By Roger Paradiso On a cool spring day we were sitting around the round table in George’s house on Charles Street. George was sick with a very bad cold. He heard our voices and made his way out of his bedroom sniffling, coughing, and looking a little green. But once I began talking about movies
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The Future of Our Fields
By Lara S. Mullarkey The sun broke through on the morning of Saturday, April 6 just in time to shine on Greenwich Village Little League’s Opening Day. Hundreds of families flooded Pier 40, along with a roster of local politicians including Deborah Glick, Brad Hoylman, Corey Johnson, Brian Kavanagh, Scott Stringer, and Madelyn Wils (president
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks: ‘Tis the Season for Comings and Goings
—And all the signs that “Summer Is Icumen In”!
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IN AND OUT
This month we noticed a higher number of openings than during the colder months. A long-time Village bookstore returned, while another closed. Openings outnumbered closings on Bleecker Street, something that did not go unnoticed in a March 2019 article in The Commercial Observer which stated: “Bleecker Street retail has gone through several rapid changes in
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My Favorite Restaurant
We’re asking readers of WestView to submit a description of their favorite neighborhood restaurant. The review we select for publication receives a FREE one year subscription to WestView News. Please submit your local favorite to: westviewarticles@gmail.com GRAND PRIZE WINNER Roberta Curley Recommends: TAVERN ON JANE Jane and Leroy Streets When I crave unique, inventively prepared fresh
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Pier 40: What to Do, Again
By Brian J. Pape To quote a beloved Yogi-ism: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” At a heated Community Board 2 public hearing on April 18th, the CB2 response to elected officials’ request to change the Hudson River Park (HRP) Act of 1998 was discussed, specifically regarding possible legislation to allow development of commercial
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Pharma to Farm: Pharmacy to Farm Prescriptions Program
By Ede Rothaus A “Win, Win, Win.” How many times do we hear of—well—anything that actually matches that description? (Anything that meets that criteria?) Good news! A new program created by New York City’s Department of Health does. And people taking medication for high blood pressure, farmers at Greenmarkets in all five boroughs, and local
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The Shed at Hudson Yards
By Donna Schaper The Shed has opened its doors at Hudson Yards—and it will benefit from the best tax write-off yet for a structure that probably wins the prize for the most public money ever given to a development in New York City. That takes some doing. Calling itself “a new ritual space,” bothers me
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De Blasio to Village and Chelsea: Drop Dead!
By Arthur Schwartz Just before WestView went to press, Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped a bombshell on us: 14th Street is going to be closed to cars starting in June and they will be directed to go across town on 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Streets. Without a single community leader or elected
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They Came for the Rally and Stayed for the Wake
By Cynthia Chaffee and Mary Ann Miller On a rainy, chilly, first full day of spring, a surprising number of people showed up at the White Horse Tavern on Hudson and 11th Streets—the reason? The sale of the building to the notorious landlord Steve Croman. The White Horse Tavern opened in 1880 and has been
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A Historic Renovation for Jefferson Market Library
By Frank Collerius For 50 years, the Jefferson Market Library has been a staple of the Greenwich Village community, offering traditional library services and innovative programs such as Jefferson Market University, popular storytime programs, and exhibitions that celebrate the history of our neighborhood. The building—originally a courthouse well known for its role in notable criminal
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Five Cosmopolitan Artists at Westbeth Gallery in April
By Jane Heil Usyk “Worlds Seen and Unseen” is the name of this show featuring five well-traveled women who have been practicing their art for many years. It opens Friday, March 29th, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and will run from March 29th through April 20th, 2019. The hours of operation are 12:00 p.m. to 6:00
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Greenwich Village Staple Collaborates with NYC’s Music Venue Darlings to Feature Emerging Artists
See them Up-Close and Personal thanks to the New York Presenters Consortium A staple of the downtown new music scene since 2015, the Uncharted Concert Series at Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) has emerged as one of New York’s most exciting and unpredictable live concert series, and it’s right here in Greenwich Village. This year
