By Eric Uhlfelder At least it didn’t rain this year! There was the occasional mist and it was cold up on the BQE and the Verrazano. But Bike New York’s 40th annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour was terrific. And what a milestone for the event. Having started in 1977 during the dark days of
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The Ego Fight for Diller Island
By George Capsis In a recent two-part article by Lincoln Anderson, the now years’ long ego tussle to control the development of the Hudson River Park was traced, culminating in the now locked-horns court battle to stop Pier 55, also known as Diller Island. As we go to press, an appeal by the U.S. Army
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St. Luke Asks: Who Do We Let In?
By George Capsis I received a carefully-worded invitation from Wellspring Consulting, a firm that “provides strategic planning for nonprofit organizations,” to attend a meeting to help explore how St. Luke Church in the Fields could “expand its service offerings to meet the needs of the West Village community.” Following that meeting, I received a letter
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WestView Delivers Relevant, Local News
Dear Editors: I must comment on something about which I feel most strongly: the quality and depth of WestView News’ coverage. In order to economically survive the impact that email, digital media, and video have had on their bottom lines, media outlets have been wallowing in trivia, desperately reaching out to a (perceived) newer audience.
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Praise for WestView
Dear Editors: Thanks so much for seeing merit in my “Seniorhood” piece for the May issue of WestView. It is beautifully laid out, giving it the feel of a true prose poem. I happen to have a large number of ‘oldster’ friends and most identified with the writing; they got a sort of serious chuckle
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Mobile Stroke Care Innovation
Dear Editors: Thank you for your continuing focus on health care issues in our community! A short time after attending the May 4th meeting announced by Arthur Z. Schwartz in WestView News, to discuss the crisis in our area’s health care, I went to Weill Cornell Medical Center on York Avenue to hear a talk,
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Many Thanks for My Ziedonis Article
Dear Editors: Thank you very much for my article on Ziedonis. Everything is fine, and the layout looks great. I have had quite a few compliments not only on the article, but on your paper as well, which was unfamiliar to most of my friends and acquaintances. —Bitite Vinklers P.S. Maybe you should have a
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Follow-up on Ellis Nassour’s “Villager Heaps Scorn on Verizon”
This is the author’s update to the article published in the May 2017 issue of WestView News. On May 24th, I was informed that the date we were told service would be restored (May 22nd) wasn’t met, and that service won’t be restored until late May or early June. I thank WestView News Publisher Mr.
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Missing Caffe Cino Plaque on Cornelia Street
Pó Restaurant, at 31 Cornelia Street (near Bleecker Street) for 24 years, closed suddenly, and the bronze Caffe Cino plaque that was on the outside wall of the venue has disappeared. (Read more about Pó Restaurant’s closing on page 16.) The owners have sent an email stating that they know nothing about it. Caffe Cino
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WHAT DID YOU LOSE?
Makers of The Lost Village Query Publisher Director Roger Paradiso questioned, on camera, WestView Publisher George Capsis as to what he has lost in the rapidly changing West Village. Capsis recounted an early morning walk to St. Vincent’s Emergency Room with his wife who was experiencing an uncontrollable nosebleed induced by blood thinners. During that
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Post No Bills Except Ours—NYPD
A few weeks ago, I was walking home from Cinema Village on 12th Street after viewing The Lost Village—a film cataloguing how our old, familiar West Village is being shattered by inflation. The film featured interviews with female NYU students who are turning to prostitution to pay the breathtaking tuition and also Village restaurant owners
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MoMA Lost My Art
By Martica Sawin In 1979, MoMA curator Kynaston McShine was walking along SoHo’s West Broadway when he noticed a display of exquisitely-decorated artificial cakes in the window of the Holly Solomon Gallery. He tracked down the artist, Pat Lasch, and commissioned her to create a monumental cake for the Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration. Lasch, at
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11 Jane Street and Other Sorrows—What Are We Losing Here?
By Robert Widmann As parking garages go, this one was something of a sweetheart, like an old love you could count on—never overbearing, always sort-of cheery, not too gassy. When returning from places dark and distant, she welcomed the lonely sojourner looking to find home, with her low-rise crenelated fortress-top beset with eight diamond-shaped panels
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We Cannot Save What We Have Already Lost
By George Capsis The evening of May 24th, I met the Peruvian-born, and very young (age 28) and handsome (he is an underwear model, artist, and former student at Le Cordon Bleu), owner of the week-old Baby Brasa—Franco Noriega. The restaurant is located at 173 7th Avenue South, near Greenwich Avenue—its 100-plus seats were nearly
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Parks and Gardens of the West Village: Exploring the Church of St. Luke in the Fields and Jane Street Gardens
By Justin Matthews The West Village contains a variety of parks and gardens, several of which, along with hosting native bird species, preserve or complement the abundant historical heritage of the area. Here, we’ll explore two in particular. The Gardens of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields The Anglican Church of St. Luke
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The Cyber Hand in Your Pocket
By George Capsis I recently opened this email…“CHASE FRAUD PROTECTION SERVICES: Please tell us if you, or somebody you authorized, charged your card for: Navy Yard Gas $96.85.” On this day, the cyber crooks went right around the globe from the U.S. to China and Russia with sweeping electronic speed and the exquisite arrogance of
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Lenox Health Greenwich Village Wins Prestigious Award for Excellence in Preservation
By Barbara Osborn In May 2017, Lenox Health Greenwich Village (LHGV), located at the corner of 12th Street and 7th Avenue, was recognized by the New York Landmarks Conservancy for excellence in the restoration and adaptive use of the historic New York City building, which it occupies. LHGV received the Lucy G. Moses Award, which
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Cities Are for Walking
By Barry Benepe When I was but six years old, I accompanied my father on Saturday morning walks from Gramercy Park to Madison Square Park; his office was on the 12th floor of the Victoria Building at 230 5th Avenue. One warm spring morning, as we crossed Madison Avenue, we heard the screeching of brakes.
