The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 13, NUMBER 12 DECEMBER 2017 $1.00 Act of Faith By George Capsis

“Nobody will come. Nobody.” I could visu- alize this scattering of puzzled attendees in the vast pews of St. Veronica’s, which can seat as many as 750. “It will be a disaster,” I thought, “A disaster.” When I arrived, the first notes of that disaster sounded. Our ad for the concert listed ‘7:00 p.m.’ while the invitation card offered ‘7:30 p.m.!’ The 7:00 p.m. attend- ees sat in glum, accusing silence. But then, as we got closer to 7:30 p.m., the 127-year-old church filled and filled. Latecomers climbed into the balcony and it too filled—a full house, a full house! I slowly and carefully moved my pain- gripped back through the musician stands (not a good idea to fall over now) and stood before an antique carpet of gray heads. That full house proved, as I hoped it would, that we who live in the West Vil- lage want a concert hall that we can walk to, a concert hall that will be free to seniors trapped in rent-stabilized apartments and WE WANT OUR OWN CONCERT HALL: West Villagers filled St. Veronica’s church at the inaugural concert on Saturday, November 23rd, living on Social Security. dramatically demonstrating that West Villagers want and will support a local concert hall free to seniors. Photo by © Joel Gordon 2017—All continued on page 5 rights reserved. John Capsis, Greek Journalist Only 15 Minutes of Your Time and Politician, Dies By Catherine Revland By Pantelis Kapsis His name is fairly common, so I’ll just call him Gene P. He was on the list of go- John Capsis, who passed away on Monday, see’s from the booker at my first modeling November 13th, was a notable journalist agency. I was in my twenties then, a fledg- and politician. He was born in 1929, into ling model/actress from the Midwest, new a family of journalists. During the 1967 to the Big City and incredibly naive. The military junta in Greece, Capsis was sent booker, an aging Twiggy look-alike, told to prison for his “controversial” ideas and me that Gene P. had “fab” Hollywood con- writings. After the fall of the junta, he be- nections, “So, look sexy, my dear.” came the editor of the largest Greek daily His office was above a button shop on newspaper, Ta Nea, where he stayed until Madison Avenue, one flight up—small, 1982. In April of that year, Capsis joined dimly lit, grimy, with a funky smell. He CUT YOUR BANGS: That was a less lewd re- A COURAGEOUS VOICE IS STILLED: Greek the government of Andreas Papandreou as said, “Let me see your portfolio,” then quest made by a prominent Hollywood figure. journalist and Deputy Foreign Minister John Deputy and then Alternate Foreign Minis- leafed quickly through the acetates and Author Catherine Revland is pictured above, Capsis was the first cousin to George Cap- continued on page 12 continued on page 6 circa 1964. Photo by Phillip Rothenberger. sis, the Publisher of WestView News. Bird Nostalgia Flower Power Symbolic Quilts This month, Keith Mi- Hibiscus, the founder of the The beautiful and expertly chael reflects on a deeply ‘Flower Power’ movement, crafted quilts within The personal loss and shares became famous for his peace- Fiber Matrix exhibit at the vivid memories of avian ful protest and glittering musical Westbeth Gallery highlighted themes from his child- extravaganzas. Robert Heide the struggles of oppressed hood. (Page 23) discusses these highlights in the groups throughout the world. new book penned by Hibiscus’ (Page17) sisters. (Page 21). 2 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the West Village. Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections

Publisher Praise for Music at the sidewalk again, but this time, fluffed A Word from George Executive Editor up like a little turkey. Eyes wide open now, George Capsis St. Veronica’s Capsis of Australia it seemed more alert and more beautiful. Managing Editor Dear George, I waited a few moments to watch and it Dear Mr. Capsis: Andreea Ioana Pantor I am writing to let you know that Addie seemed okay, so I went on my way. Would WestView News please inform its Associate Editor Andrew Buemi and I attended the concert at St. Veronica’s I hope it does okay but I’m still won- writers and associated people that pri- this past Saturday, November 25th, and it dering what kind of bird it was. I’ve never vate emails concerning your newspaper Advertising Manager & Designer Stephanie Phelan was marvelous. The orchestra and the diva seen one of these before and it’s interest- are finding their way into my inbox in were superb. Your efforts on behalf of us, ing to see such an unusual bird in the City. Australia? Photo Editor who are residents of the Village, are cer- Of course, the only place I could think of My name is also George Capsis and Darielle Smolian tainly laudable. You have repurposed the to find out its identity is WestView News! I reside and work in Australia. I am in Traffic Manager use of a landmark treasure for all in the Please send me an email or print it in your no way associated with George Capsis Liza Whiting community, and indeed all New Yorkers, next issue. I’d greatly appreciate it. from the U.S. newspaper. I have twice Photographers to enjoy. In Paris or Rome, tourists would Enjoy this gorgeously warm, sunny day, informed Mr. Jim Fourat, who may have Maggie Berkvist flock to hear concerts by such master musi- —Inge Ivchenko started this process, and still I am receiv- © Joel Gordon cians in such a magnificent setting. Let us ing emails meant for George Capsis of Comptroller hope that the same type of response will be Dear Inge, the U.S. I am receiving emails from oth- Jolanta Meckauskaite elicited from tourists visiting our City and Your avian sidewalk visitor was an Ameri- ers as well and am finding this confusing neighborhood. can Woodcock! in the work that I do. Architecture Editor Brian Pape Thank you for your vision and hard They are, indeed, plump, unlikely look- Please try to get to the bottom of this, work. ing birds. During migration, they fly above as it is becoming a serious problem. Film, Media and Music Editor Gary Tomei the City at night (I once saw one flying Many thanks, Jim Fouratt above after-theater Midtown traffic on 8th George Capsis of Australia Food Editor Identifying an Avenue) and are occasionally found rest- David Porat Unusual Bird ing in hidden places during the day. Bryant Note: The correct email address Distribution Manager Park is a favorite place for fall sightings. for George Capsis, the Publisher of Timothy Jambeck Dear Editors: Your bird might have been sleepy or it WestView is [email protected], not I write to you as an avid reader and fan of may have been stunned by running into a [email protected], which be- Regular Contributors WestView News, even though I moved to glass window—an all-too-common hazard longs to George Capsis of Australia. Barry Benepe, Caroline Benveniste, Charles Caruso, Jim Fouratt, nearby Chelsea a few years ago. of modern migration. Luckily, your bird WestView News John Gilman, Mark. M. Green, Robert This morning (November 4th), while was able to fly. If you do happen to find Heide, Thomas Lamia, Keith Michael, walking to the market, I came across an in- a bird seemingly stunned by a window Greetings! Michael D. Minichiello, Clive Morrick, teresting little bird sitting in the middle of Brian J. Pape, Joy Pape, David Porat, strike, often encircling it with your hands Will you write for WestView News? Alec Pruchnicki, Christina Raccuia, the sidewalk on West 22nd Street. It didn’t to keep it quiet and warm for a few minutes Catherine Revland, Joseph Salas, move. I thought perhaps it was injured, so will help it to recover. Or, if the bird seems We are starting a new monthly column, Martica Sawin, Donna Schaper, Arthur Z. Schwartz, Gary Tomei, Joseph Turco, I stood there watching and wondering how to need more attention, and you are feeling “BLOCK NEWS,” in which you can Esq., Robert Widmann I could help or whether I should help. It generous, you can take it to the Wild Bird talk to the residents on your block and kept closing its eyes, almost looking sleepy. Fund at 565 Columbus Avenue, (between the rest of the West Village about your We endeavor to publish all letters received, I decided that I couldn’t just leave it here (it 87th and 88th Streets). Their phone num- block. including those with which we disagree. might get stepped on or a dog might come ber is: (646) 306-2862. For more informa- Sure, talk about the issues that only The opinions put forth by contributors along), so I stayed. tion, visit wildbirdfund.org. concern your block but also air concerns to WestView do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or editor. After about 10 minutes and numerous Enjoy the fall. that affect the whole Village, from graf- WestView welcomes your correspondence, passersby, each taking a photo, one got too fiti to traffic. Let others know that these comments, and corrections: close and the little bird burst into the air Keith Michael are shared concerns and what “your” www.westviewnews.org and flew about two houses down. It sat on [email protected] block is doing about them. Contact Us Forty years ago, I suggested to my neighbor across the fence that we start a (212) 924-5718 block association and plant trees (we had [email protected] almost none). Today, we have over 100 mature giants (the tourists take photos). Block associations are neighbor-to- neighbor governments and exhibit the strengths and fallibilities of all govern- ment (I bet you have some funny stories). Some block associations have over 100 active members and some just a handful. We want you to boast about what your block association is doing and complain about what it is not. In these the most politically sensitive and active community block associations is the magma of politics. WRITE ALREADY! (George, let me tell you about my block association. You would never believe it...) MIA SAYS: Unquestioning love is blind to George Capsis imperfections. Photo by Andreea Ioana WHO ARE YOU? One of WestView’s readers asks our Keith Michael: Who is this plump Pantor. stranger? Photo by Inge Ivchenko. Publisher, WestView News www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 3 BRIEFLY NOTED A panel discussion at NYU’s Center for Experimental Humanities was held in No- vember in conjunction with the exhibit on poetry, revolution, and race during the late 1960s and in our own time. It featured dis- cussions of such writers as Allen Ginsberg, Joel Oppenheimer, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Huey Newton, Diane di Prima, H. Rap Brown (Hubert Gerold Brown), and Michael McClure. Highlights at the Fortnight Institute include chapbooks and paperbacks from leftist militant poets of the era, and a rare broadside featuring ‘Eldridge Cleaver for President.’ FBI ‘WANTED’ posters for Angela Yvonne Davis (a one-time Villager who went to the Little Red Schoolhouse RARE REVOLUTIONARY LEFTIST POSTERS: Pictured above is the ‘Poetry is Revolution’ on Bleecker Street and ended up in the broadside from the exhibit on race riots at New York Women’s House of Detention the Fortnight Gallery on East 4th Street. on Greenwich Avenue for a while), who was ‘wanted’ for interstate flight, murder, Exhibit on Race Riots and kidnapping; and H. Rap Brown, ‘want- ed’ for interstate flight, arson, and inciting In 1967, there were major race riots in over to riot, are also included in the fascinating 40 cities across America, including Newark, exhibit. Detroit, Chicago, and Oakland. An unusual —John Gilman exhibit commemorating these devastating events, and also the 50th anniversaries of the founding of the Black Panther Party (1966, in Oakland) and the White Panther Party (1968, in Detroit), opened in the East Village at the Fortnight Institute. Extended through December 29th at the Institute at 60 East 4th Street (between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery), the exhibit—put together by the rare book dealer and art curator Arthur Fournier—is entitled “The Spirit of the People Will Be Stronger Than The Pig’s Technology.” It features an as- tonishing collection of rare and seldom seen revolutionary leftist posters, broad- sides, books, and ephemera from 1964 to 1970, including every issue of Guerilla: Free Newspaper of the Streets, founded in January 1967 in Detroit and New York City, and the Fifth Estate magazine. Photos courtesy of curator Arthur Fournier.

CORRECTIONS

Within the November 2017 issue of West- George Fertitta, not George Frittata. View, Gordon Hughes incorrectly spelled the name of an ad executive in the article entitled The following photo credit was omitted “A Short, Comical History of The Chum- from the Store Flyer for St. Veronica’s In- ley Society” (page 20). The correct name is augural Concert: © Joel Gordon 2017.

WestView Wishes its Readers and Contributors a Happy Holiday! www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 5

New York Baroque Incorporated to Perform at St. Veronica’s

Hailed as “truly excellent” and “studded with stars in the making” (New York Times), New York Baroque Incorporated will perform a holiday concert at the Church of St. Veronica on Saturday, December 23rd at 7:30pm. Entitled “Christmas with Shep- herds,” the program will offer beloved works by Corelli, Telemann, and Vivaldi. Photo by Brandon Labadie.

continued from page 1 I have one very strong conviction—that Act of Faith these concerts must always be free to seniors. But we had kids at the concert as well, and Always. If we must charge admission to Dusty photographed two in the front row that younger people, it should be as low as pos- conducted with Michael Feldman. Every- sible and free to little kids. body was there, including Father Rubio who We did this together—no government had given us an “enthusiastic endorsement” grant, no millionaire patron—and we can for this first concert. We wanted to demon- continue to make it work. It requires only one strate to Cardinal Dolan and the gatekeepers person to do it—you! at the Archdiocese that this building, which You can email me at [email protected] had received the love and hard-won collec- or send me a letter at the address below to ex- tion basket coins of three generations starting press how you plan to make Music at St. Ve- with the Irish dockworkers and their families, ronica’s our concert hall for the next century. could have a new life—not one that serves the George Capsis comfort of a collective faith through ritual but 69 Charles Street one that joins all with music. New York, NY 10014 Now what?

JOIN THE WESTVIEW FAMILY Writers, editors, photographers, proofreaders, fact-checkers, designers and ad salespersons. Call George at 212-924-5718 6 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org A Season for Miracles: A Village Landmark Brings Together Hundreds

George Capsis, “She wiped away his ducted by Michael Feldman. Feldman tears.” came out of retirement to help out his The Church of St. Veronica at 149 ol’ pal George, who was his partner in Christopher Street (one block east of the founding of the world-renowned West Street) closed its doors on Sunday, Orchestra of St. Luke’s in 1974. Last July 23rd. It is rumored that the Roman year, St. Luke’s toured over 80 countries. Catholic Archdiocese of New York re- It takes the vision of a great man to quires 100 parishioners to attend mass bring 422 people together under one roof on Sundays. St. Veronica’s only had 54. for a night of musical and architectural Churches are closing left and right. appreciation. On December 20th, that Beautiful buildings replete with history, man will turn 90 years old. Perhaps that they are often a balm for troubled eyes is the reason for his promise: “This con- amidst a sea of newly constructed condo- cert series will always be free to seniors.” miniums. St. Veronica’s is a special case be- The next concert will be held on De- cause the 127-year-old Victorian Gothic cember 23rd, at 7:30 p.m. and 750 pro- Revival edifice is under landmarked pro- grams will be printed. The organizers tection. Not the inside, however. The in- hope that they will have a few programs terior, including the 75-foot, marble-lined left over because they make great souve- ceiling, could be done away with if the nirs. Also, 750 happens to be the maxi- developer who buys the property thinks it mum capacity of the church. If there doesn’t quite suit his needs. were none left to take home, it would Maybe religion is on the outs. People mean that the church was filled to the just don’t go to church anymore. What brim. It’s always best to have a little religion provides, however, is needed wiggle room, especially when seated in now more than ever. The recent at- wooden pews. tacks on churches prove this to be true. To RSVP, please visit AtStVeronicas. George Capsis believes that certain org, call (212) 924-5718, or send a let- things can connect us with Truth. “Clas- ter requesting the amount of tickets you CELEBRATION: As the St. Veronica crowd left, the orchestra played “Happy Birthday” for sical music, by appealing directly to our desire to the following address: a surprised George Capsis, who admitted to being slightly younger than the 127-year-old senses, elevates us.” church. Photo by Dusty Berke. On Saturday, November 25th, at least West Village Fund 422 people knocked on St. Veronica’s 69 Charles Street By Stanley Wlodyka door. There were 500 programs printed, New York, NY 10014 the weight of a wooden cross he was forced and when all was said and done, three St. Veronica’s claim to sainthood was sim- to carry, blood and sweat dripping from his little piles containing 78 total programs, Donations are much appreciated, as ply this: She saw a need and did what she face. He gratefully accepted Veronica’s veil were left. Attendees came for a night this concert series is on a preliminary could to fill it. A man lumbered through as a handkerchief. of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart trial basis. Public support is essential to the streets of Jerusalem, back bent under “His tears,” adds WestView Publisher played by a 25-piece orchestra con- its success.

