Features

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

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 and nervous, I hadn’t yet learned the hierarchy: editors sat at the table, assistants along the wall.

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 word that comes to mind is probably not “elegance.” But at Peacefood, that’s the