By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP THEN: What, South 5th Avenue? Yes, in 1886, when manufacturing loft buildings were still being built of brick, the Baker, Smith & Co., producers of steam heating & ventilation car warmers, etc., proudly advertised their wares to passers-by on the street and on the elevated railroad cars.
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Disney World Comes to Hudson Square
By Brian J Pape, AIA Don’t expect a fantastical castle or FutureWorld theme park for the new Walt Disney Company headquarters for New York. Don’t even expect a ‘reimagineered’ industrial loft building, like the ones it replaces on Hudson Street and Varick Street. In fact, the recently topped off structure, labeled 4 Hudson Square and
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The LGBTQ+ Past, Present, and Future of St. John’s in the Village
By Fr. Graeme Napier St John’s in the Village, the Episcopal church on the corner of West 11th Street and Waverly Place, has a long history of LGBTQ+ rights and culture in Greenwich Village. As early as the 1940s, there were openly gay members of the Vestry. Father Charles Graf became Rector in 1942 and
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Mom & Pops Suffer Loss of St. Vincent’s
By Kathryn Adisman We, the undersigned loyal customers of Paper Works, ask you, Jonathan West, to find a way to keep Paper Works in business at its present location. This community has already suffered a great loss in the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, and we cannot afford to lose another valuable asset. We need
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Spare the Rod… Love the Child
Written by Alden Roosevelt age 12 I live on a quaint street in the West Village, and I’m going to tell you something that changed my life… On a summer day like any other in the redwood forest of Big Sur, where I go during most summer breaks, my mother was reading me one of
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Green vs. Greed
By Brian Robinson, D-10 NY Congressional Candidate In yet another iteration of this classic rivalry, we journey no further than Battery Park City. Beloved by local residents of lower Manhattan, Battery Park is an absolute gem. The parks there are immaculate, many of which, like Rockefeller and Wagner Park, lay right at the waterline of
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2022 Greenwich Village Election Wiki
By Frank Quinn Greenwich Village voters will select candidates for five major offices this summer, but disruption from a recent court ruling has generated confusion over who’s running for what. The court ruled that our Democratic Legislators in Albany created unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts for U.S. House of Representatives and N.Y. State Senate and appointed a
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A Teen’s View: 6th Precinct Community Council Meeting
By Sophia Astor During the past few months I’ve been getting to know Washington Square Park by speaking with its effortlessly cool skaters, rat-faced social media stars, vendors who sell goods of varying legality, and a host of flamboyant performers. I realized that in focusing on the “wilder” side of the park—the youth—I was missing
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Livable Streets V: A Burst Into Freedom—A Radical Proposal
By Barry Benepe In the past installments I have looked at our streets and our privilege to walk on them primarily as a source of safety, security, and pleasure. They are fundamentally our entry into freedom. In The Preservation Advocate, winter 2020, Frank Sanchis said of historic preservation, “It makes walking down the street every
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Help Restore Jane Laundromat
Jane Laundromat (50 8th Avenue between Jane & Horatio), with its Happy Buddha logo familiar to neighbors, is closed temporarily due to a fire that started in a duct behind a dryer in the rear of the shop on Wednesday, May 4. FDNY quickly put the fire out but caused flooding damage, leaving the laundry
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Open Restaurants or Open Sidewalks, the Follow-up: What’s for Dessert?
By Sid E. Walker This article is a follow-up to last month’s above-the-fold feature, “Open Restaurants or Open Sidewalks—What’s on The Menu?” If you missed it, the WestView News website has it. (westviewnews.org). In summary, the article described the competition for sidewalk space in the West Village thanks to the city’s “Open Restaurants” program in
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Where Have All the Theaters Gone?
