By Tim Ferguson Jazz is still alive in Greenwich Village. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly challenging for presenters and musicians, we may be starting to see some hope as we begin to emerge from our collective nightmare. While many jazz musicians have lost all or most of their incomes this year, and jazz
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CB2 Nabs Community Rehearsal Space
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP The Community Board Two of Manhattan (CB2) has announced the creation of an Arts Advisory Panel Task Force to organize new community rehearsal space. Recognizing the pressing need for these spaces for theater, dance, music, and other arts groups, CB2 has negotiated very low-cost, nearly free, rehearsal space at
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The Fruitman Returns!
By Harry Almendar I have worked the corner of 7th Avenue and 12th Street with my amazing fruit cart for over 20 years. The last few have been quite rocky, but on March 23rd, after a 16-month absence, I returned to my space in front of the AIDS Memorial Park! Until 2018 I’d worked that
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New Delivery Service Empowers Small Businesses
By Anthony Valencia With many businesses closed down or recovering from the devastating effects of the global pandemic, a new service aims to empower small businesses and encourage consumers to shop locally. Pyazza was started in the West Village by a group of neighbors who decided to take action late last year after seeing many
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Village Vintner Salutes the Real Women of Booze
By Karen Rempel As you walk past Village Vintner on Sixth Avenue between West 10th and West 11th, you might do a double-take. An eye-catching display proclaims “The Real Women of Booze,” with a magnetic layout of women and bottles of alcohol on pedestals—two of our favorite things! To celebrate Women’s History Month in March,
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GREENWICH VILLAGE LEGENDS—James Baldwin, la Vie de la Village
By Bruce Poli James Baldwin, writer, philosopher, gay African American activist (new acronym GAAA) from Paris to Harlem, is one of the most celebrated creative figures of the 20th century. He was born in Harlem Hospital and lived in Harlem during his childhood, however his frequent home and visitations later were in Greenwich Village. It
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SoHo-NoHo Rezoning Could Be Applied to The West Village
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Who will benefit from the Envision SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan’s rezoning and housing proposals? The Department of City Planning (DCP), as a sponsor of the project, made a commitment to the community when it started the process on Feb. 11, 2019. More than 250 people attended the meeting held at
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Free Virtual Event Takes You Inside the World of Integral Yoga
By Chandra/Jo Sgammato On Saturday, April 10 at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 11 at 12 noon, you are invited to explore the meaning of one of Greenwich Village’s most beloved and longest standing institutions. Whether you have attended yoga classes and programs inside the beautiful building at 227 West 13th Street or
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Big Win! Lawsuit Brings Elevators to 14th Street Subway Stops! Schumer Demands Funding
On Saturday, March 27, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer paid a visit to the West Village. Standing with Arthur Schwartz, candidate for City Council, Borough President Gale Brewer, and disability rights advocates, he demanded full funding not only for elevators the MTA has agreed to at 6th and 7th Avenue at 14th Street, but for
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City Council Candidate Finds New Way to Shop Local
By Leslie Boghosian Murphy Local businesses have long been the economic heartbeat of our neighborhoods in New York City. How many of us have been saved by a 24-hour deli when we suddenly discovered we’d run out of milk, diapers or ice cream? Or experienced the joy of finding a perfect anniversary card for that
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The Fight to Restore All Subway Service and Reduce the Fares
By Arthur Schwartz I am going to start by using numbers, not rhetoric. Forty percent of all commutes to work are done by subway or bus. Another 40% are done by walking (yes, walking). Two percent are accomplished by bicycle. Walking and taking the subway and bus (if it is an electric bus) are sustainable
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Valentine’s Day 2021, St. John’s in the Village, Live Streaming Concert
Valentine’s Day 2021, St. John’s in the Village, Live Streaming Concert: Romance of the Violin featured in photo L-R: Franz Rembart & Christine Hansen, Claire & Alex Drong (Concert Sponsors), Performing Artists, Samuel Gray & Riko Higuma (pianist) and Rector Fr. Graeme Special thanks to Li-Lac Chocolates for sponsoring the delicious chocolates! For more info
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Self-Care Meditation
By Dana Jean Costantino As we approach a full year of life under Covid restrictions, many of us are beginning to feel fatigued. Fatigued from not being able to be as social as we once were, from video conference calls rather than in-person meetings, from taking on roles that we weren’t playing at this time
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Opening a Restaurant: A West Village Production
