Latest news with #GreenwichVillage
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal combined units to create his Manhattan co-op
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal has long spoken out about the need for more units to address New York City's affordable housing crisis — but has consolidated multiple homes in a pricey co-op to create a multi-million dollar apartment for himself. Between 2006 and 2016, Hoylman-Sigal and his husband combined three Greenwich Village apartments to form their 2,000-square-foot pad. There is no market value listed for the apartment, though with three bedrooms and three baths, the sale price would likely be in the millions. Hoylman-Sigal is an advocate for tenants' rights, slamming rent increases for rent-stabilized tenants and speaking out about the city's low vacancy rate. He is currently running for Manhattan borough president against Keith Powers, a current city councilmember. On a 2019 podcast, Hoylman-Sigal, who represents much of the west side of Manhattan, talked to host Jason Haber, a real estate entrepreneur, about the city's affordable housing problem. Haber said that consolidating units chips away at the city's housing stock and brought up an example of a wealthy New Yorker who combined nine apartments to form a single huge luxury home. Hoylman-Sigal agreed, explaining it makes financial sense for ultra-wealthy Manhattanites to buy multiple occupied units and merge them into mansions. He lamented this practice would force more rent-stabilized tenants out of their homes. 'On my block alone, on 10th Street, there's a software entrepreneur who's combining not one, not two, but three townhouses,' Hoylman-Sigal said, in an apparent reference to Sean Parker, a Facebook co-founder. 'It may be one of the largest townhouses in the Village by the time he's through with it. And I can't imagine to think how many families were pushed out of that residence over the years when he assembled this massive property. So it's a sad reality.' Parker's combination of the three mansions made headlines in 2016, although it does not appear he pushed any tenants out with his purchases. Hoylman-Sigal told the Daily News this week he had been referring to so-called 'Frankensteining,' or loopholes in rent stabilization laws that allowed landlords to combine or change apartments in order to hike rents up or push tenants out. That loophole was closed at the end of 2023 with the passage of legislation in Albany. Caroline Crowell, Hoylman-Sigal's campaign manager, cited his record on housing. 'In 2024, he helped secure more than 500 additional units of supportive and affordable housing in his senate district — in that same period, his opponent secured a paltry nine units in his council district,' Crowell said. 'The idea that the apartment he and his husband own in the Village has anything to do with Brad's record on increasing affordable housing is an absurd political hit.' The state senator also said he does not currently reside in the apartment, as he moved last year due to redistricting that shifted the bounds of the 47th District, which he represents.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Stonewall veterans sound alarm over Trump's attempt to erase trans history
NEW YORK – Out of nowhere, through the open back door of the police van, came a rhinestone-studded high heel. The drag queen rocking the pump kicked an officer in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground and sending him skidding across the pavement. The growing crowd outside the Stonewall Inn howled as he got up, dusted himself off and charged into the back of the van with such ferocity that the door slammed behind him. Then ghastly noises exploded from inside the vehicle – 'bone against metal, flesh against metal, and a dreary, dreary liquid sound that shocked everybody, I mean, shocked us,' recalled Martin Boyce, a Stonewall regular who witnessed the events unfold in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. The role of transgender people in the Stonewall riots – a monumental moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality – is undisputed and well documented. A police raid on the popular gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, amid the tumultuous events of the late 1960s, touched off six days of rioting considered the spark that ignited the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The bar's patrons – a colorful cocktail of gay men, lesbians, trans people, bikers and street kids – had survived police harassment and similar raids many other times. By the time police barged into the bar that unusually hot summer morning, they'd had enough. They fought back, with the fists and fury of a people tired of being targeted and condemned for who they are. The Stonewall riots represent such a significant chapter