The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 15, NUMBER 7 JULY 2019 $1.00 Big Victory for We Need Robert Moses All Tenants

By Arthur Z. Schwartz the city’s rent-regulated system looked like more than 30 years ago. The plight of renters, both rent-regulated and non-regulated ones, has long been New York City tenants may never again part of New York City lore—steep rent have to hear the words “vacancy de- hikes, shoddy maintenance, fear of be- control” and “vacancy bonus.” ing blacklisted and evicted, and a general These two provisions don’t affect current PARK MANAGEMENT FAILS—PIER 40 BECOMES OFFICE: Under the original charter Pier 40 sense of powerlessness against a landlord tenants while they are living in rent- was to be leased to a developer who would provide a public park-like use, and the lease rev- who doesn’t care. regulated units, but rather, future tenants. enue would help pay for the operation of the park. But long neglected corroding steel piles and crumbling concrete roof slabs are forcing management to covert the pier to an 88-foot The State Senate and Assembly’s land- The elimination of vacancy decontrol, high,15-acre office building. mark deal on New York’s rent regulations, which enables landlords to deregulate adopted on June 21st, will introduce a apartments once the rents reach a certain By George Capsis landmark. It never happened. They pro- new normal for the 2.4 million tenants in threshold, currently of $2,774, is one of posed aquariums, a permanent home for the city’s rent-regulated system, and add the biggest steps forward. After all, the Robert Moses’ career ended when he want- Cirque du Soleil and big box stores. No some new protections for tenants who are provision has been blamed for the dereg- ed to build an elevated highway across Ca- no, no—whoever was in charge of the park not rent-regulated (“market rate”). After ulation of more than 155,000 units. nal Street, and we locals rose in protest and said no, no, no, to all and every proposal decades of living under landlord-friendly Same with another measure known as closed his book forever, but in his early days while the steel piles on the massive 14-acre rules like vacancy decontrol and renova- “high-income deregulation,” which al- when he was casually condemning bunga- Pier 40 rusted because somebody had shut tion increases, the city’s rent-regulated lows a landlord to deregulate a rent-sta- lows in the path of the LIE he did so with off the anti-rust current to save money and tenants are poised to become newly em- bilized unit if the tenant makes more than imperial immunity because the car was king now they have to spend millions or it goes powered, armed with more financial secu- $200,000 a year for two straight years. No and Long Island was just scrub growth. plop into the water. rity due to the elimination of sharp rent longer will the landlord have the right to When the Federal government wanted to And now Diane Taylor, president of the hikes and increased accountability for ask for your tax returns. unroll a super highway right down the West park, who I have recently learned with a landlords. Side over the clutter of old docks and a rust- knowing smirk is a “friend” of Michael The bulk of the landmark changes to That boiler update or kitchen renova- ing elevated highway, we same protested Bloomberg, has decided that Pier 40 should New York’s rent laws last month was tion your landlord elected to perform is said no—it was too insensitive to the clut- be a big fat office building surrounding the aimed at strengthening protections for the no longer going to cost you a fortune in ter of old buildings that still made their way soccer field. They had to keep the athletic 2.4 million people who live in New York perpetuity. down to the river and we filed a lawsuit to field because sports dads instantly lock into City’s rent-regulated apartments, or al- Renovation increases in the form of ma- protect the breeding ground of the striped a hard, resistant mass when challenged. most half of the city’s tenants. jor capital improvements (MCIs) and indi- bass (more valuable than bungalows ) and They even threw them a little more acreage But buried in the 74-page bill is an ex- vidual apartment improvements (IAIs) were the Feds got so mad they took their billions to still their snapping jaws. pansive patchwork of new protections that a big target of rent reform activists. These and walked away, and then a budget-ha- But, oh my a big fat 14-acre office build- apply to all renters statewide, including 43 measures, which allowed landlords to use rassed City and State had to do something ing sitting on the Hudson looking down to percent of New York City renters who live renovation spending to exact permanent with all the piers they had bought in an- the Statue of Liberty blocking our view for in unregulated apartments. rent increases on tenants, were loopholes ticipation of West Way so they concocted 3 blocks—not nice—not nice. Taken together, the new laws—on ev- that invited fraud and tools of displacement. a plan that would lease three of the larger So how, you may ask, after 10 years, do we erything from evictions to security depos- Landlords, on the other hand, said they en- piers to get revenue to operate the park. come up with a big fat office building as our its—represent a significant power shift couraged investment and maintenance in About this time we started WestView contribution to the legend of Greenwich Vil- away from landlords. But while the new older housing stock. News and learned what “RFP” stood for, lage that will attract tourist buses of the future. rules may seem dramatically different, Currently, landlords who performed Request For Proposal, as the city and state "On our left is a big fat office building they actually represent a reversion to what continued on page 3 invited developers to give New York a new that obstructs three blocks of river view...

White Horse Use It or Lose It Nicky and Me David Porat reviews new Up-to-the-minute coverage Local publisher Webster menu items at the recently of local efforts to manage Stone details his unlikely re-opened White Horse bus coverage in the West association with a notorious Tavern. Village. NYC drug kingpin.

SEE PAGE 27 SEE PAGE 4 SEE PAGE 20 2 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the West Village. Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections

Publisher George Capsis, Local Hero Now Praise Judson Church.” The first sen- him, and now we have him in custody.” Executive Editor Hi George, tence and the history that follows is a real grab- Stone pulled out a business card. “Can George Capsis Hope you are doing well and still giving ber. From what I have read, I again give praise you give this to the guy who caught him? Managing Editor ‘em hell. for enlightening your readership. Thank you. Let him know I owe him a couple drinks.” Art Director In browsing I see coverage of spaces, events The townhouse is often a target of graf- Kim Plosia Loved the Trigg, MD article about Pier 40. St. Vincent’s screw job all over again. and issues dealing with those of mature age fiti such that nearly two years before the Advertising Manager and Designer (to me, that’s better than saying elderly); you co-op had decided to simply paint the side Stephanie Phelan And the usual brilliant planning to have the meeting just after Memorial Day. make the West Village Bookstores look very of the building instead of leaving the origi- Traffic Manager enticing. In general you make me want to nal 1866 brick. “It was a shame to paint Liza Whiting Surprised they didn’t do it on the Friday before, but of course that would have ru- come down again to the Village. over that brick,” explained Stone, “but get- Photo Editor ined the moguls and politicians’ long beach Thank you very much for your courage ting graffiti off brick is much tougher than Darielle Smolian weekend. Disgusting and so abusive of the to educate your readers. You all are truly simply painting the wall over.” Photographers people that actually live in the Village. journalists. Weeks later Stone was asked to sign a Maggie Berkvist And then there was the piece on the —Donna Gianell-Romo supporting deposition for the office of the Joel Gordon Lenox Hill redevelopment. This is exactly P.S. I’m taking a subscription New York District Attorney, which he did. Associate Editors what the upper east side needs since we all Subsequently all records have been sealed, Gwen Hoffnagle, Justin Matthews, know there is a desperate shortage of hos- Pier 40 presumably due to the defendant’s age. Anne Olshansky, Carol Yost pital beds and acute care access up there. Dear WestView, The district attorney refuses to release any Comptroller Just watch how much money the city, state, I really appreciated the articles in your June information regarding the case. Jolanta Meckauskaite and feds kick in for this renovation and re- edition by Bruce Trigg and Bunny Gabel The townhouse wall was painted two Architecture Editor member how generous they were with St. regarding the Pier 40 development plans. weeks after the incident, in a color Benjamin Brian Pape Vincents Hospital. I understand the call from the author to Moore refers to as “Charles Street Red.” —Anonymous Fashion Editor This crap never stops. Very sad and infu- write to local representatives. However, I Karen Rempel riating. I particularly loved that Glick and am an Australian living in the West Vil- Hoylman—two supposed progressive lib- lage and do not have the right to vote, so Film, Media and Music Editor NYT Editorial Shock Jim Fouratt eral dems—were part of the Pier 40 meet- my letters may not be very impacting. As a ing. Never ceases to amaze me how fast daily user of the Hudson River Park, I have Dear editors: Food Editor these politicians get bought out. always found it concerning that there is not I was shocked to see the New York Times edi- David Porat Keep fighting George. You are a hero. greater city investment in / support of this torial “Hudson River Park Needs Help” June Regular Contributors —David Kaufman essential public asset. 7, with a comparison of the Hudson River J. Taylor Basker, Barry Benepe, Could you please provide any informa- Park Trust proposals for office development Caroline Benveniste, Charles Caruso, tion about whether there will be other pub- on Pier 40 with the Westway superhighway Jim Fouratt, John Gilman, Praise for WestView Mark. M. Green, Robert Heide, lic meetings regarding the proposal? plan of more than 20 years ago. Saying of- Thomas Lamia, Keith Michael, Dear Mr. George Capsis, —Nicola Caon fice development is ‘not that bad’ compared Michael D. Minichiello, Penny Mintz, Thank you for daring to go where the con- with a Westway superhighway, (pardon the Brian J. Pape, Joy Pape, Alec Pruchnicki, Christina Raccuia, Karen Rempel, trolled main media will not dare to tread. Not on My Wall gender language) is like saying the woman- Catherine Revland, Martica Sawin, Your newspaper is fabulous. I don’t know beating boyfriend who changes to being Donna Schaper, Arthur Z. Schwartz, where to start with the praise. At 10pm on March 5th, Webster Stone, verbally and mentally abusive is not so bad. Stanley Wlodyka I came upon your newspaper when I went who lives at Charles Street and West 4th Hudson River Park has been made a beau- We endeavor to publish all letters received, down to the 6th Street Community Center. I Street, kept hearing a loud buzz. “I couldn’t tiful partner to a robust developing city of including those with which we disagree. am an upper west sider. Your front page story place it, I couldn’t figure out what it was, buildings, especially along the west waterfront. The opinions put forth by contributors to WestView do not necessarily reflect the of stopping privatization of Pier 40 really and it irritated me.” Yet today, Pier 40 is an ugly obstruction to the views of the publisher or editor. caught my eye because I have been writing Getting up from his couch, Stone sweep of the harbor views from the pedestri- WestView welcomes your correspondence, and signing petitions for it. And when Bruce checked to see if it was the washing ma- an piers. To justify even more obstruction by comments, and corrections: Trigg exposed Bezos and Amazon (whom I chine or the dishwasher, and then checked building development on the water, because www.westviewnews.org have been telling people about for a couple of every electronic gadget in the house. “I the park was established with no public fund- Contact Us years now as to Bezos’ takeover of as much as couldn’t figure out from where it was com- ing, is to say we can’t solve our problem with- (212) 924-5718 he can take over) and Google, I was shouting ing. Then abruptly it stopped.” out further corrupting the waterfront park. [email protected] “Yes! Show the truth!” An hour later there was a loud knock If there is going to be a push to amend I was also very happy that you put a at Stone’s front door. Thinking it was a the act, that should be to provide public very eye-catching ad in for the event I at- friend, Stone opened the small door win- funding, as it should have been from the tended on Saturday, “Living with 5G Ra- dow to shout “Boo!” But it was two police very beginning. I encourage everyone to diation.” Excellent! I am so happy that you officers from the Sixth Precinct. “Is this insist on public funding for our public park. presented that. I work with 5G Wake-up your property?” asked one officer. “You’d —Brian J. Pape Call and have been working on educating better take a look at this.” people for the last year on the dangers of The side wall of the townhouse had been 14A Bus smart meters. It is my passion right now. I “tagged” with three-foot-high graffiti. Dear Mr. Capsis, saw your ad and brought a few people with Stone quickly put it together: “That was We in the West Village are trying to keep me to the event. It was absolutely fabulous. the buzz I kept hearing. It was the spray the Abingdon Square 14A loop. The MTA I can’t rave about it enough. I wish every- can, but from outside.” The officers took wants to cut service, which for many is a body I had told to attend had attended. Stone’s details for their report. lifeline. Also, sometimes the M11 stops at Dusty Berke was there. I was so impressed “I wish I could have caught him,” Stone 23rd Street instead of completing the run to with her knowledge on the subject. Again, told them, “I wish I had just gone outside.” Abingdon Square. Both of these buses are thanks for the ad. You don’t hear about is- “Actually he was caught,” said one officer. infrequent at best. I am hoping you might sues this important in the mainline media, “Someone saw him, told him to stop, and he consider posting this in WestView. Thanks MIA SAYS: When we try to pry signs of affection love has gone. Photo by Darielle which is owned by the corporations. took off. Apparently the witness then chased for you consideration. Smolian. I’m just now getting to the article “Let Us him down, all the way to 22nd Street, caught —Maxine Glorsky www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 3

You Who Will Carry The New School Turns 100: the Burden The following is a chapter from the up- An Interview With Mary Watson, Executive Dean, coming book, “A Drama in Time,” a vi- brant look at the history of The New Schools Of Public Engagement at The New School School, written by faculty member John Reed. The book is scheduled to be published What is important about the school that ies in the 20th century. Their vision was to free to investigate, publish and teach;” and on October 1, 2019 to coincide with The Mary is now the Dean of is that it was the bring together scholars and citizens inter- it would “make them responsible for the New School’s Centennial. school that emerged from the Columbia Uni- ested in questioning, debating, and discuss- correct and impartial use of their several versity break away—there must have been ing the most important issues of the day.” specialties in interpreting the issues of cur- Volume 1 of The New School Bulle- many singing phrases and angry words that (source: The New School History) rent life in the classroom, through publica- tin, dated October, 1943, announces a crackled and sung about as it emerged— There are many examples in the found- tions and public lectures.” course of study that will make degrees oh,oh I wish I had some of these. Can you ers’ original proposal for the university. accessible to U.S. veterans returning give me a few? Some excerpts include: Do you have a short statement or a from World War II. ‘The program’, “The New School was founded a century The founders envisioned that The New manifesto from one of the founders that the Bulletin explains, ‘is one of the ago in New York City by a small group School “would become the center of the best captures the breakaway rational? first practical proposals put forward of prominent American intellectuals and thought in America, would lead in eman- In the original mission statement, the to meet the crisis in liberal educa- educators who were frustrated by the intel- cipating learning, and would be a spiritual university’s originators state: “Nothing like tion brought about by the war’. The lectual timidity of traditional colleges. The adventure of the utmost significance.” it has ever been attempted; this is the hour undergraduate degrees will be the founders, among them Charles Beard, John The university would seek to “secure for the experiment; and New York is the first offered by the school. Speaking Dewey, James Harvey Robinson, and Thor- from the various universities of the country place, because it is the greatest social sci- alongside Alvin Johnson, New School stein Veblen, set out to create a new kind a small corps of selected specialists in the ence laboratory in the world and of its own President, and Clara Mayer, Dean of of academic institution, one where faculty several branches of social science, relieve force attracts scholars and leaders in edu- the School of Philosophy and Liberal and students would be free to honestly and them from administrative responsibilities, cational work.” continued on page 5 directly address the problems facing societ- grant them self-government, and set them continued on page 21

continued from page 1 Regulations that bolsters a tenant’s defense against a landlord pursuing MCIs are entitled to raise rents by as much as 6% a year, in a retaliatory eviction. The change applies to all renters. perpetuity. But under the new law, they will now be able to A judge may now stay an eviction for up to one year, rather raise rents by only 2% a year to help pay for those renovations. than six months, if the tenant cannot find a similar dwelling On top of that, those increases can only be for 30 years. in the same neighborhood after a reasonable search. Similarly, the proposed law caps spending on IAIs by And a court must also consider how an eviction may ex- limiting the renovation amount to a maximum of $15,000 acerbate a tenant’s health condition, affect a child’s enroll- per unit, every 15 years. As an example, under the pres- ment in a local school, and other factors. ent rules, a landlord of a building with fewer than 35 Unlawful evictions, such as when a landlord illegally units could apply for as much as $40,000 on IAIs and locks out or uses force to evict a tenant, would become a pass 1/40th of the costs to renters through a permanent misdemeanor punishable by a civil penalty of $1,000 to monthly increase. Now, the same landlord can only apply $10,000 per violation. for $15,000 and can pass along only 1/168th of the costs. These new protections would complement a 2017 law that made New York the first city to implement a universal The lease renewal process for tenants on preferential right to counsel, guaranteeing free legal assistance for ten- rent will be a whole lot less stressful. ants facing eviction (supposedly – more on this next month). Roughly one-third—266,000—of the city’s one million Notices to Cure rent-regulated units receive preferential rent, which means One of the scariest things a tenant faces is a Notice to Cure a rent lower than what is legally permitted. Under the old posted on her apartment door, giving her 10 days to correct law, landlords who grant tenants preferential rents have some condition the landlord is complaining about or be been able to raise rents to the maximum allowable amount evicted. Tenants now have 30 days to fix lease violations, during lease renewals. In practice, this has meant that for all tenants (even market rate tenants), and it will be rather than 10 days under previous rules. preferential rent tenants have faced the possibility of large easier for all renters to get their security deposits back. and unexpected rent hikes during lease renewals. There was already a similar rule for regulated renters in Other changes Going forward, preferential rents will become the base New York Application fees, including fees for a background check, rent for the entire occupancy of the tenant, meaning land- are now limited to $20. lords can only raise the rent according to amounts deter- Notice of Increases and Non-Renewal Blacklists. Tenants who were seen as troublemakers by mined by the Rent Guidelines Board, the NYC agency Landlords of market rate apartments are now required to landlords—perhaps for standing up for their rights in that sets the increases for rent-stabilized units. provide tenants with notice if they intend to raise the rent court—sometimes end up on blacklists that would be by more than five percent. They must also notify tenants if shared among rental agencies. That practice is now banned, Co-op and Condo conversion process is going to be they do not intend to renew a lease. prohibiting landlords from discriminating based on a ten- a lot harder. If a tenant has a lease of less than one year, a 30-day no- ant’s history in housing court. Over the decades, co-op and condo conversions have been a tice is now mandatory. A 60-day notice is required for rent- If a tenant needs to move out mid-lease, a landlord is now common investor strategy in the city’s rent-regulated mar- ers who have lived in an apartment for more than one year, required to try to rent the apartment to someone else, mak- ket and, as a result, contributed to the loss of rent-regulated but fewer than two years, or have a lease of at least one year, ing it harder for owners to keep a unit vacant and charge the units. Currently, 15% of apartments have to be sold (to ei- but less than two years. tenant for the remainder of the lease. ther residents or outside investors) in order for a building Tenants who have lived in a unit for more than two years, Right to investigate overcharges. Previously, rent-regulated to convert to a co-op or condo. But now, the new law sets or have a lease of at least two years, must get a 90-day notice. tenants had what was known as a four-year “look back” rule, a much higher bar: 51% of tenants who live in the build- Landlords of regulated apartments were already required to where they could hold a landlord accountable for overcharges ing must agree to buy units for a conversion to happen. give 90- to 120-day notices. for four years. Now a tenant who suspects fraud can request a full rental bill history and can make the state investigate and Security deposits New eviction protections penalize landlords for overcharges made over the last six years. Security deposits will now be limited to one month’s rent One of the most significant changes is a new protection continued on page 30 4 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org Lawsuit Stops DOT 14th Street Corridor Plan—For Now By Arthur Z. Schwartz Authority (“MTA”) was planning to shut making pick-ups or drop offs. 14th Street, and to establish a “bus and ‘truck’” down L Train service from Brooklyn, and FLASH—Just as Westview was going to A coalition of over a dozen block associa- lane (“hereinafter the “14th Street Plan”), and across 14th Street, for a 15 month period. press, Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower tions, led by the Council of Chelsea Block the adoption of a related plan to make perma- The 2017-2018 plans were designed to ac- granted a Temporary Restraining Order bar- Associations, have joined with several of nent 16 foot wide bike lanes on 12th and 13th commodate a projected massive increase in ring the NYC Department of Transportation the larger buildings in our community, the Streets in Manhattan (hereinafter ‘The Bike cross-town bus service, a number exceeding from implementing its plan to bar all cars and Vermeer (at 77 Seventh Avenue) and the Lane Plan”), are arbitrary and capricious ac- 85,000 riders a day (MTA’s estimate) and vans , and most trucks from 14th Street, a move Victoria (at 5 East 14th Street) to file suit in tions by the DOT. 2–5,000 cross-town bike riders a day (DOT’s DOT says it wanted to make to “speed up bus- NY State Supreme Court to stop the plan “Neither Plan has been properly vetted under estimate). The subway shutdown will no es.” The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of cold, and to force reconsideration of the bike SEQRA or CEQRA, the DOT has refused to longer occur, and service will only be slowed block associations, who are represented by West- paths which threaten to turn 12th and 13th release any studies or data supporting its deci- down on the L Train late at night and on view contributor Arthur Schwartz. Essential- Streets into traffic nightmares. The Busway sions, and both plans are … actions by govern- weekends. Despite prior unresolved litiga- ly, Judge Rakower said that DOT, which rep- is scheduled to go into effect July 1, along ment which threaten the wellbeing of residents tion about the applicability of SEQRA and resented that it had statistics and modeling to with the elimination of numerous bus stops of the Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Flatiron CEQRA, several “community meetings,” measure the impact of the closure, had not given by the MTA in the name of “bus speed up.” communities in Manhattan, and threaten the and all sorts of obscure “modeling,” and ad- that data a sufficient “hard look” as required by These eliminations, which include the character of those neighborhoods… ditional meetings after the shutdown was the State and City Environmental Quality M14A stops on 9th Avenue and Horatio and “This suit is brought in order to stop the called off, the DOT has refused to evaluate Review Acts. Her injunction is in place until at 8th Avenue and Jane Street, are the subject of implementation of the 14th Street Plan, and either the interrelated 2019 14th Street Plan least August 6, when the block associations and a second lawsuit filed under the NYC Hu- to bring about the restoration of the 12th and or the Bike Lane Plan (which we call, col- the DOT are due back into court. The article man Rights Law—more on this next month. 13th Street streetscapes to their former condi- lectively, the 14th Street “Corridor Plan”) below was written by Arthur Schwartz several Here is an excerpt of what the Busway tion unless these interrelated plans are evalu- ated in accordance with SEQRA and CEQRA, pursuant to SEQRA or CEQRA, which days before the ruling. Petitioners argued to Judge Rakower: “Pe- until all FOIL requests are lawfully responded means that any assessments made by DOT —Editor titioners bring this suit pursuant to the N.Y. to and unless the plan reveals some modicum of have been done without taking a legitimate State Environmental Quality Review Act rationality." “hard look” at the impacts, and without con- As WestView goes to press, the entire com- (“SEQRA”), and the NY City Environmen- These actions by the DOT were originally sideration of various alternative proposals. munity awaits a decision by Supreme Court tal Quality Review Act (“CEQRA”) … and envisioned in 2017-2018 as part of a mitiga- Not only that, DOT has come up with a new Justice Eileen Rakower about whether she the New York Freedom of Information Law. tion plan to remedy what was expected to be “rationale” for the Corridor Plan, since the will issue an injunction to stop the City’s Petitioners also assert, pursuant to Article 78 a lack of subway service on 14th Street at a original rationale was no longer viable. That plan to turn 14th Street into a “Busway,” of the CPLR, that the plan to eliminate one time when the Metropolitan Transportation barring cars from the street unless they are lane of traffic on the north and south sides of continued on page 22

