By Roger Paradiso Starting October 19th with THE LOST VILLAGE premiere at the legendary Cinema Village Theaters, we did community panel discussions after each screening. Sponsored by WestView News, we ended up doing 8 panels in that first week. But none was more memorable than the night Doris Deither came to visit. She has been
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Jonas Mekas Was Frozen History
By George Capsis 66 years ago I was invited by Dick Brummer to his top floor apartment on Perry Street for an small evening party and I found myself glancing down from the rear window at a garden across the way on Charles Street that became the house I bought for my family and in
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Jacques Benveniste, 1928-2019
By Caroline Benveniste My father, Jacques Benveniste, a longtime Village resident, died unexpectedly on January 7, 2019. He was 90 years old. He was found unresponsive at home and transported by ambulance to Lenox Health, Greenwich Village, but the paramedics and doctors were unable to revive him. My father was born in Athens, Greece on
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Corey asks Subway Riders to Fund Race to Mayor
I’m writing to share some exciting news: I am thinking about running for Mayor of New York City. It’s a big decision, I know, but I love this City and am committed to making it a better place for all. As much as I love New York, we are capable of so much more. And
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How the Berks Were Able to Live in Their Apartment for 20 Years and Collect $500k Upon Leaving—An Update
By Paul Dalnoky Long before the guardianship of Ruth Berk and the canonization of her attorney, Arthur Schwartz, there was a newbie East Village lawyer named Paul Dalnoky who worked, mostly, out of his rent-stabilized apartment. Dalnoky long ago gave up on the practice of law and discovering intelligent life (save a precious few) on
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New York Doormen and Me
By Janet Capron Growing up at 1185 Park Avenue, a big drive-in building with six sections, I rarely encountered any working-class people. Plumbers, electricians and other union guys were like apparitions, riding the back elevator, slinking in and out the back door. They were minor players in my cosseted young life—with the sole exception of
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Seniors in Our City Can Have Scary Choices to Make
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In mid-December I got a worried phone call from George Capsis. An older woman (who I will call Fran for purposes of this article) had found her way to George’s apartment, holding a clipping from WestView about another older woman who George had referred to me with a landlord problem. She
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Dress Code
There really is a distinct difference between West Village garb and that of the folks who live north of 14th Street. Recently, I went north to attend a birthday party for a dear friend and, on another night, for dinner at a fancy Upper East Side restaurant. That’s when it hit me—the dress code and
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Notes From Away: War Story
By Tom Lamia I write on the day of the memorial service for George H.W. Bush. Today and during the preceding four days, many have spoken privately and publicly of the remarkable character of Bush 41. A connection between his character and the effect of his service in World War II has been noted as
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Visions of Vija: A Villager’s Journey
By Stanley Wlodyka Almost 90 years ago, Vija Vetra peeked through a hole in the wall of a dance studio where ballet classes were taught. Who knows which adolescent boy had carved out the peephole, looking to stoke the fire kindled by adolescent hormones, watching the girls plié and rond de jambe their way into
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10 Ways Village Seniors Cope with Winter Blues
By Jane Heil Usyk I really hate winter. It’s so cold! And besides that, it’s often slippery, and slushy, and wet. I could stay in all winter, except I need my walking exercise, and I have to get groceries, and go to the library, and watch movies, mail bills, and do a number of other
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Why Do I Still Do the Paper?
We were driving in an Uber to East Wiliston to my son’s house for Christmas dinner when we discovered that our 33 year-old driver used to work for Trader Joe’s and regretted quitting after he felt he had been downgraded when his job function was eliminated, but now he had a wife and tiny son
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Bruce Boyce, Artist, Gardener, and Neighbor, Dies at 76
Bruce Wesley Boyce transformed his small corner of the West Village into a destination for those in the know. Thanks to Mr. Boyce’s efforts, locals and tourists alike stop in front of the wrought iron gates at 65-67 Jane Street between Hudson and Greenwich to take photos or steal glimpses of the elaborate garden installations,
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WestView Provides Spark!
