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Annual Taste of Greenwich House Adds a New Element
By Joe Salas From its origins in a gym in 2003, the annual Taste of Greenwich House—to be held this year on March 13th—has developed into a showcase of the Village’s best restaurants and a “must-attend” for everyone following the Greenwich Village food scene. With more than 30 restaurants, eateries including Market Table and Café
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Joy’s Senior Health Tips: Winter Safety
By Joy Pape, FNP-C CDE CILC Since it is still winter, I have listed my favorite tips to ensure a safe season during the cold months. Retain Moisture. Winter air is dry and, as we age, many parts of our bodies get drier. The winter air, combined with heat, can make things worse. Be aware
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso It’s easy when you have no choice. Blue is said to be everyone’s favorite color, but who would want blue trees? Our parents are gone, but why do they wander so casually through our dreams? Wine the divine. Poetry is splendid, but pottery is more useful. Sorrow never dies. It sleeps, and
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Jim Fouratt’s REEL DEAL: Movies that Matter
JANUARY 2017 I write this as the film community is all abuzz about the best of the year’s awards. Nominees and winners are beginning to emerge; the Oscars remain the number one cinematic competition in the world. Each year, I prepare REEL DEAL’s essential movies of the year, as well as the best albums and
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In and Out
By Caroline Beneviste December was a busy month for restaurant openings. These spanned the gamut, from highly publicized spots with known chefs to smaller venues concentrating on specific foods/dishes. Open 1. Tavo (615 Hudson Street, between West 12th and Jane Streets): Tavo bills itself as serving Contemporary Latin American Cuisine, but many Asian influences are also
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Bird of the Year 2016
By Keith Michael We’re here amidst the hustle and bustle as finishing touches are added to the grandstand for the announcement of The 11th Annual Millies: the coveted Bird of the Year Awards! For those of you only listening in from your earbuds, I’m standing with Millie, the awards’ namesake, at the confounding intersection of
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Caruso’s Quips
By Charles Caruso Live and yearn. Even the brightest gold tarnishes. Your politics reveal your whole view of life. Is extra virgin anything like slightly pregnant? A writer is at his best while writing. The rest of the time he’s just as dumb as everyone else. As silent as snow on a Sunday morning. Christmas
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The Origin of Death Revisited Following the 2016 Election
By Mark M. Green Nearly eight years ago, I wrote a column about the origin of death. An edited version of this column appears below. Perhaps publishing on this subject now relates to some of us feeling as though we are at the origin of something a bit like death. This relates to politics, not
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IN AND OUT
Last month, we reported that the Three Lives & Company bookstore had not closed but was negotiating with its new landlord to stay. On November 15th, Toby Cox, the owner of Three Lives, sent out an email with the happy news that a new lease had been signed and that they were not leaving. So,
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
AFTERSHOCK: When the election results came in, the mood in our neighborhood, a Hillary stronghold, revealed a mix of gloom, anger—and wry (rye!) humor. All photos by Maggie Berkvist.
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Crash Course
By Keith Michael It’s the morning circling of pigeons. Millie is dilly-dallying around the corner onto West 11th Street, one reluctant corgi step at a time. Is the pigeons’ morning circling timed to our walk, or is our walk timed to the circling of the pigeons? Either way, it’s a daily fall spectacle. The “spectacle”
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Of the Park: Paul, “Birdman” of Washington Square Park
By Joy Pape and Brian J. Pape For the past 15 years, Paul has made regular sojourns to Washington Square Park (WSP) to commune with the pigeons and other little creatures in the park. When Paul first began these regular visits, he resided on Carmine Street, where he found that the squirrels and birds were
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Local Businesses Band Together to Provide Girls Opportunities with Basketball League
By Joe Salas On November 9th, as stocks fell and economists around the world braced for an uncertain and stagnant future, a group of businesses had already committed to making sure one thing was certain: that a Greenwich Village institution would be able take the court this year—the basketball court. The Greenwich House Girls Basketball
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Joy’s Senior Seasonal Nutrition Buys of the Month
By Joy Pape, FNP-C CDE CILC As vegetables and fruits continue to come into season, they offer seniors the tastiest and most nutritional buys for their money. December’s New York list of local harvests is short, but there are multiple ways to get nutrition on a budget. Look for shell beans, collard greens, and parsnips.
