WestView

Controversy at New Museum

By Nicholas Wells
Since early October, New York art critics and commentators have been calling foul over an upcoming New Museum show titled “The Imaginary Museum.” The controversy is over the exhibition, first called into question by art critic James Wagner, of the private collection of Cypriot Dakis Joannou. It has provoked a lively Internet debate [...]

Casebooks

By Kizmin Reeves
What if everything about your life and the society you live in were dictated by which portions of the spectrum you could see? As measured in a foolproof test administered by the most revered authority in your world? This is the central focus of Jasper Fforde’s exceptional new novel, Shades of [...]

Top Five Favorite Film Moments of 2009

By Adam Schartoff
Where the Wild Things Are: The children’s book “Where The While Things Are” came out the year I was born, 1963. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, this was the seminal book of my childhood. I have such vivid memories of it. When I recently picked up a new [...]

When Ships Could See…

By Matthew Willey
The modern mind emerged from Greek myths when the ancient mind was still joined to imagination—reality and dreams had yet to part and, as in dreams, emotional truth gave validity to fantasy—there is imaginative truth to myths that still talks to our creativity.
Here artist Matthew Willey recounts his homage to myths
Ancient is the [...]

Poetry Corner - Auroral Skies

Poetry Corner
Auroral Skies
Mitch Cohen may be best known to Village residents for his comedic turtle show that he has performed at local street fairs, festivals, and private events for many years. But, he insists, poetry is his passion. His poetry has been published in the poetry journal of Greenwich House, the Jefferson Market [...]

The Siren Song – Red Burgundy

By Christian Botta
Red Burgundy wine from France may be one of the most misunderstood wines today. Even those who know that it’s made from 100% pinot noir – yes! the Sideways grape – may not have the most crucial info they need where this magical wine is concerned: How to purchase it. Burgundy is a [...]

West Village Original: Billy Romp

Since 1988, Vermonter Billy Romp and his family have been selling Christmas trees on the corner of Jane Street and Eighth Avenue.
This month’s honorary West Village Original is Vermonter Billy Romp. Since 1988 he and his family have been selling Christmas trees at the corner of Jane Street and Eighth Avenue, forging lifelong friendships with [...]

Christmas Glows Again On Greenwich Avenue

What Do You Want On Pier 40 And What Development Impact Is Acceptable?

by Pam Frederick and Paul Ullman
Pier 40, at W. Houston St., could be a great, big, fifteen-and-a-half acre, three-tiered, spectacular complex that could, for the next half-century, enrich West Village lives and even provide hundreds of interesting and fulfilling jobs. That is, if the residents could agree what they wanted and what degree of [...]

Bureaucracy Wins Over Kids Safety

By George Capsis
So, like 24 months ago, a car trying to make the light accelerated rounding the turn into Pier 40 at W. Houston St. and hit and killed a biker (you may still see the white painted ghost bike with shriveled flower offerings).
Right now, and every day, you can find kids running across the [...]

A World Class Pier Has A Price

HRPT board members Pam Frederick and Paul Ullman ask the community what price they are willing to pay for a world class pier.
By Pam Frederick and Paul Ullman
Pier 40, at W. Houston St., could be a great, big, fifteen-and-a-half acre, three-tiered, spectacular complex that could, for the next half-century, enrich West Village lives and even [...]

Our Post Office Saved

Lease has six more years to go
By George Capsis
Saved. Our little Post Office on Hudson St. escaped closing not because of the collective protests of our local politicians or the cries of irate West Villagers but because the lease has a “no termination” clause. So, if they walked out, the Post Office would [...]

What Do You Want On Pier 40?

With no developer interest the Park Board wants to know what you want.
By George Capsis
If you are not a car parker or a Little League parent you may not know or have little interest in Pier 40 – too far to walk – hard to cross the highway and it presents a forbidding 4 block [...]

A Broader Vision For Pier 40 Part 1

by Bill Hine and Robert W. Smith
Perhaps one of the longest watchers of West Village pier development is Bill Hine, who with Robert Smith and others formed a group to monitor the destruction and reuse of the piers some years ago - here they condense their arguments as the Hudson River Park Board opens the [...]

Twelfth-Grader Wins Abuse Suit vs. Kelly & Klein

by Nat Hentoff
In the entire history of American elections, the Lord Mayor of New York broke the record for campaign expenditures to buy his paper-thin victory (he calls it “Mandate”). He spent $85 million of the total of $350 million he has dispersed to prove his indispensability. This time less than a pittance [...]

Small Business Needs New Ideas, Programs

by Nancy Matsumoto
Maryann Terillo, chef/owner of the soon-to-open Bistro de la Gare at 626 Hudson Street, is nearing the home stretch of the grinding process that is opening a small business in the West Village. As she struggles to meet the demands of her landlord’s architect, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and city health, buildings and [...]

Broadway Panhandler: Cookware for “Julia and Julies”

By Barbara Chacour
Could you use expert advice in selecting kitchen supplies? Norman Kornbleuth, owner of the Broadway Panhandler, has an advanced degree in restaurant management. His buyers are graduates of culinary institutes. WestView recently interviewed Norman Kornbleuth in his store.
WestView: Please tell us about the origins of the business.
Norman Kornbleuth: [...]

From Bigelow’s to Beijing

By Leslie Breeding
The Village is losing a gifted young fashion designer, Irene Lu, 25, whose fans could always find her behind the counter at C.O. Bigelow Apothecary on Sixth Ave. Her last act was to give Bigelow a fabulous, original design for its own employees to wear. Our loss, though, is a gain for [...]

Keeping The Christmas Candle Burning

By Maggie Berkvist
Since 1980, when Paul Kissel and Bill Johnstone decided to leave the restaurant business and really enjoy themselves, running this year-round Christmas shop a destination for kids of all ages from around the world.
How did they begin? “We were always frequent visitors to Europe and had many friends there, a number of whom [...]

Old and New Holiday Traditions at Tea & Sympathy

By Kizmin Reeves
Everything for a traditional English Christmas can be found at Tea & Sympathy, a quintessential corner of England in the heart of the West Village. Located at 108 Greenwich Avenue, between 12 and 13 Streets at the foot of Jane Street, the original British cafe has expanded over the years [...]