By Hannah Reimann 9/11 Memorial Concert September 11, 2019 Schiller Institute NYC Chorus St. Veronica Creative Cultural Center The Schiller Institute NYC Chorus, its leaders and community strive to elevate the culture of the United States “by engaging the population in the performance of great Classical music.” They do this by including both professional and
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Piano Lessons: The Life and Art of German Diez
By Hannah Reimann A Documentary A Benefit Night at Steinway Hall September 12, 2019 German Diez is perhaps the most memorable late piano maestro of The Greenwich House Music School. Teacher to innumerable students there since 1950, from children to famous virtuosos, he is beloved and revered. Diez taught at Bard College, SUNY Purchase, The
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
INSPIRED BY FRANK BRUNI of the New York Times’ recent column “Dogs Will Fix Our Broken Democracy” (boy, do we need that!), this month I’m featuring some of the many lovable best friends on parade daily in our dog crazy Village neighborhood. As Mr. Bruni says: “…when I’m out and about with Regan, there’s mutual
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Survivors of the Lost Village
By Roger Paradiso Cinema Village is a jewel of a theater in Greenwich Village that takes you back to the golden age of cinema, dating back to 1963. With the recent closing of the Paris Theater in midtown, the CV is the longest running art house in Manhattan. As you walk east on 12th Street
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A Colonial American Romance
The True Saga of an American Beauty Who Captured a Baron’s Heart A destitute young lady is swept off her feet by a swashbuckling Baron…the stuff that fairytales and Hollywood movies are made of. But this timeless tale of Lady Frankland (Agnes Surriage) and Sir Harry Frankland is made up of more than fairydust and
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Father Graeme Napier: A Life Ordained by Culture and Spirit
By Hannah Reimann “You ought to be written up by the Times,” suggested publisher George Capsis to Graeme Napier, the Rector of St. John’s Anglican Church on Waverly Place and West 11th Street, after he experienced one of many concerts Father Graeme produces in his church. In the Spring of 2018, Joe Turco, an American
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Halloween in the Village. Oh Boy.
By Gordon Hughes It’s October and you begin to see a remarkable change in the West Village. It’s not just the weather. Yes, the trees begin to change color and hardy mums replace begonias on the stoops of the brownstones. But in addition, an amazing transformation begins around the third week of October; co-ops, brownstones,
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The Normalization of Gay
From Oppression to Legalization By Robert Heide In New York the “World Pride” month of June, 2019, was given over to celebrate gay life worldwide and the concept of freedom to be who we are—gay, straight, bisexual, and the trans categories of transvestite, transsexual, and transgender; and queer. Each day in June, walking out of
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Health, Beauty & Wellness
By Hannah Reimann Harvest Home, Saturday, October 26th—12 to 3 pm at St. John’s in the Village’s, St. Benedict’s Courtyard, featuring samples of Farm to People’s excellent produce and other delicious food that can be included in their delivered boxes to you. There will be music, pumpkin carving for the kids and other surprises for
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Structural Report on World Trade Center 7 Released University Study Suggests Fire Did Not Bring Down WTC7 on 9/11
By Brian J. Pape, AIA As we recently passed the 18th anniversary of one of America’s greatest tragedies on September 11, 2001, the University of Alaska Fairbanks released a report on the destruction of the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7, which collapsed into its footprint, falling more than 100 feet at the rate of
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Planes or Bombs? 9/11 Revisited
By Barry Benepe In May 2018, the New York Times published a report by Elizabeth Williamson in which she told readers how Alex Jones, “an online conspiracy theorist,” claimed that the Sandy Hook gun massacre of 20 first graders and six adults never happened but was a “hoax” invented by “government gun-grabbers.” As a founder
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Books by Young People, at the Jefferson Market Library
By Grace Yamada Youth-lead movements are on the rise globally, and non-fiction publishing is trying to meet the swell of teenagers who are passionate about advocating for themselves and their peers. When I visit schools or hold programs in the library, teens are always interested in materials that can educate and inform them about the
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New Eats: Ariccia at 14 Bedford Street
A piadina, originating in 1371, is a thin Italian flatbread typically prepared in the historic Romagna region of Italy. It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, a little milk, salt, and water. The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish but is often cooked on a griddle today. Ariccia (646-630-8314),
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Save Our Street
Why We Started the West Washington Place Block Association and Recap of the WWPBA Kickoff Meeting By Nancy Wyden & Rosalind Resnick When we first met on the 39 5th Avenue coop board almost 20 years ago we had no idea that one day, long after we had sold our apartments, we would find ourselves neighbors
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A View from the Kitchen: Orange Walnut Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
By Isa Covo When we moved to the Village over thirty years ago there were several bookstores in the area, some small and intimate, a few large. There was a largish bookstore just around the corner from where I live, where I bought my first book by Kazuo Ishiguro, (which was his first book also),
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IN AND OUT
This month saw a continued proliferation of vegan and Mediterranean spots, particularly in the Bleecker/Carmine/MacDougal corridor. Some popular bars/restaurants are opening new locations in the West Village, and some places that had been limping along for a while have finally closed. Open Top Openings Llama San 359 6th Avenue near Washington Place Villagers may
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How Can You Borrow Money on a West Village Brownstone Co-op?