WestView has built my confidence, inspiring me and my poetic abilities. I know I would not have had the courage nor inclination to ‘compete’ with myself had George not suggested I ‘kernalize’, which I still struggle with. He ’stretches’ not only me, but everyone associated with the paper. WestView granted me, a homespun neophyte poet
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Jessica Moves
Long-time West Village fixture, Jessica Berk, moved out of 95 Christopher Street at the end of October (part of a 6 figure deal with her landlord to turn over a rent-controlled 2 bedroom apartment) and has purchased a new home: a 2-bedroom condo in Atlantic City! Her dog is about to join her as she
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Robot Travel
By George Capsis Michael Usyk had a show of his artwork in Paris which he attended via Skype—his image displayed on a laptop on a table in the middle of the show. Visitors to the exhibit (if they spoke English) could chat with Michael about his work as he sat in his little apartment in the West Village. Well, this
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Remembrances of The Lost Village: Cornelia Street Café
By Roger Paradiso I remember the Fourth of July festival on Cornelia Street a few years back. Robin Hirsch of the Cornelia Street Café was throwing his annual birthday celebration for his landmark jazz/comedy/poetry club. (To this date as I write this in 2018, he is celebrating his 41st year in business. Number 42 would
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Selling Christmas Trees in Manhattan
By Joey Fortune Like the tides, some things in life are predictable yet unstoppable. Days never cease, while seasons follow seasons with impeccable reliance. As humans, we’ve adapted to this and in our hubris, created our own events to show the universe that we are also in command. We have given birth to holidays. Yes,
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My Grandfather, A Doctor in the Early 20th Century
By Jane Heil Usyk How would you like to be able to phone your doctor and get someone real on the other end, your doctor or his/her nurse, and make an appointment for a few days in the future without having to wait interminably for recorded messages not intended for you, and numerous irrelevant instructions? How
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Teddy Capsis Wraps Up Brilliant College Career
College of Holy Cross Senior Teddy Capsis earns All-Patriot League honors for the second time in his career, after previously being a second team selection in 2017. He started all 11 games for the Crusaders at defensive end this season, totaling a team-best six quarterback sacks for 30 yards and 15 tackles for loss for 56
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The Great Whitney Warhol Show
By Robert Heide The title for the spectacular new Whitney art show is simply Andy Warhol From A to B and Back Again. The chief curator of the show is Donna De Salvo who has assembled a fully comprehensive Warhol art retrospective of more than 350 of his world famous Pop Art originals. Warhol had been turning
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The Story Emerges
By Tom Lamia Life everywhere has resembled a bad novel these past two years. Bad, but with all the ingredients needed for commercial appeal: good guys, bad guys and all shades of characters in between; intrigue worthy of Hitchcock; foreign malevolence on the scale of Peter Lorre; cryptic influences sure to be made known but
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“The Lost Village” Exposes The Evil Takeover of Greenwich Village by NYU and Large Corporations
By Carol Yost The Lost Village is our very own Greenwich Village: Roger Paradiso’s film chronicles how greed and lust for power have transformed the original, unique character of the Village. (NOTE: This is a revised review after last year’s screening. Now the film is in distribution, and I saw it for the second time
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Remembrances from The Lost Village: Death of The Living Theater
By Roger Paradiso If there is one interview that haunts me from my film The Lost Village it was the one with Judith Malina. Judith and Julian Beck met when she was 17. In 1947 they formed The Living Theater, which was a part of the Village scene in the 1950s and 60s until they
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Autograph Hound
By Alan Perna I was standing on 6th Avenue and 48th Street in front of a rehearsal studio, when I saw a taxi go by. I started running after it. I ran three blocks until it stopped at a light. My mind was racing, my heart pounding, my mouth was dry. I grabbed the door
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Kennedy: Bobby’s Last Crusade, Theatre At St. Clement’s
By Eric Uhlfelder A play remembering the 1968 presidential campaign, how the country has changed and how it hasn’t. Wandering several blocks west of Times Square to an old church might seem an odd place to find a tale about a presidential campaign fifty years on. But this choice of venue to host an escape