we hope to be able to make some gains in bus Bleecker Street. The westbound stops will be speeds while creating an opportunity to see if drop-off stops without SBS fare machines. ridership in the area increases with imple- Meanwhile,, the creative Westbeth com- Use It or Lose It mentation of SBS to a level that would war- munity has clearly been ahead of the curve riders to swipe their MetroCards at curbside rant continued service on the loop. The route all along in the fight for the 14A, as the machines before they board. The new service that we are moving forward with will have impressive report from Roger Braimon will replace the M14A and M14D routes cur- a total of three M14A SBS stops serving the (see box below), demonstrates. rently operating along 14th St.” square: westbound at Hudson Street/West So, dear readers and residents of the So, knowing he was already bringing a 13th Street, westbound at Hudson Street/ neighborhood—time to get on the bus. suit against the MTA because of the large West 12th Street, and eastbound at 8 Avenue/ “Use It—Or Lose It!” elimination of stops on the east side, I wrote Attorney Arthur Schwartz, saying “Anything we can do?” (see Arthur's re- Westbeth Takes Up the Cause cap above). Despite numerous news sto- ries of late about the ever larger percent- As soon as the MTA announced the cuts, George Cominskie, former President of age of Senior Citizens in the population the Westbeth Artists' Residents' Council, and I, the current President, started a (certainly true in this neighborhood!), campaign.Here’s a brief timeline of our efforts: the MTA—obsessed with speed—seems APRIL 26. We organized over 160 (mostly senior) tenants to write letters to CB2 urg- not to have gotten the message...that as ing the M14A loop be kept at Abingdon Square. well as Express buses for those in a hurry MAY 5. We contacted our elected officials requesting they get involved (Johnson, (not taking the subway!?) they need to Brewer, Hoylman, Nadler, Glick, Williams). All returned our requests, except Wil- STILL IN JEOPARDY: Continued M14A bus run local buses with frequent stops for se- service may be determined by a continued liams. For some reason, Jumaane Williams didn’t respond to ANY request for assis- niors and the handicapped. and/or increase in ridership. Photo by Mag- tance. gie Berkvist. In the meantime, because I had cc-d City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and his MAY 17. Elected officials (Johnson, Brewer, Hoylman, Nadler) wrote letter to Andy By Maggie Berkvist assistant, Erik Bottcher, on my note to Ar- Byford on our behalf. thur, I got a call from Erik, saying he felt MAY 29. Westbeth held public meeting in Commnunity Room, gave a PowerPoint So, dear readers, despite posters that start- all was not lost, forwarding a letter he had presentation, and organized letter-writing campaign as well as online campaign to ed to appear around the neighborhood in received from Leah Flax of MTA New daily contact MTA Byford and Mayor DeBlasio. May, and my Open Letter to Corey John- York City Transit, in which she said: MAY 29 - JUNE 12. Westbeth tenants posted personal videos, created songs, son in our June issue, the fate/future of our “We are excited to launch M14 Select Bus memes, posters....putting a face to the issue vital 14A is still in jeopardy. Service (SBS) service on Monday July 1st. On June 10th a Daily News story, headed This email is to update you about our plan JUNE 11. Nine month decision announced by MTA, following Corey Johnson meet- Cars To Be Banned From Most of 14th Street to now retain service to the Abingdon Square ing with Byford. , went on to In Manhattan Starting July 1 loop with better bus stop spacing. JUNE 11. Poster made showing new stops and new actionable items. add “The Metropolitan Transportation Au- The final route is available on our website thority will also launch its new M14 select bus (https://new.mta.info/systemmodernization/ Roger Braimon, President, Westbeth Artists Residents Council | 917.701.3679 service on July 1, hoping to speed up buses M14SBS). By removing stops between Jane www.westbeth.org by eliminating 16 existing stops and requiring Street and Horatio Street in both directions, www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 5

of Eugene Lang College, Lang speaks to a New School continued from page 3 vision that takes up the ideological mission of education set forth by the founders of Arts, Dean Hans Simons of the School of The New School in 1919: Politics expresses optimism that the re- turning soldiers will bring a heightened For me, for my family, this is an awesome, awareness to the national perspective: incredible—and deeply sentimental— All of us are going to ask, why did we occasion...It seems so eminently appro- have to fight—what did we fight for? The priate and fortunate that the newly titled real answer to these questions must come college should be embraced by The New Scott Elyanow, local broker from society as a whole. But it will be com- School. Where else could one find all the posed of the answers millions of individu- circumstances of an outstanding tradition and longtime resident, has als are able and willing to give. of educational innovation and enterprise, The Bulletin takes stock of The New a richness of faculty and educational re- joined Compass. School’s first twenty-four years, celebrat- sources inviting more intensive employ- ing the ten-year anniversary of the Uni- ment, a vibrant seminar college ready for versity in Exile, providing and expounding a quantum leap into the future? ... What See you around the neighborhood. upon the calendar of current courses and will the Seminar College, under its new lectures, and announcing the latest issue of name, become? Building upon the char- Social Research, as well as faculty art shows acter of its past, I see the college growing by Berenice Abbott, José de Creeft, Ca- steadily for some years with many more milo Egas, Stanley William Hayter, Yasuo students, each eager to extend horizons Kuniyoshi, and Louis Schanker. Among of academic enterprise, with their teach- other highlights are performances and a ers no less eager to teach and to encour- new division, ‘a Radio Workshop for the age them. I see a college whose focus radio actor, announcer, and director’, from is clearly directed to individual student the Dramatic Workshop. development. As envisaged, that means In 1972, The New School establishes small classes, working in the seminar for- the Freshman Year Program, which offers mat, calculated to stimulate intellectual advanced high school seniors the opportu- interaction among students, and between nity to complete their first year of college student and teacher. It means broad cur- Scotty Elyanow before enrolling, as sophomores, in a more ricular scope and flexibility so that, under Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker traditional college or university program. sustained faculty guidance, students can Three years later, The New School intro- create study programs related to indi- westvillagebroker.com M: 917.678.6010 duces a full four-year program, the Semi- vidual objectives and abilities. It means [email protected] villagescotty nar College; the Seminar College is basal a curriculum that will enable students to to Eugene Lang College, which The New draw enriching vitality and educational School dedicates in 1985. Counter to a adventure from the cultural and socio- normative history of colleges and universi- logical aspects of New York City. In re- ties, The New School’s first undergraduate cent months, my family and I have heard degrees are offered long after the school’s many kind words and have rejoiced in first graduate degrees; with a curricular some wonderful, heartwarming reactions identity already in place, the formation of to our commitment. We have been ex- White HorseTavern Eugene Lang College is met with excite- cited by the enthusiasm with which all 567 Hudson Street, Corner of West 11th Street ment and optimism. constituencies of The New School have Eugene Lang, the college’s benefactor, clasped the fledgling college to their was born in 1919, the year of The New collective bosom. However, beyond joy School’s founding. In 1981, Lang founded and excitement, my family feels a humil- the ‘I Have A Dream Foundation’; in 1996, ity and profound gratitude. Our hopes for his contributions to education and social for Eugene Lang College, and its tran- causes, President Bill Clinton would award scendently important mission, rest with Lang the Presidential Medal of Freedom; administrators who will give it purpose. in 2012, five years prior to his death, Lang Our family commitment, however it be would hold, according to Swarthmore Col- recognized today, truly counts for very lege, thirty-eight honorary degrees. Octo- little. You who will carry the burden will ber 1985, in his heartfelt founder’s address give it real meaning.

THE NEW SCHOOL MILESTONES

1934 – The New School for Social Research offers its first graduate degree programs. 1943 – The first undergraduate degree programs were offered. They were designed to make bachelor degrees accessible to veterans. 1970 – Parsons merges with The New School. Achieving permission to grant a bach- elor of fine arts degree was central to Parsons merger with The New School. 1972 – The Freshman Year Program was created, offering high school seniors the op- portunity to complete their first year of college before enrolling as sophomores. In 1975, The New School introduced a 4-year liberal arts program, the Seminar College, that was the precursor to the current Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, formed in 1985. 2015 – Mannes School of Music relocates to Greenwich Village, uniting The New School’s physical campus downtown. Under President David Van Zandt, The New School continued its consolidation in the Village, part of an effort to integrate academi- cally the university’s various parts so that students can benefit from all of The New School’s innovative programs. Today, The New School has 10,000 students and offers more than 135 degree programs. This door to the old Village has been open for 127 years 6 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org Whither the Village? By Senior Minister at Judson Church nary investments in its own energy, most of which make environmentalists proud. The Village can’t be what it used to be any All of that being said, is there such a more. Been there, done that. thing as too much of a good thing? NYU’s It may be that the times have changed. very desire to increase its footprint causes Since 9-11, most people are more con- untold suffering to innocent people, the cerned about safety than we are about kind of people who used to be part of our freedom. We even say good-bye with the many congregations and coffee houses and words “Be Safe,” as though safe were a le- local businesses’ success. gitimate or even possible objective. “Whither,” the panel, asks the question of Or it could be that the place—the “vil- gentrification and the village: how do the two lage”—has changed. We can’t be as gentri- fit together? Could NYU and its own liberal fied as we are, with rents as high as they are, values not be corralled for something edgy and still be Avant, bohemian, weird, open, and interesting, before we all just go to sleep free, experimental, edgy, birkenstocked. GREENWICH VILLAGE HAS DONE WHAT EVERY OTHER PLACE, IN EVERY OTHER TIME, in our nostalgias for different pasts, pasts The values of freedom and safety are in DOES—IT CHANGED. New York University master plan, 1951. Credit: Eggers & Higgins. which are no longer possible? pretty direct competition with each other, I am hoping that our little panel, hosted for most people, most of the time. In these and of course, being static is the most ture by architectural historian Francis Mo- by Villager Alec Baldwin, shed a little light cliched binaries, we imagine it takes more unsafe thing we can do. The very affec- roney at Judson in April, a surprise slide on these big matters. I hope someone will poor people and edge people and unem- tion for the static, the self-protective view was shown. It was from 1951 and it showed show up and be funny and think a thought ployed people to manage the job descrip- that things will stay the same or “always be NYU as the only institution around Wash- that hasn’t yet been thought. Can a great tion of the hippie. Starving artists have ar- this way,” is mightily dangerous. Embrac- ington Square Park. Judson was disappeared university be as creative in a community as tistic nobility; people with jobs don’t. ing change is edgy; stifling change or even from the photo. We just weren’t there in it can in a classroom or power plant? What Our purpose in the panel hosted by Alec thoughts about change is stuffy. If we want the consultant’s proposal. Robert Moses is kind of housing in the village would mag- Baldwin on May 20th at 4 at Judson was to become antique, along with the sixties, said to have understood that Judson was al- nify the beauty of our small scale, keep sun to bust these cliched binaries. Of course, of course we can do so. But we can also ready “gone” when he put together his in- and light in our windows AND be afford- they are somewhat true, even if only true in dust ourselves off and brush ourselves off famous proposal to drive through the park. able? How could economic diversity be a the way we tell stories about ourselves and and lift ourselves up from fundamentally Note that such centralizing was a part of learning advantage to the students NYU is then start to believe them. They are also static stories. the NYU success then and never appeared. preparing for the world? How could NYU not true, in the same way that clichés carry Greenwich Village has done what every Might similar things be happening with the self-tax on behalf of the teaching it does? their own self-destructive ammunition. other place, in every other time, does. It proposed 14% footprint increase, projected How could NYU see missional value in The only thing that is really true is that changed. The Village changed. Oh, my. earlier and now contested, by the dominant economic diversity? our time and our space did change. Things The Village changed primarily by the institution in our village? Bohemians are best when we manage do change. Static is the ultimate safety— extraordinary success of NYU. At the lec- Or could something different happen the tension between freedom and safety so than 14% or with 14%? When the last ren- well that we become interesting. Interest- ovation of Washington Square park hap- ing lives beyond static thinking. Interesting pened, people wrung their hands and then is open to the new and the next which are re-wrung their hands. How could a park always built within the tales told about the change? All the poor people and drug deal- old and the beautiful. ers would be gone. They are not. Suketu Mehta, who teaches at NYU, There is absolutely no question that NYU has written a book THIS LAND IS OUR raised the rents in the village, forcing out a LAND. NYU is much more of a colonist lot of wannabe, if aging, Bohemians. That than its board understands. NYU is also economic fact cannot be ignored. a tremendous asset to Greenwich Village. Simultaneously, what is wrong with the What could it and we do together? success of an urban academic institution? We could become the greenest urban vil- Does it always come with so much higher lage and university in the world. We could rent that nothing can be good in its wake? close off University and Waverly and more The benefits to our lives here and now are streets to cars and link a genuine footprint incalculable. The fundamental one is the between the two great parks near us, Union global diversity that is at our doorstep. We and Washington. We could also tax or rec- are much less white because of NYU. ommend self-taxing the other footprint. I taught a small course at NYU in the If NYU must grow, how much affordable spring called “Marrying Outside Your and low-rise housing would it like to build Tribe.” Through our doors marched Mus- or rehab or turn into small houses? How lims, Greek Orthodox, Baptists, Hindus, much economic diversity would be good Coptic Christians, Catholics, Dutch Prot- for the educational mission? What days do estants, and a lovely array of unbelievers non-NYU residents get at the new gym? who had fallen in love with true believers. Or when can seniors or poor people ride That kind of diversity cannot be found in the buses? How could NYU turn commu- many places. That diversity is what truly nity board meetings into interesting con- makes villages and cities great. versations instead of group therapy sessions, Likewise, there is merit in the intellec- where everybody yells at everybody else? tual project. Stand quietly in the park some Big questions of value—freedom, safety, nights (if you can, so vibrant are the com- justice, change—matter to people and in- peting musical offerings) and you can hear stitutions and to villages. Static has little the sound of thousands of minds humming truth and no value. Static just sits around FLAGS REPLACE FISTS - a Park Ranger circles Abingdon Park with flags to their way to something like understanding. complaining. People who are edgy go to commemorate the Stone wall uprising. Photo by Chris Manis. Then there is the green. NYU has extraordi- the edge of reality and think together. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 7 Robert Heide At The Newark Museum

building and in it I noticed many new Pop Art and Art Deco acquisitions since we first started visiting back when we were working on our guidebook O’ New Jersey – Daytripping, Back Roads, Eateries, Funky Adventures for St. Martins (new third edi- tion available at Amazon). Known for its Tibetan and Native American holdings the beautiful Newark Museum is connect- ed to the whole and actual fully furnished by Tobi Little Deer and restored Victorian townhouse of the founder of Ballantine Ale. Robert, our friend and photographer Timothy Bissell, and I attended the mu- POP ARTIST DUANE HANSON'S super seum in May where Robert had been in- A dog and a family, enduring, forgiving, loving, during an idyllic realistic sculpture of a man on a tractor (left) vited to talk about, among other things, time in the history of a town. and Robert Heide at the Newark Museum in his old friend Andy Warhol, and to con- Newark, NJ. Photo by Timothy Bissell. “This beautifully observant story...has a compelling authenticity, en- duct a tour of the Pop Art Gallery at the compassing eloquent ponderings about the bond between humans By John Gilman museum. The helpful and knowledgeable and dogs, canine devotion and forgiveness...[and] should resonate program staff integrated the tour with with dog lovers of any age.” --Kirkus Reviews WestView News writer Robert Heide will their Thursday Night special ‘event’ which be featured on a panel about Pop Art at was a party celebrating the ‘crazy’ 1970s “This wonderful book features the adventures of a thoughtful little the Newark Museum in downtown New- and everybody, it seemed, was in costume, dog...touching and poignant...suitable for all ages. --I.P. Hist.Soc. ark on Saturday, July 13 at 2 PM. The dancing to the period hits played by a DJ “A wonderful story, especially for a person who loves animals.” Museum, at 49 Washington Street, is a in the spectacular marble lobby of the in- --Reader Views Kids few short blocks from Newark’s historic stitution. We had a lot of fun eating and Penn Station—best way for Greenwich drinking and afterwards we drove on out to “An utterly charming and inherently entertaining read from first Villagers to get there is by the PATH Bloomfield (hometown of the ‘Empress of page to last.” --Small Press Bookwatch train which you can get at 9th Street and New Jersey’, Connie Francis) to Holsten’s 6th Avenue or from Christopher Street Ice Cream Parlor (site of the last segment between Hudson and Greenwich Streets. of the Soprano’s) where we indulged in hot After architect Michael Graves’ $22 mil- fudge sundaes with home-made ice cream lion renovation in 1990 the Newark Mu- and home-made chocolate—and with seum became a masterpiece of a museum hand whipped whipped cream on top.