Only Fifteen Minutes of Your Time continued from page 1 told me, “You’ve got a good look.” Wow. I So did he, I thought. In fact, his looks before I send you over we have a little busi- decades ago. Predators on the loose, from was so excited. However, I had no credits, gave me the creeps. He was so repulsive— ness to attend to.” bottom-feeders in bedroom slippers like he said, and casting directors needed to see reptilian, like a bloated toad. The way he “Okay,” I said. Gene P. (‘P’ for Procurer) to top dogs in what I looked like on film. “So what about walked around the room in bedroom slip- “I want you to give me a blow job.” bathrobes masturbating into potted plants my booking you on a TV show?” A few pers was so gross, as if at any moment he I was stunned, too embarrassed for (a nauseating image I’m trying hard to weeks later, I was thrilled to tell my hus- might leave a trail of slime behind him. words. erase from my mind), all preying on an band that we were going to be contestants Still, he hadn’t said or done anything that “It will only take 15 minutes of your endless supply of fresh, beautiful, vulner- on “To Tell the Truth.” Wow again. It was other models had told me to look out for. time,” he insisted. able kids. fun, and we got paid $40 each! “You’re such a goody-goody you’re prob- “I’m so sorry,” I said, “but I can’t do that.” That’s showbiz, and thus it has always On my next visit, Gene P. told me he ably safe,” one of them said. “But then, you I was married, I explained. I think I even been, I told myself. But now, quite sud- had sent my composite photo to a friend never know.” said thank you on my way out the door. denly, I’m not so sure. Thanks to a grow- who was casting Woody Allen’s next mov- My next appointment was the week be- When I told my modeling buddy about ing number of very brave people, a lot of ie. “But he told me you’re too tall. Woody fore Christmas, and I brought him a box of the incident, she said I had made a big rocks are being lifted, exposing multitudi- doesn’t like tall girls.” Again, no problem. homemade cookies (“These are my grand- mistake. Didn’t I know Gene P. was a pro- nous trails of slime. But what truly shocks Another casting call was coming up. “Be- ma’s recipes. I’m carrying on the family curer for one of Hollywood’s biggest pro- me is something new: consequences! fore I send you out on it, though, I want traditions.”), which he accepted without ducers? “You’ve got to grow up if you want Many powerful people are paying a heavy you to go to Sassoon and get bangs. Your comment. He then told me he had good to stay in this business,” she said. price for their bad behavior. Whoever forehead is too high and that’s not sexy. news. That big Hollywood casting direc- Lately I’ve been thinking about this all- would have thought, even a few months You need to change your look.” tor was in town. “He wants to see you, but but-forgotten episode that happened five ago, that this could happen? Who’s next? Stay informed about the West Village Go to westview.com and hit SUBSCRIBE www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 7 It Must Be Christmas in the Village

You can tell by all the Christmas wreaths on doors and the fact that neighbors try to outdoeach other with the best decorations. Christmas wreaths, most frequently derived from evergreens, have a significant meaning for the season. The circular shape represents eternity, for it has no beginning and no end. From a religious perspective, it represents an unending circle of life—renewal, rebirth, everlasting life, memory, and hope. Text and photo by © Joel Gordon 2017—All rights reserved. Music at St. Veronica’s HOLIDAY CONCERT SATURDAY DEC. 23RD 7:30 PM Performance by NY Baroque Incorporated FREE for Seniors $15.00 suggested admission After concert refreshments

“truly excellent” and “studded with stars in the making” (New York Times) 8 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Efforts to Save the Last Health Centers of Lower Manhattan

By Penny Mintz ises to upgrade and modernize the 16th Street facility and double its emergency Is Beth Israel Hospital going the way of room capacity to accommodate the im- St. Vincent’s (closed), Cabrini (closed), St. pact of the 2010 closing of St. Vincent’s Vincent’s Midtown (closed), and Gouver- by June 2013, the maternity, neonatal, neur (an out-patient center and nursing pediatric intensive care, and adult cardiac home)? Perhaps, but not if the Progressive surgery units all hit the dust. Action for Lower Manhattan (PALM) has At PALM’s monthly meeting on Tues- any say in the matter. day night, November 21, 2017, members PALM, a local chapter of the statewide reaffirmed their determination that the New York Progressive Action Network essential services of a full hospital must (NYPAN), which was created almost im- be maintained in the community. The mediately after Trump was elected presi- group’s immediate goal is to have Gover- dent, focuses on issues of concern in Man- nor Cuomo see to it that the New York hattan below 42nd Street. The very first State Department of Health stop rubber- THE PROGRESSIVE ACTION FOR LOWER MANHATTAN (PALM) MEETS: Pictured above are: issue in PALM’s sights was the threatened stamping the piecemeal closure of Beth Mindy Rosier, Harvey Epstein, and Arthur Schwartz. According to Schwartz, instead of closing of the Beth Israel Hospital campus Israel Hospital units without full review. improving Beth Israel as promised, Mount Sinai will build a 70-bed hospital on 2nd Avenue building on 1st Avenue at East 16th Street. With these ends in mind, PALM orga- and 13th Street, expand out-patient services in the area below 34th Street, and close the full- “My daughter was born in Beth Israel,” nized a well-attended demonstration on service Beth Israel Hospital after a four-year transition period. Photo by Penny Mintz. says Harvey Epstein, the head of PALM’s September 24th. (See the October 2017 Hospital-Closure Committee and a Dem- WestView article.) However, no one has PALM or NYPAN expects to join the starting in January, PALM intends to have ocratic candidate for the New York State any illusions that one rally will stop the festivities inside at $1,000 per person, but a monthly presence on 16th Street and 1st Assembly seat being vacated by Brian Ka- closure. “That rally was a good begin- they want the governor to be aware of a Avenue. The specific day and hour will be vanagh. Epstein worries about where the ning,” says PALM activist Gil Horowitz, dissatisfied constituency outside. determined at the next PALM meeting. next generation of families will go if Beth “but it was just a beginning.” Mindy Rosier, a PALM member and The next PALM meeting will be held on Israel closes. “We need to stop the process Going forward, PALM will participate NYPAN board member, argued for December 19th or 20th at 6:30 p.m., de- of closing this facility and demand more in the demonstration that NYPAN is al- monthly demonstrations in the commu- pending on the availability of space at the for our community.” ready organizing in front of Cipriani Wall nity to raise awareness and make involve- Seafarers International House (123 East Concern about the fate of the hospital Street (55 Wall Street, between William ment convenient. “Monthly demonstra- 15th Street, at Irving Place). arose after Mount Sinai, which bought and Hanover Streets) on December 14th tions,” Rosier said, “have a predictability Beth Israel in 2013, began shutting down from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., when Gov- that builds participation.” There were con- Contact Penny Mintz at penny.mintz@ one profitable hospital unit after another ernor Cuomo holds a fundraiser/celebra- cerns about the manpower demands of gmail.com for the finalized date of the next last June. Contrary to Mount Sinai’s prom- tion for his 60th birthday. No one from monthly demonstrations. Nevertheless, PALM meeting. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 9 Senior in Urgent Need of Representation to Prevent Unjust Eviction

By Eileen Hickey oppressive, crushing abuse, with two newspapers’ fabricated articles, possibly I am a 71-year-old citizen/comedian/art- planted by my landlord’s attorney and ist in an eight-year divorce facing possible allowed in court by Judge Bannon as eviction from my home of 43 years, which substantiated evidence, not the tabloid is maintained by my neighbors and myself, fodder they are. not the landlord. Judge Cooper acknowledged Julia I am arguing pro se—that is, without Marsh, one of the reporters, from the an attorney—due to having no money and bench, when I begged her to come to being on food stamps. My “Leave to Ap- court so I could give my side of the story. peal and Request for a Stay of Eviction” at She came, and after talking to my hus- the Appellate Division, First Department, band’s attorney and Judge Cooper, did a Supreme Court (27 Madison Avenue) hatchet job on me. I feel callously and takes place on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 contemptuously treated, never allowed at 10:00 a.m. to speak, sent to the back of the room, Please come and support me. Also, told that “only attorneys can stand” call 311 and file a complaint with the when I was pro se for two years, due to a Mayor’s office. They will give you a com- lack of money. plaint number. Send it to me if you can. There is no due process; I have no pro- I have had no chance to defend my- tection unless I pay, forcing the sale of self. I have never had a trial. I am possi- my only asset. I have not had a civil lib- bly being evicted for allegedly not filing erty since my husband filed for divorce numerous documents which can clearly seven and a half years ago. I have been, be seen on eCourts (eCourts.com/Su- in two chilling incidents, beaten and preme)—Index #155593/2014. My ap- jailed, a victim of constant shakedowns peal is for a fair trial, to not be evicted for for money from attorneys and court-or- a technicality over a discovery dispute. dered “experts.” Judge Nancy Bannon, in the Supreme I have suffered numerous legal viola- Court, Civil Branch at 111 Centre tions. The ‘level playing field’ was never Street, could sign the order evicting me given to me and ‘[maintaining] the same at any time. I have woken up in dread lifestyle as during the marriage’ is a joke every day for four years feeling like the because my husband was given 93% guillotine is hanging over my neck. I feel while I received 7%. helpless and terrified. My own attorney Judge Nancy Bannon railroaded me wrote to me describing her loss in the into the Appellate Division and denied Appellate Division: “If you do not pay us me due process, striking the documents an additional $20,000...prepare to sur- I filed. Judges/landlords use unclear laws render [the] premises in advance of [the] to evict seniors and get their stabilized impending eviction.” I am now bullied units out of affordable housing and re- for money, homeless, and penniless at turn them to market rates—an increase age 71. as high as 20%. There is nothing funny about this continued on page 28

POSSIBLE EVICTION: Eileen Hickey is pictured above with “Heavy Roses” (1997) in the background, contemplating the challenge of retaining her apartment. Photo courtesy of Eileen Hickey. 10 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org A Stroll Around the Neighborhood: Planned Developments in the St. John’s Terminal Area

On the left, Adamson Associates provided the more recent rendering of the project they la- bel ‘110 Charlton Street.’ On the right is the same project’s earlier, cantilevered glass design by FR-EE, but named ‘537 Greenwich Street.’ The Hotel Hugo is shown on the far-right of the rendering. Renderings courtesy of YIMBY.com. On the left, the poster says ‘Demolition of Entire Building’ but the designs call for saving the facades of 100 Vandam Street. Hotel Hugo is just to the right. Photo by Brian J. Pape. On By Brian J. Pape, AIA with their plans in the area. The St. John’s site the right is the Proposed 100 Vandam Street. Rendering by COOKFOX Architects. is four-blocks long between Clarkson Street West Houston Street is considered the southern and Spring Street, from West Street to Wash- new 27-story condo, and China Construction nates with a round-cornered 18-story dark boundary for the West Village, but let’s step over ington Street, now obscuring Houston Street America is the new majority owner. glass and granite facade. the line a bit into the Hudson Square neighbor- by building over it. Along with the four-story A 1920 six-story, brick, mixed-use condo UPS’ refueling station and a two-story hood. As we’ve reported in earlier issues of West- brick UPS truck loading building between remains intact at 547 and 549 Greenwich parking structure fill up the west side of the View, major new construction at the St. John’s Washington and Greenwich Streets, these Street, at the corner of Charlton Street. On next Greenwich Street block to Clarkson Terminal building is anticipated. (That is where buildings block Charlton and Vandam Streets the opposite corner is a one-story truck ga- Street, another block that we predict won’t the High Line railroad terminated when it was at Greenwich Street. rage that looks ripe for development. stay low much longer. built in 1927.) Let’s take a closer look at some of Strolling down Washington Street be- At the end of the block at Houston Street, We have previously strolled around the those developments. tween the St. John’s and UPS buildings, we the former Saatchi & Saatchi advertising area north of Clarkson Street showing many In December 2016, the City Council ap- come to Spring Street, where Philip Johnson company building (they moved out in 2017), new developments, which are continuing and proved plans for Atlas Capital Group and and Annabelle Selldorf ’s 2005 ‘Urban Glass designed by Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects to which we can return at another time. En- Westbrook Partners to acquire $100 mil- House’ condominium wraps the corner at 330 and Emery Roth & Sons, circa 1987, domi- joy your stroll. lion worth of air rights from Pier 40, as Spring Street. The Ear Inn bar and restaurant part of the unfinished Hudson River Park in a historic 1905 townhouse is mid-block at Trust. This allowed the developers to plan 326 Spring Street, and the Spring Street Deli a 1,586-unit, mixed-use complex now wraps the other corner at Greenwich Street. dubbed ‘550 Washington Street’ and de- That corner of Greenwich Street looks south ST. VERONICA’S CAN BECOME A PERMANENT signed by COOKFOX Architects. toward several glassy residential buildings CONCERT HALL FREE TO SENIORS BUT Construction hasn’t started there, but in the built in recent years. meantime, others have already moved forward Heading north from Spring Street is the ONLY IF YOU ATTEND 1910 commercial, five-story loft building ___ Yes, I want music at St. Veronica’s. at 515 Greenwich Street, right next to the ___ Yes, I want it to be free to seniors___ 2014 Hotel Hugo at 525 Greenwich Street, a 20-story, four-star hotel designed by Marcel- ___ No, I don’t have any spare dollars but I will attend and lo Pozzi Architecture & Design for the For- get my friends to attend to show we want it. tuna Realty Group development company. A ___ Yes, here is a tax deductible gift made out to the bar lounge is tucked under the water tower West Village Fund for ____ on the roof for a dramatic setting to view the ___ Yes, I give you permission to print what I think about Hudson! Music at St. Veronica’s Right next to that hotel is a circa 1910 six- story, brick warehouse building on the corner, ___ Yes. Yes, I want to subscribe or renew my subscription at 527 Greenwich Street, now being demol- to West View here is my $12 for one year or $24 for 2 ished by owner/developer Jeff Greene for a years new COOKFOX-designed 25-story, 70-unit condo, plus retail on the ground floor. Com- Make your tax-deductible gifts payable to ‘The West Village Fund’ and bined with 92 Vandam Street, the new project indicate that they are ‘for the concert.’ Mail your checks to: WestView is called ‘100 Vandam Street.’ News, 69 Charles Street, New York, NY 10014. Please also include On the next block north, 533 and 535 the information listed below: Greenwich Street (both circa 1910) remain, Name: while the 537 to 545 Greenwich Street lots In this rendering, 550 Washington Street is Address: have been cleared, as part of a Cape Advi- viewed from West Houston Street, look- Telephone: ing west. Note the open-to-sky feature sors development that will wrap behind the above Houston Street. 2016 Rendering by corner. This development will be known as Email Address: COOKFOX Architects, via The New York ‘110 Charlton Street.’ Adamson Associates Times. Architects is the architect-of-record for the

12 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org What Do You Think of Governor Cuomo?