in American history that President Barack Obama designated the bar's exterior, an adjacent park and the surrounding streets a national monument in 2016 so that what happened there, and the people involved, would never be forgotten. Less than a decade later, President Donald Trump wants Americans to remember only part of the story. In February, the National Park Service stripped references to transgender people from the monument's website. The move was part of Trump's broader campaign to recognize the existence of just two sexes – male and female – and combat what he calls 'gender ideology.' Trans people who battled police alongside gay men and lesbians at Stonewall have now been erased from the government's official history of that event. 'That's just wrong,' said Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who participated in the riots and now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Miss Major, as she is known, is a transgender activist who has argued for years that trans Americans' involvement in Stonewall has never been fully acknowledged. Mark Segal, a gay rights activist from Philadelphia who was inside Stonewall the night of the raid, is appalled by Trump's attempt at trans-washing LGBTQ+ history. 'I am a witness to history, and my trans brothers and sisters were with me that night,' Segal said. 'I won't allow him to censor history. I want people to realize that when a government tries to erase a group of people, that's dangerous.' Segal was at the back of the bar, near the dance floor, where other young people hung out, when police came barreling through. It was 1:20 a.m., a Saturday. Segal, then 18, had been in New York for just six weeks. Growing up in Philadelphia, he had felt as if he were the only gay man in the world. Gay men were practically invisible in 1969. He had heard that Greenwich Village was a place where people could be themselves, so he headed to New York and found his way to Christopher Street in the heart of the city's gay scene. There, he found a circle of friends like himself. He found Stonewall. Fredd 'Tree' Sequoia had discovered Greenwich Village a few years earlier. He had heard about it from a friend. So one day, while he was a teenager, he snuck off from his home in Brooklyn and boarded a train to the city. He was so taken by the neighborhood's thriving mixture of clubs, coffee shops and easy sex that he moved there and never left. Stonewall opened in early 1967 and quickly became his main hangout. He was there, along with Segal and others, dancing at the back of the bar, when the police charged in. What happened next is legend, one that has been repeated and embellished so often that it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. About 200 people were inside the bar that morning. Some, like Sequoia, were dancing. Others were just standing around, talking to friends, openly flirting, something that could have gotten them arrested in an era where same-sex relations were considered deviant and criminal. Suddenly, the lights in the bar blinked on, and the music stopped. Sequoia heard a friend known as Gypsy scream at the top of his lungs, 'Don't touch me!' Then, pandemonium. A dozen or so police officers moved swiftly through the bar. They justified the raid by saying they were investigating the illegal sale of alcohol. Until 1966, New York had barred the sale of booze to known or suspected homosexuals. Gay bars like Stonewall had tried to get around that rule by operating as private clubs, but with homosexuality a crime, they were still easy targets and often subjected to police raids and brutality. Officers smashed bottles of liquor against the bar, shattered the jukebox and cigarette machine and shoved people up against the wall. 'I was scared out of my mind,' Segal said. 'I had never seen such violence in my life.' Police demanded to see IDs. Most patrons, including Segal and Sequoia, were eventually allowed to leave. Trans people were isolated in a back room so police could examine them to verify their gender. Some refused to cooperate. Lesbians in the front of the bar recoiled at what they considered unnecessary frisking. One reportedly punched a cop. Honoring the past: 10 great places where LGBTQ history was made Out on the street, rumors of the raid spread. A crowd gathered in front of the bar and watched as police officers yanked drag queens and trans people through the door, some kicking and screaming, and shoved them into the back of a waiting van. 'They were just rude,' said Miss Major, who was in the crowd. 