On the Market 56 Jane Street, Apt Unit 3ABH 2 Beds | 2.5 Baths | $2,500,000

Recent Transactions Thomas Lee Lic. Assc. Real Estate Broker Your Home. In Contract University of Virginia '04 Men's Division I Golfer 300 West 14th #203 | $2,695,000 O: 212.447.1888 Our Mission. Sold M: 201.988.1222 [email protected] 208 West 11th Street | $9,695,000 25 Columbus Circle | $8,200,000 84 Charles Street Unit 14 | $999,888 23 Bethune Street #4F | $525,000 8 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org Then&Now: 501 Hudson and Christopher Street By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP

THEN: This March 1933 photo (matching an earlier 1927 photo) of the once four-story-cor- Street to Hudson Square. The street was extended the next two decades until it reached ner-building-next-to-a-3-story-mixed-use rowhouse, describes both as 501 Hudson Street Bank Street; north of this point it became Eighth Avenue. and 131 Christopher Street. All the land south of Christopher Street was land-granted to the Trinity Presbyterian Even the GVHD Designation Report of 4/29/69 describes these addresses as one lot, Church; thus, Trinity’s St. Luke’s Chapel and the residences built nearby in the 1820’s though clearly they are not one building. The 12 over 12 double-hung window sashes are helped inaugurate the development of the area. nicely proportioned and spaced for residential rooms, complete with fire escapes on the After Amos’ death in 1837, his daughters married men who also helped develop the area, exterior. The Cigar Store was a fixture in this working-class neighborhood for many years. such as Joseph J. Van Buren and George B. Thorp, the latter Keeper of the nearby State It was reportedly the site of a Volunteer Fire Company station for Engine No. 34 in the Prison from 1824-29. Credit: NYC Department of Records. second quarter of the Nineteenth Century, but evidence of it is elusive. Using investigative reasoning, the options seem to point to the western ‘end’ of the building, the rowhouse, NOW: Butchered in 1953, the upper stories were demolished to make it a two-story taxpay- with its on-grade entry and wide storefront. (More on carriage houses and stables in the er. This inferior remodeling added wide metal-sash windows with brick soldier-course lintels area are in the WVNews series “When Horses Ruled NY” from previous years.) Another of thin tan brick and walls capped by slender coping stones for the second-floor offices at former neighborhood fire station at 70 Barrow Street has similar scale, purpose, and entry the time of 1969 district designation. Since then, further violations lost the uniform brick from the street. (From the GVHD report: “Built in 1852 as a firehouse for the City, the hand- faces, while the ever-changing cacophony of signage and awnings and entrances often some four-story brick building, now an apartment house, has undergone extensive altera- violated building regulations in the process, some on record from the 1980’s. No provision tion.” The fire company may have moved here from their 1820’s building on Christopher?) to provide 1990-ADA-compliant access to the storefronts is planned. At #133 Christopher St., a brick three-story building represents the alteration of a Federal Today, the north side of Christopher has building heights of two to five stories. The resi- house erected in 1819 for William Austen, originally two and one-half stories high with dences in 133 and 135 Christopher maintain some Federal-style appearances, as the other dormers, and only three windows wide. The house was enlarged, ca. 1850, to three stories, buildings down the block keep many original features. Hudson Street between Christopher and widened at the left where once was a horse alley (quite common even today in the Vil- and West 10th Streets offers an interesting contrast between the low Federal-style build- lage); the windows, railings and the roof cornice date from that period. ings, and large Twentieth Century structures. To the right in the photos, the building at 503, #135 is a four-story brick loft building erected in 1911, designed by Jardine, Kent § Hill, 505 and 507 was built in 1911 as a six-story concrete loft by Lorenz P. Weiher, contrasting distinguished by a judicious use of symmetrical brickwork fenestration. the horizontality of the triple windows against the verticality of the supporting piers. No con- #137 was erected in 1906 for the New York and New Jersey Railroad Company, now the cession to neighborhood character was made, and now even the loading entrances in the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) entrance and the Hudson Terminal Powerhouse, and is 1933 photo are filled in, offering no entrances in the façade, for the condos behind it. the tallest structure on the block (farthest left in photo). The current 501 Hudson landlord, since 2014, has submitted plans to the Landmarks In 1788, The Earl of Abingdon had sold the land north of Christopher and almost to Preservation Commission to clean-up violations, and update the facades for this remnant Bleecker Street from the river, to Richard Amos, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, who building in the Historic District. The previous owner had an approved demolition permit prior built his house at the northeast corner of Greenwich Street and Amos (10th) Street (he to 2014. deeded the ROW to the city in 1809). Perhaps one day an owner will sympathetically rebuild the character lost on the north- Hudson Street first appears on a city map of 1797, when it extended only from Duane west corner of Hudson and Christopher? Credit: Brian J. Pape, AIA/ www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 9 Request to Albany: Do the Right Thing

Beth Israel units: maternity, neonatal, pediatric ate on April 11, 2019 by Senator Brian Kava- intensive care, and adult cardiac surgery. nagh. On May 30, 2019, it was approved by Under Albany’s proposed legislation, en- the Senate Health Committee and sent to the titled “Local Input in Community Health- Finance Committee. Since the new law is ex- care (the LICH Act),” surprise closures pected to have minimal fiscal impact, it should would no longer be possible. The LICH Act be referred out for a full vote—if all goes well. will require the DOH to look into the needs The Assembly version was introduced of the impacted community and conclude on January 28, 2019 by Jo Anne Simon. It that those needs “can be adequately met” was referred to the Assembly Health Com- before the state could authorize the closure mittee, where it remains. of a hospital, an emergency department, On Wednesday, June 12, 2019, four or a maternity department. In addition, at members of CCSBI spent an hour and a least 60 days prior to a proposed closure, the half speaking with people outside of Beth DOH will be required to give stakeholders Israel Hospital on 16th Street and First an opportunity to speak on the proposed Avenue. The support for the LICH Act CCSBI ACTIVISTS LIZ ZABITS AND GIL HOROWITZ with district maps and legislators’ names closure at a community forum. The bill was enormous. CCSBI had names and telephone numbers “tabling” outside of Beth Israel Hospital. The next scheduled tabling will states that DOH “would not be allowed to telephone numbers of downtown legisla- be Monday, July 15, 2019, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. Photo by Penny Mintz. close a hospital without a significant and tors, and scores of people eagerly took the By Penny Mintz hattan alone, we have lost Cabrini Medical thorough community input process.” information and promised to call to de- Center, Doctor’s Hospital (acquired by Mt. Transparency. Community input. Con- mand support of the legislation. Scores of There was an exciting and promising devel- Sinai, now condos), North General Hospi- sideration of the needs of the community. other people from Brooklyn and Queens opment in Albany that bears directly on the tal in Harlem, St. Vincent’s Catholic Medi- These are among the demands that the promised to telephone their state lawmak- Lower Manhattan community’s struggle to cal Center (now condos), St. Vincent’s Mid- Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel ers even though CCSBI could not provide save Beth Israel Hospital. It may come to town (residential rental), and Stuyvesant has been articulating. the names and numbers of the legislators. nothing this year, because the legislative ses- Polyclinic. Scores of other small hospitals During a meeting in August, 2018, People are hungry to take action to save sion ends on June 19th. But as of this writ- were closed during the 1970’s and 1980’s. among members of CCSBI, State Senator their hospitals. ing, there is still a possibility that both the Hospital closures and reductions in hos- Brad Hoylman, and State Assembly Mem- State Senate and the State Assembly will pital services are essentially unregulated by ber Harvey Epstein, the two legislators Postscript: The legislature failed to vote on pass a bill that will make it impossible for the Department of Health (DOH). Al- agreed to look into prior versions of the cur- the LICH Act. Yet again. Hopefully, we hospitals to close or reduce services without though hospitals need State authorization rent bill that had failed to be passed into law. won’t lose Beth Israel before the legislature public review and an independent study of to open new facilities and enlarge services, The current bill was introduced in the Sen- addresses this issue. the health-care impact of the closure. reductions in services can be authorized 30 According to Health Care for All, NY, days after the closure has occurred. This a statewide coalition of over 170 organiza- statutory “limited review” is really no re- tions focused on achieving quality, afford- view at all. It is a rubber stamp. able health coverage for all New Yorkers, That was the level of “review” that autho- 41 hospitals have closed in New York State rized the surprise loss to the Lower Manhattan over the last 20 years. Since 2000, in Man- community in 2017 of four highly profitable

Hospital Room in the West Village

Dina Andriotis, Chris Tsiamis, and Nikitas Andriotis (from left to right). 77 Christopher Street Between Seventh Avenue and Bleecker Street Pharmacy Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM Saturday: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM We have been told that the Lenox Hill Nortwell Health Center on 7th Avenue between Closed Sunday 12th and 13th Streets has four hospital beds to complement its state of the art Emergen- cy Room. On June 23rd, I unfortunately got an inside tour while recovering from an aller- Telephone: 212-255-2525 Fax: 212-255-2524 gic reaction to something I ate. I was treated in the ER at 8 pm, and the doctors wanted • to keep me on an IV and monitor me till 5 am, so I was "admitted," and was treated, until email: [email protected] sunrise, in the brand new hospital room photographed above. It was great not to have to www.newyorkchemists.com be shipped over to Beth Israel or NYU.—Text and photo by Arthur Schwartz.

10 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org A Requiem For Celeste

Celeste Martin: November 11, 1927—December 13, 2018 gowns from earlier days. We often sat at her window and spoke about her father, her mother, and the nanny she had By Denise Marsa as a young girl. She adored them all. It was Celeste’s father who first invested in the West Village buildings and who How many times have you heard about a New York City inspired the landlord character Mr. Appopolous in the landlady giving every tenant in her multiple landmark rental play “My Sister Eileen.” Featuring two Ohio transplants buildings a special gift bag filled with Christmas goodies? that moved to a small apartment on Gay Street, this work Every year Celeste Martin looked forward to taking her would become the basis of the musical “Wonderful Town.” staff, including her driver, carpenter and super, shopping at Celeste never got over the loss of her tenant David Ryan Macy’s Herald Square to help her fill 39 gift bags for her in a fire in his apartment on Gay Street. He once told me tenants. These were no ordinary gift bags, just as she was he probably would die in a fire he started by falling asleep in no ordinary landlady. As a tenant in one of her buildings, his favorite chair, surrounded by newspapers, with a cigarette I was always thrilled with my gift bag’s content. One year I hanging between his fingers. Sadly, his statement came true. received a 1999 Perrier–Jouët (which I still have) and anoth- Celeste also endured the sudden death of Nicole, her dear er year a 2011 Rose Veuve Clicquot. Yes, champagne! Ac- maintenance-super from Haiti. Over the years she had her companying the champagne was a bottle of Johnny Walker male companions, who always helped her with her empire. Black or a Johnny Walker variety pack. There were also al- She attracted men her whole life and was flirting up until ways imported sweets and chocolates along with the spirits. the end. Her life would make an incredible movie script with I wish to honor the memory of the late Celeste Martin, plenty of history, mystery, intrigue, and interesting characters. who passed away on December 13, 2018, and the enduring I am a transplant from New Jersey. I came to this amaz- legacy she maintained running her landmark properties on ing city over 40 years ago and looked at only one apartment, Christopher and Gay Streets in Greenwich Village, Man- on Christopher Street, where I still live today. I met Celeste’s 18 CHRISTOPHER STREET: One of the buildings formerly hattan. She lived in a pink house on Waverly Place near father Edmund Martin that one time; he was still manag- owned by village icon, Celeste Martin. Photo by Chris Manis. Washington Square Park and also managed seven two- ing all the properties back then. My studio apartment is my hundred-year-old homes that have endured intense car and sanctuary, my fortress. I feature it in one of my vignettes in before she was taken from her home. truck traffic and the nearby rumbling subways for decades. my new one-woman show THE PASS, A Musical, in which I Court-appointed guardians were in control of her life (Incidentally, she stood up against, and stopped, the city’s speak of Celeste, my guardian angel, and how grateful I have and property during her final months. She did not live very plans to put a Path station too near her buildings for fear always been to have her as part of my story. In my show, af- long after she was taken away. The course of events that led they would be compromised and crumble. For more about ter I describe my first day of apartment hunting in the West to that state of affairs started with Celeste being removed this, there is an article from the New York Times, written by Village, as an aspiring singer/songwriter, I perform my song, from her home, involuntarily and against her will, by Adult Penelope Green, originally published December 21, 2003.) City Skies. It is an ode to this spellbinding city. I was so lucky Protective Services in March, 2018. She was placed in a Celeste also fought to keep her glorious wisteria from to have Celeste as a landlady; and my studio, though small in nursing home, the Hebrew Home in Riverdale, where I being cut down. It was at least 100 years old and grew square footage, is tremendously large when it comes to charm, visited her several times. The last time, she sat with me at abundantly from the courtyard between and over her build- character, history (including my own!), and love. the piano in a communal area and I quietly played and sang ings on Gay and Christopher Streets, just as it had done Celeste was 94 when she passed. In her final years as a City Skies, which I dedicate to her in my show. We were for decades. She put lights on the plants every Christmas, landlady, reputed to be one of the most eccentric in NYC, both moved to tears, an ever-lasting moment between us. an amazing sight and a spectacular highlight in the West she was unbelievably sweet, yet occasionally neglectful During our visits she would always tell me she had to get Village. When the wisteria was in full bloom in spring, it in the buildings’ maintenance—mostly because she was home and look after her business—her buildings. These was as if you had stepped from the crowded streets of the plagued by financial disarray. She’d fallen a few years prior; had been her life for dozens of years. The current circum- most populated city in our country to a garden in seconds. not only were her mobility and cognitive abilities affected, stances have presented us, her tenants and staff, with many It was magical and mythical and all things West Village. her financial situation changed drastically. (She had rarely questions that we are still trying to answer. I have been told Unfortunately, several years ago part of the wisteria was cut been sick and never believed in health insurance.) Previ- so many things and I am not sure what the truth is. When down. Luckily, some of the beautiful flowers still remain ously, when she renovated an apartment she worked with a lawyer first had temporary guardianship, we were told outside her two commercial spaces on Christopher Street. skilled individuals. The most recent had been Robert, a she had relatives who were to inherit the buildings. Now There are many things I do not know about Celeste and carpenter from Poland. Together they planned how they it seems they will not, as the city is in control of her estate. there have been stories about her going around for years— would renew, yet maintain, the charm, details, and history Her own home on Waverly Place was totally cleaned out including her romances and being a Rockette. She was of each small apartment they worked on. She oversaw all and then put up for sale while she was still alive in the truly a beauty in her prime. Perhaps she trusted the wrong his work, which was comparable to photographs I have nursing home. The communication from the once tem- people in the past and that left her very mistrusting of all. seen in Architectural Digest. After her financial circum- porarily appointed guardian, who then became the court- Still, she often bought things for others instead of herself, stances changed Celeste did her best and still handled appointed guardian, has pretty much stopped since Celeste unselfishly overlooking her own needs. She also held on to emergencies promptly and with grace. But some tenants passed. I hear there is another guardian. There is also a so many things—so many memories that filled her home took advantage of her kindness, and some took her to court management company involved now, appointed by the from wall to wall. I heard that inside her pink townhouse for her neglect. There were others, including myself, how- first guardian. Her tenants wonder, with great trepidation, on Waverly Place an original Degas was found amidst cu- ever, who helped her and did our best to comfort her, bring what will happen to her buildings, where many of us have rious knick-knacks, cats, and old costumes and glorious her food, and get support for her during the final months continued on page 12

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Send your letter to [email protected] O pen for dinner Monday through Sunday Open for brunch Saturday and Sunday 69 Charles Street • New York NY 10014 www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 11 We’ll See What Happens seeking shelter from justice. The ultimate power to obstruct justice has become the presidential power to appoint an Attorney General who, with consummate political skill, avoided making his intentions known until after Senate confirmation. Unless the Congress (divided, so unable to act) or the House (with the power but not the resolve to impeach) can provide a political miracle before the 2020 elections, the damning facts catalogued in the Muel- ler Report will not provide a remedy for the nightmare of this presidency. Trump and his army of enablers and sycophants are fighting a war of attrition and they are APPLE TREE IN BLOOM, as politics threat- winning. How could our venerable system en. Photo by Tom Lamia. of constitutional democracy, of checks and By Tom Lamia balances, permit this to happen? I have read the Mueller Report. It is a fine With the late arrival of spring here in Maine, piece of work, scrupulously fair and thor- there are smiles, greetings and courteous ough, but ultimately short of its mark. Why? conduct among all about me. The world is After Watergate, legislation for an indepen- right again. Snow tires off, door and window dent counsel who would stand apart from screens on, lawn furniture and Weber barbe- the executive and legislative branches was cue laid out in a circle awaiting family and enacted. It worked too well, perhaps. With friends. What’s wrong with this picture? no political control, an independent counsel, The inescapable black spot that spoils the once appointed, was unrestrained, having scene is once again the man in the center of too much power for one person, especially the picture who will not let us alone, who in the eyes of those who have sought and seems not able to let any calm moment or acquired the power of elected office (or who friendly act pass without pushing it aside to could see themselves as future targets). celebrate himself and belittle others, shame- Then the law was changed; a special lessly, irreverently and, of course, wrongly. counsel who acts within the Justice Depart- Donald Trump sees an essential inves- ment, with a specific mandate, was created, tigation of an attack on our 2016 presi- making this special counsel subject to the dential election by a historic enemy as the control of the attorney general. The result: result of treason on the part of our intel- When the President is under investigation, ligence community. The investigation has ultimate control lies with the President, ended, but its result is still unclear. The acting through an obedient, crafty, partisan Skullduggery line between national security and politi- and learned Attorney General. By Roberta Curley cal gamesmanship has been blurred to the Our constitutional system has survived and point of extinction. served us well for 230 years. It was bent and Growing older makes me hanker for an anesthetic. I blame myself for pussyfooting around then broken by slavery and civil war, but sur- At 6 a.m. I spy a chubby crease wend its way from my lower-eyelid to my upper lip. the obvious in this matter of Donald Trump. vived intact, if not triumphant. Had Lincoln In the past, those ‘sleep lines’ would have vanished by breakfast time. lived to administer his plan for Reconstruc- I have not spoken out in plain, unmistak- Neither coaxing nor scrubbing erases the propagating interlopers. tion, a fully successful reuniting of the nation able language. With the confusion spread by These intrusive keepsakes operate like indelible markers. could have followed, with hard feelings as- Attorney General Barr’s election to summa- Once imbedded in your body parts, they’re squatters by eminent domain. rize, interpret and, essentially, overrule the suaged. His Vice President, Andrew John- People tell me I look good ‘for my age’—what does THAT mean? Mueller Report, a political stalemate now son, the Trump of his day, prevented that and My proboscis droops and grows wider with each passing year. exists. Special Counsel Mueller interpreted paid with impeachment, though not removal an internal Justice Department rule as pre- from office. A single vote in the Senate saved Long ago, my face wrinkled at the mention of rhinoplasty—today, I’m all ears. venting him from indicting the President. him. Consider that not only did Johnson not I never imagined tucking my breasts into my waistband, either. The Attorney General now advises that the follow the charted path of his predecessor Cruelly, laughing or sneezing incites jitters. rule does not foreclose indictment and that on Reconstruction, but he was not even of the Special Counsel’s decision to not indict the same political party as Lincoln. When No section of the human anatomy is immune to softening with age. had nothing to do with the rule. Wrap (or the war started he was a Democratic Sena- Folks beset by the curse of time typically long for a heating pad—or a dog. warp) your mind around that. tor from Tennessee, a state that seceded from One perk of maturity is freedom to nod off without fear of chastisement. the Union. Senator Johnson was the only The President, with the essential help of Napping (a longevity aid), is deemed an accrued entitlement, (like Social Security.) senator from a secessionist state who did not his Attorney General, has now gained con- Some covet sleep as a tranquil way to permanently ‘pop off.’ give up his seat, for which Lincoln rewarded trol over this great investigation and declared Every morning I pinch my cheeks to check whether I’m alive. that it “totally exonerates” him and is over. him with the vice-presidential nomination. If they throb, I begin the creakingly tedious process of bed dismounting. Many thought that the special counsel Impeachment of Johnson for his southern I’m a New York City retiree—my expertise lies in lallygagging and being cranky. was independent and removed from politics, sympathies and confrontation with Congress and that the attorney general was mandated close on the heels of civil war was a great Receiving a paltry pension renders me cantankerous. by law and tradition to be, like blindfolded trauma for the nation and its Constitution. Aging crowns my cranium like a one-two punch from left field. Lady Justice, immune to politics and cor- The system, bruised and battered, survived. Politics is the highest form of trickery, but growing old waltzes in a close second. ruption. Now we learn that the attorney Are we again at such a point? As our general is just another cabinet position oc- President often says when he, like me, has Thrilled to be a four-decade-plus West Villager, Roberta Curley draws her often wry poetic cupied by someone who is committed not no idea where events will lead: “We’ll see inspirations from NYC based issues, infusing threads of love and nature with the fact that to politics-free justice, but to a president what happens.” one can feel alone amidst throngs of people. Words and music serve as her revered muses. 12 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

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FOUR CHIMNEYS FARM in Unionville, Southern Chester County—a French hunting lodge. Photo by Gordon Hughes.