Show opens MAY 25- JUNE 4 (Every evening at 8pm, except closed May 31) By Dan Bianchi When I had first moved into the downtown theatre environment as a working artist, 45 years ago, New York City was quite a different place. Not only was it the murder capital of the world with its sirens
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The Right Pick
By Teddy Capsis and Gabriela Beavers Welcome to The Right Pick, your guide to confronting the city’s most overwhelming predicament: “Where should we go to eat?” This monthly column will feature a variety of date spots that you won’t want to miss, so keep an eye out for what’s to come. With the explosion of
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LATE BREAKING NEWS…
As we were going to press, WestView News learned of one of the most egregious abuses of tenant rights we have ever heard—displaced tenant Deborah Privitello facing off against billionaire landlord Francis Greenburger/Time Equities. Her family’s home is the last rent-stabilized unit in one of Greenburger’s buildings, and it’s been decimated from flooding, a leaking
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Buggy Whips vs Batteries
By Gordon Hughes I was having lunch the other day in the Village with two friends, good friends, for whom I have great respect. They were both of the firm conviction that battery power would never replace fossil fuel energy for automobiles, farm equipment or household electrical needs etc. They sincerely believe there is no
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Opening the New Rooftop Park at Pier 57
By Brian J Pape, AIA The roof of Pier 57 is New York City’s largest public rooftop park, and is now open to the general public daily from 7am – 10pm all year. Brad Hoylman joined Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, Congressman Nadler and Council Member Bottcher in mid-April at the ribbon-cutting. Featuring nearly two acres
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Publisher with Commitment
Our esteemed publisher, George Capsis, was recently the focus of a feature in the Greek newspaper, The National Herald. Many thanks to the publishers for allowing us to reprint the article. Read on for great insight into George’s heritage. By Penelope Karageorge Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has tagged her neighbor, George Capsis, 94, the “king
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Washington Square Park SOS Instagram Keeps Tabs on Police and Predators
By Sophia Astor For most people who use Instagram, the perfect place to take selfies or post photos of the city’s golden youth sporting alternative fashions is in front of the iconic landmarks in Washington Square Park. For the owner of the @washingtonsquareparksos Instagram account, it’s a tool for monitoring police activity and to warn
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The Board Meeting at St. Vincent’s
By Roger Paradiso “This was a well-thought-out plan,” said Tom Shanahan, a lawyer for a group of former St. Vincent doctors and nurses suing St. Vincent’s. “They wanted out and had to justify it to the state. They were running it into the ground.” DA Cy Vance’s team is looking into whether vendors double-billed for
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Greenwich Village Little League’s 2022 Opening Day
By Anthony Paradiso The Major League Baseball (MLB) season is in full swing and so is the Greenwich Village Little League’s spring season! Last year only “mini opening days” were held according to GVLL President Peter Marino but this season has been more like the way it was before the pandemic. The opening day ceremony
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A Rabbi for the Village and for All Time: Irving J. Block
Carol F. Yost Rabbi Irving J. Block (1923-2002) thought it was important that he had been born on St. Patrick’s Day, his brother Allen was born on All Saints’ Day, and his son Herbert was born on Easter Sunday at the beginning of the third day of Passover. To him it meant “we were an
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Yoga Therapy—What It Is & How to Get Started
By Dana Jean Costantino Yoga and Therapy are two practices for the mind and body that are ever more important these days. We all seem to be so much more in-tune with the desire to get grounded, stay grounded and be well in mind, body, soul and spirit. As it turns out, there is in
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Beth Soll & Company to Premiere Four Dances and a New Film at Westbeth
Beth Soll & Company May 7 and May 8 at 8pm Westbeth Center for the Arts, 55 Bethune Street Tickets $18 Ticket link: sollearthlydances.brownpapertickets.com When is the last time you went to a live performance featuring four premiere dance works and a film? And when is the last time you saw the choreographer of those
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A Pre-War Building in the West Village
By Gordon Hughes It’s very prestigious for people on the Upper East Side or for that matter Upper West Side to say they live in a pre-war building. They are rather cocky about that fact. It means the building was erected before World War II. Well I live in a pre-war building in the West
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LOCAL STREETSCAPES: NYU’s Mercer Street ‘Zipper” Building
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP First came the 20-year New York University (NYU) plan, then came the lawsuits. By the summer of 2015, NYU got court approval to proceed with the planned 1.9 million square-foot expansion in Greenwich Village. From 2015-17, NYU demolished their reinforced concrete Coles Sports Center, an aging, two-story gym, displacing
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The West Village: A Place to Belong
By Lachlan Wills A week ago I boarded a flight in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia. 30 hours later, I arrived in New York City. The last time I had been in New York was March, 2020. Staying in midtown, I witnessed the most extraordinary thing: The City That Never Sleeps was put to bed.
