By Bob Cooley In what leaders and many citizens have called “a fight for the soul of our nation,”West Villagers and New Yorkers turned out in massive numbers during the initial day of first-ever early presidential voting in the state. 1,211 West Village residents turned out to cast their early vote at the community space
By Karen Rempel I looked at dozens of apartments in the Village in 2017 when I was searching for my dream New York home. One of my favorite apartment viewing experiences was a co-op with loft bed that caught my eye on StreetEasy because it had a vintage chocolate poster on the living room wall.
November 3, 2020 is General Election day. WestView News wants to ensure you know how, where, and when to cast your ballot for the upcoming election. Here are all of your options amid the coronavirus pandemic. We encourage people to have a voting plan. Decide which way you’re going to vote and when you’re going
By George Capsis The always smiling and articulate City Council Speaker (who I thought was next in line to become the mayor) announced on Thursday, September 24th, that he would drop his run for mayor. This came as a surprise to me because whenever I offered his name in an article I would suggest with
By Stanley Wlodyka Jiménez Hello WestView readers! Local papers have long been charged with championing community first and foremost. As one of the last few, truly independent local newspapers in the country, WestView News is proud to back this effort to preserve the first AIDS memorial in NYC and the only one in a church
By Robert Heide 2020 is the 50th anniversary of the famed Cockettes, who made an acid drenched splash in San Francisco while living commune style shortly after the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury, with their thrift shop vintage, fabulously collaged and assemblaged outfits barely covering their nudity with a profundity of accessories, including bakelite
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020 Early Voting: October 24-November 1, 2020 Many of you may have concerns about the coming election and New York’s absentee ballot laws. In August, the governor signed a law allowing all New Yorkers to vote absentee in this election, which means, starting right now,
Support some of our favorite West Village shops and designers. Curated by Karilyn Prisco
Photos by Dusty Berke and Karilyn Prisco. Follow us on Instagram @styleonthestreet_WestViewNews Submit your favorite neighborhood fashion looks for a chance to be featured.
By Fr. Graeme Napier Orsino in Twelfth Night commands his minstrels: If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. wishing that his lovesickness would perish. In this time of the pandemic, of course, the opposite has happened for music-lovers: the
By Keith Michael “They ain’t called confusing fall warblers for nothin.” I don’t know who I’m quoting here. Maybe myself. But I think the reassuring phrase “Confusing Fall Warblers” can be soundly attributed to Roger Tory Peterson from his game changing 1934 A Field Guide to the Birds. Paged through endlessly, this guide was the
By Karen Rempel Is the Quarantine Fifteen getting you down? Has your fitness lifestyle been disrupted due to restrictions during COVID? Are you yearning for a more active you, but don’t know where to start? Barre3 West Village (B3WV) has inspired an empowered fitness community since 2014. I became one of their devoted members in
By Hannah Reimann The blackberries are late this year because there was no rain for many days in July and August. It’s September 13th and I’ve got four hand-picked pints in my fridge now and a huge handful covering my buckwheat ployes for Sunday breakfast. I’m looking out at the cove 20 feet away from
By Brian J Pape, AIA A map that captures a moment, as all maps do, but in a simple and fun way, highlighting some historical structures, is part of the Brooklyn Historical Society Library’s new digital collection. Do you think you know Greenwich Village? Ask yourself if you can identify the locations on the map
By Joan Klyhn “Joan’s Shanghai” is a memoir of a childhood in Shanghai in the ‘30’s and ‘40s of the 20th century. I am writing it primarily for myself, extending it to my friends, and now to the many people who have shown themselves fascinated with this period in the past. Home I was
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP 1896 witnessed a new building inaugurated at 156-168 Bleecker Street, a full block long and wrapping the corners at 187-191 Sullivan Street and 187-201 Thompson Street, that replaced a row of formerly fashionable houses called Depauw Row. The double-height recessed limestone on the entrance and lobby features a modillioned
By Birgitte Philippides-Delaney and Chandra/Jo Sgammato Project NYC/West 13th Street Alliance is proud to continue our virtual community events with these October programs to serve our block, our neighborhood and all New Yorkers, wherever they may be. Autumn is a good time to revisit your skin care routine with beauty experts Todd Harris and Brian
Dear readers, neighbors, friends, and supporters, We asked you to help because our beloved local newspaper is in danger of folding forever. You answered with a surge of donations, messages, and even ad requests! George and the folks at WestView News are overwhelmed by your love and support for the paper. You donated over $17,000
By J. Taylor Basker Long time peace activist, Frank Romano, was released from prison in Jerusalem last year, where he was held on two felony charges: one interfering with Israeli government activity, and another for pushing a policeman. In prison he suffered physical as well as psychological injuries. He was expelled from Israel/Palestine and forbidden