By Gordon Hughes Back at Mucho Gusto we talked about the good old days in the ’60s and ’70s when the Cheshire Hunt was One morning while sitting in my favorite coffee joint, the largest and fastest hunt in the country. It still is. The Cafe Panino Mucho Gusto, I overheard a couple talking field is 125 riders on any given Saturday. This is as close to about Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. Now that’s insanity as one would dare go. not something one is likely to hear about while sipping a At the time I moved to The Village I purchased a horse cup of joe with a little skim milk here in the West Village. farm in Unionville, and we joined Cheshire. What a thrill! So ears perked up, I listened in. We had belonged to Golden’s Bridge Hunt and Picker- The young woman was talking about her folks’ farm. Well ing Hunt in the ’80s and ’90s, but they were nothing like Don’t put off taking off now I was hooked, as my wife and I own a horse farm in Cheshire. Our Chester County farm is a 1978 French those extra pounds – and historic Unionville, which is in Southern Chester County. hunting lodge on 50 acres and is located right in the heart keeping them off! Unionville is home to Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Fox- of hunt country. Cheshire Hunt is now a conservancy, and Please allow me hounds, founded in 1912. It’s also the reason we bought rarely—I mean very rarely—is a fox ever killed. to help you on your a horse farm there. So I asked the woman if she was Pennsylvania’s state income tax is 3.01 percent, and the weight management journey aware of the hunt, and she said yes, as a little girl her property tax for our 50 acres, which is made up of nine parents would take her out to the kennels to watch the fields, a 13-stall barn, an indoor riding ring and an outdoor Joy Pape, Family Nurse Practitioner Thanksgiving Day festivities. This event was complete sand riding ring, with tractor, hay barn, swimming pool and [email protected] with pink coats—most people call them red, and formal stone deck overlooking the horses and fields, not to mention 917-806-1945 regalia—most people call it top hats and veils, and even the French hunting-lodge house, is $12,000 per year. Think in the ‘60s and ‘70s some of the women road side-saddle. what your property tax is in New York, New Jersey or Con- The hounds—most people call them dogs, would come necticut for two or three acres. Now that is a lot to think bounding out of the kennel ready for a day of sport— about. It’s the primary reason we left Connecticut. most people would call it fox hunting. But here I was, sitting in The West Village that day be- Crowds of landowners and people from all over Chester ing a city mouse, talking to an advertising designer who County would come out, and they still show up for hot shared my country-mouse lifestyle. cider, coffee and a variety of pastries while watching the By the way, if you want to have this remarkable lifestyle, hounds and the field—most people would call them fox contact me through WestView News; the farm is about to hunters or the gang—move out to find the scent, and then go on the market. Country mouse, city mouse could be the mayhem begins. yours along with some java at Mucho Gusto.

Regardless of what will happen in the future, I already Celeste continued from page 10 miss Celeste terribly and will always celebrate her life. made long-term homes. She did not make any plans re- Things aren’t the same without her smile, charm, and child- garding her estate from December 14, 2018 onward. She like magical ways. Celeste Martin and her spirit will live on did not put together a will or living will. Our fate as ten- forever on these city streets in the heart of the West Village. ants who wish to honor Celeste’s legacy, and stay in our Watching how the end of her life played out was horribly homes, lies in the hands of the City of New York. Just frustrating and an eye-opening experience. My only con- good design great sales before I finished this story I saw on the real estate website solation is remembering that until her last months she was = that is handling Celeste’s estate that her buildings on Gay accountable for her life and no one was going to alter what

Whether you’re selling your product or your services, we can and Christopher Streets have “contracts out.” she would or would not do. That is who she always was. help you with stunning logos, ads, collateral and publications Celeste told so many of her tenants that she loved and a well-designed, easy-to-navigate website. us. And we told her we loved her back—because we re- Update: As of the time of this article being published, sadly, ally did! It was impossible not to love this one-of-a-kind, almost all the wisteria on Christopher Street, that brilliantly View the website at phelandesignworks.com beautiful, charming, strong and stubborn lady. She is laid glorified our little block, has been cut down. There is, never- [email protected] • 212-620-0652 to rest with her father in Green-Wood Cemetery. theless, a shadow of its former self still left on Gay Street. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 13 New Pop-Up Park on Climate Change Victories By Tom O'Keefe Already, we see glimmers, in the inspir- ing vision of the Green New Deal and the Thompson Street New York State has witnessed two major bold youth activism of the Sunrise Move- climate victories in recent weeks. First, on ment, and while climate denial continues May 15th, the New York Department of to grip the Republican Party, and corpo- Environmental Conservation rejected the rate Democrats have been slow to em- Williams Company’s proposed Northeast brace the true urgency of the climate crisis, Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline young House newcomers—led by New which would have carried fracked gas un- York’s own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez— der New York Harbor off the coast of the and seasoned progressive political veterans Rockaways to Long Island. Second, on alike are laying the foundations for a new June 19th, news broke that the Climate and climate consensus. Community Protection Action (CCPA)— Just, sane, equitable climate action will be an ambitious slate of climate-equity laws— better for our health, better for our econo- had passed in Albany. Even in its watered- mies, and better for the planet than the vio- down final form, the CCPA represents a lent and outdated fossil capitalism now be- monumental step towards climate sanity, ing propped up by lies and cronyism. Next and if fully realized, will put New York at year, we have to break the stranglehold of the global forefront of climate action. the Right on Washington; thereafter, we Coupled with bold legislation from the have to make the 2020s the most transfor- MORE LIFE IS COMING TO THOMPSON STREET, AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTER- New York City Council—mandating, mative decade in human history. We have ACTIONS WITH ONE'S NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS. Relaxing in the pop-up park on Thomp- among other things, stringent new ener- the technology; we have the vision; and I son Street. Photo by Chris Taha. gy-efficiency requirements for buildings believe we have the political will as well. —these victories provide real reason for In short, the time for pessimism and de- By Jane Heil Usyk computer on one of the park’s tables. celebration, and even more, stand as invi- spair has passed. The call today is to get Chris Taha is responsible for the park tations to us all to deepen our commitment informed, get engaged, and embrace the We have fond memories of the pop-up being on Thompson Street. He was a to confronting and combating the climate epochal challenge of building a just, sane, park that was on Sullivan Street for a few surfer in Southern California, has lived crisis. Although the Federal situation re- and livable future on planet Earth. years. We waited every April for the park’s on Thompson Street for 10 years, and mains rather grim, and there are deeply Interested in taking climate action? sponsor to take it out of his basement in big opened Summers, a sort of surf shack in concerning events unfolding around the Check out the Sane Energy Project and pieces and set it up. He had gone through the city, in 2015. He imagined it as a meet- world—in Australia, Brazil, and Canada, New York Renews. a lot to get permission to put it up every ing place for neighbors to meet neighbors, among other places—as well as across the year in the spring and take it down and fostering community. The addition of the United States, there is reason to hope that More of Tom O'Keefe's climate writing can be store it every winter in November; he had park certainly encourages that. what is taking shape today in New York found at tomokeefe.us, where he focuses on is- to go to board meetings and argue as to its The idea for Summers was conceived while will, in short order, transform the nation. sues related to New York City infrastructure. value every year. The car owners didn’t like Chris was on a surfing trip with pals in Nica- it because it took up one-and-a-half park- ragua. The idea was to serve simple, healthful ing spaces; the traditionalists didn’t like it foods they liked, such as smoothies, coffees, because it invited all kinds of people—even sandwiches, and tacos, all with a Southern Who Said Print is Dead? the homeless—to sit on it all day and relax. California twist. The pop-up park on Sullivan But we loved it; it provided an opportunity Street inspired him. He told me, “The pro- to chat with the neighbors at length. Some gram, called Street Seats, is a DOT [Dept. of of those neighbors turned out to be Holly- Transportation] sponsored activation to pro- wood stars like John Leguizamo and Daniel mote more public open space in New York Day-Lewis, and actresses like Famke Janssen City. The process is quite simple, as long as and Jane Lynch. Others were neighborhood you have the support of your neighbors.” residents we had seen on the street for years. First, an organization such as a restaurant They had interests, lives, professions, dogs. or school applies to the DOT for the park. We got to know them because of the park. If the DOT approves the location and the My husband had a stroke in 2011. When situation (clear of hydrants, bus stops, and he got home from rehab I was working and other streetside necessities), the future park unable to care for him, so he staggered over has to get community board approval. Then to Sullivan Street and sat in the pop-up it is installed in about a six-foot by 20-foot park for several hours a day. This gave him space on a not-too-heavily-traveled street. It access to passersby, conversation, people to can be up from March to November; then it communicate with, and their dogs. In this must be deinstalled for the winter. way he knitted up the synapses in his brain On a recent weekday, two musicians enter- and returned to the neighborhood. tained passersby at the park; they were Bob The pop-up park on Sullivan Street isn’t Saidenberg and Kat Minogue. Bob has lived there any longer. But now, on Thompson on Thompson Street for 35 years, has a music Street just above Houston Street, there is studio nearby, and gets many of his meals at another pop-up park. It is already making Summers. There are more concerts planned. a very neighborly and friendly impression, With the addition of the pop-up park, with smallish tables and chairs, dogs, people, more life is coming to Thompson Street, a good feeling. It has many plants all around and more opportunities for interactions it, and is generally quite pleasant. In good with one’s neighbors and friends. In a small weather people are there from morning until way, the parks are a counter-effect of the about five in the afternoon, chatting, relaxing, loss of most of our local diners, which have reading, checking their phones, and enjoying not been able to withstand the increase in Photo by Chris Manis. themselves. One woman recently set up her rents of recent years. 14 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

milk, matcha, crushed cookies, and more. Tayaki, or Crois- Closed/Closing sant Tayaki is a sandwich where two pieces of a crêpe-like Ancolie (58 West 8th Street between 6th Avenue and substance are filled with different items such as adzuki, Macdougal Street) opened a little less than three years ago ham and cheese and Nutella banana, then cooked in a and sold French-inspired food in custom reusable glass jars IN press that produces sandwiches shaped like fish. that had wider mouths than mason jars. If you brought your jar back you received a discount on your next meal. and Open Unfortunately, the concept did not catch on and now An- OUT TOP OPENING colie is closing. Wallflower (235 West 12th Street, just by Caroline Benveniste west of Greenwich Avenue), the tiny wine and cocktail bar that featured elevated bar food closed on June 15th. They had been around since October of 2013. In a letter to pa- Things were quieter this month, both for openings and clos- trons, the owners wrote: “We have some bad news. We are ings, with most of the activity concentrated in the Meatpack- closing Wallflower. It was a gut-wrenching decision, but ing area. one that we needed to make for several reasons, none of which are interesting or important.” Simultaneously, the Chelsea Market and owners closed their East Village restaurant The Eddy. Gansevoort Market Update Hot Bread Kitchen, the organization which sells ethnic Coming Soon breads made by immigrants has a food incubator to help The Manatus space (340 Bleecker Street between Chris- people interested in food entrepreneurship. Chelsea Mar- topher and West 10th Streets) has remained empty for five ket (75 9th Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets) will years, but finally, plans are in place for a new restaurant to have a permanent Hot Bread Kitchen-sponsored pop- Pastis—52 Gansevoort Street between Greenwich and open there. Robert Goldman, of the Goldman real estate up, where graduates of that program will sell their food. Washington Streets family which owns BLDG Management is applying for The first occupant of the space is Hiyaw Gebreyohannes. I was sad when Pastis closed in 2014. It was a fun place, a liquor license for a restaurant called Amos. Barbuto’s His fast casual Ethiopian food stand, Gorsha, sells bowls decorated to look like a French brasserie, with sidewalk (775 Washington Street at West 12th Street) recent clos- with different Ethiopian toppings. Chelsea Market lost seating which was perfect for people-watching. I particu- ing was widely mourned, but we were excited to see that Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina, the Italian pasta store larly enjoyed it for breakfast, when it was very quiet, or for that the owner, Jonathan Waxman, is applying for a liquor and restaurant over a year ago, but now, coming soon to an early dinner when we would bring our daughter who license for a new Barbuto, to be located near the original a different location in the market will be Pastificio G. Di was quite young at the time, and since it was a large space at 113 Horatio Street (near 10th Avenue). Helen’s (26 9th Martino. This will be the Italian pasta maker’s first pasta and relatively uncrowded, it was a good place to dine with Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets) has over 160 lo- bar in the U.S., and will feature an open kitchen where kids. It closed in 2014 when the building it was occupying cations in China, but this is the first U.S. location. The diners can see their pasta being prepared. Like Pisellino, underwent a years-long renovation and finally re-opened subterranean bar space will feature Asian Fusion cocktails it will be an all-day affair with coffee in the morning and as RH (Restoration Hardware). Soon after Pastis closed, and dim sum served from a cart. The projected opening cocktails at night. Eventually there will be 25 pasta dishes plans were announced that it would re-open just down the date is July 1st. Rowgatta (31 West 14th Street between offered as well as a store selling 126 different pasta shapes. street. The space it now occupies was briefly home to Gan- 5th and 6th Avenues) has signage in the old Ando space, Over at Gansevoort Market (353 W 14th Street between sevoort Market (which moved to 14th Street), and after a and describes itself as a “rowing-inspired boutique fitness 8th and 9th Avenues), Jian Bing Man has opened sell- long renovation and a new partner (Keith McNally joined studio.” Chaz Dean (59 Greenwich Avenue between 7th ing the traditional Chinese crêpe. This dish is one of the forces with Stephen Starr, a busy restaurateur from Phila- Avenue and 11th Street) is a Los Angeles stylist with a most popular street foods in Northern China and is made delphia who also has a couple of restaurants in New York supposed celebrity clientele who will be opening a salon with a wheat and mung bean flour pancake to which egg including the well-regarded Le Coucou), Pastis is back and in the space that used to house Canine Styles Downtown, and other toppings are added. Jian Bing Man will also be looks pretty much the same. And the menu, while slightly a store which sold fancy accoutrements for dogs and had hosting Jian Bing-making workshops on some Sundays. updated, is also similar to the old one. However, Gan- groomers on-site. (There are three other Canine Styles sevoort Street is still very much a construction zone, so the stores in Manhattan that remain open.) The space has outdoor tables are not that appealing at the moment with been empty for at least four years, and it made for a sad all the noise and dust. And even when/if the construction stretch of Greenwich Avenue as it abuts the strange MTA on Gansevoort wraps up, it will not be the same feel being structure at the corner of Greenwich Avenue and 7th Av- on a narrow street rather than on a wide plaza. Still, I am enue. (Andrew Berman wrote of it in the July 2016 issue looking forward to giving it a try, particularly for breakfast of WestView News: “The new structure, a ventilation shaft with all the delicious baked goods from Balthazar. for the subways which intersect underground here, seems like a mirage, a bad joke, or an inexplicably unfinished Also Open construction project.”) One of our readers alerted us to an La Ventura (615 Hudson Street between 12th and Jane article in New York Business Journal which reports that the Streets) opened in the old Tavo space. After a fire destroyed Trattoria Spaghetto space (232 Bleecker Street at Carmine Tavo, signs on the door indicated that it would re-open, Street) will become the newest location of Dig Inn, a chain but it never did. The restaurant will be another all-day café of fast-casual restaurants with locally sourced ingredients (others in the area are Fairfax, Roey’s and Pisellino), but that has been around since 2011. There are now 26 loca- like Pisellino, at the moment, it is just open in the evening. tions in New York and Boston. While it is nice that the Another new Asian stand in Gansevoort Market is Snowy The menu has Italian and California influences, and in ad- space will not stay empty forever, it is sad to see a long- Village, which sells Bingsoo and Tayaki. Bingsoo is a Ko- dition to the dinner menu there is a bar snacks menu to standing restaurant be replaced by a chain. rean shaved-ice dessert with toppings like fruit, condensed pair with the ambitious cocktail program. Photos by Darielle Smolian.

