Features

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 national: One Month’s Rent for a One-Bedroom Apartment, Anywhere in the Village All you need is a […]

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 I figured one big container uses less plastic than several smaller ones. Then the algorithm started to feed me

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 neighbors who live in the surrounding buildings (which, collectively, are known as a “super block”) are connected to NYU

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 feel just a little warmer. Holiday coffee traditions vary around the

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 like this: or this: No, I don’t smoke weed. Not much

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 the proverbial third rail, similar to our Thanksgiving table flareups after the

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 family; thus, we were not allowed

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 around and committing crimes, it’s gotten out of control. And it’s

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 cowboy hat. Was the hat meant to make one feel at ease? If so, the attempt fell flat – for me