Volume 79, Number 15 | September 16 - 22, 2009
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

Villager photos by J.B. Nicholas

Presidents lunch, and a Clinton mystery is revealed

On Monday, after President Barack Obama spoke Downtown at Federal Hall about the financial crisis, he came up to Greenwich Village to meet former President Bill Clinton for a private lunch at Il Mulino Italian restaurant, at 86 W. Third St., above left. Mulino’s staff each received a spiffy tin of candy bearing the presidential seal, below. Afterward, Clinton walked through the Village for about 10 blocks, stopping at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at W. Eighth St. and Sixth Ave. According to a salesperson, Clinton bought “a bunch of books — more than two.” She said the titles haven’t been reported yet, though the Daily News tried to get them. The associate, who didn’t give her name, said it was really “not cool” to say what books people buy — then proceeded to reveal a couple. One was “The Owl Killers,” a medieval mystery by Karen Maitland. Another, she hinted, was by someone “who did something that they really didn’t like.” She gave another hint: The person’s first name starts with “T.” “Ted Kennedy?” was the guess. “Thank you!” the associate said, laughing, confirming that the book was “True Compass,” the memoir of the late Massachusetts senator, who last year endorsed Clinton’s lunch partner over his wife, Hillary, for president. Clinton bought another biographical book about a deceased person, but she wouldn’t be more specific. As for the rest of the more than two books, she said, “Historical mysteries seem to be one of his likes. … He’s very nice, he was signing autographs,” she gushed.

Lincoln Anderson