By Arthur Z. Schwartz rest of her buddy Sheldon Silver (the former Speaker of the Assembly) she has Throughout 2017, most WestView read- had little influence. Lots of Democratic ers held their breath every time Donald Assemblymembers have told me that Trump opened his mouth. As the year Ms. Glick has become mostly a place- draws to a close, it is time to assess the holder. Although she chairs the Stand- political scene in 2018, and what it means ing Committee on Higher Education, to us here in the Village and West Village. she was wholly run over by the Governor Notice, I haven’t bashed Assembly- with his greatly flawed “free tuition” plan NO MORE OF GOVERNOR 1%: While the rest of the country is thinking about Trump next member Deborah Glick in the year at SUNY. You don’t hear her voice about September, we in New York will be contemplating Andrew Cuomo. Should he stay or and five months since I ceased my run ethics reform, opening up the electoral should he go? Photo by Liz Pitt. against her due to heart problems. I still process, the underfunding of NYC pub- believe that it is time for her to go. In lic schools, or even about Trump. I’m staying at her country house, we even see nice if, with all the refreshing new voices 2018, she will ask for her 14th term in sure she is in the crowd of voices and, her at community events. I am not tak- on the political scene, someone else did. the NYS Assembly, where, since the ar- during the six months per year she is not ing her on again in 2018, but it would be continued on page 19

policeman and slammed a pad down on Mr. Capsis Knows Why He Was Detained his desk. I demanded that he write his name so that, when the colonels were (A Tribute to Cousin John) ousted, I would come back and get him. rest of my visit when John touched my shoul- The functionary kept snapping back that I der and said excitedly, “Look.” There was was not going on that plane; the pilot ap- the Parthenon in the early light of dawn— peared asking me for an explanation. (The very real, very near. It was an overwhelming plane had been sitting and waiting for half sight—the first visualization of civilization. an hour.) That visit changed my life. I grabbed up my passport and said to the In 1967, the Greek military staged a coup pilot, “Let’s go.” He demurred, “It is easy for and took control of Greece. John wrote a sa- you, but I have to live with them.” I asked him tirical piece, and was then tried and impris- to bring the family off the plane. oned. I and a few other Greek-Americans I called John at the office but he had left joined to protest in the papers and on the air. for lunch. I decided to take the family back to Word came at last that John was free and Athens to the Tamion Building—the head- we took our three kids, Athena, Ariadne, and quarters for the military coup—and confront Doric, to Athens to celebrate. We also want- the head of security. (I was very angry.) ed them to see a little of Greece. As we walked into his office suite, I was Going home, the kids marched in single met by a staffer from John’s paper and an of- file to the plane with mom, Andromache ficer from the American Consulate who said, (Maggie), behind and me last. I was stopped “I wondered when you would get here.” NEWS FORGED IN WAR: Pictured in the center, with a cane, is the father of John Capsis, by a small man who asked for my passport “Let’s go in and see this guy,” I demanded, Pantelis Kapsis, during the retreat into Albania after the German invasion. Called the “Ernie and offered that I had to return to the office but he held me back with, “No, you’re too an- Pyle of Greece” after the famed U.S. combat reporter, he was the scion of two generations for some formality. gry. We’ll talk to him.” I waited and fumed. of journalists. Photo courtesy of Pantelis Kapsis. In the office, a sitting clerk demanded my “You are free to go anytime,” the Consulate By George Capsis My cousin John, a year or so younger than passport and said without looking at me, officer offered, as he emerged. I had another I, was the son of my father’s older brother, “You are not going on that plane.” I realized demand, “Go back and ask him why I was In 1949, when I was 21, I asked my father for Pantelis, who had been a schoolteacher and, that this was their revenge for my campaign- detained,” and back came a classic Greek bit money to visit Paris. He said that he would later, a journalist. ing against them. of double talk: “Mr. Capsis knows better than only give it to me if I went to Greece; I reluc- Greeks nap in the afternoon heat so they I began to shout at my little security anyone why he was detained. tantly agreed. may go out at 10:00 p.m. and have dinner With a German mother and a Greek fa- at an open-air restaurant. At midnight, they ther, my exposure to Greeks had been lim- walk home under the stars with the smell of John Capsis continued from page 1 father, who is also named Pantelis Kapsis: ited to events like Greek picnics held on the jasmine. Pantelis Kapsis was born in 1880 in Smyr- Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge My cousin John had been drinking at a ter. During his time in office, he negoti- na (today Izmir) where he became a school- when I would, for hours, listen to the wail of taverna with a few of his buddies, just a bit ated a new agreement for the American bases teacher before deciding to follow a career in clarinets accompanying Greek dances. Then unsure about having to meet his cousin from in Greece and was responsible for relations journalism. He was the editor of the Greek there was the strange food and so much of it. New York. with Turkey in a period marked by crises; language newspaper Armonia but left Smyr- But it was not bad, not bad. Mainland Greeks self protectively make Capsis facilitated a landmark agreement for na before the “catastrophe” in 1922. Kapsis In 1949, air travel was still coming togeth- fun of emigrant Greeks who speak Greek the normalization of the relationship between covered the activities on the eastern front of er after the War and I flew to Paris on the with old-fashioned village dialects. John was, the two countries in Davos. The agreement World War I as a correspondent for Greek Flying Tiger airline in a beat-up cargo plane I am sure, exchanging jokes about his arriv- was signed by the then-Prime Minister Pa- newspapers. He returned to Smyrna in 1920 that started to run out of gas over the Atlan- ing New York cousin. He invited all of his pandreou and his Turkish counterpart, Tur- to cover the arrival of the Greek army under tic. We had to make an emergency landing drinking buddies to drive out to the airport gut Ozal. Capsis was also a member of the the mandate of the allies. As a war correspon- in Iceland. to meet me in a high-back, 1936 black taxi Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), dent, he also covered the Greek resistance to After Paris, I made my way down through that had survived the war. the socialist party in Greece, from 1993 until the Italian invasion in 1940 even though he Italy to Rome and finally booked a very I was surprised by the greeting party and 2004. was in his 60s and hardly able to survive the cheap flight, which landed me in Athens in John’s bravado performance for them. I won- Continuing the thread of journalism within heavy weather in the mountains lining the the middle of night. dered if this was what I had to endure for the the family, here is a brief biography of the author’s Greek-Albanian borders. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 13 Nothing’s Changed!

By Mary Ann Miller and at Rikers or still in The Tombs. The only Cynthia Chaffee way we were able to find out anything about him was through his birth date, You can ask any Croman tenant, “Has September 12, 1966. What we know for anything changed since Steve Croman sure is that he’s listed under the name went to jail?” and you’ll get a resound- ‘Steven Crowman’—Is this a deliberate ing, “NO.” And why should anything attempt to cover up his criminal history? have? Steve Croman is still in charge Also on trial December 11th is An- and, rumor has it, he’s running the busi- thony Falconite—whom Croman re- ness by cell phone from his cell—giv- ferred to as his ‘Secret Weapon’—a ing new meaning to ‘cell phone.’ We former cop who forces himself into ten- still don’t know where he is being held. ants’ apartments under false pretenses, However, wherever he is, a tenant from photographing the apartment and occu- Mott Street said, “I bet he has heat and pants without showing his identification hot water.” When two Croman tenants but demanding they show theirs. His meet, the first thing they ask each other prey are the elderly or those who speak is, “You got heat?” little or no English. Come to the Supreme Court, Civil It follows the usual Term at 10:00 a.m. on Monday De- cember 11th (60 Centre Street, Part 17, Croman agenda: no heat; Room 335) to witness further injustices no hot water; no gas in some to tenants, or (hopefully) The Fall of the buildings; no repairs... Croman Empire. Cynthia Chaffee and Mary Ann Miller It follows the usual Croman agenda: are the founders of the Stop Croman Co- no heat; no hot water; no gas in some alition, which was established on Bastille buildings; no repairs; no supers living Day, July 14, 2007. in the buildings (or within 200 feet, as the law requires); leases not offered, or returned late, or returned with no signa- ture or just a circle scribbled where an Devastated authorized signature should be, or not returned at all; rent overcharges; fuel pass-along overcharges (which are the Moon norm); false claims of rent arrears, some By Roberta Curley amounting to thousands of dollars; con- tinual frivolous lawsuits; and harassment This poem is dedicated to all victims of of tenants. the October 31, 2017 New York City As we said, nothing’s changed. terror attack. Another Thanksgiving will have come and gone, and many Croman tenants Even the moon is mourning. will again have been without gas to cook She’s in protection mode tonight, their holiday meals. Did Steve Croman have an oven-cooked turkey dinner? in cahoots with unsettled clouds Why is it that so many Croman build- who don black crepe to ings have no gas? crisscross her full-moon glare. Another landlord whose tenants have lacked gas for years is Jared Kushner. Both Croman and Kushner buy build- The moon apologizes to ings with many rent-regulated units, worshippers and fans, and then proceed to empty them by any those reliant upon her— means necessary. campers, lovers, poets, children. On Monday, December 11th, 2017, the civil part of the Attorney General’s The pearl orb is clearly not herself. two-pronged attack against Steve Cro- man will begin in the courtroom of She hides in semi-seclusion rather Shlomo S. Hagler, the notoriously land- than portray herself benumbed. lord-friendly presiding judge. In addi- tion, Joel Cohen is representing Steve Phobic fears of shedding her own Croman. Cohen also represents Sheldon tears engulf her. Silver, the former speaker of the New Precipitation is the clouds’ domain. York State Assembly, famous for being one of ‘Three Men in a Room’ in Albany, and infamous for controlling the judicial Poor moon, unfit to humanly commune, system in New York City. Hagler plus displays a sentient side. Cohen make everybody doubt that we In a valiant effort to self-heal, she can expect a fair trail. briefly flashes her circumference, As of the writing of this article, we do not know whether Steven B. Croman is then retreats to solo grief. 14 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Move Over, Jane Jacobs, Jeremiah Moss Has Come to Town By W. Russell Neuman rounds, greeting everyone, many by name.” Jeremiah Moss’ well-researched prose, acerbic wit, and But the place was sold. The walls once covered with dusty zealous nostalgia is fun reading and will reward readers who Jeremiah Moss came to town in 1993 at age 22 and fell in memorabilia, Playbills, and photos of handsome young men follow his tales of the scruffy Mars Bar in the East Village love. He fell in love with the gritty, noisy diversity of the East in mid-century black and white were scrubbed clean and re- (closed in 2011), up Bleecker Street and the High Line to the Village. He saw himself as a poet although, over time, his ca- placed with diamond-tufted leather banquettes and Richard outer boroughs, which are still largely untouched by high-rise reer morphed into that of a social worker, therapist, and very Avedon prints. The red sauce Italian was replaced by upscale corporate gentrifiers. But don’t buy it on Amazon. Support active blogger at vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com. He be- French cuisine. Now, the featured cocktail, called the ‘Fedora a local bookstore like Three Lives & Company at 154 West moaned the loss of authentic diners, dive bars, and mom-and- Dorato,’ (aka ‘The Spirit of the West Village’) a mix of Grouse 10th Street (at Waverly Place) or bookbook, which is still sur- pop bookstores as they were replaced by bland and mostly up- Scotch, Cynar, and Cocchi Americano, costs 12 bucks, almost viving at 266 Bleecker Street (near Morton Street). scale national chain stores. The blogging morphed into a new the price of Fedora’s dinner special. book released by Harper Collins this past summer—Vanishing Moss has a theory about why the New York he loves is New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul. It is a must-read for vanishing. It’s a process he calls ‘hyper-gentrification’— West Villagers who care about what has traditionally given “gentrification on speed, shot up with free-market capital- our community its reputation. Most of us would prefer that ism…a global pandemic, a seemingly unstoppable virus at- our corner of the City not be referred to as the place artists, tacking much of the world.” But, he argues, the process is eccentrics, and creative types used to live but can’t afford to neither natural nor inevitable. It is man-made, intentional, any more. and therefore stoppable. At the conclusion of the book, Moss Moss tells the story of venturing under the pink and green provides an actionable wish list of 12 steps toward protecting lights of Fedora’s battered sign on West 4th Street to a dusty, the New York many of us have come to love, including: truly subterranean, hide-away restaurant which offered a $13.95 empowered community boards, zoning and rent regulation dinner special—a full-course meal that might contain antipas- reforms, and a vacancy tax on landlords who create high-rent to with iceberg lettuce, chicken tetrazzini, and homemade pie. blight. The food was nothing special, he reports, but he didn’t care. In a recent telephone interview with WestView News, “It was the place that mattered, the feeling of it. You Moss went beyond the book to share another theory he had knew it was special the minute you sat down to be greeted about the upscale stores on Bleecker Street. He has been Dina Andriotis, Chris Tsiamis, and Nikitas Andriotis (from left to right). by George, the acerbic veteran waiter who snapped, ‘Give puzzling over how these high-profile stores can sustain 77 Christopher Street me a hundred minutes,’ because, ‘I’ve only got two hands’ themselves with rents of $40,000 or $50,000 per month Between Seventh Avenue and Bleecker Street (on a later night, he would bark at me to, ‘Eat your beets’ despite the relatively high-profit margins on their fashion- Pharmacy Hours: adding sympathetically, sotto voce, ‘I hate beets’). You knew able wares. He postulates that these stores are loss leaders. Monday - Friday: 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM the place was special when Fedora Dorato, the restaurant’s “Billboards,” he calls them. A presence on Bleecker Street Saturday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Sunday 10:00 AM- 5:00 PM namesake and owner, made her nightly entrance, an event is prestige signal. Moss’ concern, however, is that after they for which everyone put down their forks to give a deliri- have established their eminence at great expense, they will Telephone: 212-255-2525 • Fax: 212-255-2524 email: [email protected] ous round of loving applause. She was a star—white-haired, pack up and go, leaving landlords wondering why so many www.newyorkchemists.com slightly stooped, and elegant, Fedora would make her of their Bleecker Street properties are vacant. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 15

