← View All

Author: Juan Rivero

CHARAS / El Bohío Holiday and New Year’s Update

Sometimes Christmas comes early; sometimes it arrives on-time; sometimes it’s a bit late. But occasionally, when you’ve been really good, it comes on all three occasions. If that’s the case, then Village Preservation must have been really good indeed this past year. The Early Present The former P.S. 64 building at 605 East 9th Street […]

Welcome to the Neighborhood: Archie’s Press, 219 East 10th Street

Today we welcome a new small business to our neighborhoods — help us welcome the next. Tell us which new independent store in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo you’re excited about by emailing us at info@villagepreservation.org. As advocates for local small business, we find great satisfaction in hearing of new independent establishments opening […]

Welcome to the Neighborhood: The Old Yew Plant Shop, 1 Horatio Street

Today we welcome a new small business to our neighborhoods — help us welcome the next. Tell us which new independent store in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo you’re excited about by emailing us at info@villagepreservation.org. As advocates for local small business, we find great satisfaction in hearing of new independent establishments opening […]

Business of the Month: Le Fanion, 299 West 4th Street

Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. It has often been said that New York […]

YIMBY vs NIMBY: Looking Past Labels

A seemingly intractable housing affordability crisis has placed a dichotomous choice at the heart of housing policy debates: to build or not to build. An increasingly loud and politically influential coalition, YIMBYism (“Yes in my Backyard”) adheres to this framing, and supports all new residential construction as a primary tool for mitigating housing costs. In […]

    Business of the Month: Gaia Italian Cafè, 226 East 3rd Street

    Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Sometimes you find old values, big aspirations, and […]

    Welcome to the Neighborhood: Eva Joan, 22 8th Avenue

    Today we welcome a new small business to our neighborhoods — help us welcome the next. Tell us which new independent store in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo you’re excited about by emailing us at info@villagepreservation.org. As advocates for local small business, we find great satisfaction in hearing of new independent establishments opening […]

    The Humble “Nerve Center” of the City: Gem Spa

    The East Village is a rich palimpsest of fascinating histories. If many of them seem to share as their geographic nucleus the corner of 2nd and St Mark’s Place, that’s because, for a hundred years, there stood a 24-hour general store, the mythic stature of which increased with each successive countercultural wave that crashed on […]

      Crisis and Adaptation: Storefront Trends in the East Village, 2019 – 2021

      The preservation of independent small businesses has been an ongoing and growing concern in our neighborhoods and city. This took on greater urgency during the pandemic, when so many establishments were forced to temporarily close or drastically adapt their operations. For an unfortunate number of businesses, the changes, combined with an adverse retail climate, led […]

        Shop Local and Enjoy the Miracle of Lasagna!

        It’s the quintessential comfort food: pasta sheets layered with a variety of sauces, cheeses, vegetables, and/or meats, and then baked so that your bite goes from crusty to chewy to gooey. It’s easy enough in preparation for hotdog-boiling high schoolers and flexible enough for the gastronomic experiments of farmers market habitués. Guaranteed to please fastidious […]

        Ice Cream Dreaming Through the Village

        A wise man once said that only one food goes just as well with pie, coffee, or tears: ice cream. But you can’t always take wise men at their word; so we decided to put this piece of ancient wisdom to the test. On a suitably hot, summer day, we embarked — armed with a […]

          Business of the Month: Moustache, 90 Bedford Street

          Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Restaurants have it tough. Sixty percent of them […]

          Welcome to the Neighborhood: Sustainable Village, 318 East 9th Street

          Today we welcome a new small business to our neighborhoods — help us welcome the next. Tell us which new independent store in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo you’re excited about by emailing us at info@villagepreservation.org. As advocates for local small business, we find great satisfaction in hearing of new independent establishments opening […]

          2022 Village Awardee: Jane Friedman and Howl! Arts

          Each year, Village Preservation honors the invaluable people, businesses, and organizations that make a special contribution to our neighborhoods at our Annual Meeting and Village Awards. This year, on June 14, 2022, at 6 PM we will be celebrating seven outstanding awardees — RSVP HERE to attend in person and HERE to participate virtually via […]

          2022 Village Awardee: Bonsignour, 35 Jane Street

          Each year, Village Preservation honors the invaluable people, businesses, and organizations that make a special contribution to our neighborhoods at our Annual Meeting and Village Awards. This year, on June 14, 2022, at 6 PM we will be celebrating seven outstanding awardees — RSVP HERE to attend in person and HERE to participate virtually via […]

          Neighborhood Bookstores in the Age of Amazon

          We held a panel entitled Neighborhood Bookstores in the Age of Amazon in celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, featuring the Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Bookstore (34 Carmine Street), Printed Matter (38 St. Marks Place), and Book Club Bar (197 East 3rd Street). This national commemoration comes amidst a critical period for independent bookstores and for small […]

            Business of the Month: Carmine Street Guitars, 42 Carmine Street

            Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Perhaps you dream of being guitarist extraordinaire Bill […]

            Beer Now, Beer Then, Beer Here, Beer Everywhere

            Filled with mingled cream and amber, I will drain that glass again. Such hilarious visions clamber Through the chamber of my brain. Quaintest thoughts, queerest fancies Come to life and fade away. What care I how time advances; I am drinking ale today — Edgar Allan Poe This ode to ale by one-time Village resident […]

            Welcome to the Neighborhood: Via della Scrofa, 60 East 4th Street

            Today we welcome a new small business to our neighborhoods — help us welcome the next. Tell us which new independent store in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo you’re excited about by emailing us at info@villagepreservation.org. As advocates on behalf of small business, we find great satisfaction in hearing of new independent establishments opening […]