By Reed MacNaughton “How do I open a restaurant?” they asked me. Their minds were made up, arguing was useless at this point. They understood the climate—the arena they were stepping into—so I felt the best answer was to ask more questions: “Well, where would you like to start?” “That’s just it,” they responded, “I
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540 Hudson Street Finally Gets LPC Nod
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP The familiar Caribe vans and delivery vehicles parked at the corner lot of Hudson and Charles Streets, a former gasoline station and garage, probably a contaminated brownfield site, will have to move out when construction on a new seven-story building begins. Caribe is the maintenance arm of the William
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Manhattan’s First Public ‘Beach’ Is in the West Village
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP News outlets are atwitter with excitement for the “first public beach” in Manhattan, and it’s going to be right here in the West Village! There is reason to be excited for what’s coming in 2023, for the new Gansevoort Peninsula will be 5.5 acres of the largest new uninterrupted
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First Skyscraper Coming to West Village
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Plans have been approved for the first ever skyscraper in the West Village. At an ‘unprecedented’ height of 420’, Clarkson Square is planned for the full block at Washington Street and West Houston Street. Greenwich Villagers have had no skyscrapers, and few hi-rise apartment options to live in. Number
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Thoughts About Racism, Our History in Greenwich Village, and the Tasks Ahead
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It now seems like a long, long time ago, but it was only last June, after the horrific murder of George Floyd, that our city and over two-thirds of our country, was united around the cause of racial justice. It began on May 31st, the day after the videos of the
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September was the Cruelest Month: We Lost Isaac from Isaac’s Barber Shop
By John F. Early “In The Waste Land (1922), T.S. Eliot wrote convincingly that ‘April is the cruelest month,’ but a case can be made for September.” (from a September, 2008 article written by Ronnie Rittenberry about the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.) September 11th. Even approaching twenty years on, words can still fail us. And
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Love Blooms and Endures in the West Village
By Kieran Loughney “…I don’t really know her, but I think I could love her, Crimson and Clover, over and over.” The two of us held hands on a pier at Hudson River Park. Patti, a woman I barely knew, had touched the phone in her pocket to play the song. The move seemed bold
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Rising from the Ashes of Bleecker Street
By Karilyn Prisco Fireplace, a consignment store and “functional art hub” has opened at 409 Bleecker Street despite the freezes and closures of neighboring boutiques. To those who reminisce about the Bleecker Street of yore, rejoice! Fireplace is employee-owned by a team of New Yorkers in their twenties—a stylist and an artist are among them.
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Food Scrap Collection
By Ede Rothaus Food scrap collection is up and running again in our neighborhoods after being shut down by COVID-19 prevention measures. Led by the LES Ecology Center and various community groups citywide, this is one important piece of New York City’s collective effort to reduce its climate footprint. The LES Ecology Center composts drop-off
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Working to Save West Village Restaurants
By Maggie Berkvist By late December, we at WestView News felt the recent congressional stimulus package was not going to begin to cover our West Village restaurants’ needs, and that we should try to do something to help by publicizing the problem and, hopefully, come up with some serious alternative support systems closer to home. We wrote to
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NYC “Housing Connect” Offers Affordable Housing
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Clarkson Square is two gigantic towers, 430 feet high, designed for 1,586 residential units, filling the entire block from Houston to Clarkson Streets and Washington to West Streets. Critically needed permanently affordable housing, with flexible units for senior citizens, will provide filtered fresh air, biodynamic lighting, and access to
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Michael Salomon Morton
Michael Salomon Morton died on January 7, 2021, at his home in Lyme, NH, after a year of treatment for Glioblastoma. Mike was born on September 30, 1958, and grew up in Lexington, MA. He attended Dartmouth, disappointing his Harvard-man father. In 1984, Mike began work for Teradyne, followed by Infocom and Lotus. There was
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Real Estate Corner
By Scotty Elyanow It would be an understatement to say that real estate in 2020 has been quite a challenge. While people here and across the country were writing the obituary for NYC, we New Yorkers who have stayed did what we could to prop up our local businesses, be good neighbors, and simply live
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Apartment Available At WestView
A lovely apartment with a marble fireplace overlooking the garden is available at 69 Charles Street. Village rents are coming down, making this luxury apartment available with access to historic garden in WestView 1886 building. We are aware of the 20% drop in Village rents. Call George Capsis 212 924 5718—rent concession for right tenant.