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Washington Square Park Designer Nabs Dual Role
By Geoffrey Croft The irony. George Vellonakis, the controversial NYC Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks) landscape architect behind the much-vilified $30 million renovation of Washington Square Park, has recently been appointed to head the historic park. On May 15th, Vellonakis became the Washington Square Park Administrator, a City job, as well as the
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Praising George Vellonakis and Washington Square Park
By Barry Benepe With all due respect to Geoffrey Croft, I feel that we are fortunate to have George Vellonakis in charge of the design and maintenance of Washington Square Park, probably one of the most heavily utilized and historic parks in the City. Through careful and thoughtful research on the park’s original 1836 design,
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The Black Mounds in Washington Square Park
By George Capsis I was reminded of an unpleasant incident when I read Barry Benepe’s pleasure at the removal of the black asphalt mounds in Washington Square Park. (See his article on this page.) Barry evidently does not know what they were or how they got there—I do. The mounds were demanded by the ‘Crazies’—a
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Hold the Mayo! The Future of Grocery Prices in the West Village
By W. Russell Neuman I know I should, but I don’t pay a lot of attention to price tags in stores. I should also keep track of sale items and I don’t do that either. But when I picked up a jar of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise at a chain grocery store/supermarket in the West Village recently,
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Local Residents Challenge Democratic Candidates at Village Forum
Oh wow! The election for Mayor and other sundry City offices is coming up fast—on September 12th. And, although there has been some disenchantment with Bill de Blasio, no for-real opposition candidate has emerged. At a recent meet-the-candidate rally at the LGBT Center on 13th Street, the only sparks were over the Mayor’s insistence to
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Getting to Know the American Tap Dance Foundation
By Kelly Bayer What do you get when you mix African tribal dance and an Irish jig? Tap dance—America’s traditional dance form. If you’ve ever wanted to give it a try, get your kids involved, or even just watch the pros have at it, the American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) is a fantastic resource for
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Notes and Perspectives From Away: Republican Democracy
By Tom Lamia From early January to mid-April of this year, I was in New York having a knee repaired. My surgery was on January 20th, the day that politics and governance took a new direction. Every day since has brought something new for discussion, with no one sure where it is all headed. Your
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DIGGING THE BEAT
After watching students from the American Tap Dance Foundation in their annual show on May 21st, these two youngsters were quick to get into the groove on the Christopher Street Pier.
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Blue Money: A Scathing Debut Memoir by Janet Capron
By Andreea Ioana Pantor The controversial new memoir Blue Money is about to hit bookstores on June 20th. For its author, Janet Capron, prostitution was a defiant retort, an exotic adventure that didn’t impede her ongoing search for love amid the ruined landscape of drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in the streets of 1970s New
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Trump and the Saudi Connection
By Gary Tomei Trump recently traveled to Saudi Arabia and told the Saudis that they are our friends, even though they espouse a type of Islam, known as Wahhabism, which essentially preaches hatred of America and promotes Jihadism. Trump made this connection even though the Saudis are, in fact, the leading promoters of terrorism in
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IN AND OUT
This month, we saw a large number of store closings of all sorts. The closing of Pó was widely reported, and with the previous closing of Home, and the news that Cornelia Street Café is struggling, the outlook for the Cornelia Street restaurant scene is not rosy. On the positive side, two interesting openings and
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A Food Tour of London’s East End—in the West Village
By Caroline Benveniste Recently, while in London, we (my husband and I and about 10 other people) took a wonderful East End food tour. This was not really a surprise, as we’d previously gone on an Eating Europe’s tour in Amsterdam, which was equally brilliant. I didn’t know much about the East End, which turns
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7th Avenue South to Get Bike Lane, But Residents Demand More Pedestrian Safety
By Andrew Buemi In 1811, the City of New York adopted an urban design plan that became famous for its logical, navigable grid system. While it has helped preserve the character of the West Village, it has also contributed to unintended consequences that continue to reverberate as the City evolves. The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811
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The Village is Alive and Well (on West 4th & Bank Streets)!
By Claude-Noëlle In the Spring of 1987, two recent college graduates, who had brought wares from Provence to the brocantes of NYC for more than a year, decided to open a little store on the corner of West 4th and Bank Streets in the West Village. The space had just been renovated, and when a
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A QUARTER OF A CENTURY
Ariadne and Doric Capsis are joined by their daughter Sophia and son Theodore for a 25th Anniversary photo.
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Who’s Coaching Your Kids?
By Paul Caccamo It’s a challenge to raise kids in the West Village, which is why we need to take a much closer look at some of the adults with the greatest influence on them. One group, in particular, is their coaches. I’ve lived in the West Village for 20 years and have focused my
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West Village Houses: The Saga Continues
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In the April and May issues of WestView News, I reviewed the history of West Village Houses (WVH), beginning with their 1960s inception as residences to replace dilapidated industrial buildings along the elevated railroad on Washington Street. The railroad had erected the elevated tracks, starting slowly in 1929, due to
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Nest. Egg.
By Keith Michael This little wren went to market, This little wren stayed home, This little wren had, well, caterpillars, This little wren had none. And this little wren went, “Wee wee wee” all the way back to the nest. —Anonymous Let’s face it: Birds are baffling. They have feathers. They can fly. They either
