By Robert Heide 2019 is the year that both Uta Hagen and Ellen Stewart, two great ladies of the theater, have been honored and celebrated when each would have turned 100. In the world of dates, Uta Thyra Hagen, actress and teacher, was born June 12th, 1919, in Göttingen, Germany, and died in Manhattan January
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD Be prepared to expect the unexpected. All photos by Maggie Berkvist. From still lifes To street scenes— be they mysterious… enterprising… incongruous… or reminiscent of a Hopper painting.
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The Great Hack (2019)
Film Review by Roger Paradiso –Facebook ads used by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 totaled 66,000. –Facebook ads used by the Donald Trump campaign in 2016 totaled 5.9 million. For those of you who are wondering how Donald Trump and his corrupt team stole the last election, this is a good film to see.
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Beth Israel Forum on Monday, November 4th
By Penny Mintz Few people have any leverage over the large political goings on in Washington or Albany. But when it comes to quality of life issues here in our community, there is a chance, right now, to have an impact. Mount Sinai/Beth Israel (MSBI) has plans for Beth Israel Hospital and the medical services
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The West 13th Street Alliance’s November/December Community Event Offerings
By The West 13th Street Alliance The West 13th Street Alliance is pleased to announce its November/December Community Events schedule that aims to bring together the community in a fun way with events/classes/lectures like, Exploring the Original West Village, Intro to Zumba, Holiday Card-Making, Chair Yoga and Tea and Conversation. All of these events are
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Dusty Berke Joins the Ranks of Award-Winning Artists at the Salmagundi Club’s Village Preservation Exhibit
Dusty Berke received an award for her arresting photograph Playing Statues on Bleecker on October 16th at the prestigious Salmagundi Club. The photograph of West Village model and photojournalist Karen Rempel originally appeared in the “Karen’s Quirky Style” column in the May 2019 issue of WestView News. A combination of elements contribute to the photo’s
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor With apple-picking season flying by and Thanksgiving fast approaching, I brought out my cowboy boots for this month’s adventure on Bleecker Street. The weather was still so warm on the day of the shoot that I decided to pair the boots with flared black shorts and fishnet stockings (think
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Style on the Street: Sunny Sunday
By Dusty Berke There is nothing like a sunny Sunday afternoon in The Village. So nice to see everyone out and enjoying the last days of sunshine. All photos by Dusty Berke.
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Then&Now: The Weathermen Bombsite—18 West 11th Street
By Brian J Pape, AIA THEN: The Greek Revival townhouse at 18 West 11th Street was originally built in 1845, one of four houses on the block built by Henry Brevoort Jr. for his children. It was later (in the 1920s) the home of Charles Merrill (of Merrill Lynch), whose son, the poet James Merrill,
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Visitation
By Keith Michael My phone vibrates on my desk. I hit “Send” on a work email before checking the message: Text? Gmail? Facebook messenger? Instagram notification? Millie’s photograph, of course, is the wallpaper on my phone. Her doe-like corgi eyes look up out of the palm of my hand, virtually, ever-hopeful for a treat. Tapping
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Hindsight: The West Village Committee in the Sixties
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Today’s residents of the West Village owe a lot to the activists who lived here before us. They say “Hindsight is 20/20,” but we still speculate on “what might have been.” Google the still active committee, WestVillageCommittee.html, and you’ll find a little history and their current activities, but you have
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Notes From Away: Maine History Lesson
By Tom Lamia As the State of Maine heads into its annual state of hibernation, I leave you with a few odd facts (culled from the internet, an unreliable source). For example, did you know… That well into our nation’s existence, Maine was an orphan: Neither its borders nor its sovereignty were established; Those contesting
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Talking Dirt in The Village