            Business of the Month: Stevdan Stationers, 473 Sixth Avenue

            Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. As any writer or reader of love letters […]

              Recognizing the Civic Institutions of Little Ukraine

              Ukrainians have long loomed large in the cultural tapestry of the East Village. Indeed, well before the neighborhood was dubbed the East Village, many knew a portion of it — and still do — as Little Ukraine. Like many immigrant groups, the first wave of Ukrainian immigration into the United States consisted of individuals flocking […]

                A Pastry’s Long Journey to the Village

                Here’s the secret: First, find yourself a dairy cow (or in a pinch, just some fresh milk). Keep it cold. Second, you’ll need sugar, salt, yeast, eggs, spring water, and high-protein flour. Now, all you’re missing is the butter — the best high-fat butter you can get your hands on. Import it from Poitou-Charentes if […]

                  Contextual Rezoning South of Union Square: A Vision Worth Revisiting

                  On January 28, 2014, Village Preservation submitted a request for consideration of a contextual rezoning of the University Place and Broadway corridors south of Union Square. This proposal, which followed an extensive analysis of the neighborhood, constitutes a significant chapter in our ongoing effort to protect and promote the quality of life in our neighborhoods. […]

                    The Humble and Hol(e)y Bagel

                    Being treated as an object of contention is, to New Yorkers, a form of high praise. By this measure, the quintessential New York food must be the bagel. A source of disagreement over its origins, its definition, its best purveyors, and its proper add-ons, the bagel offers those looking for a debate over breakfast a […]

                      Business of the Month: Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books, 34 Carmine Street

                      Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Why suffer the dehumanizing impersonality of online shopping […]

                      Business of the Month: Raffetto’s, 144 West Houston Street

                      Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. La vita è una combinazione di pasta e […]

                        Analysis of de Blasio’s Big SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Lie

                        We have a new video for you! But first, let us recapitulate how we got here…  An extremely profitable displacement plan is what de Blasio wants to give SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown landlords for Christmas. The City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee is about to vote on it and likely determine its fate. From the outset, the City has rationalized […]

                        De Blasio’s Great SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Developer Giveaway (Video!)

                        The greed orgy that is de Blasio’s SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning is currently before the Land Use Committee of the City Council, which held a public hearing on the matter on November 9. Opponents of the plan greatly outnumbered its proponents, which consisted primarily of Open New York-affiliated individuals (more on them and their fine leadership, a […]

                          de Blasio’s Great SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Developer Giveaway (Video!)

                          The greed orgy that is de Blasio’s SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning is currently before the Land Use Committee of the City Council, which held a public hearing on the matter on November 9. Opponents of the plan greatly outnumbered its proponents, which consisted primarily of Open New York-affiliated individuals (more on them and their fine leadership here); […]

                            Business of the Month: Berber Street Food, 35 Carmine Street (CLOSED)

                            Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. In these turbulent and divisive times, we could […]

                              Business of the Month: Lovewild Design, 136 Avenue C

                              Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. These days, even a passing acquaintance with news […]

                              Business of the Month: Beasty Feast, 327 W 14th Street

                              Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. We all need friends to help shore up […]

                              Meet the Wolf of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown!

                              We have received a piece of art that truly captures the essence of the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning and breathes new life into the age-old maxim: never pick a fight with someone who buys artist paint brushes by the dozen. It arrived courtesy of a resident of the area who shares his neighbors’ concerns about the likely […]

                                De Blasio’s Plan to Reduce Affordable Housing in Soho/NoHo/Chinatown

                                De Blasio wants to fool the public into believing that his plan for rezoning SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown will diversify incomes and increase affordability in those neighborhoods. The opposite will in fact be true — his plan will likely reduce the existing affordable housing stock, and produce very little new affordable housing. And even if it does, the […]

                                  African-American Music Crosses Genres #SouthOfUnionSquare

                                  June is named African-American Music Appreciation Month. But insofar as it is hard to conceive of genres of American music that have not been fundamentally shaped or originated by Black musicians, every month should rightfully be African American Music Appreciation Month. Any time, however, is a good time to call attention to a few great […]

                                    2021 Village Awardee: NewsBar Café, 107 University Place

                                    It’s that time of year again…time for Village Preservation’s Annual Meeting and Village Awards! The Village Awards recognize and honor some of the businesses, organizations, and institutions that make our neighborhoods such special places, while our Annual Meeting also includes a review of Village Preservation’s activities and accomplishments over the past year. This year’s event […]

                                    2021 Village Awardee: Linda Pagan

                                    It’s that time of year again…time for Village Preservation’s Annual Meeting and Village Awards! The Village Awards recognize and honor some of the businesses, organizations, and institutions that make our neighborhoods such special places, while our Annual Meeting also includes a review of Village Preservation’s activities and accomplishments over the past year. This year’s event […]

                                    Celebrating Chino García, co-founder of CHARAS/El Bohío

                                    In 2015, Village Preservation conducted an oral history with community organizer Carlos “Chino” García, one of the co-founders of the legendary community organization CHARAS. CHARAS for many years occupied the landmarked former P.S. 64 building on East 9th Street in the East Village. That interview gave some unique, first person insights into one of the […]

                                    Historic Photo Mysteries from a Newly Donated Collection (and a reminder of what’s at stake with the SoHo/NoHo upzoning proposal)

                                    Village Preservation recently shared an incredible new addition to our historic image archive of donated photos of cast-iron New York City landmarks, some destroyed during the late 60s, others threatened but saved, the last time that SoHo and Tribeca faced a threat of widespread demolition. At the time, historic cast-iron buildings were being razed to […]