Brooklyn Storyteller and Author to Speak at Ventfort Hall

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LENOX, Mass. — Brooklyn storyteller and author Bill Greer will kick off Ventfort Hall's 2022 Tuesday Summer Tea & Talk series on June 14 at 4:00 pm. 
 
He will talk about the city of his book "A Dirty Year: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in Gilded Age New York." Tea will be served after his presentation.
 
According to a press release, the year is 1872, seven years after the Civil War.  New York is convulsing with social upheaval and sexual revolution. In this illustrated talk, Bill Greer paints a picture of the city from the man's world of Wall Street to the mansions of Fifth Avenue, from the smut dealers of Nassau Street to the limelights of Broadway, from pious Christians to free-loving iconoclasts. He highlights larger-than-life characters who fascinated the city – suffragist and presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, vice hunter Anthony Comstock, celebrity preacher Henry Ward Beecher, and more – and the issues of the day that play out through their lives, issues that resonate today, from sexual impropriety and reproductive rights to attacks on the press and the chasm between rich and poor.
 
Bill Greer has spent decades exploring New York, along with the world.  As a travel writer and internet entrepreneur, he built the early web's leading community for outdoor adventure. His turn to telling New York's stories began with his novel "The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan," exploring the city's founding as New Amsterdam. He has served as an officer and trustee of the New Netherland Institute, chairing the Institute's program to establish the New Netherland Research Center and receiving the Institute's Howard Hageman award. More recently, he has focused on New York's Gilded Age with his nonfiction narrative "A Dirty Year: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in Gilded Age New York." Bill holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He has spoken on New York history throughout the Hudson Valley.
 
Tickets are $30 for members and with advance reservation; $35 day of. Reservations are required as seats are limited. For reservations call us at (413) 637-3206. All tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. Proof of vaccination and ID are required. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox. 
 

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Show-Cause Hearing for Pittsfield Bar Continued Again

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Bei Tempi will have a show-cause hearing for its liquor license in May after police brought forward pictures that appear to show underage patrons drinking.  

On Monday, the Licensing Board continued a hearing for Zuke's Soups and Variety LLC, doing business as Bei Tempi, to May 18. This is the second month it was continued. In the last year, the bar has been accused of underage service by two different parents.  

Earlier this year, Police Capt. Matthew Hill received a call from an upset parent about her 19-year-old daughter patronizing Iztac Mexican Restaurant at night and being served. 

Those photos resulted in a two-week liquor license suspension for Iztac, and the same mother submitted an almost identical complaint about Bei Tempi with photos, one of them with the owner "clearly visible" in the background, Hill said. 

The owners, Richard and Elizabeth Zucco, did not show up in March, and the hearing was continued again this month. 

"This show-cause hearing was scheduled for March 23 of 2026 and the licensee did not appear at that hearing, although I understand that notice went out by way of email," Chair Thomas Campoli reported after the bar's second no-show, adding that the Zuccos' lawyer communicated they had a "planned prepaid trip" that conflicted with the meeting. 

Last year, a different mother approached the Licensing Board asking for accountability after her underage child was allegedly served at Bei Tempi. After drinking at a graduation party, she said her 18-year-old son became further intoxicated at the establishment before returning home late and becoming combative, resulting in an arrest by police. 

In March, the pictures of alleged underage drinking at Iztac were printed and presented to the Licensing Board with faces blurred; the reporting party wished to remain anonymous along with her daughter and friend, and she was unable to attend the hearing. 

Hill ran the patrons' names through police records to confirm they were not 21. This is the same underage daughter who is said to have drunk at Bei Tempi, and her mother has provided photos. 

The Health Department ordered Iztac to close on March 13 after finding "pests" in the establishment.  On Monday, a notice stating that it was closed to the public to protect public health and safety was no longer on the door but the Health Department confirmed that the closure was still in effect. 

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