Abstracted from “A Scientists View of Almost Everything” by Mark M Green When the Scots revolted against the feudal demands of Edward I and mustered an army around the turn of the fourteenth century it lead to a massive English response causing the Scots to lose their richest and most populous city, Berwick. According to
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor My fashion sense was influenced by the ’80s glam metal scene, which was fomented by the punk rock scene in NYC in the ’70s. The Velvet Underground was Andy Warhol’s house band, spawning Lou Reed’s shattering Rock n Roll Animal in 1973. At the same time, Jean-Michel Basquiat was
By Malcolm J. Bowman Storm surges and sea level rise represent existential threats to the future well-being of New York City, coastal New Jersey and the south coast of Long Island. Superstorm Sandy was a rude awakening to the clear and present danger of how climate change and rising sea levels threaten the very existence
By Tom Lamia It has been a strange summer in Maine. No stranger, perhaps, than yours in the West Village, but maybe a different kind of strange. I have spoken in this column before about the dependence of Maine’s economy on summer visitors. It is a well-known characteristic of life in Maine, whether for “Mainers”
By Anastasia Kaliabakos The Hagia Sophia, a remarkable model for Orthodox churches and beautiful example of Byzantine architecture, has recently been in the news due to its sudden conversion from a historic museum to a mosque. Located in Istanbul, Turkey, this structure has stood the test of time, serving as a place of worship for
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles were the two main Byzantine Greek architects that Emperor Justinian I commissioned to design the cathedral Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from 532 to 537. Hagia Sophia means Holy Wisdom. The church is also known as Ayasofya (Turkish), Sancta Sophia (Latin), and Church
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Although deeply rooted in Greenwich Village, CAS’s roots go deeper and wider than that. Looking back at some early social service efforts, German educator Friedrich Froebel opened the world’s first kindergarten (the word translates as “children’s garden”) in Blankenburg, Germany in 1837. This was a radical move, as children
By Christina Raccuia For many of us, this crisis has forced us to change direction. Many of my friends and patients have lost jobs, businesses, investments, and loved ones. Familiar routines are gone, and the security many people felt before was gone in an instant. While there is a great deal of tragedy in the
By Barry Benepe I once asked my therapist, Alice Gerstman, how many people who had returned to life from death were grateful and how many disturbed at being wakened from a deep sleep. She replied, “About half and half”. None reported a glimpse of heaven or even purgatory. Several years ago, a close friend told
By Sandra DiPasqua This is a story about the creative writing program for senior citizens that I have been organizing for the past three years, and some of the ways that it has made a difference in these seniors’ lives. We come together around a rectangular table each week to share stories and memories. Our
Follow us on Instagram @styleonthestreet_WestViewNews Submit your favorite neighborhood fashion looks for a chance to be featured. Photos by Dusty Berke and Karilyn Prisco.
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP When I bought the former home of Walter Williams in 2000, totally unaware of its illustrious past, the purchase changed my life. Williams built his Federalist-style brick home in 1917 during his years as the founding Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in
By Eric Uhlfelder For decades, when I ventured to the Catskills it was to ski. When the temperatures turned hot and humid, I would head to the East End of Long Island to pleasant hotels and B&Bs. My photography hung in local galleries, and for a long time I felt a part of the place.
By Keith Michael It’s the summer birding doldrums. I’m sitting on a shady bench in Hudson River Park. An unexpected boat regatta just sailed upriver, flags flying, horns celebrating. A decade ago, Millie would have pulled me to the park this Sunday afternoon and demanded to be lifted up onto this bench —too high for
By Robert Heide and John Gilman *lyric from the song Bleecker Street from Simon/Garfunkel album Wednesday Morning, 3 AM – 1964 Recently, in virtual quarantine during these pandemic times, heeding the constant reminders to stay home and only when it was essential to go out, to wear our masks, we became nostalgic for better times,
HERE TODAY … JULY 9, at the corner of Greenwich Street and West 12th, I discovered a ‘Work in Progress’ by artist Myra Lobel. By JULY 12 the second panel was finished And then, on JULY 15, I arrived to find a very different kind of work in progress And on the 16th the panels
Richaud is a an actor and producer who became a baker during the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. His delicious baguettes are now being baked in increasing numbers in the West Village. Recently featured on Good Morning America and in Forbes magazine, the word is getting out that there is an authentic and native French
By Joseph Mintz, Co-Founder, Siponey Growing up in Greenwich Village, I remember the independent stores of Bleecker Street, the 24-hour bodegas, the numerous Chinese restaurants, and the seemingly endless variety of people and high level of energy on the streets.Today, after COVID-19 has sickened, killed, and economically ruined many people of our community and our
By Isa Covo 2020 should have been a great year. We talk of 20/20 vision, well this year it was certainly lacking. The government was aware of COVID’s existence since late 2019 but did not consider it as contagious as it turned out to be. Even the medical establishment did not realize the danger to