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City Councilman Erik Bottcher Delivers Essential Supplies with Innovative Nonprofit, ShelterShare
City Councilman Erik Bottcher joined ShelterShare founder, Anthony Valencia, for a delivery of donated supplies to New Alternatives, a nonprofit provider helping unhoused New Yorkers with a focus on LGBTQ youth. ShelterShare provides a user-friendly online platform to connect domestic violence and homeless shelters with generous, caring donors. Their unique platform allows anyone to purchase
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An Unsung Hero of the West Village: How a Ukrainian Doctor Is Helping Her Homeland
By Anastasia Kaliabakos On Thursday February 24, 2022, the world watched a largely anticipated Russian invasion of Ukraine take place—the largest military conflict to occur in Europe since the Second World War. In February of 2014, Russia annexed Crimea during the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. Additionally, ever since 2021, the Russians have begun to build
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Notes From Away: It’s a Long Way To Tipperary
By Tom Lamia As I settle in to compose something short, meaningful and topical each month, a historical reference often intrudes on my thoughts. Last month it was “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” My subject was to be the travails of good intentions gone wrong in the
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Working on the Permanent Open Restaurant Program
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP The development of Outdoor Dining in New York City continues to evolve. The Open Restaurants website of the city at nyc.gov/ DOT provides updated information on what the city is working on; this is an overview of the current status. The New York City government (“City”) seeks to develop
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The Changing Earth: Monotypes by Claire Rosenfeld
Opening: Tuesday, April 5, 6-8 PM Revelation Gallery 224 Waverly Place April 5-28, 2022 Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11AM-3 PM (Closed April 14 and 18) Claire Rosenfeld is a New York City-based visual artist working in painting and experimental printmaking. Her work is figurative expressionist, utilizing imagery that moves between figuration and abstraction. Ms. Rosenfeld has exhibited
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Village Diary: Westbeth, Ben, and Beyond
By Pago Habitans* On an unusually warm winter morning I headed out for a walk along the Hudson River esplanade. Approaching Bank Street, I saw a small group gathered around a tall figure who was, I quickly realized, my elusive friend Brother Ben. The group seemed intent on what Ben was saying, and followed his
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Shoplifting Besieges the West Village
By Frank Quinn The West Village is struggling with the citywide plague of shoplifting, raising troubling new concerns. Particularly vulnerable are large chain stores that don’t expect employees to confront thieves and potentially risk their own safety or the wellbeing of customers. Some stores have closed, such as the long-time Rite Aid on Sixth Avenue
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TikTokers Convene at Washington Square Park
By Sophia Astor The park was mostly deserted one frigid day last January when TikTok creator Jonothon Lyons managed to slip in incognito. Since the 40-year-old performance artist’s videos, or TikToks, from the park went viral a couple of years back, these moments of anonymity have become less frequent. And they don’t last long. The
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Jane Jacobs Deserves A Statue
By Michael Astor With massive glass towers rising to crowd Manhattan’s skyline and chain stores and bank branches littering every corner below, Greenwich Village stands out as an oasis in a sea of uniformity. But a slew of development projects nibbling at the Village’s edges are threatening the neighborhood’s special character. Rezoning plans are going
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Village Diary: “Quiet!” She Shouted
By Pago Habitans* Libraries are just about the only public spaces where complete quiet is the guiding principle. Into those silent sanctuaries a congregation of New Yorkers retreats daily to research, read, write, think, dream, or simply get warm in cold weather and cool off in the summer. The West Village has easy access to
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Red “W” Goes Out
The good news is that the annoying and dangerous large neon “W” on top of the W hotel in Hoboken has been dark all week. I have written about this atrocity previously, providing evidence of its damage to both humans and river life, and have been rejoicing that my Hudson River view is not scarred
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George Capsis is on a Mission to Bring a Hospital to Our West Village
By Roger and Anthony Paradiso George Capsis, the publisher of this paper, is on a mission. He wants to see a modern hospital built to replace St. Vincent’s Hospital, which was taken from this community on April 30, 2010. In its place came an emergency room run by Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider.
