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Cinematic History of Chelsea and Greenwich Village Highlighted at Hudson Guild

By DNAinfo Staff on November 8, 2010 1:39pm

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — For the aging men and women of the Hudson Guild, watching the streets of Chelsea and the Village gentrify has been a part of life. Now, they are getting a chance to relive those changes on film.

All month long, the adult services center, based at the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea housing projects, is hosting a movie series called "Our Communities — the Dreams and Realities of Greenwich Village and Chelsea."

The idea for the series, which is free and open to the public, began when independent filmmaker Edith Stephen decided to make a short film about a Tai Chi instructor at Hudson Guild. Stephen, a longtime resident of the Village's Westbeth artists housing complex, has made documenting demographic shifts in the neighborhoods a hallmark of her work.

"She feels like that community has been ruined, because the Village is filled with millionaires," said Yehudit Moch, group services manager for the Hudson Guild and organizer of the series.

Brooklyn-born Moch said exploring the cinematic history of the neighborhoods appealed to her because of her own memories of taking the train into the Village as she grew up in East Flatbush in the 60s and 70s.

"I saw a lot of things in the Village — a bathtub in the kitchen, I saw cockroaches for the first time," Moch said. "What else I saw, I'll leave up to the imagination."

Over the next few weeks, Stephen will lead discussions about two of her films, "Paradise Deranged" (which spotlights the Village and will show on Nov. 22) and the Westbeth-centric "Split Scream" (screening Nov. 15).

Then, "Chelsea on the Rocks," an exploration of lives lived at the historic Hotel Chelsea (now up for sale) will show on Nov. 29. One hotel resident featured in the film, dancer Merle Lister, will lead that conversation.

"My Sister Eileen," a 1955 musical starring Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon, and 1970s rom-com "Next Stop, Greenwich Village," are also featured in the film series.

When the series kicked off last Monday, Moch said that discussion among Hudson Guild members (who come from all over the city but especially Chelsea) was so robust that it was difficult to start the movie.

In spite of positive changes to Chelsea in recent decades — drug wars in the 1980s made the streets unsafe — gentrification has made many blocks unrecognizable to long-term residents.

Moch recently took 25 women from the Fulton Houses up to the High Line — for every single one, it was the very first trip to the year-and-a-half-old elevated park. The Frank Gehry-designed IAC building also sparked confusion.

"For many of them, there is a sense of the neighborhood being taken away," Moch said.

"Our Communities — The Dreams and Realities of Greenwich Village and Chelsea" is open to the public and showing all November on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. at 119 Ninth Avenue.