While the Hudson River Park Act of 1998 requires that Soccer with a View 50% to 100% of Pier 40 be devoted to open space, the Hud- son River Park Trust (Trust) has chosen to provide the low- est possible amount. However, Madelyn Wils, President and CEO of the Trust, has stated that she would like to make the pier more “park-like.” The first and obvious step would be to enlarge the hidden soccer field and expose it to the marvelous views over the harbor. There are many models to choose from, most of which fo- cus on the waterfront. Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park is a fa- vorite among soccer players because of its location on the wa- ter. Thirty-two-year-old Christopher Wayne, who has played on six of these fields for seven years, describes Pier 5 as “the PIER 40 WITHOUT A BUILDING: Brooklyn Inlet Park replicates most beautiful place to play soccer in the City, due to views Pier 40 but without a blocking structure. Barry Benepe sug- of the Manhattan skyline and the breeze from the water.” He gests a similar vista. Photo courtesy of NYC Department of also praised Chelsea Waterside Park as “my favorite field in Parks & Recreation. the City because of its large size.” Christopher has also played at Pier 40 where he found that “the permanent surrounding By Barry Benepe structure blocks any view.” One fact is clear. The soccer fields are not local community In the September 2017 issue of WestView, we saw a lose-lose grass playgrounds for local parents to bring young children for proposal to replace the current, income-earning parking garage kickball, or for the children to come on their own, much less at Pier 40 with a towering stadium (“The Happy Marriage of for the less athletic among us to stroll as a waterfront lawn. Pier 40 and Pier 55” by Michael Sorkin). This structure would The soccer fields must share their views of the sky and the wa- block views of the park and the harbor and introduce loud, terfront with all of us. This can best be done by leaving broad amplified music to shatter the evening waterfront peace while waterside margins for strolling, sitting, and relaxing in the sun. retaining the current, plastic-surfaced soccer field, which has Bushwick Inlet Park is where Christopher played for three all the charm of a prison yard. years over three different seasons, “winning three champion- That proposal would also bring in a large barge to displace ships, finishing second a few times as well.” Bushwick offers the long-established Village Community Boathouse. There, an excellent model for Pier 40, where the park rolls out a handsome, brightly colored, wooden row boats are not only welcome mat to the West Village, embracing the sun, the wa- rowed but built to be launched on the protected south side of terfront, and the sky with a field of green grass. This is clearly Pier 40. I had hoped that the sale of two million square feet the way to go. The parking garage and Trust offices should be of development rights to the ever-growing gigantic St. John’s part of the development rights transfer to St. John’s Terminal. Terminal Project might have resulted in a park on the water- The Village Community Boathouse should remain where it front with views of the Hudson River. is, in an appropriately enclosed boathouse.

Caruso’sQuips By Charles Caruso To become disillusioned you must first have illusions. A man’s whole appearance goes to pieces when he loosens his tie. Things that appeal to our worst instincts are usually the most fun. The weather watches the calendar. Look for changes on major holidays. The saddest words: ‘Moving away.’ When people move away, they’re gone forever. Forget all the promises.

23rd They call them ‘remotes’ because when they ring, you’re in another room. When will moron sports announcers realize that the term ‘Hail Mary pass’ is deeply offensive to millions of people? Cityscape: Roof job finished. Workers gone. Where to? What next? Miss them. What’s all this fuss about nuclear war? No civilized country would ever drop an atomic bomb on an undefended city. 16 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org

lobster rolls and crab cakes in addition to the week of December 4th. They are also Closed unusual preparations of fish and chips, and hosting a holiday camp from December 26th We were alerted by one of our contributors Belly, which features various fried pork to the 29th for children two to six years old. that Burberry Brit’s double-front store at IN preparations, including dumplings and 367-369 Bleecker Street (between Charles and katsu. and Perry Streets) was emptied out in the OUT dead of night on November 10th. The store by Caroline Benveniste OPEN had opened in early 2011. ENFÖLD, the Japanese clothing store at 411 Bleecker Street This month, it seemed like everyone was talk- (between Bank and West 11th Streets), which ing about the crisis in retail. The New York resembled a more expensive Uniqlo, has Times wrote an editorial on November 19th closed. It had opened barely a year ago. The entitled “Why Is New York Full of Empty Beasty Feast Hudson Street location (630 Store?” while New York State Senator Brad Hudson Street, between Jane and Horatio Hoylman hosted a Town Hall on November Streets) has closed, but the other two Village 9th on the ‘Small Business Crisis.’ Tim Wu, Pasta Flyer (510 6th Avenue, between outposts, at 327 West 14th Street (between a professor at Columbia Law School who West 13th and West 14th Streets): The 8th and 9th Avenues) and 680 Washington coined the term ‘high-rent blight,’ was one of big opening news this month was Pasta Street (near Charles Street), are still open. the panelists, as was Jeremiah Moss, the au- Flyer. It was featured on all sorts of trendi- thor of the recently-released book “Vanishing est restaurant lists, which is amusing because Coming Soon New York: How a Great City Lost its Soul.” it is really just a fast food pasta spot. It was Mekki NYC, a Moroccan Fusion restaurant (See W. Russell Neuman’s article on page 14 ) scheduled to open a while ago, but during is displaying signage at 15 West 8th Street Bleecker Street, the poster child for high-rent their ‘Friends and Family’ period, they re- (where Cho Cho San used to be, near 5th blight, saw two more store closings this month, ceived feedback that people wanted to see Avenue) and apparently the team, including a but also two openings and a ‘Coming Soon’ the food being prepared. That necessitated famous chef from Morocco, are in Marrakesh announcement. A November 20th article in Shuraku (47 8th Avenue, at West 4th a redesign of the kitchen area, which took working on the menu. The international juice, Crain’s New York Business, “Desperate for Street): This new Japanese restaurant has over six months. The pastas are prepared in smoothie, coffee, and sandwich chain Joe & tenants, retail landlords are letting leases get both an eight-course tasting menu for $110 minutes, and the prices are between $7 and The Juice is coming to the old Citi Habitats shorter and shorter,” explains another trend and a la carte offerings. The restaurant show- $8. The fusilli with pesto was fine, if not space at 540 Hudson Street (between Perry on Bleecker Street—the arrival of pop-ups cases food prepared on a binchotan grill. The inspired, but a bit too garlicky for my taste. and Charles Streets). Hill House Home, a that stay on for longer if lease terms are fa- seating is at a counter in front of the grill sta- The baked eggplant parmigiano side was brand of luxury bedding which was previously vorable and the businesses do well. Faherty tion. Early Yelp reviews have been extremely lovely and a real bargain at $2.50. The reason only available online, is now opening an ac- (351 Bleecker Street, near West 10th Street) positive. this restaurant has gotten so much attention tual store in the long-empty space that used to and Sunni Spencer (371 Bleecker Street, near is that the owner, Mark Ladner, used to be house August, a bistro at 395 Bleecker Street Charltes Street) are two examples. the chef at Del Posto where he invented the (between Perry and West 11th Streets). famous 100-layer lasagna. Update Renamed/Moving/ Chelsea Market (75 9th Avenue, Kusharista (106 MacDougal Street, be- Expanding between West 15th and West 16th tween Bleecker and West 3rd Streets): After six months, the southern-inspired Streets) and Gansevoort Market (353 This Egyptian spot serves updated versions 33 Greenwich (33 Greenwich Avenue, be- West 14th Street, near 9th Avenue): of kushari, which according to Moham- tween West 10th and Charles Streets) has Two new shops, Pearl River Mart and med, the owner, is Egypt’s favorite street morphed into Greenwich Grille with a new Blackbarn, have opened in Chelsea Mar- food. The history of kushari is displayed on chef and a new menu, although the space ket. Pearl River Mart was located for the wall: Its ancestor was an Indian dish of looks the same. The chef is Harold Moore many years on Broadway in SoHo, but at rice and mung beans called ‘kishri.’ From who also runs Harold’s Meat + Three in the end of 2015, a five-fold rent increase Grayers (304 Bleecker Street, between there, it travelled in colonial times to the Hudson Square (2 Renwick Street, near Ca- forced them out. They later reopened in Grove and Barrow Streets): Peter Geor- U.K. where it became ‘kedgeree,’ a breakfast nal Street) and used to be the chef at Com- a small space in TriBeCa, and have now giou, the founder of Grayers, worked at dish. The next stop was Egypt where Ital- merce. The menu features American com- added this second location. There are sig- Ralph Lauren for 10 years before starting his ians who were living there added pasta and fort food. The Cynthia Rowley store that nificantly fewer items than in the original, own menswear company four years ago. He tomato sauce, while the Egyptians added used to be at 376 Bleecker Street has moved and the food section is minimal, but it is is based in Hong Kong, and this is the first fried onions and ‘daqqa,’ a special sauce one block north to 394 Bleecker Street (be- still a fun place to poke around for Asian physical store for the company. The tagline is with vinegar, garlic, and a secret spice mix. tween Perry and West 11th Streets). Cyn- tchotchkes. At the front of the store, there ‘Rewriting the Classics,’ and the style is out- Kusharista has taken things one step fur- thia Rowley bought that property about a are some more high-end and expensive doorsy, with lots of sweaters, flannel shirts, ther and added Asian, Mexican, and Medi- year ago for $8.9 million. Lulu Guinness items, like a $70 leather credit card holder and jackets on display. terranean ingredients for different varia- previously had a store at that location. Ac- in the likeness of a cat. Blackbarn, a home tions on the dish. You also have the option cording to Eater, Nisi Estiatorio at 302 décor/kitchen supply store, has opened of building your own kushari by selecting Bleecker Street (between Grove and Barrow across from Pearl River Mart. The store grains, pulses, and pasta, then sauce, pro- Streets) will be expanding with three more is filled with attractive and expensive fur- tein, vegetables, and other toppings like New York City locations as well as restau- niture and bibelots. A cozy bar/café with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. All kushari rants in Los Angeles and Miami. couches will soon open at the back of are finished with fried onions. All photos by Darielle Smolian. the store. The Israeli restaurant Miznon (with branches in Tel Aviv, Paris, and Melbourne) is scheduled to open in the space that formerly housed Buon’Italia. The specialty is pita, and the pita fillings reflect the foods of the host country. It is LAC Early Childhood Center (2 5th Av- disorienting to visit Gansevoort Market. enue, between West 8th Street and Food stalls are constantly opening, clos- Washington Square North): A new pre- ing, and moving, and the space itself has school/day care center has opened in the been reconfigured a number of times. In neighborhood. It accepts children from three November, Sushi by Bou closed, as did months to five years old, with full-time, part- Big Gay Ice Cream. Now open are Sim- time, and half-day options. They are holding ply Hooked Fish & Chips, which serves open houses daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 17

of a young female slave against pat- Jefferson Market University: Needle and Thread as Weapon terns that reflect the history of the slave trade, along with actual balls of cotton. Many of the quilts celebrate African Radical culture with figures, patterns, and ma- terials. William Daniel’s “Bovine Mask” Immigrants series transforms African sculpture into intense textiles. Diane Pryor-Holland created an in- in America stallation with a stark black quilt show- By Frank Collerius ing the Twin Towers in complex stitch- The Jefferson Market Library ery. Her husband, who worked there for is pleased to announce its next months after 9/11, died from cancer due free course in December: a dis- to the toxins. Flags and a video of her cussion of radical immigrants poetry brought this reviewer to tears, in 19th century America. The remembering my own experience and professor, Pam Nogales, is an loss. American History Ph.D. Can- didate at New York University. Her research focuses on radical political thought in the United States over the course of the rapid so- cial transformation of the 19th century. She recently made a noted and praised appear- ance in Frederick Wiseman’s documentary on The New York Public Library, Ex Libris! Intellectual contributions by European immigrants in the 19th century make up a critical thread of the American reform tra- dition. German-Americans were the largest Sylvia Hernandez, the former President of the Quilters of Color Network of New York, is subgroup of Europe’s political refugees and pictured above with “Hoodies” (Quilt, 4’ x 3’). exercised a direct and immediate impact on activity of harmless, grey-haired ladies the political, social, and intellectual history of gathered to sew, brag about grandchil- the United States. Many exiles of the 1830s dren, and gossip. and 1840s partici- This staggeringly beautiful display of pated in a vast spec- quilts revealed a passion for activism: so- Pictured above is the work of William Dan- trum of political cial justice and the acknowledgement of iels, “Bovine Mask” (Quilt, 4’ x 3’). Photos activity—from abo- scars that history has inflicted on people courtesy of Jacqueline Basker Taylor. litionist societies in of color and minorities worldwide. Cu- the North, anarchist rated by quilter William Daniels, this Former Network President Sylvia associations in Chi- exhibit’s goal was to show quilts as not Hernandez produced multiple quilts cago, trade union only aesthetically successful works of about the recent slaughter of young organizing in St. craft but art that explored complex so- blacks. Her “Hoodies” quilt chronicles Louis, and building A 19TH CENTURY RADICAL IMMIGRANT: cial themes and issues. The exhibit dis- 30 African-Americans shot by police. the International Thomas Paine, a played textiles in a different way, com- Her piece “Choose Love” expressed the Working Man’s As- prominent political ac- pared to other museums and galleries. hope of this exhibit, quoting Martin sociation (IWMA) tivist and philosopher, The work of the Quilters of Color Net- Luther King: “Hate was too great a bur- in New York, to is depicted above. work of New York was initially rejected den to bear.” participating in the by museums, which wanted quilts that The environmental crisis and endan- radical faction of the Republican Party. These just contained good craftsmanship and gered animals were also addressed, as in new Americans were part of a transatlantic were pretty to look at. Marilyn Hamilton’s quilts, which depict network of reformers who sought to realize Pictured above is the work of Thadine The Network gathered quilters of color species in danger. the ideals of the democratic revolutions of the Wormly-Hendon, “The Price of Cotton” who wanted their craft to express a pas- Their superb craftsmanship turned 17th and 18th centuries under the changed (Quilt, 2’ x 3’). sionate commentary on the violence, quilting into a high art form with pro- conditions of an industrializing nation. injustice, and discrimination they wit- foundly meaningful content. This ex- By Jacqueline Basker Taylor nessed in their lives. They also wanted to hibit was both a significant aesthetic Week 1: Wednesday, December 20th, celebrate their heritage as African-Amer- display and an event that gave voice 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Fiber Matrix exhibit at the Westbeth icans and share both joys and sorrows. to those who suffered violence as they English Immigrants Gallery, which took place in October “The Price of Cotton,” by Thadine struggled for justice and peace in this • Thomas Paine in America (the “Adopted 2017, dispelled the idea of quilting as an Wormly-Hendon, depicts the figure world. Son of the Republic”) • George H. Evans in New York (English, young immigrant) • Thomas Devyr (Scottish, Chartist) Week 2: Wednesday, December 27th, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. German Immigrants • Karl Heinzen in Boston and his aboli- tionist record (German 1848er) • Friedrich Sorge in New York and the founding of the Workingmen’s Association in America (German 1848er)