By Robert Kroll How tough could it be to refinance an old high-interest $500,000 loan on a nice, well-maintained brownstone building in the West Village? Damn hard, it turns out! With interest rates on residential properties at 3-4% nowadays, I was tempted to refinance a 5-year ARM loan presently set at 6.8%. Every interest point
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Notes From Away: Crossed Paths in a Small World
By Tom Lamia A friend in California occasionally sends me books. One that arrived six months ago became fallback reading recently. My eyes were opened by its connections to several hallmarks in my life thus far, including where I now live (Maine), where I was born (Santa Monica, California), and my ten-year residence at 54
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HRPT Will Build a Full-Size Field on Gansevoort Park!
By Brian J Pape, AIA Cautious optimism filled the air as residents reconvened for the last Gansevoort Peninsula “concept phase” joint meeting of the Community Board 2 (CB2) Parks & Waterfront Committee and the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) at the 75 Morton middle school cafeteria on September 10th. James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), the
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My 9/11 Come From Away Experience Taught Me Compassion for Refugees
By Kevin Tuerff On September 11, 2001, I saw actions that restored my faith in humanity. It all happened on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, in a foreign country. I never expected that my story of being a 9/11 refugee in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada), and the stories of many others who had
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Want Single Payer Healthcare in New York? Speak Up!
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD This isn’t a theoretical question. There is actually a bill in the New York State legislature sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera called the New York Health Act. It would provide extensive universal medical coverage for all residents of New York State, eliminate almost all private medical insurance
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Then&Now: Washington & Christopher High Line
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor Then: This 1940 Municipal Tax photo of 634-648 Washington Street views its intersection with Christopher Street, looking southwest. The New York Central Railroad built the St. John freight terminal and this viaduct from 1930-34, succumbing to pressure condemning the numerous pedestrian accidents while the 13-mile surface track, built in
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Villager Fires Lincoln Anderson!!
Community Newspaper Eviscerated By Arthur Schwartz For all the intrusion of the internet into how we get our news, and the availability of 24 hour per day updates, community newspapers retain a special importance. Local residents rely on community newspapers to get current information of local stories—whether it be the fight over a park, plans
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Companions for Elders Hold Organizational Meeting
By Hannah Reimann In response and follow up to the Senior Shares for the Village article in the September issue of WestView News, I met with several women ages 25-60 who responded via email to us. They are interested in possibly becoming live-in companions, paying reduced rent and providing selected services for an elder who
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Let’s Get Real About Aging
By Gail Evans Some of us are 80 but feel 50. Our health is good, our income comfortable. We have family and friends, we’re active and optimistic. We are “aging well.” But even exemplars of healthy aging are not exempt from its cruelties. Growing old brings needs that cannot be ignored. Perhaps the realization that
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UNA Honorees Working to Stop Human Trafficking
By Karen Rempel The work of the United Nations (UN) is near and dear to us at WestView News. Maggie Capsis started the Guides program at the UN Secretariat Building and was Head of the Guides there. Anyone who knows publisher George Capsis has heard the wonderful story of how they met at the UN.