Abstracted from “A Scientists View of Almost Everything” By Mark M Green Hoosick Falls is a lovely town in upstate New York near the Vermont border and famous as the home of a remarkable painter: Grandma Moses. As of recently, it is a famous town for the discovery that a chemical associated with the production
By Stanley Wlodyka Jiménez Vija Vetra, choreographer, dancer, Westbeth Icon, proudly striding—with an impossibly straight back mind you—towards 98 years of age February next year, an Aquarian soul just like many of the best American presidents, wants you to know that there was an error in last month’s article about her. “It comes from the
By Kambiz Shekdar The Village Halloween Parade is a symbol of New York City. In 2018 the parade’s theme was “I am Robot.” In 2019 it was “Wild Things.” This year’s theme was to be: “BIG LOVE! BIG EMBRACE!” Alas, 2020 is not the year of the Big Embrace; the parade is canceled, but it
By Tom Lamia In mulling over possible topics for yet another column melding the virtues and fates of small town life on the coast of Maine and the essence of life among the residents of the West Village, I chose this topic as one that celebrates community. My thoughts have the virtue of being complimentary
While a number of places re-opened, and some new shops appeared, this month saw more closings than I have ever observed. Outdoor dining continued, with restaurants adding tents and canopies, just in time for the mayor’s announcement that outdoor dining would now continue year-round. And in early September the governor announced that indoor dining could
By Isa Covo Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. No one can say it was not expected; after all, she was in and out of hospitals in recent months. She resisted death as much as she could. She was tough—she was from New York, more specifically, from Brooklyn, NY. In her last decade Ginsburg became as popular
By Jeff Hodges When our daughter Rebecca was born in the 1980s, my wife Emily and I were living on Charles Street. The Village was still home to a generation of aging bohemians and vestigial Italians and Irish. There was no question but that our Becky was going to thrive, even if it meant growing
By Roger Paradiso On January 28th President Trump was briefed by Robert O’Brien, his fourth national security advisor, who said, “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency” (referring to the pandemic, from Bob Woodward’s book Rage). As autumn starts to come to the Village, we see more people walking
By Frank Quinn Assembly member Deborah Glick and State Senator Brad Hoylman have introduced legislation to ban the use of facial recognition technology by police departments regardless of its current use as a crime-fighting tool. Last year former NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill published an article titled “How Facial Recognition Makes You Safer.” He described the
Assessing the Recklessness of Hundreds of Student Protesters Having a Party By Anthony Paradiso New York University’s student newspaper, Washington Square News, published two articles that provided insights into the enormous dance parties that took place in Washington Square Park on Labor Day Weekend and the following weekend. WSN described the party: “The crowd, numbering
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD “A billion here, a billion there, and before you know it, you’re talking real money.” —Attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg recently pledged $100 million for Democratic election efforts in the swing state of Florida. That is a lot of money for one state. Very rough estimates indicate
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Our founding fathers established our post office and the decennial census as vital instruments for the benefit of our citizens and government. Throughout wars and economic turmoil the census has been taken, to help us know what this country has become and where our resources may need to be
By Frank Quinn As we reported last month, WestView News invited both candidates for the District 66 State Assembly seat to debate the issues with us. The challenger, Tamara Lashchyk, accepted our invitation but the incumbent, Deborah Glick, did not. As a result, instead of a debate we are providing an interview with Tamara Lashchyk.
By Anastasia Kaliabakos In the aftermath of Brexit, a debate has arisen over whether Britain should return artifacts that had been “unlawfully removed” from their countries of origin. One specific case that many people feel strongly about are the “Elgin Marbles,” which are remnants of the Parthenon from ancient Greece. In order to fully understand
By Robert Kroll The Super of a tenement building is generally viewed as a servant, an underling, a middle person between the tenants and the building owner whose job is to refuse to make repairs, ignore tenant needs, and be sure all rules and regulations are slavishly followed. But there is another less understood, less
By Erik Bottcher “In a Gentle Way, You Can Shake the World.” With these words, Mahatma Gandhi wanted us to understand that each of us has the ability to make a difference in the world, even through small actions. We live in a chaotic time, dominated by screens that flash terrible news before our
By Robert Kroll and Rose M. Ray, PhD and poll worker Anyone out there thinking of voting more than once at the upcoming General Election? Think again. The chances of getting away with it in the city of New York or any of its five boroughs are slim to none. Firstly, no mailed or handed
