Village Trivia Quiz
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A History of the East Village and its Architecture
Village Preservation’s East Village Building Blocks, our web-based tool which provides information on each property in the East Village, has been wildly popular since its release just over a month ago. Equally popular has been the accompanying, in-depth report on the East Village by architectural historian Francis Morrone entitled, “A History of the East Village […]
Emma Goldman, Birth Control Crusader, Arrested
Emma Goldman, anarchist and feminist, advocate of free speech, free love, birth control, and the eight-hour workday, was arrested in New York City on February 11, 1916. Charged with violating the Comstock Act, an 1873 law banning the transportation of “obscene” matter, the courts interpreted distribution as transportation. Goldman later spent time in jail for […]
It’s Theater Thursday, and We Love Rattlestick Playwrights Theater!
Today, I caught up with Daniella Topol, the Artistic Director of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater since 2016. Daniella is a powerhouse in the not-for-profit theater world, and GVSHP is very proud to be amongst her friends!
The 10 most charming spots in the Greenwich Village Historic District
The Greenwich Village Historic District literally oozes with charm; so much so, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a top-10 list. But with no insult to sites not included, here is one run at the 10 most charming sites you’ll find in this extraordinarily quaint historic quarter–from good-old classics like the famous stretch of brick […]
An Intersectional Black History Month Roundup
Black History is Village history, and while many are celebrating Black Futures Month, as a historic preservation organization, we’re glad to amplify a history that often goes unnoticed in the Village. These histories live in the context of the other movements that have their roots in our neighborhoods. So many of these stories are intersectional, […]
How Much is that Plaster in the Window? Claes Oldenburg’s ‘The Store’
You don’t need a map to know that the East Village has long been a haven for artists. But it can certainly help illuminate the spots in our neighborhood with legendary artistic pasts. GVSHP’s new online tool East Village Building Blocks contains information about every building in the East Village, many of which were the studios […]
Celebrate the Year of The Pig at These Local Favorites
The Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world. February 5th, 2019 ushers in the Year of the Pig, the last year in the 12-year Chinese zodiac calendar-cycle. While most of the New Year’s festivities take place in Chinatown, we thought we would highlight some of our […]
African American History in the East Village
The East Village is probably not the first neighborhood that comes to mind when most New Yorkers think about African American history. But this incredibly rich, multi-layered neighborhood was home to some remarkably consequential events, places, and figures in African-American history. To help explore just some of them, we have created a new African American […]
Another Local Institution Will Close, But All Is Not Lost For Small Businesses
Sadly, another local institution has announced they are closing. After 36 years in business, St. Mark’s Comics will close at the end of February. Although St. Mark’s is not dead, it is easy to feel like New York City is losing more of its character and charm when hearing such news. But all hope is […]
Tell Your Story for Urban Archive’s “My Archive”
If you’re not familiar with the Urban Archive App, now is a great time to delve into it. GVSHP has partnered with Urban Archive extensively, and we’re adding one more way, which is centered around YOU. So much of what makes the Village special are your stories. And now, Urban Archive is creating an open […]
Uncovering Mysteries in East Village Building Blocks
In a recent post, we discussed the many resources that we used to research the over 2,200 properties that are featured in our online tool, East Village Building Blocks. In that post, we looked at how we figured out the history of two buildings which are easily discernible as 19th-century structures. Today we thought we […]
Welcome Aboard, Laura Fleischmann
Today we welcome aboard Laura Fleischmann, who will be taking over our Program and Administrative Associate position. She’s excited to continue her work with the GVSHP team, assisting with member services, public programs, special projects, and many things in between.