The White Horse Tavern. The only thing we have changed is the menu... —Eytan Sugarman www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 15 A View From The Kitchen By Isa Covo Summer is here: Time to enjoy the out- with a teaspoon of honey, some raisins, a doors, the beach, time to travel. It is also sprinkling of walnuts and a bit of pow- the time to look at our bodies and decide dered cinnamon is very tasty and very that it may be a good time to consider if good for digestion, as are dried prunes there is a need to slim down a bit. The and apricots, but eat them sparingly as the advantage now is that with more felici- dried fruit is laden with calories. tous temperatures, we spend more time Consider that it is calories that make outdoors and moving, which allows us you put on weight, therefore, reduce the to burn calories, and in turn give better consumption of high-caloric foods, essen- shape to our bodies. But that may not be tially fats and sugar. enough, we also need to reconsider our In France, although you do see over- eating habits. And that is what I did, and weight individuals, you rarely encounter it worked. any obese ones. And that is because you After long years of battling fat with don’t often see people eating in the street, diets, I realized, as perhaps many of you and there is hardly any snacking. The only did, that diets only help if you keep on time I saw potato chips or other nibbles dieting. Once you stop, at least as far as is with an “aperitif ” served to guests at a I was concerned, the weight creeps up party before dinner. again. The diet programs advertised on For me, breakfast is a slice or two of TV also can help, however I do not rec- toasted artisanal bread with a smear of ommend them, because they make you butter and a teaspoon of preserves and focus on food. Another caveat is that coffee or tea. It is very satisfying and holds you do not control the ingredients, their me till lunch. The same with a croissant. freshness, or the seasonings. I find that Add some fruit, if you like, especially now a home redolent with fresh and good with all the low-calorie berries. ingredients coming from the kitchen is Keep portions moderate and eat slowly, soothing and comforting. That does not take small bites and chew them thor- mean that you should avoid restaurants, oughly. Let the food settle in your stom- to the contrary, cooking at home, even if ach, and don’t take seconds. The idea is to it is only a few times a week, makes you teach your stomach not to have cravings, “One of the oldest coffee shops in New York. You go there aware of the ingredients and the flavors and if you are like me, after a while you when you eat out. will forget it is mealtime. for the look and the vibe of the place. So much of our city So, let’s begin: Losing weight demands Sauté or roast your foods with a mini- has been regurgitated into soulless franchising, but some discipline, and some clear-eyed mum of oil, but with as many herbs and Caffe Reggio is the real deal.”— Sean Lennon, Vogue online awareness of how you consider yourself, spices as you wish to use. Think taste, not that is, are you fat, or just overweight? volume. If you like ice cream, have a cou- [[ The best way to find out is to consult with ple of scoops a week, not more. your doctor who can tell you if need to There are many recipes on the web to 119 MacDougal Street lose weight, and if so, how much. help you enjoy your meals. The one below Keep in mind that the fleshy parts, such is a French classic, and one of my favorites. New York, NY 10012 as breasts, abdomen, hips, buttocks, the Bon appetit, and don’t forget to move inside of the knees, store more fat than your body as often as you can, and if you Tel. (212) 475-9557 almost all the rest of the body. However, like, drink some wine occasionally. once we start losing fat, we lose it all over. Don’t try to lose it too fast because your skin will become flaccid. One to two DUCK BREAST (MAGRET) WITH RASPBERRIES 5. Transfer the magret to a plate and cover loosely with a pounds a week is the healthy way to go. foil, while you prepare the raspberries. Walking and some exercise will contribute INGREDIENTS 6. Add a teaspoon of the duck fat, or vegetable oil in the to keeping you fit. It is also recommended ¾ to 1-pound duck magret from D’Artagnan skillet where the magret has cooked, and turn on the to use body lotion after the shower or bath Sea salt heat to medium low and cook for a minute or two, just to keep the skin supple. Pepper to heat and soften the fruit. Cut the magret into thin Even if this should not be considered a 1 cup raspberries, rinsed and dried slices and arrange it on two plates, distribute the rasp- diet, there are directives to follow: berries on top of the meat, or on the side. Never eat standing or walking, except PREPARATION when you attend a reception or while tast- 1. Take the magret out of the refrigerator and wipe it with Serve with lightly ing samples at a food store. Never snack at a damp cloth or paper towel. oiled roasted vegeta- the movies or while watching TV. 2. With a sharp knife cross hatch the fat into small rect- bles, such as carrots, Do not drink sodas or fruit juices. Sugar angles, being careful not to pierce the skin. Season both cubed celery ribs, or has a lot of calories so consume candy in sides with salt and pepper. sliced potatoes. moderation. A little dark chocolate can be 3. Place the magret, skin side down on a heavy bottomed satisfying, and some say, healthful. If you unheated skillet. Put the skillet on the burner and turn Yield: 2 servings can, do not put sugar or even sweeteners the heat to medium high. When the fat begins to melt, in your coffee, tea, or other infusions. pour it in a container for future use, or discard it. Eat three meals a day only. If you feel 4. Repeat until there is no more liquid fat, and the skin you need to eat something between meals, becomes crisp. This should take about 8 minutes. Flip drink a glass of water first, and then eat the magret and cook an additional 3 minutes. The meat some fruit, and once a day, a small tum- should be pink. Turn off the burner. bler of dry roasted nuts, or a cookie, or a biscotto. I find that half a cup of yoghurt 16 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine By Brian J. Pape, AIA a third of the building would be a memo- ska that they are looking forward to the we would assist in any way possible to find rial for 9/11, a place where people of all rescinding of this temporary suspension to an alternative configuration to complete In 1916-1919, five Greek families raised faiths could pray and remember those who continue working together in cooperation the project.” By April 2019, Gov. Cuomo $25,000 to buy a tavern at 155 Cedar died in the attacks. Therefore, on February with the Archdiocese for the completion of was reaching out to donors with deep Street, a three-story rowhouse built around 14, 2011, the GOA filed a $20 million law- the building project.” The cost of the proj- pockets to join Friends of St. Nicholas and 1830 as a private residence, and trans- suit against the Port Authority, until Oc- ect, once pegged at $30 million, could now fundraise to finish the church. John Catsi- formed it into a church in the bustling im- tober 14, 2011, ten years after the church exceed $80 million. matidis, the owner of the Gristedes Foods migrant neighborhood populated by large was destroyed, when an agreement was On October 16, 2018, the Special Inves- supermarket chain, Democratic donor numbers of Greek, Lebanese and Syrian announced, and ‘ground was broken’. His tigative Committee released the investiga- Dennis Mehiel, and Nassau County Dis- immigrants. It was destroyed in the Sep- Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios stated tive report to the Archdiocese, concluding trict Attorney Madeline Singas, and the tember 11th attacks. that, “our pledge is to be a witness for all that there was no evidence that St. Nicho- Port Authority have all been contacted by For the second time since 2001, the New Yorkers, that freedom of conscience las funds were improperly paid to any in- Cuomo. “He wants the church finished,” church is in a stalemate. Despite a con- and the fundamental human right of free dividuals associated with the Archdiocese, Catsimatidis told the Post, and also said struction stoppage, the Archdiocese re- religious expression will always shine forth and no evidence that fraud was committed. that individuals were willing to donate, but mains committed to rebuilding St. Nicho- in the resurrected St. Nicholas Church.” Rather, the cost overruns appear to have only under new project leadership. The World Trade Center’s new Liberty been the result of change orders by Archdi- Estimates from New York officials and Park, the one-acre public park featuring ocese decision-makers to address architec- the Port Authority are that the rebuilt 19 planters, a half-dozen species of plants, tural concerns or enhance the design. The church will be the most visited church in seating made out of recycled teak, and a Archdiocese installed a new board of trust- the United States. Millions of people are 300-foot-long “Living Wall” of greenery ees to oversee St. Nicholas, and formed the hoping the church will be completed soon- along its northern base, was to remain the nonprofit Friends of St. Nicholas to fund- er, rather than later. site of the church. raise for the church’s completion, following In response to this challenge, in 2012 those recommendations. Brian J. Pape is a LEED-AP “Green” Archi- architect Santiago Calatrava “set out to In November 2018, Port Authority exec- tect consulting in private practice, serves on provide a building and sequence of spaces utive director Rick Cotton wrote a letter to the Manhattan District 2 Community Board, that would directly address the traditional the church, including its leaders in Istan- is Co-chair of the American Institute of Ar- Greek liturgy while creating a spatially bul, Turkey. “If completion is not possible, chitects NY Design for Aging Committee, varied architectural procession.” Calatrava was inspired by the Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Savior in Istanbul, Turkey. The drum-shaped structure is de- signed with white Pantelic marble, from the same vein in Greece that was quarried to construct the Parthenon in Athens. Site restrictions included the location, footprint, and volume of the church with THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ST. NICHOLAS no modifications to the space below the CHURCH AT 155 CEDAR STREET, shot with church’s 4-foot thick concrete ‘mat’ which smoke ominously billowing from the South WTC tower, remains one of the most iconic the Port Authority provided, and must in- photos ever taken on September 11, 2001. corporate utility locations and a vent shaft Credit: photographer Eric O’Connell within the building footprint. Construc- tion on the glowing church design began in las at ‘ground zero.’ Governor Cuomo is 2014, and the structure ‘topped out’ in 2016. reaching out to potential backers to make The original fundraising goal was be- up a $40 million shortfall. tween $40 and $50 million; donations Back in July 2008, capping years of ne- came in from the flock, and from wealthy gotiations between the GOA (Greek Or- Greeks, the Greek government and even thodox Archdiocese of America) and the from other faiths, including the American city, the Archdiocese leased the new church Jewish Committee and the Catholic Arch- site for $1 a year for 198 years. The Port bishop of Boston. Authority agreed to give St. Nicholas $20 By December 2017, the GOA had million to build a larger church than the amassed $49 million in pledges, of which original, and a nondenominational hall for $37 million had been collected. Skanska visitors. Since the church would be built USA, the church’s head construction firm, in a park over the vehicle screening cen- terminated its contract with the Archdio- ter, the authority also agreed to pay up to cese in December 2017 over failure to pay $40 million for a blast-proof platform and its invoices. The Archdiocese had tapped foundation (“blast-proof ” is an indication a restricted pool of construction funds to of extreme caution). pay off a mounting deficit, leaving it short- Then in March 2009, the Port Author- handed when payments were due. PLANS FOR THE NEW ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH feature a translucent white marble veneer ity stated that it had stopped talking with The church site sits vacant and unfin- uniformly backlit by programable LED lighting, including in the ribbed dome. This evening the church and had canceled building for St. ished; the church is a half-built eyesore. view from the SW end of the World Trade Center Memorial shows a new Church at the eastern end of the new Liberty Park above the Vehicle Security Center, which gets a “living” Nicholas altogether; the Port Authority said In a 2017 Archdiocese statement, “The planted wall. Credit: Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers, who established their NYC that the church was asking for too much. Archdiocese is confidently hopeful that office in 2004, and closed it in 2018. Santiago Calatrava was born July 1951 in Valencia The Archdiocese, however, said that they construction will recommence in the very Spain, graduated as an architect in Valencia Spain in 1974, and opened his first architec- just wanted their church back, considering near future, and has been assured by Skan- ture & engineering practice in Zurich Switzerland, 1981. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 17 Maggie B’s Quick Clicks

IT WAS THEIR SILVER JUBILEE—so, on June 15th, Abingdon Square Greenmarket threw a party, and offered cake to the many regulars who came to celebrate, including Erik Bottcher from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson's office, top right. All our usual favorites were there, offering their fresh fruit and veggies, fish, cheeses and baked goodies—and even BookBook, which has a stand there now their Bleecker Street store has closed. Here's to the next twenty five years! All photos by Maggie Berkvist.

Six Patients Thank Their Northwell EMS Providers

Do You Need Home Care? Continuity Home Health Care

Where Healing Continues... A licensed home care agency providing health care services, both professional and paraprofessional, for individuals Six patients who received life-saving care from the first responders of Northwell living at home since 1996. Health’s emergency medical services (EMS) came back during EMS Week to person- ally thank the medical professionals who helped save their lives. Sam Swartz (center), who was shocked back to life after his heart stopped while en route to Lenox Health Greenwich Village during a harrowing day in 2018, said during the Northwell Health Second Chance Luncheon on May 22 that he feels “very, very Call Tim Ferguson at (212) 625-2547 lucky to have had this crew that day” referring to Paramedic Sonny Hodge and Para- medic Christopher Foote. As he was being wheeled into the cardiac catheterization or drop in to 198 Avenue of The Americas lab to have a procedure, Mr. Swartz said of the paramedics, “I felt like we were all on the same team that day—we were all on team ‘me’ that day.” Mr. Swartz has survived three cardiac events to date. “One day, I’ll figure out how I We accept most private survived these events. But I know I couldn’t have done it without you.” insurances The six patients and their family and friends, as well as the emergency medical services providers, gathered at Northwell’s corporate headquarters in New Hyde and private pay. Park. Twenty-four Northwell first responders were recognized at the luncheon for their efforts to save these patients’ lives. Northwell’s EMS is the largest hospital-based mo- [email protected] bile health program in the New York City and Long Island region. More than 800 staff are on this team who respond to more than 180,000 calls each year. Photo courtesy of Northwell Health. Modernism lives in Tribeca.

A collaboration of design visionaries. KPF. David Rockwell. David Mann. Edmund Hollander. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 19 The Dignity of Work VILLAGE By Siggy Raible ers are paid.” So, not being savvy on sala- ries pro ballplayers are paid, I went to the I am retired now and have been for almost Oracle (the internet) and queried: What is eight years. But when I worked I found the average salary of a pro baseball player? what I did to “earn a living” dignified and I found an article by Maury Brown that APOTHECARY fruitful—I managed my husband’s small appeared in the Forbes issue of November law firm. We did not make a ton of money, 30, 2016. He reported that for the five-year THE COMMUNITY PHARMACY THAT CARES but we earned our keep. contract period of 2017 to 2021. I was floored by the news earlier this year “The Major League minimum salary will when I read that a baseball player signed the increase from $507,500 in 2016 to $535,000 biggest deal to date: $325 million for a thir- in 2017; $545,000 in 2018; $555,000 in Come in teen year contract with the Miami Marlins. 2019 and be subject to a cost of living ad- for your fREE So if you divide 325 by 13, then Giancarlo justment in 2020 and 2021.” Stanton will average $25 million per year. Mind you, professional baseball players do But that deal does not out-rank Manny not have to go to college, so the minimum a Machado’s deal with the San Diego Padres player can expect to receive in 2019 dollars WELCOmE which came to $300 million over 10 years is more than six times what a teacher with a or $30 million a year! I will not accumulate Master’s Degree (that’s six years of collegiate anything close to those amounts in this life- studies) and eight years of experience is paid. time or the next or the one after that, if there Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, or KIT! are lives other than the one we now know of. so it is said. Kids play baseball during the Now compare these “earnings” with what summer and dream of making it to the level public school teachers are paid. In my home- of say an Alex Rodriguez. So, think about it. BRInG THIs CARd In And RECEIVE $10 off town, New York City, according to the 2018 We are paying adults hundreds of thousands O n A n Y P u RCHAs E O f $25 OR m ORE agreement reached between the UFT (Unit- of dollars to play what is considered a child’s ed Federation of Teachers) and the City, summer distraction. We have teachers who teachers will earn from $56,711 to $128,657. are passionate about their vocation, but the Mon - Fri 8aM - 8pM • Sat 9aM - 6pM • Sun 10aM - 5pM Checking with NYC’s Department of Edu- best they can hope for after fourteen years of Store HourS: cation’s on-line website, starting salaries for a combined study and experience is $85,794. 346 Bleecker St • Greenwich VillaGe, nY 10014 • VillaGeapothecarY.com new teacher with a four years Bachelor’s De- Keep in mind that we place in their hands gree is $56,711 and the salary for a teacher our most precious assets, our children and 212.807.7566 with a Master’s Degree, eight years of prior their future. I am told by friends who are teaching experience and some kind of “ad- teachers or know teachers, that they often ditional course work” is $85,794. (By 2021 hold down two jobs during the school year, the starting salary of a new teacher without teaching and some other job, and many hold experience will be $61,070; a $4,359 increase summer jobs to make ends meet. over three years.) After 10 or 13 years these So I guess what I’m getting at is, what is professionals will have earned somewhere work if there is no dignity in the sense of dol- in the range of $567,110/$737,243 and lars and cents? I mean dignity in the sense $857,940/$1,115,322 respectively. Over a that a person should be adequately rewarded lifetime the best a teacher would likely earn for the time spent qualifying and the train- would be a fraction of what a star ballplayer ing for the vocation he or she has chosen. Do would receive in one year. we dignify a teacher by paying him or her a Now I know what you are going to say, minimum starting salary of $56,711 when we “The average professional baseball player pay a baseball player, basically an entertainer, makes nowhere near the amount star play- a minimum starting salary of $555,000? 20 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

