People of the Village, by Lisa Gitlin New York Jews have strong feelings about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. They don’t always agree. This subject is so potentially divisive that they often avoid talking about it at all. For Jews, discussing post-October 7th events can be like stepping on…

Fernando’s Liquid Architectures, by Lee Klein The current oeuvre of Fernando Pomalaza, a Peruvian-born, New York City based artist (who for many years showed at the Marunouchi Gallery in SoHo) presents to the viewer a complex interplay of textures and forms. His canvas, “Escaping the Pandemic,”…

Film Review: “The Mastermind” is a Throwback Tonic for Our Streaming Slop Moment, by Dante A. Ciampaglia Kelly Reichardt might be one of our era’s most subversive filmmakers. In this attention-addled age, cinema has gone increasingly loud, increasingly bombastic, increasingly frenetic. And not…

Jazz: Ancient Stories, by George Grella There’s something I’ve said frequently while writing about classical music for the last couple decades, which is that there’s no such thing as difficult music. Sure, there’s some music that may have less general appeal than others, but that doesn’t make it…

Quinn on Books: Pabst Blue Ribbon, by Michael Quinn Review of “The Director,” by Daniel Kehlmann; translated from the German by Ross Benjamin by Michael Quinn A director has an idea for a screenplay: wealthy passengers aboard a luxury cruise ship find their peace of mind poisoned by rumors of an…

BOHEMIAN VIBES IN THE DOWNTOWN CONTINUUM, by Stephen DiLauro I used to be half of a musical act named Working Class Bohemians. The name choice was mine. I got it from a line in Judith Thurman’s excellent biography of the French writer Colette. Whenever I did a gig as part of a duet, it was as…

Xhloe and Natasha prepare U.S. debut of “What If They Ate the Baby?” story by Mark Dundas Wood The New York–based performance team of Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland (billing themselves simply as “Xhloe and Natasha”) has — over the past four years — made tsunami-like splashes at the famed Edinburgh…

My month of culture in the East Village, by Kathryn Rose Rieber Among the urban renewal disillusionment of gentrification and post-disaster capitalism exists an oasis of boundary-breaking, artist respite, a well of art spirit since 1980, Performance Space. Performance Space is on the fourth floor…

Drinking with Katherine: 2nd Ave’s “The Sly Fox” At 5:30 p.m. one Wednesday, I stopped by Sly Fox only to find the door locked, the lights off. Forlorn, I walked the busy streets of East Village, sat on a bench in Tompkins Square Park, listened to a girl describe seeing multiple rats frolicking in…

Coming Out for Mamdani, by Kate Walter On Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day, members of New York City’s LGBTQ community did just that—to show their support for mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Speaking to the crowd that had gathered at the AIDS Memorial in Greenwich Village, the founder of Gays…

Utopia on a plate: Community Kitchen’s exquisite experiment, by Phyllis Eckhaus Eating’s a basic biological act, but like sex, it’s so much more. What we eat and how we eat it are social signifiers—markers of our place in a stratified world, reflective of our status, our privilege or our…

The Art Deco buildings in Chelsea, by Raanan Geberer When people talk about Art Deco architecture in New York, some think of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. Others think of the luxurious apartment buildings on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse. However, there’s another center of Art…

The tale of Stan Mack, illustrator as storyteller, by Doug Latino At a time when newspapers and magazines were central to American life, Stan Mack was part of the revolution of how news and feature stories were told. As art director at some of the country’s most influential publications during the…

Easy Costumes for Hard Times, by Phebe DuPont Inspired by the spine-chilling, awww-inspiring, tired, and timeless costumes of Villagers this year. Let’s hope a few of my references fade into irrelevance, sooner rather than later…  For the trick-or-treater who keeps up with news both local and…

“A Sustainable Village” figures out zero waste, by Michele Herman Let’s talk shampoo, a conversation that I think is long overdue. For years I bought mine from Arrojo, a local salon, in jumbo plastic containers. The products had none of the bad stuff—parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances—and…

Sasaki Garden, a Place of One’s Own, by Barbara Kerstetter As these late golden autumnal afternoons turn into evening, I’m likely to walk through the NYU-owned and maintained garden near our building in Washington Square Village, where other habitues often gravitate. Even though most of the…

Coffee Corner, with Dana Costantino Coffee and the Holidays: A Cup of Comfort and Joy For many, coffee is more than just a morning ritual; it’s a sensory experience that brings comfort, community, and joy, especially during the holiday season. Coffee plays a special role in making the holidays…