15 things you didn’t know about the East Village
Earlier this month, GVSHP launched its East Village Preservation effort, releasing its new website “East Village Building Blocks,” which contains historic information and images for every one of the neighborhood’s 2,200 buildings. Of course, any neighborhood spanning five centuries of history and nearly 100 blocks will reveal some surprises when you scratch the surface. But the East Village’s story has […]
They Dwelt on West 9th Street: William J. Glackens
They Dwelt on West 9th Street: William J. Glackens is the 6th in a series. “Art, like humanity, every time has an ancestry.” — William Glackens William Glackens (1870-1938) was an American Painter whose work is associated with the Ashcan School. He began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator and his roots in […]
Saul Leiter, Artist, Photographer and East Villager
Saul Leiter, American painter and photographer, was part of what was known as the New York school of photography of the 1940s and 50s, and resided on East 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues for 61 years until his death in 2013. His photographs from the 1950s experimented with color, unlike those of his […]
East Village Community Garden Dreaming with Building Blocks
On these chilly late-January days, a little virtual trip through some lush, breezy gardens might just help to lift the spirits. With our recent launch of East Village Building Blocks, not only can you explore every building between 14th Street and East Houston, 4th Avenue and the East River, but you can also delve into […]
Richard Upjohn — A Missionary for the Gothic Revival
British-born architect Richard Upjohn was born on January 22, 1802 in Sheffield, England. He moved to the United States in 1829, and in 1835 designed his first of many churches throughout the United States. He would go on to design over 50 churches in the Gothic Revival and Italianate styles across the country throughout his almost forty-year career. […]
Founded by Villagers, the ACLU Remains Vital to Our Society
In the years following World War I, Americans feared communist infiltration of our country following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. As we continue to see today, when fear outweighs rational debate, civil liberties pay the price.
Good News on Chain Stores for the New Year
The eleventh annual ranking of national retailers in New York City by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) just came out, and it reveals a 0.3 percent decline in the number of chain stores over the past year, marking the first year-over-year citywide drop in national retail locations since they began the annual analysis of […]
Letter to the LPC about Designating The Stonewall Inn
On January 16, 2014, GVSHP sent a letter to the then-chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Robert Tierney calling for landmark designation of the Stonewall Inn.
Research Resources for East Village Building Blocks
GVSHP’s recently-released East Village Building Blocks online web tool provides invaluable information about over 2,200 properties in the East Village, including each building’s date of construction, original architect, original use, and more. This resource was over ten years in the making, and with so many of the structures having been built before New York City had […]
Strange Bedfellows: Stanford White and Diane Arbus
Today we begin a new blog series, Strange Bedfellows, where we take a look at unlikely pairs or assortments of noteworthy people who lived or spent time in surprisingly close proximity to one another in our neighborhoods. The St. Mark’s Historic District is known for all sorts of unique surprises — it contains Manhattan’s only […]
The Bones of Old New York: Rick Kelly’s Carmine Street Guitars
If only these old bones could talk! Well, in the case of Rick Kelly and his amazing craft, the old bones can indeed talk, or sing, if you will. Rick Kelly is a luthier who crafts bespoke guitars from the reclaimed wood that once belonged to buildings around the city. Rick’s guitars are like having […]
The St. Mark’s Historic District: Tiny, But Packed With History
One of New York City’s most charming and distinctive corners, the St. Mark’s Historic District was landmarked by the City of New York on January 14, 1969. Containing fewer than 40 buildings on parts of just three blocks, this extraordinary East Village enclave contains several notable superlatives, including Manhattan’s oldest house still in use as a residence, […]
James Varick, the Village, and Zion AME Church
On January 10th, 1750, James Varick was born into slavery in upstate New York. Possibly a slave of the prominent Dutch Varick family, as a young boy he and his mother were freed and moved to New York City. The church he helped found, what would grow to be Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, had a profound effect on […]
Business of the Month: Love Child, 9 Patchin Place
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. From its birth as a pop-up yoga speakeasy […]
La Vie en Rose: Meet Villager Rose Hartman
Villager and photographer Rose Hartman has, since the 1970s, been known for her candid portraits of the world’s celebrities and non-celebrities as they pass through New York City. Ms. Hartman, who’s lived on Charles Street in the West Village, is a former high school teacher who took the leap into photography in her thirties. Hartman’s photography […]
Nico Captured by Fred McDarrah
On January 7, 1967, German-born singer Nico performed with The Velvet Underground at Steve Paul’s nightclub, the Scene, and this moment was captured stunningly in a photograph by Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah was the photographer behind the Village Voice at the time and he had a fifty-year association with the paper that chronicled the post-War […]
If Beale Street Could Talk’s West Village Scenes
If Beale Street Could Talk is the newest release from award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins. The film is Jenkins’s adaptation of a novella by James Baldwin of the same name. The story, based in 1970s New York City, is about mother-and-wife-to-be Tish, who vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her […]
Many Layers of History at 1st Avenue and 3rd Street
New Year, new entries! As the calendar year resets, so to the dates that correspond to Village intersections. We begin our 2019 series back where it all started: the East Village. In honor of today’s date, we are taking a look at the history and buildings around 1st Avenue and 3rd Street.