Frank Collerius is the Manager of the Jef- ferson Market Library. 18 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org

Jim Fouratt’s will vote against the proposal. Three Republicans are thought to be in favor of it. (Read about them here: latimes. Have You Heard? com/business/la-fi-net-neutrality-fcc- December 2017 ended for NYC. Matters like the MTA, 20171122-htmlstory.html.) We ALL hospital closings in the City, business need to email the Republican members taxes, educational policies, real estate and tell them “No.” If enough of us do, Well kudos to WestView Publisher George special treatment, environmental poli- hopefully one will vote against this pro- Capsis for believing that St. Veronica’s on cies, etc. would no longer be controlled posal. Tell them that freedom of speech Christopher Street, which had been closed exclusively by the State Legislature. Is- and public access to information on by the head of the Roman Catholic Arch- sues related solely to NYC would be de- the internet are NOT for sale. Here are diocese of New York, Cardinal Timothy cided by local, elected officials. their email addresses: Dolan, could be converted into a commu- A campaign organized by the large nity concert hall. WestView sponsored a labor unions, and supported by many Mr. Ajit Pai classical music concert at St. Veronica’s on of the so-called “progressive” Demo- [email protected] Saturday, November 25th and George was cratic machine clubs, uses a tactic that Ms. Mignon Clyburn correct. The sanctuary was not only beauti- worked for Trump. Rather than leading FCC COMMISSIONER FAVORS ENDING NET [email protected] NEUTRALITY: In a highly controversial move, ful, but acoustically perfect. So begins the a campaign that would have educated Mr. Michael O’Reilly FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai announced campaign... voters as to the conditions that maintain Mike.O’[email protected] that he would take steps to eliminate Net • the status quo, fear was used to manipu- Neutrality. For reasons beyond my control, my much- late voters emotionally. Left in place for Mr. Brendan Carr labored-over election edition “Have You the next 20 years are the same rules and [email protected] front of the Gristedes on 8th Avenue. Heard” column did not make it into the practices that created systemic corrup- Ms. Jessica Rosenworcel I was not aware that the former Repub- November issue of WestView. The most tion in the State Legislature. The same [email protected] lican candidate for Mayor and Grist- important issue for me was the Consti- ‘Three Men in a Room’ will now contin- • edes CEO, billionaire John Catsima- tutional Convention. I was in favor of ue to hold the keys to the future of NYS Cobblestone streets in Downtown Man- tidis, had withdrawn his grocery chain passing the amendment. My principal and ensure power over NYC despite the hattan and parts of gentrifying Brook- from participating in the federally man- reasons were as follows: Mayor and City Council Members who lyn are a real estate agent’s dream sales dated WIC program. WIC is a Special 1. Clean up the corruption scandal in are elected by NYC voters. pitch. They excite the imagination of Supplemental Nutrition Program for Albany: Bring back real transparency The alternative now is to replace the what old NYC was like before cars, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and end the ‘Three Men in a Room’ members of the State Legislature. It is trucks, and buses. Horse-drawn buggies a federal-assistance program of the Food Rule, which gives them the power to possible, but highly improbable. It will were the means of transportation on and Nutrition Service (FNS) within the decide what passes and what does not in be extremely difficult given the nature of cobblestone streets. Enter automobiles U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the the State Legislature. After seeing two the Democratic machine, with its rogue and streets were made smooth to accom- healthcare and nutrition of low-income of these men recently get indicted for Independent Democratic Conference modate the wheels used to transport. pregnant women, breastfeeding women, corruption and convicted, I felt it was (IDC)—eight elected Democrats who Today, we have highly gentrified commu- and children under the age of five. Their time to make a serious change and stop have been voting with Republicans to nities like the West Village/SoHo/TriBeca mission is to partner with other services the Democratic machine politics that stop change. They are the reason we do which contain cobblestone streets. Most of that are key to childhood and family bowed to the power trio. not have a form of single-payer health them are in disrepair. They are dangerous to well-being. The basic eligibility require- 2. Home Rule: If the Constitutional insurance in NYS; this was supported humans and hard on motor vehicle wheels, ment is a family income below 185% of Convention had called for Home Rule in the Assembly and lost in the Senate as well as bikes. Have you ever watched a se- the federal poverty level. Most states al- and the voters had approved the recom- because of IDC members. It is easy to nior with mobility issues try to navigate the low automatic income eligibility, where a mendation, politics as usual would have call for change when it is just rhetoric cobblestones in the Meatpacking District person or family participating in certain in the wind, but come the opportunity in a wheelchair or using a cane or a walker? programs (e.g., Supplemental Nutrition to actually make change, watch what It is dangerous. Or seen a woman in spike Assistance Program, Medicaid, Tempo- those who rallied against corruption ac- heels on a hot summer night get her Manolo rary Assistance for Needy Families) may tually do. C’est la vie…cha cha cha. Blahnik heel caught between the cobble- automatically meet the income eligibility • stones and fall or break her heel off? Or seen requirements. We are in a crisis that will affect all a mother/nanny try to push a stroller across Currently, WIC serves 53% of all in- those who use the internet. Ajit Pai, a cobblestone street? Or watch a bike rider fants born in the United States. Gristedes the Chairman of the Federal Com- come onto the sidewalk because the road is has not participated in this program since munications Commission (FCC) and too bumpy and he/she doesn’t want to risk August 2017. I just now learned about it. former General Counsel to Verizon, flipping over or losing control of the bike? Yes, local electeds did sign a petition call- announced that he would move forward I have seen all of these cobblestone ing for reinstatement but, in my view, failed with killing Net Neutrality. ‘Net Neu- street scenarios. When I testified at a to educate their constituencies on how this trality’ means open and free internet City Council hearing, the Speaker ac- serious matter affects low-income fami- access for anyone who wants to use it. tually said that she had gotten a heel lies that live in their district. The health The change will allow corporate control caught in a street within the Meatpack- of babies is at risk. At the rally, I heard of the internet. Corporations like Veri- ing District. One City Council woman that undocumented babies and breastfeed- zon and Spectrum will be free to charge from a very gentrified Brooklyn neigh- ing mothers were eligible for this program. different rates for different levels of ac- borhood said that she agreed about the Perhaps this is what motivated this cruel cess determined by content and speed. dangerous legacy of cobblestone streets. act. (Note: Gristedes is not an inexpen- This signifies the end of free access for She also said that she would not bring sive grocery store. Many of the items that all and the privatizing/profiteering of this issue before her constituency be- I have found at Gristedes are even more the internet. cause they liked the “quaint” nature costly than at Whole Foods.) The last time this was proposed, mil- of the cobblestones. At a Community • lions of people objected formally to the Board 2 (CB2) meeting, I was laughed Last month, I wrote about how Mount Si- FCC. Peoples’ action saved a free and at by some of the board members. Dan- nai, in their new doctors’ offices on 23rd open internet. A new call has gone out gerous or not, cobblestone streets are Street, have instigated a policy of not ac- THE FREEDOM TO LOVE: Edie Windsor’s from every corner of, not only NYC, but still being built and not properly main- cepting Medicaid. This is a disastrous landmark Supreme Court case gave same- the whole nation to preserve Net Neu- tained. policy that will impact the health needs of sex couples much to celebrate. Photo by trality. There are five members within • low-income, Medicaid-qualifying people Maggie Berkvist. the FCC: Two of them, both women, I recently went to a demonstration in continued on page 19 www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 19

Cuomo continued from page 12 “committed to 100% renewable energy,” but That brings me to Andrew Cuomo, our two- he and his staff have approved new fossil fuel In Memory of Joan Simons term Governor who now wants to be Presi- power plants around the State and are build- dent. He had a rough 2017. The NYC sub- ing natural gas pipelines everywhere. We Constantikes-Agnew way and bus system, which HE is in charge of, have a housing affordability crisis in NYC, accelerated in its deterioration. He has tried but the Governor does nothing to strengthen enjoying a long relationship with North- to blame Mayor de Blasio, but it’s his baby. the rent laws, or use state funds to build new western Mutual (qualifying for its Million Cuomo’s chief political aide, Joe Percoco, housing. The courts have ruled that schools Dollar Round Table). Within her neigh- got indicted for taking payoffs. “Both Shel- in NYC are woefully underfunded (by bil- borhood, Green’s Farms, she led a suc- don Silver and former State Senate Majority lions of dollars) and Cuomo won’t budget the cessful effort to block shopping center de- Leader, Republican Dean Skelos, were con- money. Meanwhile, he grandstands for pri- velopers from constructing a traffic-heavy victed for taking bribes and payoffs. Two years vately funded charter schools. Hospitals, like entrance across from the local elementary ago, the ‘Three Men in the Room’ that de- Beth Israel, are closing everywhere, and his school. She was an avid tennis player and cided all State legislation were Cuomo, Silver NYS Department of Health gives the “OK” swimmer, and enjoyed bridge and Broad- and Skelos, while Percoco stood at the door. without public input. way shows. Joan and George moved to Three of the four are gone. This spring, Per- Back in 2014, Cuomo had a poorly fund- Naples, Florida in 2002, and then to Wake coco will stand trial and the rest of Cuomo’s ed opponent—Zephyr Teachout—who Forest, North Carolina in 2006. lackeys will face retrials. launched a two-month campaign and got For her 50th Bennington Class Re- Recently, the New York Times has taken almost 40% of the vote in the Democratic union, Joan submitted an autobiographi- Cuomo on, analyzing his $25 million cam- Primary. In our Assembly District, she got cal piece noting the effect her unusual paign account. He has virtually no small do- 65%! There are a number of potential can- senior project had on her life. The project nors. Since the beginning of 2015, Cuomo didates at the starting gate, waiting to be- involved translating Maxim Gorky’s Det- has raised over 99% of his campaign money gin the race. That candidate will have the JOAN WAS LOVED BY MANY: Joan’s intellect, stvo Gorkogo into English, and then imag- from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 32-chapter New York Progressive Action generosity, and deep loyalty will be greatly ining how Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, 99.9% of his funds from donors who gave at Network there as a core field operation. So, missed by her family and many friends. Pho- Sigmund Freud, and James G. Frazer least $200, according to an analysis by the while the rest of the country is obsessing to courtesy of Cristina Lawrence. might have analyzed the tale had they Times. At one point last year, he went six about Trump, from now until next Septem- been writing as creative literary masters. months without reporting a single individu- ber, New Yorkers will be thinking, “Andrew Summarized by Anne Olshansky “How did this project contribute to my al donor who gave less than $200. Cuomo’s Cuomo- should he stay or should he go?” life later on?” she asked in her piece. “The campaign account has grown by over $23.6 When I started in corporate communications answer—standards, discipline, style.” million since the start of 2015, with only a Demonstrate outside at IBM, they gave me a secretary to share, Following George’s death in 2007, Joan measly $30,000 coming from individual do- Cuomo’s $50,000 per head Joan, who announced that she was dating a rekindled a romance with her high school nors who gave less than $200. In the post- Birthday Bash! Greek lawyer, whom she later married. Joan and college boyfriend, Bruce Agnew, a po- Bernie Sanders era (who had an average do- discovered my brother, John Capsis, in the litical journalist and editor. They married nation of $27), this is astounding. Many of When: Thursday, December 14th Westport Phone Book, and the two families in 2011 and moved to Rockville in 2014, the Governor’s donors have given $50,000 or from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. became fast, number-one friends. enjoying semi-retirement with romantic more, many through hidden donations fun- Where: Cipriani Wall Street —George Capsis dinners, trips to Barnes & Noble, visits to neled through LLCs. (55 Wall Street) Bruce’s daughter and other relatives, With this kind of backing, is it any won- Joan Simons Constantikes-Agnew, age Joan was predeceased by one of her der that Cuomo often makes decisions which Arthur Z. Schwartz is the Male Democratic 83, of Rockville, Maryland, beloved wife, sisters. She is survived by her husband, favor large corporate entities? The State is District Leader for Greenwich Village. mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt, her four daughters and stepdaughter, died on October 5, 2017. Born in New five grandchildren, three sisters and two York City, she was the eldest daughter of brothers, and many nieces and nephews. the late Gustave Simons and the late Edna Joan’s intellect, generosity, kindness, and continued from page 18 Have You Heard R. Simons. deep loyalty will be greatly missed by her in the neighborhood. Will I soon see signs preme Court lawsuit that sought equal Joan grew up in Larchmont, New York loved ones and many friends. A private sprouting up saying “Low-income people protection under the law for same- and Weston, Connecticut. She graduated family memorial service was held on No- not welcome”? I have for years heard that sex couples and won, has with her law from Staples High School in Westport vember 11th in Westport. Contributions real estate people were salivating over the firm, Kaplan & Company, filed a suit in 1952, and from Bennington College in her memory may be sent to the Ameri- property that public housing now occu- on behalf of the people injured by the in 1956. In 1958, she married George can Cancer Society (cancer.org/donate / pies in Chelsea. If they could only get their white supremacist in Charlotte. Thank D. Constantikes, a Westport attorney. (800) 227-2345) or the Casey House of hands on the land that a hospital was built you Robbie, your wife Rachel Levine, They had four daughters. When asked to the Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, on... and your family for being fabulous role spell their last name, Joan often replied, Maryland (montgomeryhospice.org/do- • models and representing who lesbians “Think of having children all the time— nate / (301) 921-4400). Good News: Our neighbor Roberta Ka- and gay people actually are. constant tikes.” plan, the civil rights lawyer who defended During 44 years in Westport, Joan had This obituary was originally published Edie Windsor in her history-making Su- Contact Jim Fouratt at [email protected]. two successful careers—first in magazine in Westport News from November 8th to advertising, and then in life insurance, November 10, 2017.