'They put their hand where it didn't belong. They shoved them and pushed them around and then they didn't help us when we had to go up the steps to the paddy wagon.' Boyce and a friend, Robert "Birdie" Rivera, were on their way to Stonewall when the raid happened. They were dressed in 'scare drag' – a looser gender-bending style that would later be popularized by the singer Boy George – instead of full drag, which could have gotten them thrown in jail. Police were known to arrest anyone who wasn't wearing at least three items of clothing that corresponded to their gender at birth. Losing the rainbow: National brands used to celebrate Pride Month. Then came the DEI backlash. All at once, Boyce, then 21, felt a surge of people behind him that seemed unusual, even for a weekend. He looked toward Stonewall and could see the police cars' red bubble lights, twirling and brightening up the night sky. The crowd was pushing toward the bar. Boyce and Rivera headed in that direction. By the time they got to Stonewall, the number of onlookers had grown and formed a semi-circle outside the bar's doors. Boyce watched as an officer dragged the skinny queen in the rhinestone-studded pumps out the door. The bystanders giggled as she fought back and the officer struggled to get her into the police van. They laughed harder when she kicked him to the pavement with her sparkly footwear. He got up and bolted into the vehicle. When the beating was over, he stepped back onto the sidewalk, jaws clenched, Boyce recalls, and barked at the crowd: 'You faggots! You saw what you came to see. Now get out of here!' Instead of scattering, the onlookers moved in his direction. Boyce could see the officer's anger rise as he commanded the crowd to disperse and ducked back inside the bar. Exactly what turned the resistance into a riot remains an open debate. By some accounts, the tipping point was the lesbian punching the officer. Boyce suggests it was the officer's menacing response after he was kicked to the ground. Whatever the cause, the crowd's frustration gave way to fury. 'People started throwing things at the door, whether it be coins from their pockets or a stone they picked up, or an empty can of soda,' Segal said. Segal saw drag queens, loud and boisterous, hurl anything that wasn't fastened to the street. 'Whoever assumes that a swishy queen can't fight should have seen them, makeup dripping and gowns askew, fighting for their home and fiercely proving that no one would take it away from them,' he would write in a memoir published in 2015. Sequoia observed rioters pull a parking meter out of the ground and use it to batter the doors of the bar, where the police had barricaded themselves. Others watched the rioting from the windows of nearby apartments and encouraged the queens to keep fighting back. 'You heard people in the buildings around there yelling out their windows at the girls beating the police up,' Miss Major said. 'Some people yelled out, 'Go get 'em, girls!' The fact that we were attacking the police was a big deal.' The rebellion spread to the surrounding streets. Police called in the riot squad for reinforcements. As they advanced in line formation, wearing riot helmets and holding shields, they were taunted by a group of young men who locked arms and formed a Rockette-style kick line, chanting to the melody of the vaudeville tune "Ta Ra Ra Boom-de-Ay": 'We are the Stonewall girls. "We wear our hair in curls ...' By 4:30 a.m., the rioting had died down. Thirteen people were arrested, including Stonewall employees and customers. At least two of those arrested were drag queens, according to an account provided by the Library of Congress. The next afternoon, Karla Jay, a feminist activist who lived nearby, heard about the uprising on the radio and headed over to check out the scene. Police barricades were stationed at each end of the street. Empty cans and debris were everywhere. Knots of people gathered along Christopher Street, furious about what had happened and insisting that something had to be done. Visibility: Portion of US adults identifying as LGBTQ has more than doubled in last 12 years For the next five days, spontaneous outbursts and demonstrations continued, involving several thousand people at times. Groups like the Gay Liberation Front formed, demanding an end to police brutality and equality for all. A month later, a small but boisterous group of protesters marched to Stonewall from nearby Washington Square Park, halting traffic and shouting 'gay power' and other slogans. 'We felt it was a great victory,' Jay recalled. 'We had walked that far, and nobody had attacked us. There we were, out in the daylight. It was very liberating.' That demonstration, on July 27, was New York's first openly gay pride march. A movement had been born. Today, June is celebrated as Pride Month in the United States and many other countries because of the trans, lesbian and gay activists who rose up at Stonewall. The history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement is often told in two parts: before and after Stonewall. The bar, still operating from the same Christopher Street location, is now a mecca for LGBTQ+ people from around the world and anyone concerned about equality. Next door, a visitors center occupies space that was once part of the bar. Tour guides include Stonewall among their stops at important New York City landmarks. Men and women too young to remember a time when same-sex relations were a crime pose for photos in front of the red-brick facade, with its arched doorway and neon sign in the window. 