been to mine. You didn’t even have jewelry til you saw mine! And what did you do in return? You disrespected me. You betrayed me. Nicky and Me See where that got you? I want you to read every word of my story. By Webster Stone “Clay” worked at Walmart, and it frustrat- And when you finish the last page, I want you ed him. When it came to sales, distribution, to look up , see where I put you and ask your- I am not the guy you’d expect to know a product display, he felt he could do a much self, was it worth it? Ask yourself that every 1970s heroin kingpin. But I knew Nicky better job. And he may have been right. day until you die. Barnes pretty well. But he was a damn good story teller, and Keep this in your cell as a reminder. I dedi- I first met him fifteen years ago. He didn’t he had a lot of stories to tell. We started cate it to you. go by Nicky Barnes, not anymore. He was work on his book, Mr. Untouchable. For Nicky, revenge was not a dish served in the U..S. Federal Witness Protection Pro- The first problem I faced was executing cold. Why was he still so angry? With his gram. He went by Clayton “Clay” Williams. a contract. It couldn’t be with Nicky Barnes own malignant family life growing up, he The name had no special significance, he because he no longer existed. It could be wanted a “family” to call his own. So he just liked that way it sounded. with Clayton Williams but then we couldn’t tried to build it, to invent it. His answer Getting to Nicky had not been easy. It keep the contract in our office. Lots of peo- was seven drug-dealing “brothers”, known took over a year of pestering the U.S. Mar- ple still wanted Barnes dead —there was a as “The Council”, very much a mafia-style shal Service. Then one day I got a call, “You genuine fear that a bad guy might come to family. But this is what Nicky wanted most. will be receiving a call at this time tomor- the office, put a gun to an editor’s head in When he was betrayed and learned this row from a man whose former name is Le- order to reveal Nicky’s new name, and then “family” was no more than a naive delu- roy “Nicky” Barnes. Do you understand?!” track him down in Minneapolis. We used a sion, he retaliated against them all, putting MR. UNTOUCHABLE: Cover of the book “Yes,” I answered. third alias for his contract, Remi Davis. dozens into prison, many for life. Ironically, author Webster Stone published, above. “You are not to ask his current legal Contrary to what has been reported, by one of those was the mother of his children. Image courtesy of Webster Stone. name. Do you understand?!” 2005, Nicky Barnes was no longer in the Subsequently, Nicky’s daughters went into “Yes.” Witness Protection Program. They kept foster care—so much for family values. knew addiction, rationalizing away any re- “You are not to ask where he lives, his tabs on him, sure, because he was on parole. Nicky Barnes was forty-four when he was morse for destroying tens of thousands of phone number, what the weather is where Otherwise, he was on his own. The Federal sent away. He was forty-eight when he de- lives. Indeed, he relied on his addict’s knowl- he lives nor his occupation—DO. YOU. Marshal Service cut him loose when he de- cided to cooperate, and sixty-six when he fi- edge to make his product the best on the UNDERSTAND?!” cided to publish a book. That was policy. nally walked out of prison, a not exactly free street. No matter how generous he was with The next day, with marshals monitoring They had learned the hard way when Henry man. No president pardoned him, but, at people in Harlem—holiday turkeys and hos- the call, I had a talk with the former Nicky Hill published Wiseguy—raking in all that the behest of Rudy Giuliani and other law pital bills— the money he proffered was tak- Barnes. Not long after that I went out to money while the government spent resources enforcement allies, Congress rewrote the en from other family members who poisoned meet him. protecting him. Of course, it was neither in law . . . just for Nicky. and/or killed themselves on his product. Nicky lived in Minneapolis. The Marshal Nicky’s, my, nor the Federal Marshal Service’s Our last call was in 2011 (maybe even He admitted to nine murders at his Service must have figured no one would ever best interest to let anyone actually know this. 2012). I sat in a Mini-Cooper with my fi- sentencing. think to find him there. But he dreamed of If anything surprised me about Nicky, it ancée and we all chatted on speaker. Nicky Why does Nicky Barnes merit so much moving to Arizona, only he was still on pa- was the anger, decades later, that still ran was alway optimistic and hard charging. He attention? Supposedly, no minority makes it role so he wasn’t going anywhere. hot regarding the betrayal of his protegé, only called me by my last name to relish it, in America until they first make it in crime. When I first met Nicky, he had just turned Guy Fisher (who is serving life without “Stone! How you been? Listen, Stone . . . ” In the 1970s, as blacks emerged as leaders in He wanted to know when his movie would politics, society, and culture, Nicky Barnes get made. The idea that Frank Lucas who did the same, only for African-American he considered a low-life nobody, had a big organized crime. The mafia, who Nicky had movie (American Gangster) and he did not studied so deeply, became both rivals and rankled him greatly. That he was portrayed partners; only now, the nation’s first black in the film as a minor character in Frank’s godfather dictated to them. His life inspired life bothered him even more. “The only the film characters: “Mr. Big” Live( and Let people who ever got it right was The Wire,” Die); “Nino Brown” (New Jack City); “Mar- he told me. Nicky said nothing of his cancer. sellus” (Pulp Fiction) and “Nicky Barnes” I didn’t know he had died six years ago. (American Gangster). Barnes is believed to But I thought of him whenever I walked be the basis for the song, “Bad, Bad, Le- by the Washington Square Diner on W. roy Brown”; he has been name-checked by 4th Street where he exchanged car keys countless hip-hop artists. with Matty Madonna—suitcases of mon- With an unfinished elementary school ey in the trunk for suitcases heroin in the education, Nicky Barnes had few opportu- trunk. I tried calling Nicky/Clay these last nities. (His real degree came in 1965 in few years—the phone number I had for Greenhaven Prison with “Crazy Joe” Gal- him was disconnected. I figured he might lo). I recently pointed out that had Nicky have finally made it to Arizona. He hated been white, he might have become the Minneapolis,”Much too cold most of the Sackler family, celebrated philanthropists year and almost everyone is white.” I fig- but notorious for making billions with the ured if I really had to get in touch, I could opioid epidemic. But then I realized that go through the Marshals again. It would be isn’t true at all—if Nicky had been given a chore, but I knew the drill. real opportunities, he’d have gone in an en- BARNES WITH THELMA GRANT, his wife and mother of his children who he put in prison for life. Back in the day, Nicky was not a “good” tirely different direction as an entrepreneur, guy, personally nor professionally. He re- and he would have killed it. 70. He was a short, chiseled, compact man—a parole in Ray Brook Federal Prison, NY). quired that his girlfriends learn to “stand and He knew he was a modern day Shake- bantam rooster with a strut to match. He still Nicky’s book’s dedication says it all: hold”—this meant she must be able to carry spearean plot and character—the man who did sets of push-ups and pull-ups to stay in For Prisoner # 05404-054 his loaded pistol under her skirt, muzzle held just wanted a family but only ruthless, ti- shape, a habit acquired at United States Peni- Everything you had came from me. I turned inside her vagina, and then be able to walk tanic, and depraved tragedy ensued. tentiary, Marion. He ate healthy, only drank you on to making money, and then I showed you that way so that the weapon would not be beer, had a girlfriend, a car, and he liked to how to spend it. You drove a Benz because you rode found by police if they were pulled over. Webster Stone is a book publisher and film go ice fishing. Oh, his girlfriend had no idea. in mine. You lived in a penthouse because you’d A former heroin addict himself, Nicky producer. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 21

New School continued from page 3 with the agreement that on the top floor school training, now feel the need of con- to fiscally stay in business but what is more would lay a penthouse apartment for him- tinued intellectual contact and stimulus. Its important, can build a multi million dollar Please see pages 10-11 in the founders’ self and his wife. With the purchase of one work competes with that of no other edu- new building on 5th Avenue and 14th Street. original proposal which highlight in great de- more adjoining lot, this gave the university cational agency, and it supplements, in an Wow—there has to be more about this tail the rationale and purpose of the university. eighty feet of frontage on West 12th Street. efficient way, that of all other agencies.” school than we know ...What is in this new The building was the first to be construct- building? how will it be used? You said that for the first years there was no ed solely for use by The New School at a Quote from Alvin Johnson, first Director and The University Center, located on Fifth tuition. What was the given reason for this? cost of about $1,000,000. first President of The New School, in the circa Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, The founders’ original 1919 proposal titled With the help of Clara Mayer, one of the 1943 document To the Living Spirit… opened in January 2014 and is a campus “A Proposal for an Independent School of university’s early champions (as both a vi- “We of the New School, students, teach- hub with living, academic and performance Social Science,” argued that the circum- sionary administrator and benefactor), The ers, trustees are resolutely laboring for the space. The New School’s largest building stances in the late 19th and early 20th cen- New School achieved its goal of creating a advance of American civilization. As stu- project to date, it added 375,000 square tury called for a “new type of leadership in space that would place it on the map as a dents we are putting aside the base fears feet of space to the university’s West Vil- every field of American life.” center for modernism in the arts and ex- that deter too many of our fellow citizens lage campus, including 57 state-of-the- The founders brought in specialists to perimentation in education. Mayer helped from making a serious attempt to under- art classrooms, studios and instructional come and teach including Emily James organize a student committee in 1922 to stand the world we live in. As teachers we spaces; nine floors of dormitories housing Putnam, the “historian and leader in wom- raise funds for the 66 West 12th Street are carrying forward our work of instruc- 600 students; and a two-level library and en’s education”; John Dewey, the “great project, and her father, Bernhard Mayer, tion and research, convinced that though student study center, the Arnhold Forum. philosopher of democracy and reform”; contributed $100,000. Her brothers’ con- the world be in flames the values of truth The 800-seat John L. Tishman Auditori- Horace Kallen, the “important student struction company, J.M. Taylor, built the and freedom and human dignity will come um features a convertible stage for theater of ethnicity and cultural pluralism”; and building at 66 West 12th Street, which was through unscathed. As trustees we give productions, fashion shows and lectures. many other progressives and pragmatists. designed by Joseph Urban. ourselves with wholehearted devotion to The University Center is one of New In 1919, the University charged $15 per the maintenance of the moral conditions York City’s greenest buildings, with a course.The founders declared that most of How many refugee professors were brought under which an educational institution LEED Gold rating and industry-lead- the money coming to the school would be to the school over what period of time and may live and thrive.” ing solutions to curbing energy use. Us- spent on research and education rather than was this program paid for by a charitable And ing state-of-the-art lighting and window administration. Their goal was to secure a organization or grants—who’s idea was it? “This does not mean that either the placement, sustainably sourced materials, “sufficient endowment on the understand- In 1933, when Hitler came to power in School or its students undervalue the tra- and a rain-catching green roof (funded in ing that the greater part of the income shall Europe and began to remove Jews and ditional material in philosophy, history, part by the New York City Department of be spent on research and education and the those perceived as “politically hostile el- the sciences and art. The students of the Environmental Protection), the building least possible amount on administration.” ements” from German universities, Al- New School may be assumed to possess simultaneously advances urban conserva- When the graduate faculty was estab- vin Johnson, then Director of The New a fair degree of familiarity with this ma- tion while acting as a teaching tool for the lished in 1933, the fee for each lecture School, responded. With the financial sup- terial. On the other hand the newer ma- next generation of sustainability leaders. course or seminar was $20 a term; for full port of philanthropist Hiram Halle and terial in social science, psychology, pure And now the next century. time registration with access to all courses the Rockefeller Foundation, he obtained and applied science, literature and art, has The Centennial marks a moment to en- and seminars the fee was $100 a term. funding to provide a haven in the United necessarily received inadequate attention, gage in a thoughtful process about The As of the 1934-35 academic year, The States for scholars whose careers (and if any attention at all, in the college and New School’s next 100 years and the kind New School granted the Master of So- lives) were threatened by rising Fascism, training school. But this is the material on of institution we want to pass on to future cial Science and Doctor of Social Science called the University in Exile. This Uni- which the mature adult is most frequently generations. In the months ahead, the Pro- conferred by the University of the State of versity in Exile was given a home at The required to pass judgment. It is the adult vost’s Office is leading a far-reaching project New York. New School and sponsored more than 180 public that will decide whether new forms to imagine a renewed vision for The New In 1943, The New School offered its individuals and their families, providing of architecture, painting, literature, music, School’s future. We anticipate all members first bachelor’s degree, focused on meeting them with visas and jobs. Some of these new tendencies in education and psycho- of the university community will participate the needs of returning veterans. A 15-ses- refugees remained at The New School logical practice, hew philosophy and social in this transformational endeavor. sion course cost $12.50 while a 12-session for many years, while others moved on to attitudes are to go down in history as real During our Centennial “Festival of New” course cost $10. Graduate courses ranged other institutions in the United States, but contributions or passing fashions.” in the first week of October 2019, we will in price from $4.50 to $20 depending on the influx of new people and new ideas had open the campus to attendance by the gen- number of sessions. an impact on the U.S. academy far beyond Dean Watson commented on the problem of eral public. In addition to access to classes, any particular university or institute. The high tuition—how does the tuition differ from the public is invited to attend events, pan- Where did the money come from to buy University in Exile was fully incorporated other comparable learning facilities? els, and presentations that discuss topics the first buildings and allow for free into The New School in 1934; it was later The cost of higher education remains a sys- related to the future of education, learning, tuition? renamed the Graduate Faculty of Politi- tem wide challenge across the United States and pressing social issues of our time. The early buildings used by The New cal and Social Science and was eventually and beyond. The New School continues to School were provided from generous bene- called The New School for Social Research increase financial aid and merit scholarships factors in New York City who shared the (NSSR). (source: The New School for So- to reduce the cost of attendance. mission of the university’s originators. cial Research History) As we have done throughout our his- WestView needs When The New School first opened its tory, we are developing new models of de- doors, it was housed in several converted Every time we talk about the history of the livery to enable more students to study at townhouses on West 23rd Street, paid for New School a cascade of famous names is The New School. Our Open Campus unit your opinions— by Dorothy Straight, former president of spilled like John Dewey—can you pick a few continues to expand online and continuing the Junior League of New York and driving of these names and give a phrase or two education offerings for the broader learn- and dollars! force of the Junior League Hotel. Along that they offered in shaping the rationale for ing community. ❑ Here is $12 for 1 year with the buildings on 23rd Street, Straight creating the New School and the philosophy We continue our mission to create spaces ❑ Here is $24 for 2 years pledged $10,000 a year to The New School of teaching? of informed dialogue among our broader Make check payable to WestView News for its first ten years. Quote from John Dewey in the 1925 docu- communities. Each year The New School and mail to 108 Perry Street, Apt. 4A, NY, A decade into its existence, Alvin John- ment The New School for Social Research: offers more than 1,000 events, discussions, NY 10014 son decided it was time to expand the space “I know from personal experience that and panels open to the larger public, most ❑ Here is my tax exempt available to New School students and ap- the work done by the New School is se- of which are free. gift for free concerts for proached Daniel Crawford Smith, a bene- rious and important. It deserves attention seniors factor and supporter of The New School, and recognition by those interested in the OK, this is very important—you are at the Make check payable to the West Village who owned three houses on West 12th improvement of the intellectual habits of 100th anniversary (wow) that’s a lot of time Fund and mail to 69 Charles Street, NY, Street. Smith agreed to support The New the community, especially that large and and during that time a school has emerged NY 10014 School’s efforts by donating the three lots, growing class who, having had some higher that attracts a sufficient number of students 22 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

A MALLARD FAMILY relaxing on a flotsam (left) and a One-legged Gadwall Hen, a Duck Tales valiant survivor mother (below). Photos by Keith Michael. By Keith Michael

Disclaimer: No ducks have been harmed in the writing of this article. However, be fore- warned that all my duck tales are not warm and fuzzy. I need to write this quickly while Millie is napping. Any mention of something po- tentially cuter than a corgi (such as a downy duckling) starts her off on a barking jag that makes it difficult to think much less type. In most places around June and July, the sight of a Mallard duck family—a flashy I watched helplessly from a pier, within five green-headed filibustering male, a dun- minutes, one after another of the ducklings colored worried female, and a smattering drowned in the tumult. The mother kept of paddling-like-mad ducklings trying swimming north. I hope to safety. to keep up—is hardly a remarkable sight. Another summer, there was a haunting stal- Worthy of a vocal, “Oh, how cute!” to be crossed upbringings. My summer Sunday to say, “Let’s go!” Off they did go in a wart iconoclastic duckling that swam resolute- sure, but then, talking about one’s brunch morning walks for Hudson River Park Make Way for Ducklings parade! Walter ly upriver by itself along the river wall while plans for the weekend is not far behind. with Walter H. Laufer have been prime and I stopped foot traffic as the proces- the rest of its family swam as a group down- However, in Hudson River Park along the time for documenting their stories—from sion crossed the promenade. The mother river. I still wonder about its ultimate fate. West Village, even after only the dozen or the adorable to both the heroic and tragic. “ducked” under the railing and jumped There was the memorable Black Duck so years that I’ve been noticing, I still find My first, and only, singularly memorable down off the river wall to the low tide wa- family that had been feeding along the riv- seeing a duck family a miracle. duck was a one-legged Gadwall hen that ter far below. The balls-of-down ducklings er wall north of Pier 45 in a scribbly cluster. First of all, in the upscale West Village nested in Stephen Weiss’s Apple garden. ran back and forth at the edge of the wall, Mom gave the call, “We’re heading south.” housing market, imagine finding a se- This was before Hurricane Sandy. Presum- chirping, in understandable chagrin from They disappeared south into the darkness cluded spot to sit on a nest of six to ten ably this same pair had made the garden the top of the equivalent of a 20-30 story under the pier, but upon exiting, they sailed eggs for three weeks (that’s right: three their pied a terre for the previous three sum- building, what seemed easily translated as, back into the sunlight in a regimented sin- weeks!) relatively undisturbed by traffic, mers when one year she showed up with “Mom! Mom! Help!” Mom, was, likewise, gle-file flotilla line. Super-cute. joggers, picnickers, bicyclists, birthday par- only one leg—perhaps a casualty from an calling out from the river, “Come on! Jump! Right now on the river there’s a Mallard ties, and dogs. Then, once your family has encounter with a snapping turtle in some You can do it! Just jump! Yes, NOW!” A family with six ducklings (they started off emerged from their eggs, again, protecting otherwise idyllic country pond. Neverthe- small crowd was gathering on the prome- with seven). I hope by the time you read them from all of the above through stress- less, she managed to raise a family that year. nade. One by one the little ones made their this they will still be there to be cooed over. ful weeks of trying to see them fledged and I never saw her again after that summer. first leap of faith and DID jump. Applause. Oh no, I must have been sending out safely grown into adulthood in one spitfire One Sunday morning someone rushed Within hours these ducklings had emerged competitive cuteness vibes. Millie rolls over summer. It makes getting one’s child into up and told us excitedly, “There are duck- from the confined darkness inside an egg- and looks at me, her eyebrows furrowed in pre-school seem like a casual afterthought. ling in the grass!” We hurried to the lawn shell to the wide, wide world of bobbing on consternation. But maybe she’d just like to Mallards, Gadwalls (subtly-colored north of the Charles Street entrance, and the vast Hudson River. Imagine. go out and see the ducks. ducks with black butts), and Black Ducks there, indeed, was a mother Mallard with One dark and stormy morning, it hadn’t (really dark brown, but compared to Mal- her clutch of very fresh-looking ducklings. started to rain yet, but the clouds were Visit keithmichaelnyc.com for the latest sched- lards, nearly black) as well as Canada Geese, This was likely their first venture from a churning, winds were turning the leaves to ule of New York City WILD! urban-adven- have all nested along the river in the West clandestine nest under the yew bushes silver, and waves were smashing into the tures-in-nature outings throughout the five Village blocks and produced ducklings beside the bike path. She finally stood a river wall. A small Mallard family was try- boroughs, and visit his Instagram @newyork- and goslings to watch through their star- little taller, looked around, and seemed ing to make their way north to safety. While citywild for photos from around NYC.

14th Street continued from page 4 State, is supposed to function." these fact factors might generally be regarded by live traffic agents stopping vehicles to Thirty-three years ago the Court of Ap- as social or economic is irrelevant in view of check for a for-hire order. There is no original rationale was no longer viable. peals addressed this kind of planning in this explicit definition …” statutory definition of a “truck” here. The That rationale (making bus service faster) Chinese Staff and Workers Assn. v. City of “A significant effect on the environment action epitomizes arbitrary and capricious amounts to no more than PR material. New York, where the City at least acted like may be found if a proposed project impairs the decision making. The result, Petitioners contend, will be it wanted to comply with SEQRA by do- character or quality of … existing community Sixty years ago Jane Jacobs fought Rob- increased vehicular traffic on all east and ing an environmental review of the effects or neighborhood character … It is not relevant ert Moses and his plan to run an expressway westbound streets between 12th Street and of a construction project on the “physical whether the proposed project may affect these down 5th Avenue. She established the no- 20th Street, bringing with it air pollution, environment,” but ignored broader envi- concerns primarily or secondarily or in the tion that the key to rational planning is the noise, and vibrations endangering the 19th ronmental questions, set forth in language short term or in the long term since the regula- involvement of communities. Now 60 years century buildings which line these blocks, that should guide us today: tions expressly include all such effects.” later, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg challenging the character of the Green- “Initially, we note that there is no basis here Not only does the DOT ignore the im- is the new Robert Moses, imposing her “pro- wich Village, Chelsea, and Flatiron com- to rely on any special expertise of the agency pacts, the two interrelated actions result in gressive” notion of the NYC streetscape. She munities, and likely causing delay in the since all that is involved is the proper inter- a myriad of non-enforceable or confusing has been DOT Commissioner for six years, cross-town transit of emergency vehicles… pretation of statutory language. It is clear rules. Some passenger vehicles will be al- but traffic, noise and pollution are worse, and “This shifting rationale, despite meetings from the express terms of the statute and the lowed on 14th Street for some purposes, bus speeds slower. Now she wants to make with various community boards, several of regulations that environmental is broadly but some will not. For-hire vehicles can every cross street in the Village and Chelsea which have denounced some or all aspects of defined … and expressly includes as physical pick up and drop off passengers, but yel- a cross-town auto thoroughfare. the plans (see Exhibit A, resolution of Com- conditions such considerations as ‘existing pat- low cabs cannot do pick-ups. Enforcement Mark my words—she will be stopped! munity Board 4, and Exhibit B, resolution of terns of population concentration, distribution will be “achieved” through tickets given out Community Board 3), is not how government or growth, and existing community or neigh- by cameras, which somehow will peer into Arthur Schwartz is the Male Democratic in New York City, or anywhere in New York borhood character’ [citation omitted] … That the inside of vehicles and track them, not District Leader in Greenwich Village. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 23 WestView Comes

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Right now you can go to whitehorse.com and see and hear an inter- view with the new, young owner of the White Horse Tavern, Eytan Ronald R. Brancaccio, M.D | Peter Saitta, D.O. Sugarman, as he describes his wish to keep the best of the oldest Sherry H. Hsiung, M.D. | Lisa Gruson,M.D. | Anna Karp, D.O. continuously run tavern in the West Village, and how he hopes to make it even better. Why are we doing this? The answer starts with the oft repeated question "Where's my iphone" (the iphone for communicating with the "what's going on" generation has become as needed as reading glasses). But seeing news being made is different than reading it. ® When I asked young Sugarman if he planned to change the vener- We The People able White Horse he gently explodes in a cascade of disclaimers— DOCUMENT PREPARATION SERVICES no, he wants to keep it as it was. He even took out the TV sets. "This will not be a sports bar." We can see the truth or a deflection of it when we ask a They Died Without a Will... question before the video camera. So each month we will try and choose an important story and interview a person who should know the truth and help him or her tell us. Oh, this was a lot of work and we would really appreciate it if you told us if you like the idea of ... Aretha Abe Lincoln Prince Do You Have a WestView coming alive WILL? ❑ YES, go get them! ❑ Here is my $12 for a one year subscription Peace of Mind for just ❑ Here is my $24 for a two year subscription $199 Name______Legal Document Preparation Services since 2006 for Address______WILLS, DIVORCE,

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SILK FAILLE BALLGOWN, FULLY LINED IN SILK CHARMEUSE. Engineered by Andrea T, Karen’s 147 West 35th Street (by appointment only). VINTAGE AMETHYST AND TURQUOISE BRACELET. Mirabelle Boutique, 1310 Quirky Madison Avenue. Amethyst bracelet by Susan Blakely Designs, LA.