Napoleon LeBrun — Firehouse Architect and So Much More
Napoleon Eugene Charles Henry LeBrun, a prominent and prolific American architect of the late 19th century, was born on January 2, 1821. He began his career in Philadelphia and designed a number of notable buildings there and other Pennsylvania towns. In 1864 he moved his family and his practice to New York City. He would […]
Hair-of-the-Dog Blog Posts from 2018
Happy New Year and welcome to 2019! Perhaps you welcomed in the new year a bit ‘robustly’ last night. In that spirit, we thought we’d look at a few posts from this past year about the free flow of alcohol. So put a cold compress on your head, grab your coffee, put your feet up […]
2018 Favorites, and Looking to 2019….
Last week we looked at readers’ top five choices of 2018. Today, check out some of our favorites : Who Doesn’t Love Carole Teller? A resident of the East Village for over fifty years, Carole Teller so beautifully and thoroughly documented her neighborhood’s architecture, daily life, and many quirks, that we had to dole it out in multiple parts […]
Viewers Choice: Top 5 Village Preservation Program Videos of 2018
Each year, Village Preservation hosts more than sixty public programs. They cover our neighborhoods from the western edge of Greenwich Village to the easternmost reaches of the East Village. Topics cover a diverse range of areas including rock and roll, restoring artists’ studios, terracotta mosaics in the subways, street photography, women’s poetry, and so much […]
Many Layers of History Throughout 2018
As the calendar year comes to a close, GVSHP is looking back at some of our 2018 blog posts. Our neighborhoods are so rich in history on every street and around every intersection, we’d love to explore and share each one. But given that could take years, in 2018 we decided to let the calendar be our guide, […]
When Mother Teresa Opened An AIDS Hospice in Greenwich Village
Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work among the poor in Calcutta, India, opened an AIDS Hospice in Greenwich Village on Christmas Eve in 1985. Mother Teresa was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. […]
Welcome to the ‘Hood, Ars Nova!
The Village has always been, and remains, a hotbed of artistic creativity. Theater artists and companies continue to thrive here, as more and more emerge or find new homes in the neighborhood. This week, we welcome the upstart Ars Nova to the scene!
Calvert Vaux and the Village
Calvert Vaux, one of the most prolific and influential architects in the United States during the second half of the 19th century, was born on December 20, 1824, in London, England. Best known in New York City as the co-designer of Central Park along with Frederick Law Olmsted, Vaux’s talents went beyond landscape architecture and […]
A Tale of Two Crises: Thomas Paine and Marie Du Mont
On December 19, 1776, Thomas Paine published The American Crisis, a series of pamphlets that helped fan the flames of American patriotism to inspire the American troops and public during the long, arduous years of the Revolutionary War. In a previous blog post, we discussed Paine, his legacy, and how he spent his final years […]
Tompkins Square Park Landmarks QUIZ!