Calling All Designers! WestView is looking for a local freelance designer with publication experience who can help lay out the paper and design ads. You must be proficient in Adobe CC 2018, especially InDesign. Work from home, collaborate with great people, and become part of the WestView family. Call George Capsis at 212-924-5718 or email him at [email protected]. 20 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Notes and Perspectives from Away: Can Democrats Prove Will Rogers Wrong?

By Tom Lamia

What concerns me today is the failure of Democrats to organize effectively to win elections. Will Rogers had it right. When asked if he was a member of an organized political party, he replied, “No, I am a Democrat.” Democrats are tired of the dysfunction within their party. Tired of corruption and manipulation within party organizations. Tired of the party’s ineffectualness in ad- dressing or understanding the electoral failures of 2016. Tired of weakness in the battle with Republicans at every level of party politics. Tired of the slow ebb of Demo- cratic office holders. Some critics say that Democrats do not have a clear message, that efforts at a big-tent appeal have compro- mised principle. Others say that one size does not fit all in a country as diverse as ours. The first group wants litmus tests on key issues such as abortion, gender, racial and other forms of discrimination, immigration, gun control, and Medicare for all. The second group argues for the ac- commodation of differing views to reflect our geographic and cultural diversity. The march forward to victory in 2018 is full of energy, but has no direction, no leadership, and no enthusiasm. THE DEMOCRATS ARE NOT ORGANIZED: With the current The background for this is as clear here in Maine as it dysfunction plaguing the Democratic party, Will Rogers’ perspective continues to ring true. Photo by Underwood and is in New York: the aftershock of a horrible, unexpected, Underwood. and catastrophic presidential election loss in 2016. Fur- ther reflection indicates that the election failures of the intimidation used, and mistakes made, but information is Democrats go much deeper than presidential politics: It exchanged and solutions are arrived at through discussion. appears that the cupboard is bare at every level of govern- There are no party politics in a New England town meet- ment, a condition years in the making. All of us, every- ing. where, are seeing the reflection of this dire situation in So, Democratic National Committee, West Village the barrage of email fundraising appeals from a multitude Democrats, Maine Democratic Party: Open your doors of Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, all promis- to new blood and new ideas. Your failures, in my humble ing that our money is what is needed to turn this disaster judgment, are due to self-protection and self-regard. Make around. changes. What you have been doing is not working. Oddly, there seems to be no coordination between the monetary demands and the message concerns. The ap- peals are from local, state, and national party organiza- tions, from organizations backing causes, and from indi- Missed your copy vidual candidates. These appeals do not state positions or of WestView? even principles. There is no time or space for that. It is the Best to subscribe! ringing of the bell that makes the dog salivate. The bell is Or go to westviewnews.org, hit identity politics and the dog is us. There are good and sufficient reasons for this in the “subscribe” changed nature of communications and the unleashing or try these locations of money in political campaigns. However, that is not my DISTRIBUTION concern here. My concern is that the Will Rogers story continues to ring true. Can Democrats help themselves, LOCATIONS: and all of us in the process, by banishing chaos and find- ing the order and unity needed to win in Maine, Iowa, Jefferson Market Library Montana, and Georgia as well as in California and New (425 6th Avenue, 1st Floor) York? Hudson Park Library (NYPL) Acknowledging that not every issue is a national is- (66 Leroy Street) sue that requires a legislative or regulatory solution from Senior Center at Greenwich House Washington would be a start. I have a theory as to why (27 Barrow Streeet,, 20 Washington Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine are independents. In New England, government Square North) begins at the local level, in Town Hall meetings. Not the Senior Center at Our Lady of Pompei contentious latter day ‘Town Halls’ that savage congress- (Bleecker & Carmine Streets) men for failing their constituents, but gatherings of town residents to discuss and decide public issues: budgets, MCF Rare Wines (237 West 13th Street) taxes, services, education, law enforcement, and the coor- SeaGrape Wines (512 Hudson Street) dination of these responsibilities with larger jurisdictions. Ottomanelli (285 Bleecker Street) Sure, occasionally heat is generated, ignorance displayed, www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 21

the late 1970s, a trio that consisted of the ager in Jeff Weiss’ oedipal play, A Funny Flower Power Man Harris sisters who, together, created this Walk Home at the Caffe Cino in l965. phenomenal book. Flower Power Man is also chock-full of This must-read tome is edited by Wal- great photos by the likes of Peter Hujar and ter Michael Harris (Hibiscus’ younger Bernie Boston. Boston took the famous brother), and features an introduction and now-iconic picture, on the cover of by Kembrew McLeod, the author of the book, of Hibiscus putting a carnation a forthcoming book entitled The Pop into the barrel of a rifle held by a National Underground: Downtown New York’s Guardsman in Washington, D.C. on Octo- Converging Arts Scenes in the 1960s and ber 21, 1967, to protest the unending Viet- 1970s. It should be noted that, for a pe- nam War. riod of several years, a huge glittering To some, the great Hibiscus shows fea- sign affixed with fluttering, large multi- turing drug-crazed male and female glitter colored sequins existed on Sheridan drags were an all-the-way breakthrough Square above the Village Cigar Store (on in terms of gender bending—with 1920s fringed lamps for hats, halved coconuts for Flower Power Man is also breasts, and homo-sex shenanigans with chock-full of great photos by everything hanging out for all to see. The midnight musical extravaganzas—utiliz- the likes of Peter Hujar and ing 1930s Depression-era songs like “Keep Bernie Boston. Your Sunny Side Up” and “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine” at the Palace The- ater in San Francisco’s North Beach, with the corner of Christopher Street and 7th titles like Pearls Over Shanghai and Tinsel Avenue) advertising the show Hibiscus Tarts in a Hot Coma—have become legend- FLOWER POWER MAN: A new book about Hibiscus by his sisters Mary Lou, Jayne Anne, and the Screaming Violets. ary. Fortunately, much of this story may be and Eloise Harris (edited by Walter Michael Harris), has been released. The book includes A number of contributors to Flower viewed on screen or on DVD. These docu- contributions by Kembrow McLeod, Michael Musto, Holly Woodlawn, Robert Heide, Penny Arcade, and others. Photo courtesy of Bernie Boston/RIT Archives. Power Man wrote their personal ac- mentaries include The Cockettes (2002) and, counts and memories about the fabulous a favorite of mine, Pick Up Sticks (1973), Hibiscus and his apocalyptic adven- which has Hibiscus starring with his Flow- By Robert Heide Haight-Ashbury district to participate in tures. Among these are the actors Tim er Power mentor Allen Ginsberg (both in the rituals of free love. Robbins, Agosto Machado, the Warhol full drag). In this one, we see Hibiscus por- In the mid-1960s, the Beatles recorded A new book, entitled Flower Power superstar Holly Woodlawn, Angel Jack traying Jesus Christ on the cross. two prominent hits. One expressed the Man and authored by three sisters— (aka Jack Coe), Lance Loud, Penny Ar- The story of Hibiscus is no flash in the desire for revolution, suggesting that “we Mary Lou Harris, Jayne Anne Harris, cade, and the Village Voice gossip colum- pan. It has become the stuff of true legend. all want to change the world,” while the and Eloise Harris—tells the story of nist Michael Musto. Musto was with Hi- Think James Dean or the incredible War- other had the foursome shouting over and the breakthrough 1960s decade and the biscus in 1982 at St. Vincent’s Hospital hol superstar Edie Sedgwick. All three had over again, “All you need is love, love!” disco-backroom sex of the 1970s. The when he died at age 32 of what was then short lives in the spotlight but all became— The psychedelic 1960s brought forth a focal point is their brother, George Har- called Gay-Related Immune Deficiency each in a different sense—bright comets new, young, hippie counter-culture gen- ris III, who became famous in San Fran- (GRID)—the mysterious plague that that flashed across the sky and then were eration that created ‘love-ins’ and ‘be- cisco and New York as ‘Hibiscus,’ the later came to be known as Acquired Im- gone. ins,’ protesting in large gatherings as a founder of the ‘Flower Power’ movement mune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)— Read Flower Power Man. It’s the real form of revolt against corporate Amer- and creator of musical glitter-transgen- which defined the eighties (many now thing and, yes, a lot of fun. Find it on ica. In 1967, a youth movement that der extravaganzas known collectively as refer to the decade as the AIDies). I also Amazon. came to be called the ‘Summer of Love’ The Cockettes, and later, The Angels of contributed several accounts regarding found runaway teenagers and dissatisfied Light. There was also a cabaret act called Hibiscus, in particular, my astonishment Robert Heide’s new book, Robert Heide young adults flocking to San Francisco’s Hibiscus and the Screaming Violets in when I saw him as a young, blonde teen- 25 Plays, is available on Amazon.com.

Viewing the War on Drugs at Age 14

By C.A.S.E. sizeable group of friends and we don’t do them—items concealed in the secret com- around after dark in her bra. Apparently, bad things. Recently, something happened partments of book bags and deep within she does this often when she gets high. There is an ongoing war. It’s not in some where I was on the frontline of this war pockets. She is just one of the many sad casualties foreign nation, not one that we read about and I had to make a choice, the kind that My head turned, following the sounds of this war. in the papers, and not one that deals with could alter my life forever. of zippers and velcro. In their hands were Teenagers imagine that doing drugs is heinous weapons. It’s in our schools, class- A few weeks ago, after a class, my friends vapes (e-cigarettes) and joints (marijuana in cool, and that it’s perfectly okay because rooms, hallways, and backyards. It’s in the and I decided to hang out in Central Park. rolling papers). They started to get passed their friends do it too. This couldn’t be bedrooms of teenagers and in the park. It’s A few more classmates came along. We around, as if it were the most normal thing further from the truth. It has been proven everywhere, yet most don’t see it or even knew these kids, but we were also aware in the world. Everyone who participated in myriad studies that drugs harm devel- have a clue that it is quite so bad. What is of some of the things they did, so we kept puffed from the same roll, not caring about oping brains, lower IQs, and slow down this war you ask? It’s a war where teenagers our distance. The sun was setting and it germs. Then they turned towards me and reaction times. This is a full-blown war. are the victims and the weapons are drugs. was quickly getting dark. I had an idea asked, “Want some?” I shook my head and, From my own experience, I’d say about At this point, I bet you’re wondering who as to why they were coming with us, but one by one, my friends did the same. They 60% of teens use marijuana on a regu- I am and how I know about this imbroglio. I wasn’t sure, so I kept quiet and stayed laughed at us and murmured things like lar basis. The push for legalization of I’m an average 14-year-old girl who enjoys close to my friends. We trekked through “Goody-goodies,” and “Their loss.” this narcotic is telling them that it’s fine; hanging out with friends and procrastinat- the park, finally stopping when we reached My friends and I got up and ambled the media is also normalizing it. This is ing when it comes to homework. I’m also that big rock near 59th Street. As we sat away. One last zippy glance over my shoul- an epidemic, and it must be addressed the oddball that loves class and actually down, a handful of the others took things der and I saw her—the tremendously priv- quickly, before weed spreads its roots too reads, like, during my free time. I have a out knowing that no one was going to stop ileged daughter of billionaires was walking far and an entire generation is lost. 22 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Street Photography in the West Village

I have been doing street photography for close to 50 years. Many of my photos were taken in the West Village. The Village never disappoints, as there is always a new shadow, texture, or color calling out to be photographed—whether it’s a weathered door or, these days, an empty store. There is always something new. The street always gives up its secrets if you take the time to look. Here, I have included a photo that evokes poignant memories of the West Village from the 1970s. Smoky Pier at Sunset (1970s) In the 1970s, the Village piers provided something for everyone. Children and adults went fishing, flew kites, and the daring explored the hidden chambers just above the waterline. Dancers practiced, actors rehearsed, meditators meditated, and cruising without a ship was very common. However, best of all were those lovely New York City air-polluted summer sunsets. Sadly, this sunset was marred by a pier fire. I have been very blessed to live in the West Village for so many years. I cannot think of a nicer place to live.

Text and photo by Steven Greenbaum.

Cartoon by Elliott Gilbert.