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A Capsis Family Celebration
WestView Publisher George Capsis (right) is surrounded by his family at his recent birthday celebration. Seated left to right are his daughter-in-law Ariadne, son Doric and granddaughter Sophia. Grandson Teddy was unable to attend. Photo by Dusty Berke.
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A Long Strange Trip to the West Village and a 2021 Resolution
By Kieran Loughney The neon-green down parka was more functional safety gear than fashion statement. Stuffed in my backpack with a Grateful Dead tape, a few changes of clothes, a toothbrush, Buck knife and road atlas, it would serve me on wind-blown highways and alert approaching drivers that I was on the berm, with thumb
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Local West Village Artist Supports Cure for AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. Until it was shuttered by the pandemic, Carlos Abisaab worked as a waiter in West Village favorite Barbuto. Finding himself out-of-work and bored, he created a family-friendly, LGBTQ-themed adult coloring book. The coloring book was launched on Amazon starting on World AIDS Day 2020 with 5% of proceeds going to Research
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Livable Streets Part III : Where They Are Headed
By Barry Benepe In the earlier part of this series, I pointed out how our former Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan advanced the design and use of streets to make them more pedestrian friendly. An excellent example was the reclaiming of the east side of Broadway above 17th Street for cafe tables and green plantings. In
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Alice—A Lovechild Restaurant Is Born in the Pandemic
By Karen Rempel The restaurant lifespan in New York has shriveled like a dried chanterelle. NY Eater estimates that 1,000 restaurants closed between March and November. The Office of the New York State Comptroller recently reported that New York City’s restaurant industry had 23,650 establishments in 2019, and projected that one-third to one-half of these
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Pompeii Flea Market/Bleecker Street Market
By Ede Rothaus Interview with Sheila Strong, Manager As part of WestView News’ ongoing coverage of the impact the Coronavirus has had on our Village community, this reporter visited the flea market on Bleecker Street adjacent to Our Lady of Pompeii Church and had a series of interviews with Sheila Strong, the Market’s manager. Following
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ShiZ’ka, Pianist
Join us on December 12 at 7:30 PM Powerhouse Classical Pianist SHIZ’KA Premieres “PASSAGGIO E IMPULSO” By Denise Marsa ShiZ’ka continues her association with St. John’s in the Village Musae and Denise Marsa Productions to perform her third live stream concert on Saturday, December 12th, at 7:30 p.m. The recital will feature music from her
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Community Events from Project NYC and The West 13th Street Alliance
By Birgitte Philippides-Delaney and Chandra/Jo Sgammato December is shaping up to be a busy month for Project NYC and The West 13th Street Alliance, with a variety of community events and a Virtual Holiday Gathering! But first, let’s look back on November. Along with our popular and therapeutic Yoga for Arthritis and Chronic Pain series,
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Local Finds. Local Love.
Support some of our favorite West Village shops and designers. Curated by Karilyn Prisco Stephen Hall Art Pillows & Totes stephenhallart.com IG @samanthahall666 KEENTU 345 Bleecker “Teardrop Threader Hoops -Kenya” & “Mohawk Crossbody Bag – S. Africa” keentu.com IG @shop_keentu Death to Tennis Color burn, micro corduroy “Finbar Lava” Jacket deathtotennis.com IG
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327 Bleecker Demolition Begins
By Brian J Pape, AIA At what seems to be a snail’s pace, the demolition of the derelict building at 327 Bleecker, southeast corner of Christopher Street, has finally begun. Passers-by as long ago as 2010 noticed bulging exterior walls exhibiting cracks in the brickwork and trim. The city had to order its evacuation while