BLACK, SILVER, AND RHINESTONE Style BRACELET. CVS, 475 Sixth Avenue. 7” YRU LACE-UP GOTH BOOTS. Trash By Karen Rempel and Vaudeville, 96 E. 7th Street. Fashion Editor BEADED ROSE HANDBAG EDGED WITH The drag queens and fashionistas in The SILVER STUDS. Mirabelle Boutique, 1310 West Village will laugh when you hear Madison Avenue. about my awkwardness with ballgowns. I may have worn a ballgown when I was seven years old and playing dress-up with my neighbor friend’s lovely box of trea- sures. Certainly I dressed my Barbie in lovely floor-length gowns when I was a child. But until I moved to New York a couple of years ago, I’d never worn a real grown-up evening gown. The first two times I wore a floor-length gown to a gala (at the United Nations to WEST VILLAGE MODEL KAREN REMPEL sitting on the stoop in a stunning amethyst honor humanitarian Joe Biden and then ballgown by Engineered by Andrea T (above) and admiring beaded rose purse (right). at the National Arts Club to honor author Photographs by Dusty Berke. John Irving), I was a bit nervous about it. I wasn’t sure how to walk with the long to look poised and glamorous. My date it up and letting it down, and arranging skirt clinging to my legs and a train flow- didn’t understand that I needed a few mo- the gown in every conceivable way dur- ing onto the ground! Unless I did a goose- ments to prepare myself before walking ing two separate photo shoots, in multiple step to kick the pooling skirt out in front even a few steps. locations, made me feel like this gown is of me before taking a step, I literally had But on a sunny Friday in June, I walked my best friend. At the end of the day I sat to lift each side of the skirt by hand. It all over The West Village in this gorgeous, down to relax on the stoop, so happy to was very difficult to hold up the skirt with rich amethyst-purple gown by Engineered have finally learned how to wear formal one hand and juggle my clutch purse and by Andrea T. Of course, I lifted the train evening gowns. Alright Mr. DeMille, I’m a glass of champagne, all the while trying on the sidewalks, but hours of picking ready for the next gala!

Style on the Street Paris Pairs

By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor

Paris is a walking city, much like New York. With very few exceptions, people wear sneakers, flats, and low boots of ev- ery variety. The man center right was an exception of sorts in socks and sandals. I love his friend’s look with the patterned shirt tucked into beltless trousers. The two young women on the left show an- other major trend for walkers: cross-body bags. I especially like the blonde’s way of putting her backpack across her chest. And finally, the couple on the right illus- trate casual chic to the max. The woman’s leather jacket and scarf are Parisian touch- notes I saw everywhere. For more photos and stories from my summer vacation, see bcwildernessvisions.com. All photos by Karen Rempel. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 25

Transformation WESTVIEW NEEDS YOU! WestView is not only written by its West Village readers, Engineered by Andrea T it is also edited and even distributed by neighborhood residents. and that's not all... We always need proofreaders, editors, designers and, of course, ad sales! So if you like the paper and would like to join the gang give me a call now. George — 212 . 924 . 5718 or email [email protected] THE PAY IS MODEST­­—THE SATISFACTION CONSIDERABLE

Caruso’s Quips By Charles Caruso

DOMINION DAY painting by James Kerr and dress by Engineered by Andrea T. Photograph Too much is just right. by Andrea Thurlow. The one who calls is the one in need.

By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor Andrea had five days from when she From the cosmic to the comic to cognac. started cutting the pattern until the exhibi- Sign outside geriatric clinic: Geezer Diseases. Engineered by Andrea T is the design stu- tion. She recalls thinking about the shape dio of transformation artist Andrea Thur- of the dress. “Initially I had it much nar- Tea is a slap on the wrist. Coffee is a punch in the nose. low, a bespoke tailor with a flair for the dra- rower, but then I thought, no, it has to be Delay is death to the petitioner. matic. She designs evening wear, day wear, more; it’s going to be in a room, it’s go- and Broadway costumes with a personal ing to have a painting next to it, it needs The one who calls is the one in need. aesthetic using top-quality natural fabrics to have presence.” She created an archi- Never sit with your back to the waitresses’ station. and an engineer’s precision methodology. tectural curving shape that would display My favorite piece by Andrea T is a dress the print to full advantage. She angled Every departure is a little death. that she created from an abstract painting the seams to confuse the eye and disguise Am I the only one who still misses Anthony Bourdain? by New York artist James Kerr. The genesis where the print starts and finishes. She ex- of the idea came at a West Village dinner plained, “Since it’s based on the painting, party when she saw Kerr’s painting Do- every inch of the fabric is different, so you minion Day. She thought, “OMG, look can’t match it at the seams. It’s impossible. at this pattern!” She said, “That would be Of the three yards I had, not one spot of it fantastic! It would lend itself to a fabric is the same!” The result was a work of art print so amazingly well.” James said, “I’ve that equals its original inspiration. been thinking the same. I’ve always wanted Andrea’s clientele includes Broadway per- to do something with this painting.” formers, priests, and Pride celebrants. Last They kicked the idea around for a while. month, Broadway performer Ann Kittredge About six months later, the impetus came wore an Engineered by Andrea T dress to to actualize the inspiration. Alexandre the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. Gallery on Fifth Avenue was holding a Andrea created a red satin drag costume for a one-day exhibit for James’s 60th birthday. friend for Pride festivities and a sexy pinstriped Andrea thought, “Okay, now I have to real- navy blue robe for a priest to wear while offi- ly get this fabric printed.” But all the com- ciating at weddings. She also created the Joan mercial printers she found could only print Crawford dress for Dorothy Bishop to wear onto polyester. Andrea said, “If I’m gonna in Mommie Dearest: The Musical for a one- make this dress, I want it to be a fabric time June 10th performance at Birdland based that’s true to what I do. I like using natural on the 40th anniversary edition of Christina fibers, wool, silk.” Then she found a textile Crawford’s memoir. I personally feel trans- printing company called Dyenamix Inc., formed from pedestrian to princess when I operated by Raylene Marasco, that special- wear Andrea’s creations. izes in digital textile printing. Andrea was able to print the painting onto a wool-silk IG: engineeredbyandreat blend, which has a lovely sheen to it. With Web: engineeredbyandreat.com the fabric on the way, the race was on to 147 West 35th Street, Suite 1203 create a dress in time for the exhibition. (By appointment only) 646 776 3230

SUBSCRIBE ONLINE visit.westviewnews.org and click on SUBSCRIBE A CONTENTED CAT. Photo by Chris Manis. 26 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org A Banner Year for Terrence McNally starred and it seemed to my mind to have come directly out of the Theater of the Absurd movement that was being presented at many Off Broadway theaters, which would include Edward’s one-act plays. Bump was panned by the uptown critics and I never could understand why. The night I saw it I thought it was terrific, as did most of the audience in attendance. Terrence came to New York from Corpus Christie, Texas, in 1956, and as a student at Columbia he wrote a variety show in 1960. When I had my play Moon produced at the first Manhattan Theater Club Play Festival after a run at the Caffe Cino, I was delighted to find myself next to playwrights I admired such as Terrence, Maria Irene Fornes and Julie Bovasso. It was great fun and the theater producer Lynn Meadows was supportive of everyone. Recently I saw the current production of Terrence’s Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune directed by Arin Arbus, and enjoyed the vivid acting of Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon—yes! Go see it at the Broadhurst VILLAGERS: (left to right) Playwright Terrence McNally, Sarah Jessica Parker, and McNally's husband, producer Thomas Kirdahy, Theater on 44th Street. It runs through August 25th. on the opening night of McNally's It's Only a Play starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Photo courtesy Polk and Co. My purpose in this article is not to review a play, but I’m happy to list my favorites among the many plays and By Robert Heide but also a battle with cancer. At one point he was drinking books for musicals written by Terrence, and they include himself into oblivion and at a party one night he was con- four that won Tony Awards: Love! Valor! Compassion!; The year 2019 has certainly been a banner year for play- fronted by Angela Lansbury. She accomplished a kind of in- Master Class (which focuses in on the life and career of wright Terrence McNally. He won a Lifetime Achieve- tervention by asking, “What are you doing to yourself—your opera diva Maria Callas); and his musical books Kiss of the ment Tony Award, has a Broadway revival at the Broad- brilliant career?” From then on Terrence was off the booze. Spider Woman and Ragtime. More plays include Mothers hurst Theater of his 1987 two-character play, Frankie and I first met him through Edward Albee when Edward’s and Sons; Lips Together Teeth Apart; It’s Only a Play; Next; Johnny in the Clair de Lune, starring Audra McDonald as full-length play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was open- Lisbon Traviata; Bad Habits; and the musical The Ritz. Frankie and Michael Shannon as Johnny; and to top it ing on Broadway. I met Edward in 1958 when his first Terrence’s output over a lifetime in the theater is pro- all an American Masters documentary entitled Terrence play, The Zoo Story, coupled with Beckett’s Krapp’s Last digious, and he states in the documentary that his main McNally: Every Act of Life, starring Terrence himself dis- Tape, opened at the Provincetown Theater in The Village quest in his lifetime has always been his quest for love. cussing his theater work, his life with his family of origin, to great acclaim. I became an intimate friend of Edward’s He had many up and down relationships, as with the ac- his father’s alcoholism—as well as his own battle with al- after hanging out with him at gay bars like Lenny’s Hide- tor Bobby Drivas (who died of AIDS), who would not coholism, and his “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” relationship with away on 10th Street and Mary’s and The Old Colony, have an out-in-the-open gay relationship with Terrence his mother after outing himself as gay. You can order the both on Eighth Street. During The Zoo Story days Edward because he thought it would destroy his acting career. Ter- American Masters documentary from PBS. It was released liked to hold court at the San Remo Tavern on MacDou- rence turned 80 this year and he has at last found true love in 2019 and was first shown on PBS (channel 13) on Fri- gal Street. and happiness for many of the past years with his producer day, June 14th, and is one of the most amazing, startling, In the early sixties Terrence showed up in The Village husband, Tom Kirdahy. forthright TV documentaries I have seen in my lifetime. and was soon living with Edward. Shortly thereafter Ter- And a big hardback $40 book of Terrence’s plays has just rence wrote his first play,And Things That Go Bump in the Robert Heide is the author of Robert Heide 25 Plays and been published by Grove Press. (I reference Terrence on Night, which was produced on Broadway by Ted Mann, many books, all available at Amazon. For a video of Robert a first-name basis because I have known him as a theatre who was known as a producer Off Broadway, which in- discussing his relationships in The Village with some of these colleague and friend for over fifty years.) cluded O’Neill’s Iceman Cometh at the Circle in the Square. people, as well as his long friendship with Andy Warhol, go Terrence’s life has been not just the struggle with alcohol When I saw Bump I was very impressed. Eileen Heckart to robertheideandjohngilman.blogspot.com.

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These meals can be straightforward and yolked, with a pork sausage package that was savory, rich prepared with an earnest attitude, made with local ingredients and had a pleasantly crunchy exterior. It was very freshly that are not inexpensive, and the whole delivers and satisfies. prepared, as was everything we tasted. The pate, spread Knowing of the White Horse Tavern and often passing thickly over a toasted slice of whole grain bread also had a it by with many people enjoying drinks outside, I too have rich and savory flavor that seemed to be well designed as enjoyed a drink there but it is not a place where I would an accompaniment to beer. choose to eat. The neighborhood has many good places Our main course was the Chicken & Morel Pie to Share and the pub with (good) food concept is not one that is ($42), a very mushroom rich, nutty and ever so slightly sweet prevalent locally. chicken-filled pie. Topped with a just baked pastry which My experience on a quiet rainy week night, having been included beef suet to give it a delicate and nuanced flavor, it asked to write something about this very old, storied place arrived after the bit of time it took to bake and was picture with some recent twists, did very pleasantly surprise me. perfect. It was enough to share but in fact if you were really The front main room is quite loud and well cast as the lo- hungry, do not feel shy about ordering it for yourself. We CHICKEN AND MOREL PIE. Photos by David Porat. cal watering hole but we had perfectly grilled asparagus along with the pie. sat in the dark adjoining I felt I needed to order dessert for the sake of the re- ski, White Horse Tavern is a work in progress. It is not room where we were view, but at this point I suspected they would do a good job expensive but it is proper food that is not inexpensive. I very well served by an with it. My dining partner was thinking more prudently, will be back and sitting outside on a summer night, having enthusiastic waitper- and seemed to like the idea of the lemon cream with me- a cold beer with food, that might make me feel like I was son who in fact joined ringue, dusted with some earl grey powder, a take on an in a very modern British place in the country and yet it is the White Horse with Eton Mess. We also got the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Both ever so close to home. the new young chef, Ed desserts ($12.95) were very good but their rendition of the Syzmanski. Ed is from popular date sponge with caramel sauce stole the show and WHITE HORSE TAVERN England, and previously my prudent partner shared the generous portion, dusted 567 Hudson Street at 11th Street | 212 989-3956 worked at the Spotted with whole hazelnuts, and that alone is worth a detour. WhiteHorseTavern1880.com MACKEREL PATE WITH PICKLED (website not updated with the new menu) SHALLOTS. Pig, and more recently at For Eytan Sugarman, the new owner, and Ed Syzman- Rocketman Launches Taron Egerton into Stardom By Raphael Carty of the middle-aged Elton of “I’m Still Standing,” without The film is handsomely shot from the muted palette of the brightness and easy vocal leaps of Elton’s early ’70s hits. Elton’s schoolboy years to the super-saturated colors of he- Rocketman is an audacious reimagining of Elton John’s What’s more important is that Taron captures the fragility donistic ’70s Hollywood. The lovely cinematography helps life as a musical set to the Elton John/Bernie Taupin and underlying sadness of a young boy who never felt loved convey the movie’s fairy tale quality. songbook, with touches of whimsy and surrealism creat- and makes us believe that this fueled so many foolish adult Fletcher’s choice to spend so much time on Elton’s ing a fantastically entertaining film. Beneath the stardust decisions and the self-destructive diva we see him become. childhood is an interesting one. It works to sell Elton’s and sequins is a darker story than I had gleaned from the If Egerton, the young tough from Kingsman, couldn’t make story of being a sad, unloved child who acts out horribly headlines over the years. From his parents who could never us feel the broken child inside Elton, we would never get as an adult. But the considerable time spent on Elton’s love or accept him to his manager who manipulated him the payoff when rehab leads to self-reflection and catharsis. childhood years leads to a mad dash through his adult through sex and withheld affection, we see the demons Egerton pulls it off nicely. years—which most moviegoers are likely to think will be that haunted John and almost destroyed him despite his Some will argue that Egerton’s voice is not up to the film’s focus. Elton’s ill-conceived marriage and divorce outsized musical gifts. simulating Elton’s, and he does use his falsetto to reach from sound engineer Renate Blauel gets barely 10 minutes. Director Dexter Fletcher and screenwriter Lee Hall high notes in the tenor range that Elton hit effortlessly Fletcher has selected the necessary details to craft a story have shaped the tale into the archetypal “plucked from in his 20s. But hearing Taron really sing the songs pro- of childhood pain and technicolor dreams along the Yel- the crowd” rise to stardom, complete with hubris-filled vides a deeper level of artistic authenticity. There are low Brick Road before the eventual crisis and redemption. excesses at the zenith and a stint in rehab purgatory after even times when you close your eyes and believe it is But the film could have been even stronger if not tied into the crash. Sure, the songs are out of chronological order; Elton, so deeply does Egerton immerse himself in the such a tidy bow. The biggest omission from the soundtrack yet it is amazing how well the lyrics support the details role. Fletcher’s decision to have Egerton sing the song- is one of John’s most self-revealing songs, “Someone Saved of Elton’s life—although that is partly because Taupin book pays off beautifully. My Life Tonight,” which contains such cutting lines as wrote several songs’ lyrics based on his and Elton’s life Egerton is surrounded with a finely tuned supporting cast “You almost had your hooks in me, didn’t you, dear. You together as two young guys trying to break into the music led by Richard Madden, showing a great deal of range as nearly had me roped and tied. Altar-bound, hypnotized.” business. Fletcher’s direction and Hall’s script set the film John Reid, Elton’s manager, who beds Elton to control him. When I first heard it as a teenager, this song about Elton’s up for success, but a great deal of the credit also goes to This is not the wholesome prince Madden played so well first engagement and suicide attempt struck me as a star- Taron Egerton for his star-making portrayal of the adult in Disney’s Cinderella. As John Reid, Madden is convinc- tlingly honest and unattractive portrait of a man mocking Elton, taking over from two very skilled younger actors, ingly seductive and menacing. Jamie Bell gives the story its the fiancée he was about to jilt because of the mess he had Matthew Illesley and Kit Connor, who play Elton as a heart, playing Bernie Taupin in a beatific performance of a made of his life. Along with the hurt child and the abused child and teenager. role that is unfortunately written as one-dimensional. I liked lover in a relationship with his manager, this man was El- I enjoyed Egerton in Kingsman: The Secret Service and Charlie Rowe’s work as the lovable, loyal Ray Williams, who ton too. The truth is rarely ever so tidy. other movies, but Egerton’s earlier roles didn’t prepare me gave Elton his first break but was frozen out by John Reid. That said, Rocketman is a beautifully shaped piece of for his accomplishment in this lead performance, especially Gemma Jones is sweet as Elton’s loving grandmother. Bryce storytelling. It’s heartbreaking, fantastical, and cannily de- since he appears to be cast against type. It’s not just his chill, Dallas Howard is unrecognizable and believable as Elton’s signed to leave you feeling good as the lights come up! understated personality versus Elton’s over-the-top persona. narcissistic mum. Tate Donovan is a hoot as a very flamboy- Egerton is too thickly built to be the young adult Elton, ant and flirtatious club owner. I had to do a double-take to Raphael Carty is a film buff, business consultant and adjunct who was rail thin, and Egerton’s vocal range is closer to that recognize this usually mild-mannered actor. professor at a Greenwich Village university. 28 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

50th Anniversary of Stonewall: The Psychology of Perpetrators, By- Remembered through Dramatic Work standers, and Victims of the Holocaust