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Conquering AIDS in the LGBT Presidential Town Hall: Top 10 Questions Regarding Curing AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. The upcoming town hall among U.S. presidential candidates on October 10th will focus on LGBT issues. The choice to address AIDS in this debate could surprise and disrupt the current HIV/AIDS landscape. It’s remarkable that during the last presidential election, a coalition of AIDS activists adopted the following (invalid) consensus position:
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Pier 40 Construction Report
By Brian J. Pape, AIA The on-going construction and locked gates to the surrounding walkways at Pier 40 have prompted readers’ questions about what is going on. We’ve reported previously that this work is primarily for the repair and reinforcing of the hundreds of pilings that support the Pier 40 platform. Sometimes the contractor has
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Update: 14th Street Busway: Court Allows DOT Busway for Now. The Fight Isn’t Over.
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In what has become a fight between the rights of Village and Chelsea residents against a callous, uncaring City bureaucracy, an appellate court on September 27 lifted a stay which has been in place since June 26. The lifting of the stay means that starting Thursday October 3 no cars or
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Update: 14th Street Busway: “Polly’s Folly” Raises Ghost of Moses: 14th Street “Busway” Begins October 3
By Brian J Pape, AIA Somehow the city police will be expected to stop cars and trucks from travelling on 14th Street on Oct. 3, unless they can prove they are car-owning residents on those blocks or deliveries are going to those blocks. Are we to anticipate road-blocks at intersections? Everyone else will be forced
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Chelsea’s Fulton Houses Get Gentrified
By George Capsis Any historic review of public housing in cities like Chicago or St. Louis offers images of massive controlled demolitions when the sprawling public projects, which have run out of money to make even essential repairs, have turned into leaking, rodent-infested, crumbling prisons for the poor. When it is clearly apparent that the money to fix them
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WestView Needs to Cry “Stop Thief”
We need to go online! By George Capsis Dusty got a call from an anxious landlord that offered that a retail shop tenant of hers had received a very legal looking “Summons and Complaint” document that offered that because the shop did not have a proper handicapped ramped entry they were being sued by a
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A Night Out with Noel Coward, Steve Ross and KT Sullivan
By Robert Heide The great New York singer Steve Ross—dubbed the “Crown Prince of New York Cabaret”—with the dynamic, amazing KT Sullivan—the artistic director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation—appeared in the past month of August in a show devised and written by Barry Day entitled Love, Noel—The Songs and Letters of Noel Coward. The program
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Smalls Jazz Club—25 Years of Bringing Up the Jazzcats
By Karen Rempel Smalls Jazz Club, in the cellar at 183 West 10th Street, makes an incalculable contribution to jazz music every day, incubating hundreds of talented young jazzcats since its inception in 1994. Owner and jazz pianist Spike Wilner tells us a bit about the history of the club as Smalls celebrates surviving and
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Puppet Master Penny Jones: 90 Years Young
By Stanley Wlodyka “Toby!” the gaggle of toddlers scream, some incessantly and with all their might pointing at the puppet stage, where the head of a pint-sized pup appears from behind the curtain. Toby snatches a feather from the cap of the master of ceremonies. Dressed as the pied piper in a frock pocked by
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Magic Time! Art & Ephemera of the Caffe Cino
By Robert Heide Following on the heels of my last article entitled “The Legendary Caffe Cino Designated a NYC Landmark” for the August 2019 edition of WestView News along came an invite to attend a dual exhibition at the ClampArt Gallery at 247 West 29th Street. Opening night was August 15 and the exhibit of
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The Creative Genius of Diana Broussard
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Diana Broussard is a creative force of nature. She’s a true pioneer in fashion design, from Calvin Klein’s eponymous underwear for women to the latest in wearable tech—exclusive, sleek handbags with customizable video displays. She has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, including Dior and
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Karen’s Quirky Style
By Karen Rempel, Fashion Editor “Karen’s Quirky Style” is all about expressing my inner joie de vivre through color and fun combinations of clothing and accessories from different sources and time periods. I love walking down the street and seeing people’s faces light up with delight at the unexpected sight before their eyes. (Namely, moi.