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Why I Am Voting for Cynthia Nixon (Not Deborah Glick) For State Assembly
Glick Has Not Earned Your Vote. Nixon Represents Change. Think About It! By Jim Fouratt In the September issue of Westview, I wrote that Cynthia Nixon, if she did not win her primary against Andrew Cuomo, would be a perfect candidate to run on the Working Families ballot for NY State Assembly opposing 28 year
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Cynthia Nixon for Assembly? Time for A Change
By Arthur Z. Schwartz There was not a single Assembly District in the State of New York where Cynthia Nixon did better against Andrew Cuomo in the September 13th Democratic Primary than our 66th Assembly District. Yes, our bastion of progressivism gave her 57.5% of the vote against a man who spent over $20 million
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Gentleman Jerrold: Our Fierce Warrior in the House
By Catherine Revland The NRA is Twitterpated over Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “To say it bluntly,” warns #AmmoLand, “the man would be a nightmare for Second Amendment supporters if the Democrats take control of the House.” Aside from being the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, with jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, the FBI,
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West Village Original: Jenny Tango
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is artist Jenny Tango, born Florence Exler in Brooklyn in 1926. A visual artist working collaboratively and individually in painting, communications media, artist’s books and comic strips, Tango received both a BA and MA from Brooklyn College. A former educator with a list of both solo
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West Village Images by Joel Gordon
Volunteers Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner for the Homeless Over 1,000 people from many walks of life, including seniors, the homeless and families on a budget, attended the Salvation Army’s annual free Thanksgiving dinner, with over 100 volunteers of all ages in the kitchen and on the servicing line. Photo credit © Joel Gordon 2018—All rights reserved. Other
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Angels belong
By Roberta Curley look what it took for you to uncover their path I won’t gallivant upward not while I’m down here doing stuff like tightening difficult-to-screw-in lightbulbs or whooshing along avenues of the self-interested my plan is to try Daddy, you’d be SO proud your prayers stream in daily I’m striving to budget and
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A Visit with Actress and Former Villager Marianne Rendon
By Jane Heil Usyk The last two years, since she left the Village, have been very, very busy for Marianne Rendon. How many young people graduate from college and immediately get a major acting part in a series? And then fill in the gaps in the shooting schedule with featured parts in movies? Marianne did
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Remembrances from The Lost Village: A Series of Stories About Greenwich Village
By Roger Paradiso After a screening of my film The Lost Village at the Cinema Village in April of 2017, I walked to the front of the screen to begin a question and answer period with the audience. Just as I got stationed, a kind and gentle man jumped out of his seat, presumably to
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Humberto Gonzalez-Bernal Comes Home!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In the August issue of WestView I wrote about heroic efforts to save the life of 87-year-old Humberto Gonzalez-Bernal, a 59-year resident of Horatio Street. Humberto came to Horatio Street from Cuba in 1959, just before the revolution (which he supported; he still idolizes Fidel). He made his living as a
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Notes from Away: Judicial Notice
By Tom Lamia Like you, perhaps, I spent time recently watching the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have views on this sort of thing that are deeply associated with my past life as a lawyer. I went to Harvard Law School, graduating in the mid-1960s, a classmate and friend of Stephen
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We Won! (Postcards to Voters, Part Three)
By Sarah O’Neill When Alessandra Biaggi whupped entrenched incumbent and former IDC leader, Jeff Klein, as five other challengers for New York State Senate also triumphed, cheers likely erupted in 50 states. From late July to early September, the Postcards to Voters (PTV) volunteer army, now over 20,000 strong across the U.S., had an education
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West Village History: My Father and The Irish Hooligans
By Lorraine Gibney Children need supervision to become law abiding citizens. Since my father was parentless, he learned to run the streets of the West Village with unsavory characters. He was a citizen of his time and place, under a different type of supervision. Francis, nicknamed “Shorty”, was an elf-like little character. As the youngest of