In early collections of work, Lindsey-Hall By Leila Amin ment in order to survive. created ceramic sculptures portraying every- Just as the Nazis had to undergo extreme day domestic objects that had been used in Attempting to explain human behavior psychological shifts in order to invoke ter- hate crimes against LGBTQ victims. The during an event as unfathomable as the ror, so too did their victims in order to use of clay allowed these objects to be con- Holocaust can seem like an impossible survive it. The prisoners, like the perpetra- torted to reflect that violence, and the evi- task. However, although a nation of by- tors themselves, had to cut themselves off dence of the human hand that shaped them standers was crucial to its implementa- from their established perception of reality created a sense of intimacy with both the tion, so too was an army of active perpe- and replace it with one far more malleable physicality of the crime itself and the act of trators, each of whom had to undergo a in order to withstand such inconceivable remembering those who suffered. transformation of their own in order to brutality. Doubling was an integral as- The timing of Lindsey-Hall’s fellowship carry out the tasks allotted to them. pect of this transformation because it al- coincides with Pride Month and the celebra- The psychological concept known as lowed both the Nazis and their prisoners PHOENIX LINDSEY-HALL, above, at work in tions of the Stonewall Inn—fitting perfectly doubling heavily influenced the effects to confront the unimaginable and accept her studio. Photo courtesy of Lindsey-Hall. with both her work and residency at nearby and duration of the Holocaust, because it it as the norm, a process which would not Greenwich House Pottery. “I’m steps away allowed the Nazis to split their emotional have been possible had one part of the By Celeste Kaufman from Stonewall here. Even when I’m not in and psychological selves into only a fraction self not disavowed the other. the studio, being in this neighborhood gives of their previous beings, and in so doing rid In its pre-World War II usage, the term Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, a ceramicist, photog- me a chance to really connect with my com- themselves of the urge to be compassionate holocaust typically referred to a religious rapher, and mixed media artist, has a story to munity. I’m not isolated like you sometimes or kind. Doubling, as explained by psychia- sacrifice involving material consumption tell; and what better time to share her story can be with other residencies.” Spending trist Robert Lifton, is “the division of the by fire, which reflects the true nature than during the celebration of the Stone- time at a place that integrates into the com- self into two functioning wholes, so that of the Nazi self-image. The Nazis saw wall uprising? She explores themes related to munity as much as the Pottery does is already a part-self acts as an entire self.” Without themselves as guardians of the German queer communities, and the violence perpe- reflecting in her work. “One of the projects even realizing it the Nazis had split them- people; they were completely incapable trated against them. Originally focusing on I’ve been inspired to do is to remake histori- selves into mere shadows of their previous of confronting their reality. The weight photography, earning degrees from Parsons cal elements of the structure of Stonewall. beings, discarding the emotions that made of the Swastika bore down not only on School of Design and Savannah College of I’m remaking an old sign that used to hang them human such as empathy and concern, its prisoners, but on its perpetrators as Art and Design, she has been drawn to new outside the bar as a large-scale clay sculpture.” and replacing them simply by doubling up well. The only means of survival was to mediums more recently—particularly ce- Lindsey-Hall will continue to work at on the equally human emotions of anger mask observation as impotence, torture ramics—and is currently a fellowship artist at Greenwich House Pottery through June and neglect. as research, and murder as sacrifice. And Greenwich House Pottery. 28th. During her stay there she will be build- This transformation, however, did not when the world finally lifted that intri- During a discussion at her studio, Lindsey- ing on her years of working in photography happen overnight. Many early accounts cately constructed mask seven years later, Hall explained, “The picture plane was too and experimenting with the Pottery’s diverse of Nazi behavior reflect increased mental Jews, Nazis, and ordinary citizens alike flat and distancing for the more conceptual collection of glazes to see how far she can instability and a reluctance to follow or- were forced to look themselves in the work I wanted to do.” She began experiment- push her unique technique of screen-printing ders, suggesting that time played a crucial mirror and collect the broken shards of a ing with clay, which seemed like a natural photographic images onto clay. “I’m building role in facilitating the process by which nation that was once whole. choice for a new medium. “With clay, it has up layers and playing around with different the Nazis adapted to their crushing sur- to have a relationship to the body in order to combinations of colors and techniques. The roundings and occupation. The perpe- Leila Amin is a work with it. You even refer to it as ‘the clay studio technicians have a deep wealth of trators and their victims may have been nineteen-year-old body’ before you’ve turned it into anything. knowledge that has helped guide me while diametrically opposed, but there was one student from Los It’s very physical. It performs based on how I’m here. I can also scale up and work on thing they had in common—they were Angeles who is you push and pull it; it has to be manipulated. larger sculptures with access to the Pottery’s both prisoners. For the Jews it may have currently pursuing If you push it too hard, it breaks. There’s a studio and kilns.” Her work will be on view at been physical, but for the Nazis, it was her undergraduate metaphor within the material for how it can the Jane Hartsook Gallery’s annual Ceramics psychological. And each group had to degree in Philosophy, Politics and Econom- be used to discuss violence.” Now exhibition later this year. adapt to their own terms of imprison- ics at the University of Michigan.

Cell Phone Free Restaurants, Please By Jill McManus “smart meters.” Unless you opt out in ad- All this adds up to higher continuous ex- work or get into a good novel while lowering vance, these will be sending out thousands posure than a civilian population has ever one’s daily exposure to microwave fallout or Can anyone tell me of a good restaurant of one-way or two-way pulsed signals a experienced. “dirty electricity.” Wifi-free meeting rooms? where I can be spared the self-absorbed day to communicate your usage data. Exposure is cumulative. The risk to liv- It probably wouldn’t hurt if there was one conversations of cell phone users all For the coming of 5G this fall, “small ing things depends on proximity and dura- computer in the place to write up checks, around me, and rest my body from micro- cell” towers and antennas are now being tion. We will be getting close-up exposure especially if its wireless router is shielded by waves? installed on buildings and utility poles in 24/7. No health testing is being done by a Faraday cage. A safe place to park phones Many people are trying to fight a ro- every block. Unless the much-touted 5G the FCC, the agency that ordered this “vi- (turned off or in “airplane mode”) is not botical addiction to their cell phone. And Rollout—faster connections, the internet sionary” project without any public input. hard to arrange. Storefront locations near many others are becoming EMF-sensitive of useless things, self-driving cars etc.—is Here is a new market for forward-think- rooftop arrays can use microwave-resistant from an overload of electromagnetic ra- stopped (it promises $12 trillion in prof- ing venue owners: a new kind of place to curtains or special blocking paints. diation in their homes, offices, schools, li- its for the telecom industry), these tow- hang out in the West Village—“NO CELL Maybe some “smart people” will realize the braries, and in trains and buses. Some are ers will be silently and invisibly blasting PHONES/ NO WIFI”—a restaurant growing need for such places. There is such getting cancer. data-rich “millimeter wave” frequencies where one can enjoy a good dinner without a restaurant in Queens, one in LA and in a Utilities are replacing older analogue past walls and objects they can’t penetrate. sitting in harmful crossfire from a roomful few other cities. How ‘bout Manhattan, the electric and gas meters which required Some of these frequencies are used by the of phones, even if only on certain nights, or Bronx and Staten Island too? If you are cre- employees to read them with new digital military for “non-lethal” crowd control. a tea/coffee room where one can read paper- ating one, please let WestView readers know! www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 29 Envisioning Its Future: Challenges for the Country’s Only Music School for the Blind

Recognized by TimeOut as NYC’s Best Bottomless Brunch! Join us weekends 11-4pm ELIZABETH TARR, above, sings Schubert's "The Trout". Photo credit: Daire Fitzgerald. Featuring locally sourced meats, produce, beer and wines

Interview with Dr. Leslie Jones, executive director of The Filomen Mon – Sun Noon -11 pm M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School (fmdgmusicschool.org) Brunch Sat and Sun 11-4 pm Happy Hour everyday 4 – 8 P M By Barbara Chacour been. She feels that today’s climate of inclu- 122 Christopher Street (corner of Bedford and Christopher Sts) SURPRISING HISTORY: The New York sion and mainstreaming is very positive for Lighthouse for the Blind was started in 1905 people with disabilities—and that students northforknyc.com 917.261.6598 by sisters Edith and Winifred Holt (of the are empowered by learning musical skills Holt publishing family), who had been in- and presenting themselves to the public. spired by a group of blind schoolchildren’s The school was able to open on schedule enthusiastic attendance at a concert. Decades for its spring semester in four locations: Sat- later, philanthropist Filomen M. D’Agostino urday children’s classes at the 92nd Street Y, Greenberg provided the school funding and adult lessons at the Kaufman Music Center an endowment (hence the name change). and Funkadelic Studios, and rehearsals at SURPRISING DEVELOPMENT: Lighthouse VISIONS at Selis Manor. At the moment, 31 EIGHTH ANENUE Guild terminated the school’s residence the organization’s office work is being carried CORNOR 8TH AVE & JANE STREET last year. out from the homes of the three adminis- INSPIRING VISION: The school, with its dedi- trators—Jones, Dalia Sakas, music director, THE BIGGER THE BURGER cated staff, donors, students, and parents, is and Amanda Wheeler, music administrator. THE BETTER THE BURGER moving ahead as an independent organization. One casualty of the rupture with Lighthouse THE BURGERS ARE BETTER Guild was last year’s annual concert at the AT TAVERN ON JANE The latest concert promoted by WestView Metropolitan Museum of Art, which had News took place on May 25, 2019, at St. been held for 21 years. Happily, the concert John’s in the Village and included Schubert’s will be back at the Met in April 2020. “The Trout,” sung by soprano Elizabeth Tarr, The school’s staff and faculty of 19 re- a student at the school for the blind and visu- main intact. As to the attrition in student ally impaired. Tarr was introduced by Leslie enrollment, a drop of about 30%, to 75 stu- Jones, executive director of the school, who dents. Jones pointed out that it takes time told the audience that last year Lighthouse for students with vision loss to learn how to Guild severed its relationship with the music access unfamiliar locations. school and evicted it from its studios on 64th Tuition payment, heavily subsidized, Street and West End Avenue (along with is a small percentage of the school’s rev- its Braille and large-print music library and enue, with grants and donations the ma- its instruments, including 14 grand pianos). jor portion. Transcription of Braille and AWESOME DAILY SPECIALS Jones told of how they have carried on and large-print music for other organizations is FULL SERVICE BAR she expressed optimism about the institu- another revenue stream. Outside of the Li- SERVING THE VILLAGE FOR 24 YEARS tion’s future as an independent school. brary of Congress, the school has the larg- COME TASTE THE DIFFERENCE est Braille and large-print music library in OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK / SERVING DAILY UNTIL 1AM Subsequent Interview with Leslie Jones the United States. BRUNCH, LUNCH, DINNER, LATE NIGHT Jones said Lighthouse Guild had decided Given rental prices in Manhattan, the or- tavernonjane.com to orient its services to health and social ganization is not currently looking for studio (212 ) 675-2526 services for the broader visually impaired space of its own but settling into its current population and away from arts education. partnerships and concentrating on expand- She said she prefers to look forward rather ing its donor base. Jones feels that they are at than dwell on the rupture, difficult as it has least stable, a big achievement indeed. 30 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

APOLOGY Because of health issues, Stephanie Phelan' was unable to provide her usual listing The Grey Marrow of coming West Village EVENTS for the month of July. There is every expectation tthat the EVENTS pages will return for the month of August. By Loraine Gibney awkward wooden crutches. Even though Ray was a sickly child, his parents adored Regulations continued from page 3 State legislature finishes its six-month hiatus. The 20th century saw many advancements him; he was the sunshine of their lives. As Meanwhile, tenants rights have expanded in the medical field; however, many people parents of a child with infantile paralysis, The new rent laws won’t expire. greatly, and many fewer apartments, especial- in Greenwich Village, New York experi- the Gibneys could not bring Ray outside Under the new bill, the rent laws will no ly in the Village, will lose their rent-regulated enced much loss and calamity. In the West in public places; it was prohibited. John longer sunset, meaning that they will no status. This means more long-time Village Village, the Northern Dispensary was es- Purroy Mitchel, the Mayor of New York longer come up for renewal every four years. renters can stay around and enjoy our won- tablished for the treatment of the poor in City, enforced health laws and prohibited derful community as they grow older. 1791 in the neighborhood of City Hall. children and adults with polio to mingle Still on the table: There was broad support But for those with landlords who don’t As the West Village grew the Northern in public with healthy citizens. for barring the eviction of all tenants, not just care about you or the law—remain vigilant. Dispensary could not adequately treat the The medical term for polio is polio- rent-regulated tenants, or non-renewal of Always ask for legal assistance. emerging population of immigrants. In myelitis, which means “grey marrow” in leases except for “cause.” That change didn’t Greenwich Village, the peculiar triangle Greek. The Greek name is logical since it make it through this year but it will be back Arthur Schwartz is the Male Democratic of land formed where the y-shaped Wa- is the effects of poliomyelitis virus on the on the agenda next year, when our part-time District Leader in Greenwich Village. verly Place runs into Grove and Christo- spinal cord that causes the characteristic pher Street. paralysis of this disease. During the epidemic of polio (infantile Franklin Roosevelt was adored by paralysis) in 1916, the city placed a stipu- the people of the West Village. Dur- lation on the property: it was to be used ing his time living in the West Village, solely for the purpose of treating the in- he developed polio at age thirty-six, digent who could not afford hospital care. and became paralyzed and confined to To prevent the pandemic of polio, citizens a wheelchair. Needless to say, Franklin with polio were prohibited on the streets, was determined to overcome his handi- and public venues of Greenwich Village. cap. In 1943, Franklin Roosevelt became My family lived on Perry Street, my the 32nd President of the United States. grandparents, Jeanette O’Brien and Stan- Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor, his sec- ley Gibney had twelve children. The first ond cousin, were beloved by West Vil- born was Raymond Gibney, and he devel- lage people. For so many sick children oped polio at age two years old. During and adults, the Roosevelts were heroes the earlier years of the polio epidemic, the for a United States at war with Europe. virus took the lives of 6,000 Villagers, and During Franklin Roosevelt’s presiden- left thousands more paralyzed, doomed to tial campaign, my grandfather Stanley life in a wheelchair, leg braces, or crutches. Gibney worked to have him elected to In the literary classic, A Christmas Sto- the presidency. My grandparents adored ry, written by Charles Dickens, one of the Franklin because he never allowed his main characters, Tiny Tim, was maligned illness to impede his life. Their son was with polio. Tiny Tim is characterized as a given a true role model; Mr. Roosevelt young boy with leg braces, and crutches. set the new standard for the disabled. Of In England the polio epidemic took the course, Raymond did not go into politics; lives of many adults and children. however, he worked for Bethlehem Steel, SPACE SHOT: One of The World Science Festival's events at Skirball Center was The Raymond Gibney was born August 15, and lived a normal life. Raymond Gibney Right Stuff: What it Takes to Boldly Go, featuring appearances by Michael Collins 1914. He was a beautiful fair–haired boy was married to Teresa Ciosi at Guada- (Apollo 11 Commander), Scott Kelly (who spent a tyear up in the International Space with reddish hair, and freckles. Ray was a lupe Church on 14th Street. As a married Station, and Leland Melvin, (former NFL Wide Receiver who served as an engineer sick little boy who had contracted polio in couple, they lived on Bedford Street with on Space Shuttle Atlantis). Leland Melvin (above) invited WestView's Stephanie Phelan backstage to to "meet the guys", who all knew her brother through his work childhood, and was made to wear cumber- their four children: Raymond, Jackie, as a NASA flight surgeon. some metal braces with leather straps, and Katherine, and Louis. "I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE!" $12 BUCKS WILL GUARANTEE DELIVERY! ❑ Gimme a free subscription—I'm broke Name______❑ 1 year subscription for $12 bucks Address______❑ 2 years for $24 email address ______

Mail check to WestView News Subscription Department, 108 Perry Street, Apt 4A, New York, NY 10014 You may also subscribe online by visiting westviewnews.org and clicking SUBSCRIBE. www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 31 Bleecker Flower Shop WHERE IT ALL BEGAN By Salvador V. Valeria and Bebes’ relationship with na- ture comes from an old heritage of grow- Bleecker Flower Shop opened in March ing up surrounded by nature in Spain and 2019 as a flower studio located on Bleecker a generations-old flower business. They Street in the West Village in Manhattan. believe there is something special and im- It was founded by two Spanish friends, portant about bringing nature into people’s Valeria Castillejo and Bebes Ferrer, who lives. It’s very common in Europe for peo- bonded over a passion for flowers, nature ple to bring flowers into their homes. The and artisan work. When Valeria was look- best luxury hotels, the most tasteful homes, ing for an apartment they saw this little and careful artisan workshops all share townhouse which had a hidden jewel in its something in common— being surround- backyard: a terrace which would later be- ed by flowers. New York is a non-stop city, come Bleecker Flower Shop. but everyone can have flowers. Upon moving into the townhouse, Vale- Bleecker Flower Shop combines the tra- ria and Bebes brought the Mediterranean dition of the cultural importance of flowers style to this space and invited friends to en- in Europe—creating floral arrangements joy themed dinners, later using it to prepare that are elegant and sophisticated yet wild flower arrangements which their friends or- and seemingly effortless (as you might see dered as gifts. They were amazed at how, in them growing in your garden)—with the a concrete and crowded city like New York, dynamism of New York City, wrapping the they could source the most stunning flowers work of art in a chic and to-go packaging and branches from all over the world—Hol- using a color scheme inspired by the West IT WAS A VERY PROUD DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD and everyone came out in their land tulips, Spanish fig branches, Japanese Village area. The studio offers an entry true colors, including the local pets - like Spencer, this jolly little pooch in the hand- ranunculus, Colombian roses—which they into a sumptuous world of colors, journeys, some cravat ..... combined to create unique pieces. The suc- and textures. This is where the story of cess of these arrangements was such that each flower creation will begin—drawing shortly thereafter they set up a small flower inspiration from the historical, the cultural, market, selling at the house front door to and the crafted, and from places where the people from the neighborhood. Many local flowers have grown. Every item Valeria residents would come and buy them for their and Bebes sell and every arrangement they homes; and several nearby shops and pop- create is handmade using traditional tech- ups asked to start collaborations with them, niques carefully selected and arranged to now becoming their most loyal customers. bring color and joy to people’s lives.

... and these visiting youngsters in their rainbow shawls brightening up the usually low key scene in Abingdon Square.

....Not to mention the spectacularly decorated buildings like this one, with its welcom- EVERY ITEM AND EVERY ARRANGEMENT THEY CREATE IS CAREFULLY SELECTED TO BRING ing banner in every window. COLOR AND JOY TO PEOPLE'S LIVES. Valeria Castillejo and Bebés Ferrer, the Founders of Bleecker Flower Shop (with Ignacio and Alejandro Masso). Photo Credit: Gabriel Barreto. Photos by Chris Manis (top and bottom) and Maggie Berkvist (center). 32 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org

WE’RE NOT FREE UNTIL EVERYBODY’S FREE JOIN THE FIGHT TO CURE AIDS www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 33 34 WestView News July 2019 www.westviewnews.org www.westviewnews.org July 2019 WestView News 35 For a century, The New School has redefined what it means to be new. To commemorate 100 years of world-changing work, we’re opening our university doors to our village neighbors. Join us for a weeklong festival of performances, talks, and exhibitions that explore the concept of “the new”—and reimagine the century to come.

#100yearsnew newschool.edu/100