By Aaron William Perry, with Joanie Klar Our village—The Village—is the most fertile ground of American culture: magnificent, gritty, thoughtful, proud. Long before vogue terms like influencer or cultural creative entered popular parlance, generations of the most thoughtful, creative, and influential figures generated great turns in the evolution of our culture. Here, we walk atop
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Take the Reins and End the Slaughter
By Anastasia Kaliabakos Approximately 100,000 horses are transported annually across the United States border to be slaughtered for the sake of human consumption. People seeking to profit off of these magnificent animals cram them into crowded trucks without food or water—oftentimes for over 24 hours—to meet their demise in slaughterhouses, where many are gruesomely dismembered
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Bell Labs’ Second-Best-Kept Secret
By Catherine Revland Part Two of a series, You Must Remember This, about World War II and its relevance to our times “How do you manage genius? You don’t.” —Mervin Kelly, director of Bell Research Labs In the industrial Monopoly game of the 1940s, Bell Labs and Western Electric were Boardwalk and Park Place, an
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West Village Original: Denise Marsa
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is singer/songwriter Denise Marsa, born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1954. In addition to a decades-long career in the music business, Marsa owns Key Media Group, a public relations and marketing firm. She also mentors young singers and bands in navigating the industry. On November 26th,
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November Means Thanksgiving in the West Village
By Gordon Hughes I sit on an outside bench at Cafe Panino Mucho Gusto in a heavy shirt, and there’s a chill in the air. As I enjoy my coffee on these fall mornings, I contemplate the things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving. Being able to live here in the West Village tops my list.
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Harvest Home in October at St. John’s in the Village featuring Farm to People.
Harvest Home in October at St. John’s in the Village featuring Farm to People. Here, Anina provides delicious produce, cheese, bread and cider samples for this wonderful new service that delivers weekly from farm to apartment and doorman buildings starting at $25. Full report coming in December! farmtopeople.com
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A View from the Kitchen
By Isa Covo What do we think about when we think about November? There may be other guesses, but there is one essential one and that is Thanksgiving. There is the meal of course: the turkey, cornbread, many vegetables, different pies (usually pecan and apple). There are also the guests—those who live nearby and others
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IN AND OUT
We had some good news this month: a beloved chocolate shop did not close, a new jazz club opened, and Bleecker Street continues its metamorphosis with a couple of new shops. We also noted two spots that are either owned by women or feature products made by women. Open Top Openings Café Bohemia—15 Barrow Street
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A New Store for Li-Lac Chocolates
By Caroline Benveniste In the December 2016 issue of WestView News we ran an article entitled “The Best of Food Shopping in the West Village” in which we listed our favorite food stores. Somehow, we neglected to include a chocolate category and our readers quickly alerted us to this oversight. And, of course, the winner
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My 5 year old son Lucas is a huge Hugh Jackman fan
My 5 year old son Lucas is a huge Hugh Jackman fan, especially in his role in The Greatest Showman movie. We have watched the movie a large number of times and play the soundtrack and sing our hearts out every weekend in the car. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to attend “Hugh Jackman The
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The Village Speaks Out on Single Payer Healthcare
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD On Sunday, October 6th, residents of Greenwich Village and much of lower Manhattan had a chance to speak out on the possibility and advisability of bringing a single payer healthcare system to New York State (my article in WestView News last month was, “Want Single Payer in New York? Speak Up!”).
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Hi, Mr. G. Capsis: This is Lily. I am in third grade at PS340.
