As regular GVDP readers know, I am not a group hug kind of guy. But today I am asking for your support. Tomorrow, Thursday, between 11:30 and 1:30 EST, I will be having surgery to remove a small tumor from my bladder. We caught it early and all signs are good. Please send prayers/positive thoughts my way during this time. 
An east side staple for many years, the Clover Deli (at 621 Second Avenue and 34th street) is an old school Murray Hill delicatessen of the original New York variety. Long may it reign.
By the mid 1800's Greenwich Village had the largest African American community in the City joined by German, French, Irish, immigrants and to the immediate south a majority of Italian immigrants. Earlier more affluent communities had begun an exodus from the adjacent neighborhoods to the south and east. Edward Judson observed that "the intelligent, well-to-do, and church going people withdraw from this part of the city." Washington Square and Judson Memorial stood at the intersection between the affluence of Fifth Avenue and the poverty of Lower Manhattan. The church building, erected in 1890, designed by architect Stanford White, and stained glass master John La Farge, features Renaissance influences wedded to a basic Italianate form. SculptorAugustus St. Gaudens designed a marble frieze in the baptistery.
Leacy and I spent the weekend a few weekends back in Clinton, New Jersey, a historic town on the Delaware. An artist was displaying her renderings of New York's barren industrial wastelands at a small gallery. Unfortunately, I don't recall her name. Don't sue me!
Though I have been there a million times I always return to Charles Lane in the West Village. Now bookended by tall blue glass towers, Charles Lane still looks much the same today -- see below.
Meatpacking, a venerable NY occupation that goes back to the 1900s, is all but done in the trendy West Village. But a few lone holdouts remain amid the designer shops, hipster bars and fro-yo shops. 
Ever wonder where GVDP goes on the weekend? Straight into the enchanted forest dear friends...
It’s been almost forty years since the Stonewall Riots, but the now-grizzled crowd at Julius around the corner has hardly budged. This West Village tavern is not only New York’s oldest gay bar, but one of its very oldest barrooms – it’s been in continuous operation since 1863. It’s ridden out Prohibition as a speakeasy, lured Broadway starlets downtown for its famous burgers, and played host to the Sip-In of 1966, when a group of gay men demanded bar service at a time when homosexuals could not legally assemble. Julius is a bit worse for the wear, however, and it doesn’t immediately seem like a gay scene (the bar is typically full of males and females); only a few back-room rainbow scarves set it apart from any other male-heavy, ramshackle sports bar. But the yellowing newspaper clippings and wall of signed head shots recall the bar’s storied past—as does the graying crowd, putting back bottles and four-dollar burgers from the grill in the corner. As trendier gay bars wash over the West Village, Julius soldiers on, unchanged. — Carey Jones/New York Magazine
Joe Jr's, the 35 year old diner on 6th and 12th, closed on Sunday. Another nail in the coffin of solid joints for the working joe. A place to get a BLT at 2am , a chocolate shake or good hot coffee 24/7. Landlord wanted more than Joe could pay. So long Joe...paying my respects.
From Jeremiah's Vanishing New York: It happens. All over town, it happens that thriving businesses, shops and restaurants loved by many customers, are put out of business. These days, more often than not, they stay empty, their "For Rent" signs an exercise in futility. And another place that hummed with life becomes a black eye of blight on the streets. Maybe we'll find ourselves looking at art here, ironic installations on the meaning of cheeseburgers and community--instead of eating cheeseburgers and being connected to that community. And then it will be empty again--until it is turned into another bank, another fro-yo shop, another nothing.
From the upper level usually reserved for vehicle traffic but opened once a year to humans...
Joe Jr.s, a venerable, fifty year old diner on 6th Avenue and 12th,, closed its doors this weekend. Landlord greed being the usual culprit. But the Mud Truck on Christopher and 7th remains, serving dark caffeinated brews to blurry eyed NYers every morning....
Chelsea galleries feature profound works and pieces of utter befuddlement. Which is this?