'This is the home to everybody who is gay,' said Sequoia, now 86, who works at the bar on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as the host and resident storyteller. 'They all know about it – all over the world. Even in countries where it's illegal to be homosexual, people know about Stonewall, and they come here to see it.' Inside, the dark-paneled walls are decorated with memorabilia reflecting the bar's history. A framed newspaper clipping from July 6, 1969, recounts the raid, beneath a derogatory headline from the New York Sunday News: 'Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad.' At the entrance hangs the placard that police placed on the front door following the events of that summer nearly six decades ago. 'THIS IS A RAIDED PREMISES,' it announces in all caps. Just across the street, black-and-white photos hanging on the wrought-iron fence surrounding Christopher Park show prominent figures and moments in the push for LGBTQ+ equality. At the center of the park, white-finished 'Gay Liberation' sculptures by the artist George Segal depict two men standing next to each other, the hand of one resting on the other's shoulder. Two other life-size figures are of women seated on a bench, one's hand resting on the other's lap. The park, with its brick paving and benches, is part of the Stonewall National Monument, a 7.7-acre site that includes the bar's exterior and the surrounding streets where much of the rioting happened. Keeping Stonewall's legacy alive and educating younger generations is important because 'if you don't know your past, you may not have a future,' said Stacy Lentz, one of the bar's current owners. Stonewall veterans, members of the community and Americans across the country are infuriated by the elimination of trans people from the National Park Service's website. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. But the Park Service said in a statement to USA TODAY that references to transgender people were removed to align with Trump's executive orders recognizing just two genders and targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Lentz said she was stunned by the Trump administration's decision. 'In the days right after (the riots) and in terms of keeping the movement alive, when a lot of other gay and lesbian and bi people were more and more scared, a lot of trans folks were more vocal – maybe because they felt like they had nothing to lose.' In the decades since, they continue to face threats. Trans women, in particular, have remained easy targets for criminals and politicians. More than 2,800 hate crimes were recorded against LGBTQ+ people in 2023, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group. Of those, nearly 550 were committed against transgender people or people whose gender identity fell outside traditional gender norms and roles, the report said. In 2024, more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures, and more than 40 became law in 14 states, the report said. The previous year, lawmakers approved more than 85 anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Most of them specifically targeted trans people, limiting their access to gender-affirming medical care, public restrooms and school sports. Study: LGBTQ youth, family relocate amid increasing anxiety over laws directed at them Stonewall is the only federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history, which makes its preservation all the more meaningful, Segal said. 'If you want to feel proud of the civil rights movement that was led by numerous people throughout the years, you might go to the Pettus Bridge (in Alabama),' he said. 'You might come to Independence Hall (in Philadelphia) if you want to feel proud about patriotism in America. If you want to feel proud about the building of the LGBTQ community and where that started, you come to Stonewall.' That's why it's so important to tell the uncensored story of Stonewall, the movement it started, and the people involved, including those who are trans, Segal said. 'We had to fight back (at Stonewall), and we will continue to fight back now against this administration,' he said. He's confident that, just like on that hot summer morning in 1969, they will prevail. Follow Michael Collins on X @mcollinsNEWS. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stonewall vets sound alarm over Trump attempt to erase trans history