Hi, Mr. G. Capsis: This is Lily. I am in third grade at PS340. Today, I met a photographer from your newspaper who wanted a photo of me and my new puppy, George. She told us that her boss was also named George. We named him George because he first lived in the country, so
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Super “Hero”
By Robert Kroll There are around a quarter million co-op living units in “The Naked City.” There are around 80,000 supers running them. Every one of those supes has a fantastic story to tell. I will be telling at least some of these. I plan to tell the stories of my Brooklyn Heights brownstone. Nine
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A Public Housing Primer
The Housing Act of 1937 was intended to improve living conditions in cities and create quality public housing for low- and middle-income families. But after several iterations of the bill, two critical pieces were inserted. First, the Act passed with coverage for only the lowest income residents, due in part to fear that middle-income housing
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Let’s Get Real About Aging
By Gail Evans My husband and I are in our eighties and, yes, we’re slowing down. We tire more easily, take longer for daily chores, and complain about aches and pains. Still, we’re getting by. But what if our health changed or we suffered a life-changing illness? We and our concerned family would face a
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The Rise of ADA Litigation in New York
By Samuel G. Dobre, Esq. The need for a local online newspaper became dramatically evident last month when we got a call from the popular Sandwich Shoppe on Greenwich Avenue that they had been “served” with a nine page legal brief which explained in nearly undecipherable legal gobbledygook that they were not in compliance with
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NYC Helped Block President Trump’s Proposed Public Charge Rule Allocated $30 Million to Prevent the Spread of Fear
By Karen Rempel Since 2017, when President Trump took office and began trying to change US immigration policy, 78,000 New Yorkers who are eligible to receive food stamps or SNAP benefits left the program or didn’t enroll. A draft of a new “Public Charge” rule was leaked in February of 2018, and even though the
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The Villager is Dead
By Arthur Schwartz Late last year, as The Villager passed from one chain of community newspapers to another, Schneps Publications, one had to wonder about its future and that of its sister papers, Downtown Express, Manhattan Express, and Chelsea Now. All four papers started to look alike other than their mastheads. They carried the same
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Community Pharmacists Rally to Advocate for Patients Rights
By John Kaliabakos Hundreds of community pharmacists held rallies across New York State on October 23 to stand with Governor Cuomo and support legislation containing the nation’s toughest protections from prescription drug middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Village Apothecary was proud to stand alongside other independent pharmacies in the quest for fairness in
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Important Ballot Proposals—Vote November 5
By Arthur Schwartz Did you know that the polls were opened for voting on November 5 (and on our first five Early Voting Days, which have passed)? There are two important things on the ballot: We get to vote on giving Jumaane Williams the last two years on the normal four-year Public Advocate term. (Yes,
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14th Street Busway—Neighbors Cringe
By Arthur Schwartz Polly Trottenberg, New York City’s most arrogant Department of Transportation Commissioner since Robert Moses, stood on 14th Street on the morning of October 4th and declared the Busway a total success. The Busway, which has turned 14th Street into an urban oddity, sees buses come through once every 10 minutes during rush
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Presidential Candidates Pledge to Cure AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. In a crowded 2020 presidential race, taking the lead on curing AIDS may offer candidates an opportunity to differentiate themselves and resonate with voters across multiple key demographics. More than 1.1 million LGBT, African-American, Latino and female Americans are living with HIV/AIDS today. Where does each candidate stand on curing AIDS?
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There Goes the Neighborhood: The 14th Street Dilemma
Fourteenth Street is the longest cross street in New York City—river to river—and the southern border of The Grid, our 200-plus-block-long crisscross pattern of streets created “for commerce” in 1811 at the Street Commissioner’s office at the northeast corner of Bleecker and Christopher Streets, second floor. So it is Vintage West Village—and our official northern
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14th Street Bus Fiasco
I, like many Villagers, am appalled by the 14th Street fiasco. The 14th Street bus is one of the best in the city, it runs very often, you don’t have to stand waiting in the cold or rain more than a few minutes. The MTA complains that bus ridership has declined. There is a very
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Cobblestones
This is a follow up to the letter I sent about the street work being done on Horatio St. and what I consider the theft of the original 150 year old cobblestones. Besides writing to Council President Corey Johnson’s office I also wrote to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, NYC Landmarks Violations unit
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Film Production Limits
This letter is not a complaint but rather seeks compromise and to alert your paper (the amazing WestView News!) that there is an issue at hand that needs to be investigated. I am a native New Yorker. When opposition erupts is when I see the true essence of New Yorkers come to light—they really are
