CHINESE INTERN AT WESTVIEW: As part of a collaboration with the Foundation for Global Education, Publisher George Capsis and Chinese intern Shen Xiaowen host 40 Chinese professors at St. John’s with Father Graeme to review Shen’s experience as an intern. “We learned more about controlled news in China than Chen learned about a free community
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Landmark Preservation Today
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor The loss of the original NYC Penn Station caused citizens here to focus on the importance of our monumental buildings and special historic homes being lost. But the movement to preserve special places grew. Economic and population pressures continued to threaten our historic fabric, from Plymouth Rock to
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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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August Escapes
By Gordon T. Hughes II Among the things New Yorkers and Parisians have in common is summer travel. I love that about those two cities. Paris, like New York, has wonderful neighborhoods, and of course my favorite neighborhood in either city is the West Village. Most weekends you see people of all ages on Fridays with small
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Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel Applies for Drastic Changes
By Penny Mintz Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel filed an application with the State Department of Health on July 22nd, 2019. The application seeks approval for the relocation and construction of a replacement building for the Beth Israel Hospital on 16th Street and First Avenue. If this application is approved, the hospital, with an 800-bed capacity, will
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West Villagers Can Walk to the Sea
By Deborah Clearman Once again, Pier 40 is in the news, as the State Assembly has amended the Hudson River Park Act to allow office development on the pier. However, with some stipulations. Remarkably, the legislation calls for a boathouse, at least the size of the current boathouse, providing small-scale boating and water access on
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Polly’s Folly Will Be Adjudged This Month!
Disability Rights Lawsuit Against the MTA to Follow By Arthur Z. Schwartz I spent 24 years on Community Board 2. During those 24 years I interacted with numerous City and State Agencies (mostly the Parks Department and the Hudson River Park Trust), and I experienced the Community Board as a means by which the efforts
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Tenant Protection and Drastic Rent Drop Came Too Late for Cornelia Street Café
By Karen Rempel The New York State Senate Bill S6458, the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019,” came a few months too late to save the Cornelia Street Café. But at least the Café’s former landlord and its managing agent, the terrible duo Mark Scharfman and Mitchell Rothken, are hoist on their own
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How to Celebrate an Urban Summer
By Naomi Sternstein It’s summer in the city, in case you haven’t yet heard! The grasses beg for our picnic blankets, the flowers and expansive trees muffle the usual bustle and noise. We will do anything to be outside (recent heat advisories aside, when outdoor tables on the porch of San Ambroeus or in Hudson
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A Celebration of Pride: WorldPride NYC 2019 in the Village
By Karen Rempel Marchers and spectators from around the world brought a rainbow of color and sparkle to New York City on June 30 to celebrate and support each other at the 2019 LGBTQIA+ Pride March. NYC Pride was the official host of WorldPride NYC 2019 and Stonewall 50. These events meant unprecedented millions of people
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A Race for the Cure: The Research Foundation to Cure AIDS
By Karen Rempel Dozens of Pride Parade spectators stopped by for a photo op at the Research Foundation to Cure Aids (RFTCA) display on Seventh Avenue, near the 9/11 Memorial Tiles display. All genders and no-genders were welcomed to wear the crown and carry the torch for the cure to AIDS. RFTCA President and Founder
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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
IT WAS A VERY PROUD DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD and everyone came out in their true colors, including the local pets – like Spencer, this jolly little pooch in the handsome cravat ….. … and these visiting youngsters in their rainbow shawls brightening up the usually low key scene in Abingdon Square. ….Not to mention
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Bleecker Flower Shop
By Salvador V. Bleecker Flower Shop opened in March 2019 as a flower studio located on Bleecker Street in the West Village in Manhattan. It was founded by two Spanish friends, Valeria Castillejo and Bebes Ferrer, who bonded over a passion for flowers, nature and artisan work. When Valeria was looking for an apartment they
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The White Horse—A Pub with Food
By David Porat Having spent a good bit of time in London and England (having visited many times over four or so decades), I have seen and tasted some very poor English food. But I have also had some very good meals in rustic pubs in unassuming, unpretentious, settings. These meals can be straightforward and
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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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New Pop-Up Park on Thompson Street
By Jane Heil Usyk We have fond memories of the pop-up park that was on Sullivan Street for a few years. We waited every April for the park’s sponsor to take it out of his basement in big pieces and set it up. He had gone through a lot to get permission to put it
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Hospital Room in the West Village
We have been told that the Lenox Hill Nortwell Health Center on 7th Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets has four hospital beds to complement its state of the art Emergency Room. On June 23rd, I unfortunately got an inside tour while recovering from an allergic reaction to something I ate. I was treated in
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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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Whither the Village?