“106 Lobbyists”: Deborah Glick battles for environment and more, by Phyllis Eckhaus “The end of civilization!” That’s how Deborah Glick caustically characterized the Kraft company’s description of the packaging reduction bill she’s sought unsuccessfully to shepherd through the New York State…

A thousand boots, by Joe Caccamo Is it just me or do you also see about thousand maps of Italy every time you look down at the pavement in Lower Manhattan? I’m talking about puddle formations, indentations, sedimentations, wear and tear, even fucking tossed 7-Eleven nacho wrappers. They all look…

Community Board News, by Sherica Daley The Community Board 2 full board meeting met at the NYU Gould Welcome Center on Oct. 23, and the Community Board 3 full board meeting at PS 20 on Oct. 28. Both community boards are preparing for the upcoming General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 4, from 6 a.m. to…

People of The Village, where we talk to everyone, by Lisa Gitlin New York Jews have strong feelings about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. They don’t always agree. This subject is so potentially divisive that they often avoid talking about it at all. For Jews, discussing post-October 7th…

Scary Night in the Hippie House, by Kate Walter During the early 1970s, I lived in a fun house on Lake Valhalla in New Jersey. A group of young people in their 20s, friends from college, had rented a big house on a small lake. We were the only residents on this road who were not a biological…

Fall Theatre: Subscribe for Unsolicited Lobotomies and (un)Conditional Pegging, by Kathryn R. Rieber Visions of September nights swell in my brain: stage lights warm and inviting; theaters teem with darkened audiences, echoing enamored with the allure of spontaneity. Where celebrated artists,…

From Beckett at the NYFF to America’s Crack-Up in Glorious VistaVision, by Dante A. Ciampaglia This is the third New York Film Festival I’ve attended as a critic, and increasingly I’ve found myself foregoing the marquee titles — this year represented by the likes of Luca Guadagnino’s After the…

People of the Village, by Lisa Gitlin I walked around the Village asking people what is the main thing they think is wrong with New York City now. Easy question! Elias Tsikis, owner, Washington Square Diner: Petty theft, a lot of homeless people and mentally ill people on the street, hanging…

Robots and Artificial Intelligence in the Downtown Continuum (and everywhere else), by Stephen DiLauro Recently, in Holley Plaza on the west side of Washington Square Park in Manhattan, a crowd gathered around a robot and his attentive security guard. The robot was named Rizzbot and it wore a…

Funny Pages – with Marc Jackson

TITS UP BIG APPLE: LUCINDA’S by Medea Hoar Hi ya’ Manhattan-ites, Medea Hoar here with all things fun and festive in the Village. In spite of a love of line dancing and live country music, Manhattan has seen so many honky-tonk venues close or dial back the live music in recent years, Rodeo Bar,…

Strand Day celebrates 98 years in the neighborhood, story and photos by Michael Quinn I moved to the city in the 1990s for a publishing job. Wally Lamb’s “She’s Come Undone” had just become a bestseller, and I remember an in-office celebration with a sheet cake decorated with the book’s cover. New…

East Villagers remain confused about community center as board remains silent, by Peyton Rohr The Sixth Street Community Center conflict between the board of directors and former executive director, Howard Brandstein, continues to play out, but citizens of the East Village still remain largely in…

Give Peace(food) a Chance,  by Michael Quinn University Place is bustling with students. Turn the corner onto East Eleventh Street and the crowds disappear. In the window of one of the block’s longtime restaurants, a sign pleads, “WE NEED YOUR HELP!” When you hear “vegan restaurant,” the first…

Our Village Greens, Story and photos by Kate Walter As Shakespeare noted “summer’s lease has all too short a date.” But I also love autumn in New York when it’s still warm during the day. I used to lounge outside in the Westbeth courtyard, around our center garden, but since Westbeth is now a loud…

When newspapers were big and indexing was done by people, by Michele Herman In 1984 I took an oddball part-time summer job with a company that created newspaper indexes. My first task every morning was to call an obscure office at The New York Times. How many dots? I would ask. The voice on the…

JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S ARTWORLD, by Anthony Haden-Guest The Jeffrey Epstein horror show just keeps on swelling, what with revelations about blackmail, his political protection and his involvement with a major bank. Just this week the British sacked Peter Mandelson, their ambassador to the US, upon…