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grandeur of soaring Golden Eagles from worthy of a phone call to report to me in My First Bird Book? the mountain heights of Acadia National the “big city” of New York. Park in Maine on a family summer va- My current edition of the Peterson’s cation (before the DDT scourge of the Field Guide is still one of my go-to refer- 1970s). I haven’t been able to add either ences to check out an elusive bird, along bird to my list again in my past decade of with David Allen Sibley’s Field Guide to bird-watching. They still have the fantas- Birds of Eastern North America (right now tical elusiveness of childhood memories. elevating my wrist above my computer When we cleared out my mother’s mouse), and the photographic Birds of apartment (she hosted bi-weekly card North America by Kenn Kaufman, which parties and luncheons there even into I carry with me daily in my backpack (it’s her last months), still on the walls were lighter and I like the photos). If you’ve got framed, embroidered bird tableaus that I someone on your list for holiday gifts, I had stitched while growing up—a flock of heartily recommend: The Shorebird Guide garden birds clustered around a backyard by Michael O’Brien, Richard Crossley, bird house, and a yarn-woven white swan and Kevin Karlson (including fun identi- swimming against a sunset of orange bur- fication quizzes for a cold winter’s night); lap. Ah, I was an eclectic fellow even then. The Warbler Guide by Tom Stephenson My mother wasn’t a birder. She said and Scott Whittle (for the obsessive mi- that birds moved too fast for her. She pre- nutia of warbler identification and lore); ferred wildflowers: “They stay where they and The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds are and you can look at them.” But she by Richard Crossley (a photographic tour always kept a bird feeder outside of her de force). kitchen window to entertain her while Millie is trundling over to me (for real she did the dishes (she only got a dish- this time), pressing her head into my dan- washer much later in her life). The back- gling hand for an ear scratch. She wants yard always had a birdbath that was kept to go out, out where there might be a new meticulously cleaned and filled during the bird taunting me to open a field guide summer. Yes, she tried to get rid of the and make my identification. My mother “messy” House Sparrows nesting in her would have loved to hear about it. porch eaves, but welcomed the Mourning Doves and the Barn Swallows. Chicka- For more information about New York dees, Juncos, Tufted Titmice, Nuthatches, City WILD! nature outings, birding, Downy Woodpeckers, Flickers, and Car- photographs, or books, visit keithmichael- dinals were the regulars. Blue Jays and nyc.com. Crows were the pushy interlopers. And a Cooper’s Hawk, harassing the locals, was

SHE PREFERRED WILDFLOWERS TO BIRDS BUT ALWAYS KEPT A BIRD FEEDER OUTSIDE: Keith Michael photographed his mother, Mabel Jeannette Newline Michael, above, at her recent 91st birthday celebration. Photo by Keith Michael. By Keith Michael for bird-watching way back when. But, no. I did find a manila folder (bound with Millie is drowsing at my feet, her smiling brass paper fasteners) of my nearly pre- corgi face propped upon the helter-skelter school colored-pencil drawings of birds— sprawl of birding field guides, dog-eared wobbly images that were first traced from and cracked open to my latest sleuthing of the pages of a Roger Tory Peterson Field the finer points of avian identification for Guide to Eastern Birds (possibly even one the West Village. How idyllic. of the original blue-bound 1934 editions, Too idyllic. I made that up. Millie is, in- but more likely, a later paperback incar- deed, sleeping, but with her nose pressed nation). Then, I recall, enlarging them, against the sill of the front door, waiting painstakingly, freehand, and filling in the for any infringement upon her privacy outlines with brilliant primary colors: Car- from the hallway, slumbering before a five- dinal RED, Blue Jay BLUE, Goldfinch alarm warning bark-fest to any and all who YELLOW. I remember an elementary go there. My field guides are tidily stashed school bird-themed birthday party with in the bookcase upstairs, their bindings fa- a bird scavenger hunt, a ‘pin-the-tail-on- natically aligned. the-bird’ blindfolded party game, and a Frankly, my thoughts are in retrograde. Bluebird-decorated box layer cake (which, My 91-year-old mother, Mabel Jeannette of course, I baked and on which I piped Newlin Michael, died on October 23rd, the blue-food-coloring-hued icing). quietly and expectedly, though profoundly, Two memorable birds from growing up nevertheless. Time has been on an accor- in Pennsylvania include: the flocks of Eve- dion journey ever since, wheezing out and ning Grosbeaks (chunky yellow, black, and in—not without its harmonic pleasures. white seed-crackers) that descended upon I’d like to be able to say that, while rifling our sunflower-head-stocked bird feeder in through boxes of family photograph al- the winter of 1965—what I later learned bums before her memorial, I came upon my was an ‘irruption year’ for this primar- mother’s long-lost first family birding guide ily northern species—only sporadically that may have ruffled my current passion seen this far south then or since; and the 24 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Rowing in the Collective Unconscious family voyages to Martha’s Vineyard, fishing my daughter. trips, and adventures on the Sark. She sank at Psychoanalysts and dream interpreters the dock and Gus, the old salt who worked at agree that the sea symbolizes the uncon- the marina, helped my father hire a diver to scious. According to my psychoanalytic an- remove her registration numbers. cestor Carl Jung, the sea is a symbol of the Both of my parents came from old money collective unconscious, shared universally but left it behind to settle into the Bohemian by all human beings. I have grown up to literary scene at the White Horse Tavern and be a psychoanalyst by trade but I still enjoy Chumley’s. There, I drank Coke with extra less risky adventures in rowboats around maraschino cherries and played behind the New York Harbor. My deep, lifelong love bar and in the kitchen, while my father played of the sea and the boats that carry me there chess and drank. He died there in a fight over preserve my connection to my father, to my a chess game on the eve of my eighth birthday. brother, and to something deep and primi- His mother died a few days later and I have tive within myself. been estranged from his family ever since. I Now, as a psychoanalyst, the mother of do know that his family made a fortune in the three, and the grandmother of five, I take pharmaceutical industry marketing Mother good care of my loved ones and my pa- Winslow’s Soothing Syrup —an opium tonic tients by being more careful with myself. I for babies. am the President of the Village Commu- I have spent most of my life in psycho- nity Boathouse, which builds traditional analysis, coming to terms with a childhood wooden rowboats and takes people out rich with risky adventuring on Fire Island on less risky voyages, rowing all over New NAVIGATING THE WATERS OF NEW YORK HARBOR AND THE UNCONSCIOUS: Sally Curtis and Washington Square thanks to my par- York Harbor. Thus, I indulge my love of is pictured above driving a Whitehall Gig on the Hudson River. Photo by David Shehegian. ents’ laissez-faire style. My brother was not so the sea, wanderlust, and adventurous spirit lucky. He ran away to sea before graduating through rowing Whitehall gigs, long boats from high school and eventually became a propelled by four rowers on the relatively By Sally Curtis in the Bronx on City Island—a sailboat, the charter boat captain. We shared many adven- safe waters of the Harbor—relatively, com- Martini, that capsized in the Great South tures on the high seas before he died of a drug pared to sailing in a small boat in the open I must go down to the seas again, for the Bay with both of my parents aboard, before overdose at the age of 64. Alcohol helped as- ocean out of sight of land. call of the running tide I was born. My mother’s foot went through suage the boredom of long voyages between The waters of New York Harbor can be is a wild call and a clear call that may not a porthole, slicing her Achilles tendon; she Sag Harbor and the West Indies. On my last treacherous for mariners who are unprepared be denied. almost bled to death. The scar on her ankle voyage with my brother, sailing from Corsica to engage and work with the wild forces of —John Masefield prompted frequent retelling of that almost- to Gibraltar, the first leg of a transatlantic nature—winds, tides, and currents. In psycho- tragic event. journey, I suffered from seasickness for the analysis, I launch into the waters of the un- I have been around boats my whole life, My father also had a cabin cruiser on City first time in my life; it turned out to be preg- conscious, mine and my patients’, and togeth- which is unremarkable except that I lived for Island named the Sark—the first two letters nancy. I did make it to Gibraltar but had to er we row around seeking to engage the forces five decades on Barrow Street in the heart of of my name and the last two letters of my drop out of the trip. I flew home and gave up of human nature—sex, power, fear, envy, hate, the West Village. My father kept two boats brother’s name, Mark. I have memories of my life of adventure, risk, and danger to raise and most of all, love. Your Humble Foreign Correspondent: Goodbye to All That Caruso’sQuips By Charles Caruso By Paul Dalnoky Despite the fact that I have a great gradu- ate degree (many full-time teachers hold My ties to Downtown date back to 1972 as degrees or just credits from one of a num- Thinking leads to drinking. a sophomore at a prestigious high school at ber of online, Masters mills, such as Grand 1st Avenue and 15th Street. After college, I Canyon University), three years of class- How to lose 120 pounds in one day: Get divorced. moved into this neighborhood (the West Vil- room experience as a substitute teacher, and lage), which an attorney for a former landlord one of the highest teacher-testing scores in of mine called one of the trendiest in the City. the state (think 790 on an SAT test), I have Joy is a lightning flash. Then night wins again. Back then, it wasn’t so trendy, and I could live continued to labor as a substitute teacher for there, and pay the rent, on a bike messenger’s slave wages since 2015. Dogs think they’re people. They shouldn’t underrate themselves like that. salary—which I did from 1982 to 1985. They love me in China, but unfortunately Finding some modest success in circulation (or maybe not so unfortunately) not here, Half awake: Footsteps downstairs. Mother making breakfast. All is well. Then fully and advertising sales for two local weeklies, I where I have had a series of unsuccessful job was able to put myself through law school. interviews for full-time teaching positions. awake: Mother is long gone. The hell with breakfast. However, the practice of law was not what I So, it’s off to China, where two schools are had envisioned. vying for my services, as soon as my work People announce their candidacy, campaign night and day to great cheers, then Fast forward, and for two years I have held visa goes through. This process began in take office and become politicians—the most despised of humans. a New Jersey license to teach English. In New early September, and with any luck, it will be Jersey, you don’t need an education degree completed soon. At least I was able to spend A mugging is an urban reality check. and student teaching; an undergraduate de- Thanksgiving with old friends. gree will do. This is the plot device in my full- A modern-day Hemingway, I will file length script, May It Please the Court, which I regular dispatches to this excellent publica- Halloween: The only holiday when we laugh at death. will be uploading to Amazon Studios shortly. tion from there, trying to get into the hearts This loosely autobiographical script tells the and minds of my soon-to-be countrymen. The first sentence of a novel tells us everything. story of a New York lawyer-turned-New Jer- I have been warned about culture shock, sey English teacher. but I say: Bring it on! www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 25

West Village Original: Karen Kramer

By Michael D. Minichiello

This month’s West Village Original is documentary film- maker Karen Kramer, whose works include The Jolo Serpent Handlers, Rice and Peas, Coney Island Mermaid, Children of Shadows, and The Ballad of Greenwich Village. Westches- ter-raised Kramer received her B.F.A. in film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to her film work, she is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in multiple publications. Currently, Kramer is in the process of financ- ing her latest documentary, Renegade Dreamers, which is in post-production.

When documentary filmmaker Karen Kramer was in high school, she announced to her parents that she wasn’t going to college. Instead, “hitchhiking around and hav- ing adventures” was what she planned to do. “Needless to say, that didn’t go over too well with them,” Kramer says, laughing. “So, I compromised and chose a uni- versity in Denver. It didn’t seem tame like the suburbs where I grew up. I only lasted a year at school out there, though, and when I decided to settle down, I chose the one place on the planet that represented freedom to me. That place, of course, was Greenwich Village.” Kramer made the move here and attended NYU as a film major, eventually discovering that documentary “I FEEL REALLY LUCKY TO BE HERE”: Karen Kramer, above, chose to settle down in the one place that represented free- films suited her best. “I had first wanted to be a writer,” dom to her­—Greenwich Village. Photo by Jessie Gladdek. she says. “But I soon realized I wanted something bigger than writing. Film was a better medium for communi- cating my interest in other cultures and I started leaning called Renegade Dreamers. It began from her fascina- where, I realize that even with all its problems, the Vil- toward documentaries. I had always been influenced by tion with the legendary Village coffee houses like the lage is much better than anywhere else. It’s the people in the work of Maya Deren, Storm de Hirsch, and Chick Gaslight Café and Le Figaro Café when there was an New York that I love. The type of people: They’re alert Strand, and the more I studied, the more I knew I didn’t explosion of music and poetry that reverberated around and awake. These days, a lot of us are saying, ‘This isn’t want to do fiction films.” the world. “I was curious to see if there were any people the New York I used to know.’ But still we don’t leave. Kramer’s first documentary came about when a fellow today following in those traditions,” she says. “And I Perhaps that’s because we really want to be here after all.” film student asked her to travel to West Virginia to in- actually came across some wonderful radical songwrit- troduce his high school students to experimental films. ers and spoken-word artists who are on fire and using Michael D. Minichiello, a long-time resident of the West “I agreed, but my one demand was that he take me to their own words today in the same way that people like Village, has been writing the “West Village Originals” col- a snake-handling church while there,” she says. “I was Dylan and Ginsberg did back then. The film cuts back umn for WestView News since 2008. He enjoys highlight- very interested in ecstatic religion and rituals and had an and forth between the past and the present, and even ing the West Village residents and business owners who idea to do films about that. I got to West Virginia with though it’s the older generation that gives it weight, it’s discuss their lives, careers, and the vast changes that have my windup Bolex and I filmed snake handlers, turning the younger generation that gives it that arc.” taken place in the neighborhood over the past decade. it into a 40-minute documentary called The Jolo Serpent Having lived on Leroy Street for decades, Kramer Handlers. After that, I was on my way to making films claims it’s been a joyful experience. “Oh my God! It’s about cultures I found fascinating.” Forty years and 13 a fantastic little street,” she enthuses. “I have to say— films later, Kramer still gets satisfaction from compli- without sounding corny—that I feel so grateful that ments about her sensitivity to the people that she films. I moved into this part of the Village when I did and “I think it’s great that people recognize it because I work experienced part of the old Italian flavor. You still had very hard at that,” she says. “For instance, it would have [Café] Borgia. You still had shops like [A. Zito & Sons been easy to make the Jolo serpent handlers look bad. bakery], fish stores, vegetable stores, and shops full of Instead, I showed them at their best and let them speak things that people really needed. I know that in some in their own words. I think that’s the secret to a good way it has really formed a piece of me.” documentary.” “I feel really lucky to be here,” she continues. “Every Kramer’s latest film—still in post-production—is time I think about leaving the Village and living else- 26 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Keeping the Bohemian Vibe Alive By Sophie Gruetzner

Our Village was once the home of many wonderful artists, poets and writers—Bob Dylan! Hunter S. Thompson! Today, many longtime residents mourn the fading vibe of this Bohemian lifestyle. Sure, numerous chic boutiques and fancy restaurants have opened over the past 10, 20 years, and the West Village has partly become a play- ground for rich millennials, but an artsy feel- ing still runs through the old cobblestone streets. One who is keeping this Bohemian vibe alive is Kazuya ‘Kaz’ Morimoto. You can find him on one of those street corners, dressed in an elegant, yet casual, old-school style—wool pants, white dress shirt, checkered vest, newsboy cap—sitting on a little stool, painting the beautiful prewar buildings and parks, happily chatting with people passing by. It feels like witnessing a scene from a different era. And every time I see it, my heart happily skips a beat. Kaz was born and raised in Japan and moved to New York in 2000. He has lived all over the City, from Chinatown and Washing- ton Heights to Park Slope, Williamsburg, the A SCENE FROM A DIFFERENT ERA: Kazuya Upper West Side, and eventually the West ‘Kaz’ Morimoto is pictured above paint- Village: “I love the Village because it’s charm- ing on a street corner in the West Village. ing and very picturesque”, says the 47-year- Photo courtesy of Kazuya Morimoto. old artist. “It still feels like a true neighbor- hood where people greet each other.” And but a storeowner on Bleecker Street offered don’t be shy about talking to him: “I enjoy me his sofa until it got better. That’s what I listening to residents who tell me old stories love about the West Village, too—the feeling of how the Village was the center of the Bo- of community.” hemian movement. It makes me happy that Be sure to pick up one of Kaz’ beautiful art they enjoy me painting on the street in a very works for $40 at Teich (573 Hudson Street, classic style.” This classic style, in fact, is a between West 11th and Bank Streets). They wonderful mix of Japanese woodcut print and not only make great Christmas gifts but they Western watercolor. also support an artist and local business—two Does Kaz have any special memories? things this neighborhood truly needs to pre- “Many. Once, my favorite actress, Liv Tyler, serve. stopped by and bought a painting. I got so excited that I got a back spasm and couldn’t To view more of Kaz’ paintings, visit: move. People wanted to call the ambulance kazuyamorimoto.com/.

