South of Union Square, located roughly between Third and Fifth Avenues and 14th and 9th Streets, was once home to prominent innovators and leaders who helped shape how New Yorkers dressed, styled their hair, and made clothing. Sewing machine manufacturers, fashion publishers, and makers of hairpieces and accessories all had a presence here. Our South […]
During Prohibition in the 1920s, when jazz first rose to popularity in New York, many of its most prominent performance venues were located in Harlem and Midtown Manhattan. But this new style of music also found a distinct home downtown, with many of the liveliest and most innovative venues sprouting up in Greenwich Village and […]
On September 15, 1998, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Police Athletic League Building (PAL) at No. 34½ East 12th Street between University Place and Broadway an individual landmark. Before its designation, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, now Village Preservation, supported landmarking the building through statements and letters to the Commission. Today, we […]
In the early 20th century, the Little Syria neighborhood was found south of Greenwich Village on what was then called the Lower West Side, where the World Trade Center complex is now located. It was home to a growing community of Arab writers, artists, and intellectuals. Many of these writers and poets had fled political […]
Today, West 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues is a bustling corridor connecting several subway lines and serving a wide range of businesses and institutions. But before it became the busy stretch we know today, it was at the heart of a large and vibrant Spanish immigrant community known as “Little Spain.” Spanish immigration […]