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Both Sides Now: Celebrating the Legacy of Joni Mitchell
By Cal Smith In Celebration of Joni Mitchell’s 75th birthday, the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, and in continuation of her ongoing seven-year celebration of the music of Joni Mitchell, West Village resident Hannah Reimann will present concert performances of Mitchell’s music, entitled Both Sides Now, from April 22th through May 4th as part of Fort
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Karen’s Quirky Style
The National Arts Club celebrated Jo Weldon’s new book, Fierce: The History of Leopard Print, in March, with a leopard-spotted event that had stylish New Yorkers turning out in truck-loads of faux pelts adorning every imaginable garment from boots to hats. Touted as a “neutral,” leopard prints might have been invented as nature’s camo, but
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Mademoiselle Mirabelle Brings Ooh La La to Bleecker Street
By Karen Rempel Mademoiselle Mirabelle alighted on Bleecker Street in mid-January, with a Parisian cocktail party to say “bienvenue” to her new neighbors. The store is owner Nicole Nicholson’s second location. The mother store, Boutique Mirabelle, at 1310 Madison Avenue, has become so successful after 30 years that it practically runs itself. Ready for a
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Our Lifetime in The Village
By Carol and Richard Quigley, as told to Brian J. Pape, AIA This is the story of Carol and Richard Quigley (CQ and RQ), life-long residents of Greenwich Village. Part of the “Baby Boomer” generation, they grew up during the economic and cultural changes of the 1950s and ’60s right here in the West Village.
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Reminiscence
By Judy K. Gilbert I met my husband sixty years ago on a transatlantic crossing. We were on the steamship SS Liberté, both of us off to Europe, but for very different reasons. Elliott had finally amassed enough money to take his first European trip, and I had received a scholarship for intensive study of piano
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Alert: Mad Anti-Immigrant Paint-Thrower on the Loose in the Village
In March on Washington Street near Westbeth someone threw red paint over the sign in my car rear window that said “Welcome Refugees and Immigrants—Arab-American Center, Brooklyn.” In January, same street, someone threw white paint over my Bernie Sanders Bumper Sticker. In December in Westbeth someone slashed the poster on my door with a picture of
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Caffe Reggio: 92-year-old Café in the Heart of the West Village
By Anthony Paradiso Caffe Reggio is a 92-year-old coffee shop nestled right in the heart of the West Village at 119 MacDougal Street between Thompson and Minetta Lane. I walked down from Sixth Avenue and walked over to MacDougal Street, where I came across a coffee shop that looked different from the rest. You can’t
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Restoration Hardware Transforms Historic Market District Wagon Shed
By Martica Sawin No doubt many West Villagers received, along with the Saturday, March 16th, New York Times, a glossy 360-page publication whose cover featured the former wagon shed in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. This was once the location of Pastis—across from the Gansevoort Hotel—and more recently, an empty site fronted by a thin brick facade
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
The Signs are All Around—At Last! All photos by Maggie Berkvist.
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Notes From Away: Spring Break
By Tom Lamia It’s mid-March in South Bristol, Maine. The flora and fauna have not yet shown themselves to be into the resurrection-of-life phase of the calendar year. Well, let me qualify that—this morning two deer were seen foraging on the far side of the ice and snow encrusted pond that lies behind my house.
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IN AND OUT
The title of this month’s In & Out could be “Delayed Gratification.” There were just two openings, a number of closings, but lots of projects in the works. There continues to be increased activity in the Bedford/Downing/Carmine area, and a couple of Korean restaurants are coming, replacing Do Hwa which closed last month. Open Chama
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Remembrances of the Lost Village: Judson Memorial Church
By Roger Paradiso On a cold and brisk October day in the Village, I made my way through Washington Square Park passing many fellow strangers. I wondered if they knew? I wondered if they knew that Judson Church and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) were going back in time to celebrate the greatest cultural
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My Favorite Restaurant
We asked and you answered! We received many responses to our query for your favorite neighborhood restaurants. Our first winner is Dee Vitale Henle, who enjoys EN Japanese Brasserie. The winner receives a FREE one year subscription to WestView News. Please submit your local favorite to: westviewarticles@gmail.com GRAND PRIZE WINNER Dee Vitale Henle Recommends EN
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Should Abner Be Deported?