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Don't Ask For A Cronut At Dominique Ansel's New Pastry Shop
Dominque Ansel at his new bakery, Papa d'Amour in Greenwich Village, where you can't buy a cronut ... More but have plenty of other options. Don't even think about ordering a cronut at pastry chef's Dominique Ansel's new bakery Papa d'Amour located in the heart of Greenwich Village on University Place. It opened on May 22, 2025, after Ansel made quite the name for himself at his eponymous bakery on Spring Street in SoHo that debuted in 2013. There he launched his cronut that merged the croissant with the donut and became quite a media sensation. But at the new bakery, no cronuts for sale. At Papa d'Amour, Ansel is going off in a new direction, and therefore decided he wanted no vestiges of his past creations to intrude. He describes this new concept as 'a fusion between French pastries and Asian bread culture.' Time magazine, for example, called cronuts one of the 25 best inventions of 2013. But he made only 250 of them a day, causing people to line up on the street an hour before it opened, and then selling out. Ansel explains that making only 250 cronuts daily wasn't a marketing ploy, but that his kitchen in the back was tiny and that was all he could produce. Besides his new bakery and the original one, he also oversees the Dominique Ansel Workshop on East 27th Street specializing in French-style bread called viennoisserie and a production facility for the two other bakeries, so it's now 3 bakeries he operates. Hence, he's developed a host of new pastries and sandwiches, combining his classical French training with some Taiwanese flavors, influenced by his wife, who is from Taiwan. In the back, there are a dozen chefs baking. Why so many? Ansel replies that he needs that many chefs for the 'quality and diversity and we need trained chefs to do it. Everything is made by hand.' A New Direction for Ansel It's also an homage to New York City where people of so many diverse cultures co-exist. At home he and his wife and their two children speak French, Chinese and English, and his new bakery connects with all 3 cultures. 'Everything on the menu,' Ansel explains, 'is brand new--no repeats from two other shops.' One of his favorites is its mochi donut, made with a special taro butter that fries up into a super light, lacy shell. No Financial Assistant Required Because Ansel's SoHo location has done so well, he was able to self-capitalize his new bakery, without any financial partners or investors. 'I believe in ownership and keeping things small. It allows us to focus our creativity and the things that matter most,' he asserts. Even Ansel Had His Setbacks But even well-praised Ansel has had his ups and downs. While his Spring Street bakery still thrives, his Seventh Avenue/Charles Street bakery and upstairs workshop in the heart of the West Village closed in July 2020, a victim of Covid. At his new bakery, he's also selling 4 sandwiches including crispy shrimp sandwich made with aoli, egg and tomato (its most popular), and a pork sandwich with cabbage and dressing. The new shop has 20 seats and is open Monday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. And it hasn't taken long for it to catch on. When this reporter stopped by unannounced on a Sunday about noon, he encountered a line of about 30 people. A bakery staffer was handing out free cups of espressos to lighten the pain of waiting on line. Why open on University Place? Ansel calls it a quintessential Greenwich Village neighborhood and noted that 'neighbors, residents, other business owners have come by to say hello and welcome us.' It's also located not far from New York University, the New School, Cardozo Law School so it attracts plenty of students. Go Early or Leave Disappointed Asked if people are ordering the sandwiches at dinner time, Ansel admits that most days, despite the dozen bakers, they've been selling out of most things by 3 p.m. 'We're having a hard time keeping up, but we want to focus on quality,' not speed, he says. He expects to start building up production so sandwiches will be available later. Asked if there is a fourth bakery in the works, Ansel laughs, and then says, he's gotten requests from private equity people to expand the number of his bakeries, but so far has resisted. 'It's not about the numbers; it's about the product and controlling what you make,' he asserts. Ansel calls the keys to his new bakery's success as: 1) Creativity of product, 2) Maintaining the quality, 3) Being close to guests and staff, 4) Be attentive to listening. One last thing, Ansel advises that the next time this reporter stops by Papa d'Amour, he try the egg tart and mochi donut, which he says, is flavorful and chewy. ' You'll be heavier on happiness,' he says, if not the scale.
