Simply ‘ameowzing’
To The Editor:
Re “Astrologer needs a miracle to save East Village home” (news article, July 13):
Angel Eyedealism is an ameowzing woman! I loved visiting her cosmic pad and getting a reading last year; I hope she manages to keep it!
Sending her magic energy.
Kirsty McKenzie
It’s up to the voters
To The Editor:
Re “What the Shel?! Silver corruption conviction overturned” (thevillager.com, July 14):
He should never have been charged, at least for the medical-research part. That research was and is in the public interest. And the funding was approved by the state Legislature.
The real issue is that New York State was badly served by its state government, controlled by a triumvirate of which Silver was part. But it’s up to the voters to fix that (or not). It’s wrong for a federal prosecutor to decide to fix it on his own, using the power of courts that have become conviction machines.
John James
Pre-Ritz reminiscence
To The Editor:
Re “My 11th St. story: How I became a New Yorker” (notebook, by Nancy Gendimenico, July 6):
Nancy Gendimenico’s column about the destruction of the 11th St. tenements gave me a sad nostalgic feeling in my stomach.
I lived in a railroad apartment at 118 E. 11th St. for about a decade in the ’60s. That was before it was renovated to raise the rents above double digits. We had a bathroom with only a tub and toilet, a kitchen whose window let in the clangs of the metal-stamping business on 10th St., and a wobbly lead pipe in the kitchen. Beyond two small rooms on an airshaft was the parlor, with a nonworking fireplace and windows with inside shutters facing Webster Hall (the original name).
I remember closing time after the private parties, noisy people on the doorstep waiting for rides home. One angry woman kicked in the glass panel of the door. Later that night the staff quickly replaced it with a matching glass panel.
Thank you for writing your column and The Villager for printing it. I wouldn’t have known the buildings are gone — I haven’t walked down 11th St. in more than a year.
Jennifer Cooke
Vaya con Dios
To The Editor:
Re “Gail Borden Chisholm, 62, vintage poster dealer” (obituary, July 13):
I met Gail only once and felt an immediate rapport and bond. Same age, similar history, similar worldview. She was a great and true friend to my dear brother Andrew, for which I will always be grateful.
Vaya con Dios, Gail. The world is lesser without you.
Meg Brizzolara
The real thing
To The Editor:
Re “Gail Borden Chisholm, 62, vintage poster dealer” (obituary, July 13):
I only knew Gail peripherally through my brother, to whom she was the ultimate friend through every kind of life experience, always as solid as a rock. Her constancy as a friend — and as a longtime figure in the Village / Chelsea community — was and is a rare thing of beauty and will be her ultimate legacy.
Like the precious posters among which you spent your adult life, they don’t make them like you anymore, Gail. You were a woman of substance — the real thing.
David Byron
Outspoken, engaging
To The Editor:
Re “Gail Borden Chisholm, 62, vintage poster dealer” (obituary, July 13):
I remember Gail from L’Acajou on 19th St., where we were both regulars. She was open, engaging, opinionated and a real joy to talk to. Most, if not all, of my interactions with Gail were by chance at L’Acajou, and all were interesting and rooted in her love and encyclopedic knowledge of vintage poster art and her outspokenness — with which I agreed, mostly, ha! — on the political / cultural situations of the moment.
She was a real New Yorker, one who built it, lived it and, most importantly, contributed to it. The passing of a dying breed. It was an honor to have known her.
John LaSala
Garden deck parties
To The Editor:
Re “Gail Borden Chisholm, 62, vintage poster dealer” (obituary, July 13):
I first met Gail at L’Acajou as her bartender, and over the years became her friend. I even worked a bit at the gallery on 22nd St. and sometimes at the poster fair thanks to Gail’s generosity.
She was a wonderful friend and a great New Yorker.
The parties on her garden deck were an oasis in the city.
Steven Hill
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 MetroTech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published.