By Senior Minister at Judson Church The Village can’t be what it used to be any more. Been there, done that. It may be that the times have changed. Since 9-11, most people are more concerned about safety than we are about freedom. We even say good-bye with the words “Be Safe,” as though safe
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Use It or Lose It
By Maggie Berkvist So, dear readers, despite posters that started to appear around the neighborhood in May, and my Open Letter to Corey Johnson in our June issue, the fate/future of our vital 14A is still in jeopardy. On June 10th a Daily News story, headed Cars To Be Banned From Most of 14th Street In Manhattan
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Lawsuit Stops DOT 14th Street Corridor Plan—For Now
By Arthur Z. Schwartz FLASH—Just as Westview was going to press, Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower granted a Temporary Restraining Order barring the NYC Department of Transportation from implementing its plan to bar all cars and vans , and most trucks from 14th Street, a move DOT says it wanted to make to “speed up
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We Need Robert Moses
By George Capsis Robert Moses’ career ended when he wanted to build an elevated highway across Canal Street, and we locals rose in protest and closed his book forever, but in his early days when he was casually condemning bungalows in the path of the LIE he did so with imperial immunity because the car
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Mermaid Parade Splashes Up Coney Island’s Surf Avenue
By Karen Rempel Summer began with a splash on Saturday, June 22 with Coney Island’s 37th annual Mermaid Parade. Mermaids, Neptunes, merkids, and merdogs paraded in sea-deep splendor to a crowd of over 840,000 people. The parade ended with Coney Island-born King Neptune, Arlo Guthrie, and Queen Mermaid, Nora Guthrie, together with the self-designated mayor
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550 Washington Street is Moving Forward
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Oxford’s development along West Street, across from the Pier 40 and Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) headquarters, was originally the 1930s St. John’s Terminal for the New York Central freight railroad viaduct (now the High Line). It will soon be an industrial-loft-type office building when nine stories are added
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2019 TD Five Boro Bike Tour
By Eric Uhlfelder It seems that every time I cover this most remarkable bicycle event for WestView News, the weather gods conspire to tell me: do something else. It rained, sometimes biblically, the entire day. But there are too many unique parts to this ride to stay safely tucked away at home out of the rain—like
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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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Not Your Grandmother’s Square Dancing
By Kian Lam Kho It is a cool beautiful spring evening in the Village and the main door of P.S. 3 on Hudson Street is slightly ajar. You can hear music wafting through the gap and recognize Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon. But over the music a firm sing-song voice is calling
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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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Jefferson Market Library Gets ADA Rehab
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP The venerable Jefferson Market Library, inside the former Third Judicial District Courthouse building (ca. 1874-77), is getting an extensive ADA rehab. Since November 27, 1967 the building has served as the Jefferson Market Library—saved from the demolition ball by community preservation activists, and remodeled by architect Giorgio Cavaglieri. As
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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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Suzanne Poli Classic Photo
On a hot June Pride day in 2005, Suzanne Poli captured this infamous roller-skating pair, renowned for their dramatic and colorful flair, posing with their favorite companion. Miss Columbia (l.), the beloved drag queen from Queens died last October and was widely mourned and celebrated. Her swirling antics, as well as Rollerina’s, became part of the fabric of the annual half-century Pride March
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West Village Bookstores
By Gordon Hughes It was about three years ago when I was visiting Marrakech… I was walking around the French Quarter and ran into a used bookstore/cafe. Now that was new to me. I had seen Brenton’s Book Store with coffee and soft drinks but I had never seen a French cafe with lattes, pastries
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Summer Senior Space: West 13th Street Alliance Promotes Community, Health and Fun
By The West 13th Street Alliance The West 13th Street Alliance announces a unique pilot program for July/August 2019 for neighborhood seniors, elders, old hippies (or whatever folks want to call themselves!), to enjoy an array of activities at The Church of the Village, The Integral Yoga Institute, and Lenox Health Greenwich Village, all founding
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I.M. Pei’s New York Legacy
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner–NDNY Architecture + Design Ieoh Ming Pei, the famed New York based Chinese-American Modernist Architect, died last month, at the young age of 102. During his illustrious architectural career, he designed a vast array of iconic buildings around the world including the Grand Louvre Modernization in Paris and the John F.
