Preserving the Spirit of the Village: The 2026 Village Preservation Awards

By Phyllis Eckhaus

Proving that the Village remains more than charming and endangered architecture, Village Preservation hosted its annual awards ceremony June 10, honoring six community stalwarts for embodying the values that make our “nabe” legendary.

The event, colloquially known as “the Oscars of the Village,” took place in the Great Hall of Cooper Union, emceed by performance artist Penny Arcade. She praised Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman as a “shark” ─ fierce in his defense of Village landmarks, with skills so superior “he could be working for the other side.”

St. Joe’s Soup Kitchen

The awardees embodied the “eclectic, inclusive” spirit of the Village. First up was St. Joe’s Soup Kitchen, an all-volunteer enterprise that serves more than 300 meals a week, every Saturday, from First Presbyterian Church, 12 West 12th Street. For more than 40 years, the soup kitchen has sought to provide comfort and community. Volunteers know many guests by name and try to connect them with resources. As Co-executive Director Stephanie Krasnov put it, St. Joe’s offers “a safe place to socialize for an hour and a half, with food.” Operations continued even during the pandemic, when a skeleton staff distributed “to go” meals from the courtyard.

The 11th Street Bar

Awardee number two, the 11th Street Bar between Avenues A and B, is proclaimed as “the best bar in the best neighborhood in the world” by manager and co-owner Dan Sweeney, a one-time financial analyst who shifted to music and bartending after 9/11. The Irish pub prides itself as a welcoming live music venue with Sunday through Thursday tip-based performances and a state of the art sound system. The Guinness Irish Stout is carefully tended in its own special tanks. Bar staff are offered retirement and health benefits and Sweeney eagerly supports other beloved East Village small businesses — ham comes from the East Village Meat Market and copying gets done by The Source UnLtd on East 9th Street.

Tavern on Jane

Tavern on Jane, the neighborhood-focused restaurant at the intersection of Jane and West 4th streets and Eighth Avenue, was the third awardee. The 31-year-old eatery, established by Michael Stewart and Horton Foote, Jr., has become a neighborhood staple where “everyone knows your name” after a mere few visits. Stewart, who became sole owner in 2013, kept the restaurant open during COVID out of concern for the neighborhood and his staff. Every October, Tavern hosts a block party, a “free open-air festival” that’s become one of the Village’s “most enduring autumn traditions.” Stewart offered simple rules for his notion of success: “Treat people well, keep food consistent and affordable, and keep staff happy.”

Carlos “Chino” Garcia

Carlos “Chino” Garcia, a visionary organizer and leader who helped transform Loisada (Spanglish for the Lower East Side and referring to the Alphabet City East Village), was honoree number four. Garcia, once with Assassins gang, founded the Real Great Society in 1965, a neighborhood response to President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Decades before concern for the environment went mainstream, the community activist and youth education group pursued solar power and wind power, plus housing and social justice — and a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome. In the 1970s, the group spawned CHARAS/El Bohio (Taino for “house”), the community arts and education center that flourished in the former P.S. 64, between East 9th and East 10th streets and Avenues B and C. In 1998, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani controversially sold the building out from under the community to a developer who was also a campaign donor.

Thanks to continued activism by Garcia, his CHARAS co-founders, and community supporters, the now landmarked P.S. 64 is “back on a path” to return to community use. CHARAS board member Herman Hewitt was among those accepting the award on Garcia’s behalf because Garcia could not attend due to illness.

Jane’s Exchange

Jane’s Exchange, a 35-year-old children’s and maternity consignment shop, located at 191 East 3rd Street between Avenues B and C, received award number five. The business — which offers high-quality, gently-used clothing, toys, books, baby gear, and maternity wear for purchase and trade — doubles as a neighborhood hangout. Kids can work for toys and their parents can buy a stroller for $15. It was founded by Eva Dorsey while pregnant with her daughter Jane, who now owns and operates the shop. The duo accepted the award, with Eva joking “Don’t work for your daughter.” A tearful Jane declared, “I’m so proud of my mom,” proclaiming her “the most inspiring person I’ve ever met.”

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Last up was the Regina Kellerman Award, which was presented to the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, the persevering nonprofit founded in 2008 to commemorate the infamous 1911 fire where 146 garment workers, overwhelmingly young immigrant women, died. Many had jumped to their deaths, their safe escape blocked by their employer who had locked the exits to facilitate surveillance and prevent theft. The still-extant building, the former Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, at 23 Washington Place, by Greene Street, is now part of the NYU campus. In 2023, the Coalition unveiled a memorial, a steel ribbon that wraps around the building, naming those who died and telling the story of the tragedy in English, Yiddish, and Italian.

The physical memorial is only part of the Coalition’s work to educate the public. On the anniversary of the fire, every March 25, volunteers chalk the name, age, and cause of death of each victim, by the site where each had lived.

One of the Coalition board members credited the group’s success to the longevity of its board, whose strongly-bonded members have continued to serve for years. “Love is the core” of that continuity, she remarked.

The awards ceremony was preceded by Village Preservation’s annual meeting. A video of the full event is available on Village Preservation’s YouTube page.