So Maybe It’s Natalie Portman, by Joe Caccamo A Friday afternoon coffee in my neighborhood, Gramercy Park, a little subterranean joint on Irving. It’s a gorgeous day, with the early, flat Fall sun making everything glimmer, camera-ready. I sit on the bench outside the shop, latte in one hand a…

Coffee Corner: with Dana Costantino, art by Ava Marie Benzan Pumpkin Coffee Recipes: Bring the Coffee House to Your House Pumpkin is no doubt the flavor of Fall. Pumpkin coffee, has become an extremely popular item with cafés and coffee bars rolling out their signature pumpkin-flavored drinks…

Without Preservation, the Village Would Be Much More Expensive and a Million Times Uglier: An Interview with Village Preservation’s Andrew Berman, by Phyllis Eckhaus The New York City landmarks law, enacted by the city in 1965, is increasingly controversial, misunderstood, and under attack. As one…

Walking with Coffee, by RJ Cirillo It’s over let’s face it, this “Human Thing” of ours is done. I mean look who occupies the seat of our government, the White House, no humans in residence there. We’ve given it all up, to the giant algorithm in the sky. All human accomplishments in Science,…

Vote for Zohran Mamdani for mayor, Editorial by the Village Star-Revue In January, Zohran Mamdani polled at 6% among Democratic voters looking ahead to the New York City’s mayoral primary. Andrew Cuomo then polled at 32%, and in the spring, after the former governor had officially announced his…

Going where the protest suits my clothes, by Michele Herman Spring 2025. I head over to the median strip of West Street at Christopher to participate in a small weekly “action” I’ve just learned about. I choose a hand-lettered sign from the organizer’s bag that reads HONK IF YOU LOVE DEMOCRACY.…

ONE DOG DAY WITH CELIA, by Phebe DuPont “In the season of summer, with all its labors, then it is that goats are fattest, wine is best, women are most wanton, and men are weakest; for Sirius dries up their heads…” Hesiod’s Works and Days, translated by Gregory Nagy Lethargy, lassitude, lust… sic…

Adams using November’s ballot proposals to hand over the city’s future to the real estate lords, by Phyllis Eckhaus “More affordable housing in New York City!” is a universal rallying cry and political platform. You could almost imagine there’s consensus behind the words, a shared vision of what…

People of the Village, by Lisa Gitlin This is my first column for the Village Star Revue. Getting the attention of people on the frantic streets of Manhattan is more challenging than getting people to talk to me on the laid-back streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn which I do every month for my People of…

Roberto Azank “Palette Homages,” by Lee Klein New York City painter Roberto Azank always surprises. Having been called the “chromatic Mozart,” as he can and has harmonized the seemingly most incongruent hues at the pictorial horizon line, he now turns to abstraction to paint waves of chroma,…

Poetry and books in the downtown continuum, by Stephen DiLauro In July I set out to discover what exactly is the state of poetry in downtown Manhattan. NY Poetry Fest was taking place, and several interesting invitations to book launch events landed in my inbox. It appeared I was in for a total…

Quinn on Books: Nice Girls Don’t Go to the Bowery Review of “The Bowery,” by David Mulkins, by Michael Quinn Before there was a city, there was a crooked path. Today, we call it the Bowery—one of New York’s oldest streets and most fiercely contested strips of cultural real estate. Winding from…

Drinking with Katherine: Commodore II with Katherine Rivard In the NYC 2025 Primary Election Voter Guide, sixteen of the twenty mayoral candidates listed affordability or a related factor as one of their top three issues. Rent is high, MTA trips add up, and even a bacon, egg, and cheese feels more…

Sometimes a writer has to act too, by Michele Herman, photos by Peter Yesley When I was a kid, I had a dream, a wonderful dream. I would dress up in my parents’ clothes or my toy-store tutu, bound into my parents’ bedroom, fling open my arms, yell ta-da and do a little song and dance. Before long,…

Coffee Corner: Do You Know About the Coffee Flower? by Dana Costantino The coffee flower...these delicate white blooms are not only beautiful but also integral to the coffee plant’s life cycle and important to the development of the beans that turn into the brew in our daily cup. Coffee flowers…

Carrying on the summer legacy, story and photos by Kate Walter I was standing outside our family beach bungalow at the Jersey Shore, watering the garden, when a neighbor greeted me as he walked down the road. “Was your mother Agnes?” he asked. “Yes, I replied, “I’m Kate.” “Your mother was a gem,”…