By Stanley Wlodyka In the waiting area of the offices of Judson Memorial Church by Washington Square Park, a boy of around three or four sits on the floor, diligently creating a work of art with crayons for the wall behind him, which is filled with children’s drawings of houses, animals, families, and other happy
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Westbeth Announces Opening of Wait List After 12 Years
By J. Taylor Basker Westbeth Artists Housing, the largest artist housing community in the world with nearly 400 units, is located between Bethune and Bank Streets and Washington and West Streets in the former Bell Labs. It had closed its wait list in 2007 since there were many on the list, and the wait could
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City Council Takes Legal Action Against Two Bridges Proposal
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, a collection of five new residential towers are planned to include over 3,000 apartments, with retail stores at the base of each project, with 700 affordable units in the mix. However, in December 2018, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan
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Then&Now: Washington Square Park Fountain
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP In support of the many events taking place in April—Jane’s Walk, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation house tours, the 50th anniversary of the landmarking of most of the Greenwich Village District on April 29, 1969—we return to our beautiful Washington Square Park (WSP). The changes here, when considered
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Youth Is 1,000 Eyes
An attempt at self healing by George Capsis, Publisher of WestView News The paper was an accidental happening—I tried to restart the Charles Street Block Association paper started by my neighbor John McAllister perhaps 40 years ago. John was an old time New England newspaperman. I remember him wearing suspenders but he may not have—he
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DOT Finally Comes to the Table!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Flash: After nearly a year of refusing to have face to face negotiations with the 14th Street Coalition, which has led the Greenwich Village Community response to plans to shut 14th Street down to all but buses during the now cancelled L Train shutdown, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) leadership
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Congestion Pricing & Access-a-Ride: Tech Breakthroughs
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Have you adjusted to the “Sharing Economy” yet? In NYC, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is supposed to control the ride-hail world, but what has happened? Well, this has been a year, or decade, of turmoil in the ride-hail/ride-share world. The TLC oversaw 143,674 for-hire vehicles in 2015,
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Food Scrap Collection
By Ede Rothaus As one of the most environmentally aware neighborhoods in New York City, the West Village continues to further its efforts to ‘reuse reduce recycle.’ A strong example of this is our local food scrap and curbside organics collection program. Funded by the New York City Council (and its Speaker, Corey Johnson) for
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Jackson Square Park Reopens After Extensive Renovation
By Michael D. Minichiello On April 2nd at 11:00 a.m., City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and others will preside over a newly renovated Jackson Square Park, the triangle formed by Horatio Street and Eighth and Greenwich Avenues. Among other events at the ceremony, three new pin oaks will be planted to join the older ones
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MTA Taking the Piss on L-Train
By Stanley Wlodyka MTA employees were caught urinating in public while conducting work on the L Train on 14th Street near Third Avenue on Sunday, March 10th. They created a makeshift porta potty by hanging a piece of white cloth over the open rear doors of a work truck. MTA employees would disappear behind the
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Hey Mt. Sinai: What’s the Plan?
By Penny Mintz At several public meetings in 2016 and 2017, Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel announced its plan to shutter Beth Israel Hospital and replace it with scattered out-patient services and a new 70-bed hospital in a two-story building on East 13th Street. It took steps toward this goal with the piecemeal closure of four hospital
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Corey Johnson’s Vision for City May Need Glasses
By J. Taylor Basker Corey Johnson, City Council Leader, delivered his State of the City speech presenting his proposal ‘A Case for Municipal Control and a Comprehensive Transportation Vision for the Five Boroughs’ telling us what every New Yorker already knows. “Smart, well-developed transportation policy can significantly improve economic conditions and enhance public safety and
