Nancy Stark sits patiently in Raoul’s, waiting for SoHo bar patrons to pay her a visit.
A gaunt woman sits in a corner on the second story of 180 Prince Street in SoHo. Her unruly silver hair hasn’t surrendered all its ebony. Her black shirt is adorned with golden buttons, a black choker lines her neck. Her bony hands gloss over a set of tarot cards set before her. Above her head hangs one of her husbands pieces; a large painting of an orange man in a turban.
There is only one table on the second floor. It is reserved for the restaurant’s resident tarot card-reader, Nancy Stark. Stark, 77, has been conducting tarot card and palm readings over the heads of Raoul’s Restaurant patrons for 24 years. She has watched SoHo evolve. Her lens through which she has watched has been from across a small table on the second floor of Raoul’s.
She finishes up a reading with a young woman who had come to see her from the bar below. They exchange a handshake-ridden “thank you.”
“But I’m not good with dates,” Stark says over the light of a single votive sitting on her table large enough for a dinner party of one.
Raoul’s, a famed French bistro to the businessman and a cherished local niche to the SoHo resident, recently celebrated their 43rd anniversary.
“I have been married over 30 years. I don’t know exactly how many years, but it’s been over 30,” says Stark of her husband, Barry.
Barry is a retired architect, now a painter and poet.
A graduate of Cooper Union in the East Village, wife and mother of one son, Stark has been reading palms and conducting tarot card readings for 48 years. Keep in mind her “dates” disclaimer.
Nancy Stark emigrated to from Chile to New York at age 13. Her father was already in Manhattan, prompting her family to follow. Her family is full of “spiritualists,” says Stark.
On the recently implemented hike in Cooper Union tuition for students entering in 2014, Stark says, “It’s criminal. It was one of the last schools that you could enter based on merit alone. It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s funny,” says Stark. Her hands dance atop the white tablecloth.
“I used to get a lot of young women. Now I get a lot more mothers and men asking questions about business, their personal life. We’re all human. Without love, we are nothing. Love, health, and material security.”
The employees of Raoul’s, especially the longtime staff, know Nancy.
“She is a cat lover, and she’s a longtime vegetarian,” says server Catherine.
Working late on a Monday night, Catherine describes Nancy’s quirks.
“She’ll greet me like this,” Catherine says before throwing her palms up in the air like that of a kitten and clasping her fingers up and down, meowing.
On SoHo, Nancy is blunt about the decline of what was once a vibrant neighborhood. Although a resident of Chelsea, Stark travels down to SoHo Sunday through Wednesday to set up her table up the winding staircase of Raoul’s.
“In the 90’s, [Raoul’s] was popping. Jumping. The parties were everywhere. When the money was plentiful, the neighborhood was wild. There were so many personalities, so many celebrities. I met some,” says Stark. “There was a lot of action. It was all very exciting… very, very exciting. A lot of that joie de vivre.”
“Now,” Stark says as her hands dance downward from the air toward the table, “it’s not as wild. I think after September 11th, that was the demarcation. It was a very sobering time. Since then, it’s just been a sobering time. But it has been for the whole economy, hasn’t it been?”
Stark believes that SoHo has gone through a maturation that may be a depression, reflected largely in the economy.
At 11:30, Nancy packs up and goes home. She will usually finish at 11 o’clock, making exceptions only when a customer calls in advance.
“I take a cab,” Nancy says, her folder of fliers in hand.
“Coming down here is one thing, but I take a cab when I go home.”