By Brian J. Pape In and Out, by Caroline Benveniste (WestView News, July 2020), reported the flurry of re-openings of restaurants with outdoor seating that were able to take advantage of the city’s “open restaurant plan” for more than 8,600 businesses. Gene’s “Est. 1919” Restaurant at 73 West 11th Street has been closed for months,
In addition to more re-openings this month, there were also a number of actual openings, something we’ve not seen much of since early this year. And we noticed some signs of additional openings to come. Sadly, as expected, a number of places have decided to close permanently as a result of the challenges they’ve faced
Yesterday I interviewed my friend Ramsey Clark, 92, about his lifelong relationship with his great friend John Lewis. Ramsey Clark was Attorney General during The Great Society and wrote and supervised both the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He said of his beloved friend Lewis, with whom he
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Years of debate went into how our westside riverfront should be designed. Many of our readers will recall when the Hudson River Park (HRP) opened 20 years ago, or even 12 years ago, when the public esplanade had a string of sturdy masonry comfort stations plus an elegant little
By Roger Paradiso Not long ago, the New York Daily News reported that Governor \Cuomo had extended the statewide moratorium on evictions through the end of August, and promised that New Yorkers won’t get booted from their homes or businesses for being unable to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic. The moratorium, which was set
By Jesse Robert Lovejoy Recently I heard from guy I knew as an undergrad at Yale in the 1960s. He’s been at work collecting several thousand signatures from alumni in order to get on the ballot for next year’s election of alumni trustees. He’s an impressive guy with an impressive career, and would like to
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. My first column in WestView News appeared a year ago. How has my column added to the general discussion? What has been the response from readers? Have people found it valuable? How much funding did my column help raise for the charitable cause I set out to support? I invite any
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Last month’s WestView News articles about NYC’s Gansevoort Market Waterfront and the 1811 Street Grid stirred several responses from readers, who sent their map copies or suggestions of archives of maps, for which we are grateful. I was asked to provide a follow-up with maps (of which there are
By Charlie Caruso No trust, no trust. Sexual love comes and goes. Family love lives forever. Why do TV audiences scream like maniacs? AARF: an organization for elderly dogs. Football playoffs should be played in summer not February when everyone including the fans are exhausted. To avoid reality watch the TV news. The first letter
By Kieran Loughney Isolation. Lockdown. Seclusion. Words now part of my daily conversation bring me back to a time when these terms had a different context. I return in my mind to a place where another invisible enemy was confronted. A place where there were strict limits on personal freedom and no assurance of a
By Adrianna Bojrab As a Midwestern transplant typically located in the Lower West Side of New York City (just barely West Village, per city neighborhood boundaries, but cross the street and you’re in the East Village), I often hear of NYC referenced as a tough place. As it goes, the city gives you thick skin
By Russell Sara “His mask is bigger than his Speedo.” “Look straight ahead, honey.” I gripped Steve’s hand with my wedding ring in full view. Onward we marched along the six-foot-wide wooden boardwalk, our masks up, holding a chilled bottle of Guiluhem 2018, our house rosé that we consumed in copious amounts like Kool-Aid at
By Bennett Kremen When a raven-haired, high-minded beauty like Anyaskaya d’Borovik, the renowned doyenne of a spirited Greenwich Village dance troop, succumbs in passion to a rugged, willful man like “Sonny Boy” Aiello, the question always asked is, “Why?” Anya, a sophisticated, fiercely dedicated artist, flourishing in radiance throughout my novel, The Performance, keeps pushing
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD I’ve written about how I disagreed with Trump on political grounds, but this piece is why I oppose him on serious medical grounds. After impeachment early this year, Democrats, including myself, were starting to plan for the election in November. When COVID came in, everything changed as life and death decisions
By Katie Keith “Mark it Covid” has become a phrase around our house. I’m not sure exactly what it’s a placeholder for. “Put a Fork in It”, maybe. “So It Goes,” is a possibility (Vonnegut). Or it could be just a thing to yell across the room after weeks on end of spending too much
By Bruce Poli Earlier this year I was driving on 14th St. in the right lane. In the left lane was a police formation of several cars. Suddenly a van was sticking out into my lane so I put on my left turn signal, waited for the right space between police cars, went around the
By Michael Duane Johnson Throughout the entire shutdown of our City, The Church of the Village United Methodist Church located on the corner of 13th Street and 7th Avenue continued their ministry of hospitality by providing pantry and emotional support to thousands of New Yorkers seeking food for nourishment and human contact for others needing
By Roberta Curley I can still hear her slurping from Liza’s collapsible bowl, never declining a sip— tho longing to tumble and roll. A “little lamb”—face full of hope, ears flip-floppy, eyes black and bold. Six pounds of fluff, never glum nor gruff, Mia offered petters sensory pleasure. Now she illuminates city skies—a beacon day