WIRED
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Anker's Excellent Portable Projector Doubles as a Cinematic Karaoke Machine
Combined with the X1's four speakers, you've got 200 watts of lossless audio power through one cable, and with Dolby Audio support (although no Dolby Atmos) and 25 ms latency on screen there's no synching issues I could spot. Range for the speakers is up to 100 feet, but you'll want them closer for cinematic sound. I missed the cinema release of the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown , but streaming it via Disney + in 4K Ultra HD, I was sucked right into 1960s Greenwich Village, and both concert, dialog, and studio audio were superb, with instrumentation, crowd noise, and FX impressively balanced. Even the bang-crash-wallop of Tom Hardy's dreadful Netflix caper Havoc sounded powerful and engaging. Features, Connectivity, and Cost For streaming, the Nebula X1 uses the Google TV platform with Netflix built in and Google Cast. If you want to connect to a Blu-ray player or gaming console there are two HDMI ports (one with eARC). There's also USB-A and USB-C options and a 3.5 millimeter headphone socket. Back in my living room and with a karaoke YouTube channel loaded, the microphones in the speaker kit really came into their own, especially if you're a ten-year-old girl and her mother. Enthusiastic warbling aside, the quality was rock-solid, and battery life far too long! It's worth remembering that while the retractable handle makes this projector 'portable' it does weigh 13.7 pounds (6.2 kilograms) and requires a power outlet. If you want a true go-anywhere battery-powered design, like the excellent XGIMI Go+ ($699), you'll need to sacrifice brightness and audio power. I'm yet to be sold on backyard movies, but I live in a cold, overpopulated part of the world. If you have the space for a dedicated outdoor screen, and can punch up the volume without bothering the neighbors, you're in for a treat. Just make sure your Wi-Fi signal is strong enough. The X1 also connects to the Nebula Connect smartphone app (iOS, Android). I was unable to use it due to early beta testing, but having connected and controlled four or five different projectors with it, I've no doubt it will work fine. If anything, it tends to be easier than the remote, although finding menus for manual control is a bit of a fiddle if you don't know where to look. At $3,000, the X1 is currently the most expensive portable projector. It's comparable in price to a quality home cinema projector, but those often lack streaming capabilities or audio. Despite the wonderful image quality, AI smarts and streaming, I'm not sure it's worth the money on its own. But add in the speakers and the microphones—the bundle is available for $3,427—and the proposition is entirely different. The impact the satellite speakers has on your enjoyment of a movie, combined with excellent image quality and whisper-quiet operation makes it an easy, albeit it expensive, product to recommend.
ABC News
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Ellen Stekert: a full life in folk music
Ellen Stekert, who is about to turn 90, has spent a lifetime in folk music. She got her first guitar at 13 (to assist with her rehab after contracting polio) and soon after high school she became enmeshed in the Greenwich Village folk scene, crossing paths with the likes of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Ellen released four albums of traditional songs in the 1950s and then focused her career on academia, teaching English, American and folklore studies. There's been a resurgence of interest in Ellen's life and music, thanks in large part to singer songwriter Ross Wylde. Ross has been helping Ellen to remaster her old recordings, leading to her first release in over 60 years: Go Around Songs Vol. 1 . Both musicians are guests on The Music Show to talk about their deep love of folk music, their intergenerational friendship and how a Bob Dylan photograph for sale on eBay first brought them together. Check out Ellen Stekert's website for photos, music and archive, and Ross Wylde's music is available on Bandcamp. Music in this program: Title: Tomorrow Is A Long Time Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Bob Dylan Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 Label: Independent Title: Went To The Sea Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Tracy Powers Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 Label: Independent Title: Dink's Song Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Traditional Album: Ballads Of Careless Love Label: Cornell Recording Society Title: The Trees They Do Grow High Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Traditional Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 Label: Independent Title: The Teetotals Artist: The New Lost City Ramblers Composer: Traditional Album: The Early Years (1958-62) Label: Smithsonian Folkways Title: I'm Gonna Sit Down on the Banks of the River (Live in Seattle, WA) Artist: Reverend Gary Davis Composer: Reverend Gary Davis Album: Let Us Get Together Label: Sunset Blvd Records Title: Jolly Old Sigmund Freud Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Anna Russell Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 Label: Independent Title: I Hate The Company Bosses Artist: Sarah Ogan Gunning Composer: Sarah Ogan Gunning Album: Girl of Constant Sorrow Label: Folk-Legacy Records Title: The Walker Outside Artist: Ellen Stekert Composer: Malvina Reynolds Album: Go Around Songs, Vol. 1 Label: Independent Title: Careful Words (Live) Artist: Murphy Wylde Composer: Liam Murphy, Ross Wylde Album: Live From 9th Street Social Club Label: Independent Title: High Floods & Low Waters Artist: Ellen Stekert, Jean Ritchie, Oscar Brand, Dave Sear, The New Lost City Ramblers Composer: Woody Guthrie Album: "Ballads Are News": Live on Camera Three Label: Independent