A MIX OF JAPANESE WOODCUT PRINT AND WESTERN WATERCOLOR: Depicted above by Kazuya ‘Kaz’ Morimoto is the Cherry Lane Theatre on Commerce Street. Artwork by Kazuya Morimoto. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 27

160 Leroy Adds Maggie B’s Quick Clicks Shimmering Excitement to West Village Skyline

160 LEROY WILL BE ONE OF THE STARS OF OUR ERA: Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron’s sensuous design is a living sculpture with 57 units (40 current in-contract sales average $8,375,000). The rooftop and inner courtyard landscape design is by Madison Cox. Photo by Guy Thornton.

By Karen Rempel and 2 Horatio Street, built in 1931 (17 sto- ries). 160 Leroy is not even the richest kid in CHEER UP, FOLKS! Despite 160 Leroy Street is a new neighbor in the the Village. The Gold Coast’s highest priced these “worst of times,” art West Village, and as with all new neigh- mega-mansion, at 11-13 West 10th Street— seems to be flourishing. bors, we might view it with a hint of sus- Warren Spector’s double brownstone, built in See these colorful works picion and even fear at the changes that 1847 and 1919, and listed at $59.9 million—is from the talented artists are in store. Will it obscure the light, block truly the Greta Garbo of the neighborhood. who are creating lively, if our views, and destroy the character of the Guy Thornton, a British architect serving ephemeral, bright spots all neighborhood we love? As our beloved as a design consultant for 160 Leroy, and li- around our neighborhood. WestView Publisher, George Capsis, said aising among the architects, the general con- From Sam Mercado’s to me in a Bukowski-esque email, “Like a tractor, and the owners, describes its impact regular contributions, giant rapacious maw, the asparagus-shaped on the neighborhood. “Instead of thinking of pictured at the top, marking teeth of surrounding condos want to eat the the building as a building, think about it as a high days and holidays at old Village.” But new neighbors can also piece of sculpture, a work of art, something D’Agostino, at 790 Green- bring a freshness and excitement—a new which makes a tremendous contribution. It wich Street (between West spice that enhances the flavor of the stal- benefits the neighborhood. Instead of…a 12th and Bethune Streets). wart stew. The buildings that are going up rectangular building on the corner of the site, now are creating New York’s history of this you’ve got this beautiful form that reflects the To unexpected murals by century, and 160 Leroy will be one of the light of the river. It’s unique, which is not a the Brazilian street art- stars of our era. bad thing. It has created a landmark for the ists OS GEMEOS (twin As neighbors go, 160 Leroy is more like a neighborhood.” brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo) depicting Sophia Loren than a Ralph Kramden, with The interiors are beautiful as well with break dancers on the walls the two private-elevatored penthouses sell- exquisite details, beginning with oil-rubbed, surrounding the empty lot ing this year for $51 million (7,750 square Scandinavian larch 12-inch plank floor- at 143 West 14th Street feet, with a rooftop pool) and $31.5 million ing, Bulthaup-designed dual social and chef (between 6th and 7th Av- (4,849 square feet, with a rooftop oasis). kitchens in many units, Sivec marble and enues) – until construction The modest 9th floor one-bedroom (1,096 natural stone, gorgeous expansive triple- starts, at least! square feet, with double exposures) is listed glazed glass walls, as well as art walls, and at $3.2 million. unique VOLA brushed-copper fixtures in And the upbeat message Some of our fears are valid. 160 Leroy does the powder rooms. from artist JASON NAYLOR block the view of the river for its neighbor The building is scheduled for completion at the southwest corner across the street-—the four-story building at in 2018 and soon our new neighbors will of 16th Street and 6th Avenue. 532 Washington Street. But tall buildings are move in. 160 Leroy’s design is radically dif- part of the visual fabric of the Village, with ferent from the masculine monoliths that Photos and text by Maggie numerous prewar buildings matching or ex- have been erected along the West Village Berkvist. ceeding 160 Leroy’s 15 stories. For example: waterfront this century. I think this glamor- 24 Fifth Avenue, built in 1926 (21 stories); ous movie starlett is a welcome addition and 136 Waverly Place, dated 1929 (16 stories); is sure to make history on the block. 28 WestView News December 2017 www.westviewnews.org Seniors, Take Care of YOU This Holiday Season By Joy Pape, FNP-C CDE CILC overspend, communicate this to them now it’s too late. so that you don’t stress over unrealistic ex- • Plan Your Food Choices. What food days. Be prepared by planning for the The holiday season is here and, with a pectations. choices will you make during the holidays? unexpected. Usually, when you are ready, little planning, you can enjoy it without • Take Your Medicine. The holidays are Do you plan to taste a bit of everything, or the unexpected tends not to happen. compromising your health. I have put to- busy. To help make sure you take your do you plan to have one piece of your fa- • Be Thankful. Whether you have fam- gether a few tips to keep in mind during medicine as prescribed, make a list of the vorite cake or pie the day of the holiday? ily, friends, or are alone, think of some- the season. medicines you take and check it daily. If And, what about the days between the thing you are thankful for. Every one of • Make a Plan. As with anything, be it you are traveling, make sure to bring twice actual holidays? A lot of non-nutritious us has something to be thankful for. It your health or wealth, pre-planning is as much medicine as you need just in case foods are available at this time of year. will help you… the key. Start organizing that plan NOW you stay longer than planned. Plan how you will get the nutrition you • Enjoy the holiday season! rather than waiting until you’ve eaten too • Monitor Your Numbers. Whether need during this period. It does matter. much, missed your medicine, or skipped you’re concerned about weight, blood pres- • Develop an Activity Routine. Adding Joy Pape is an internationally known, an activity. Stop and think about it. sure, and/or blood sugar, you may want to some activity into your holiday schedule is board certified Family Nurse Practitioner, • Get Support. Think about how you will monitor these numbers more often during doable. If you are already active, continue. author, writer, and presenter. She believes manage your health during the holiday the holidays to stay on track, or get back If you are able, go for a group walk with that every person is an individual and season. To help you stay on course, ask on track if you veer off. There’s nothing family and friends or play a game like cha- deserves personalized medical, integrative your family and friends for support. Being like seeing the numbers and knowing the rades. care, and hope for a healthy and full life. healthy requires keeping your stress level status of your health. This is a good way to • Problem Solve. Unexpected problems She can be reached at (212) 933-1756 or down too. If you can’t afford to overeat or remain alert and get back on track before can and usually do arise during the holi- [email protected].

Senior in Need She Wouldn’t Take the $5 of Representation By Carol Yost I continued to protest, she pushed the $5 street as you move the pens; some with continued from page 9 bill back at me. “Bye, bye,” she smiled. animal heads or the figures of cartoon One recent Thursday evening (November I guess I should have taken the pens characters; some with fluffy little emo- Mayor de Blasio must provide attor- 2nd), I saw a pale, thin, elderly woman sit- so that she’d take the money, but then jis; some in the shape of squirrels and neys for all tenants in housing court. ting on the sidewalk with her back against she wouldn’t have had them to sell to dogs; one with a sheep’s head that bleats This is why my landlord sued me in the a building on the western edge of Union someone else. and whose eyes flash when you press on Supreme Court and why I am now in the Square—I think it was at 14th Street. She Truly, I collect novelty pens of all kinds. it; then the seasonal ones with Santas, Appellate Division. had a cart full of mysterious items next to I have ones that look like lollipops, hard snowmen or ghosts; some that are simply My landlord has now served the only her. I pulled out $5. She reached into a candy, birds on twigs, flowers; some that beautifully decorated; and on it goes. other stabilized tenant in the building, small handbag, revealed four blue ballpoint light up when you press them to paper; But I guess I should have taken her also 70 years old, eviction papers on a pens, and thrust them at me. I refused. I New York souvenirs with tiny, dangling pens so that she’d have the $5 without baseless charge. told her, truthfully, that I collected many, King Kongs, taxis, Statues of Liberty; feeling it was charity. A lesson learned! Judge Matthew Cooper is also biased many beautiful pens and that I didn’t need some with inner-street scenes that feature Those four blue pens would have had and allowed my spouse to destroy my those. She wouldn’t hear of it and when taxis and vendors which move along the special meaning. business and career. He has kept me away from the business that my husband and I built together over 40 years, leaving me with no resources. Feeding the Homeless The judges and attorneys have allowed my husband, as well as my landlord and his attorney, to implement a scorched earth policy of terrorism, including abu- sive actions, communications, and litiga- tion tactics designed to intimidate, hu- miliate, and destroy me. “Without the state changing rent laws allowing big hikes on vacant apartments, laws will never be respected,” said Ed- ward Josephson, Director of Litigation and Housing at Legal Services NYC. As AARP put it, “It is a frightening story that is becoming the norm.” How can NYC allow a 71-year-old, hardworking, tax-paying citizen to be evicted, made penniless, and possibly homeless, on a technicality? I have been persecuted, battered, and raped in our court system—a place that is portrayed as just and fair. It is not. In reality, the system is oppressive and de- ceptive. I am terrified. I need help NOW. I The Salvation Army will be providing Christmas dinners for people from many walks of life, including seniors, the homeless, and families on need a pro bono attorney to file emer- a budget, at various Salvation Army Centers in the New York City area. The triptych photographs above were taken at the organization’s gency papers to stay any eviction pro- annual Thanksgiving dinner on 14th Street. Over 100 volunteers served over 1,000 who attended the free Thanksgiving dinner. ceedings IMMEDIATELY and ulti- Text and photo by © Joel Gordon 2017—All rights reserved. mately get this case dismissed. www.westviewnews.org December 2017 WestView News 29 West Village Houses Threat: Developer’s Takeover Bid Considered

By Brian J Pape, AIA units. For those shareholders wishing to continue in the City’s Department of In four recent issues starting in April Housing Preservation & Development 2017, WestView News has covered the (HPD) program, which circumscribes West Village Houses (WVH)—a 420- sale prices, the HPD proposed to extend unit cooperative (co-op), 380 of which the existing tax abatement agreement, are owned by WVH residents and 40 keeping their costs affordable. Without of which are investor-owned. The 42 such plans, typical maintenance will in- buildings were built as four-to-five-story crease by 38% or more next year. walk-ups with the Mitchell-Lama subsi- The board submitted this plan to a vote dized affordable housing program in the by shareholders (WVH bylaws require a early 1970s. In the September 2017 is- two-thirds majority of shares’ votes for sue of WestView, I reported on the July any disposition of real estate), but bal- 20th Community Board 2 (CB2) meet- lots won’t be counted by the board until ing, where the CB2 requested an-other more options are explored. According to effort by the WVH to preserve long- a board member, voters are allowed to term affordability despite a March 2018 change their votes later if they wish. expiration of the WVH tax abatement. Meanwhile, co-op board officer Jim Fortunately, the City’s reserved parking Bozart stated that the board is enter- requirement has been lifted from WVH, taining ideas, keeping all options “on the allowing the co-op to sell the Perry Street table” for consideration, and arranging Garage it owns. informational meetings with residents to Previous boards proposed a plan to explain various proposals, even though A DECISION MUST BE MADE SOON TO SAVE THE WEST VILLAGE HOUSES: Looking sell the Garage for approx-imately $60 no formal request for proposals has been northeast from West Street at Morton Street, these waterfront West Village Houses are million, put $10 million into the capi- issued by the WVH. enveloped within the “Platinum Coast” of newer condominiums, making them a tempting tal improve-ment account, pay off the The unsolicited proposal that has target. Note the window work currently in progress. Photo by Brian J. Pape. underlying co-op mortgage (thus eli- many upset originates from a company minating $2.1 million in annual interest called Madison Equities, to “redevelop” replacing them with high-rise build- thing,” Mr. Lydon queries, “we won-der payments), and sub-stantially mitigate the West Village Houses. That would ings and ‘modern amenities,’ such as why anyone would want to destroy the the 2018 tax increase for any market-rate involve tearing the Houses down and elevators, roof decks, a fitness center, fruits of Jane Jacobs’ dream.” concierge service, etc. This would prob- The maintenance fees currently paid ably occur under the 421-a program, by most residents are fairly modest, Mr. providing only 20% affordable units in Lydon stated, yet their re-roofing, facade exchange for a condo tax abatement for brick re-pointing, engineering studies, the market-rate units. energy efficiency improvements, and new Jeff Lydon is a past board member of window installations have all been ac- the West Village Houses, an architect, com-plished within their budget; this is and has been actively involved with the all part of a long-term maintenance plan. recent maintenance and improvements Owners are even allowed to add more undertaken by the co-op. The co-op windows in their apartments. Some vul- even had the Local Office Landscape nerable buildings have new ‘aqua-fence’ Architecture firm do thorough resil- flood-protection systems purchased from iency research and plan for all six blocks insurance proceeds. of sites to combat a future ‘Superstorm Yet Mr. Bozart explains that the ag- Sandy’ flood. ing Houses will require major capital According to Mr. Lydon, “The pro- repairs and improvements that can’t be posal now being entertained by the board financed within their budget. However, is destructive to all the diverse interests the right development plan might cover of our community: It’s illegal, it worsens those costs for those who want to remain affordability, it forces people out of their in the older homes. Temporary relocation homes, and it will make our apartments during construction years is a necessary impossible to sell.” requirement. “There is no constituency here that is Mayor de Blasio’s commitment to save not harmed by this,” Mr. Lydon wrote the West Village Houses, which he con- to shareholders, adding, “Now we’re be- veyed at his March 2017 Town Hall Meet- ing asked to vote to throw people out ing, seems to go unheeded. Surrounding of their homes. Regardless of your own real estate prices continue to increase for feelings about the West Village Houses, apartment re-sales in all building types. you are living in the only existing ex- The redevelopment plans are completely pression of Jane Jacobs’ vision of low- self-defeating for the affordability com- rise, low-density, neighborly city living.” munity, and while this proposal is on the Jacobs’ concept borrowed the historic table, no prospective buyer will want to townhouse building type as inspiration, buy in a building threatened to be torn with its leafy backyard. Many walk-up down. Stability is essential. March 2018 townhouse residences, even the plainer will be here shortly, and a decision must Federal style, still enhance the character be made soon to save the West Village of this neighborhood. “More than any- Houses. Modernism lives in Tribeca.

A collaboration of design visionaries. KPF. David Rockwell. David Mann. Edmund Hollander.