Miracle on Avenue B: ‘Angel’ airdrops $20 mil, saves church
By Albert Amateau
St. Brigid’s parishioners, struggling for more than 10 years to save the church built by Irish boatwrights during the Famine Year 1848-’49 on Avenue B, rejoiced last week when the Catholic Archdiocese announced it had accepted an anonymous $20 million donation to restore both the church and parish and to endow the parish school.

W. 10th St. turns water world after old main fails
By Albert Amateau
It was “Saturday Night Dive” for Village residents and patrons in restaurants and bars when a 164-year-old water main ruptured on W. 10th St. between Bleecker and W. Fourth Sts. on May 24.

As C.B. 2 says O.K., Whitney officials fill in picture
By Albert Amateau
The approval process for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s new Downtown branch at the foot of the High Line on Gansevoort St. moved forward last week when Whitney lawyers and architects brought the plans before Community Board 2.

Noho district extension protects 3 more blocks
By Albert Amateau
The Landmarks Preservation Comm-ission has unanimously approved the Noho Historic District Extension, adding 56 new buildings to the Noho and Noho East Historic Districts, which were approved, respectively, in 2000 and 2003.

L.E.S. success story: Bodegas to Wholesome Foods market
By Ann Binlot 
When Orlando Rodriguez, 34, was growing up on Suffolk St. on the Lower East Side, the neighborhood was a stark contrast to today’s scene of luxury high-rise apartment buildings and upscale hotels that are fast filling the landscape. Drugs and crime proliferated on the streets.

Performance preacher calls pavilion sacred space
By Jefferson Siegel
Last Wednesday, the anti-consumer activist Reverend Billy held the first of many promised “First Amend-a-thons” to protest what he branded the privatization of Union Square Park.

Ring around the New Museum district
BY Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
The Lower East Side Gallery Guide now lists 43 venues and new ones are opening all the time. Up and running just three weeks, Gallery Nine 5 hasn’t even had its inaugural bash yet. Nearby on Spring Street, Jen Bekman, one of the original pioneers, celebrates her third year as an art dealer in the neighborhood.

Koch on film
By Ed Koch
“Reprise” (-) and “My Father My Lord” (+)

From magic portals to enchanting mindscapes
By DEBRA JENKS
What’s black, white and wistfully grey all over? No, it’s not the news. It’s a Wesen (pronounced VAYZ-in) on an existential expedition through Julia Oschatz’s paintings and the lone star of her videos.

Testing the perimeter
By Leonard Quart
Born in Hamberg, Germany to Turkish parents, Fatih Akin directed his debut film in 2004. “Head-On,” an emotionally volatile black comedy/tragedy about a mismatched Turkish couple who embark on a sham marriage, received a great deal of critical plaudits, including a prize at the Berlin Festival.