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Readers Choice: Top 5 Off the Grid Blog Posts of 2018
Each year GVSHP writes almost 250 blog posts, with our staff (the authors) competing to write the best, most popular posts. Today, we look back on our five most popular posts of 2018, as chosen by our readers:
“London Calling:” The Clash and the Village
If you were to ask me to name a truly perfect album, it would take a very quick punk-rock-beat to say “London Calling!” Released on December 14, 1979, this iconic album has been called the first post-punk album; “merry and tough, passionate and large-spirited” by one reviewer; and one of the five greatest albums by […]
Henry Highland Garnet and the Village
On December 23, 1815, African-American abolitionist, minister, educator, and orator Henry Highland Garnet was born into slavery. Garnet escaped his bondage and worked hard to fight for himself and the African-American community, eventually becoming the first African-American to address the United States House of Representatives. He also at one time resided at 185 Bleecker Street.
Business of the Month: M & D Shapiro Hardware, 7 Great Jones Street
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Few businesses survive decades. Fewer still survive […]
I Love the 80s…Map!
We recently wrote about the online release of the 1940s tax photos of every building in New York City by the New York City Municipal Archives. As we mentioned, the 1980s tax photos have been available online for a while now. However, Maps Mania has taken this a step further and made this resource infinitely […]
Dylan and the Village on Film
The Village in the 1960s was a hotbed of creativity. In one of the most defining moments of that decade, in January 1961, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan moved here to play the clubs and become a recording artist. Photographer Fred W. McDarrah was the photographer behind the Village Voice at the time. McDarrah had a […]
From Mark Twain and the Lovin’ Spoonful to Tech Hub: The overlooked history of Union Square South
Straddling Greenwich Village and the East Village, the neighborhood south of Union Square between Fifth and Third Avenues was once a center of groundbreaking commercial innovations, radical leftist politics, and the artistic avant-garde. With the city’s recent decision to allow an upzoning for a “Tech Hub” on the neighborhood’s doorstep on 14th Street, there are […]
Kirk Douglas – Actor, Producer and Villager
“I am Spartacus!” That is what many people think of when they think of Kirk Douglas, in his role in the 1960 film Spartacus as the leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome. But did you know he once made his home in Greenwich Village? While he was a struggling actor at the beginning […]
That Time (One of Many) When Trump Was Caught
On December 6, 2006, the Trump SoHo ‘Condo-Hotel’ was caught advertising its planned units to prospective buyers as a “Primary Residence” or “Secondary Residence.” GVSHP found the advertisements and immediately fired off a letter demanding yet again that construction of the building not be allowed, as the zoning for the area prohibited residential uses. Unfortunately, […]
Prohibition Hits The Village
There have been a handful of times in this country when the outcome of a political campaign was truly stunning. Such was the case in 1919 when several groups known as the “Drys” won a 70 year campaign to prohibit the production, sale, and distribution of alcohol. The 18th Amendment abolished booze in on January […]
Happy Chanukah from the Village – Celebrating Through History!
I was holiday shopping at my local bookstore and was delighted to encounter Emily Jenkins’ “All of a Kind Family Hanukkah.” In the book, a Jewish immigrant family prepares for Chanukah in their Lower East Side Tenement in 1912. The family’s four daughters share a room, make latkes, throw tantrums, and in the end light […]
Interior Artwork of Our Lady of Pompeii Church
The Center For Migration Studies has provided GVSHP with historic images in the past, and recently sent us several images of the interior artwork of Our Lady of Pompeii church. The church has stood on the northwest corner of Carmine and Bleecker Streets since 1928, but the congregation dates back to 1892, when Father Pietro […]
Only Seven Landmarks in One of New York’s Most Historically Rich Areas? What about 37 East 12th Street?
Recently we looked at seven late 19th and early 20th century buildings now under consideration for landmarking by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (read about them here,) They are all located along Broadway south of Union Square, in an area rich in architectural and cultural significance, and also increasingly endangered since the approval by the […]
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a Visual Ode to the Village
My favorite series in the past MANY years is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel written by the amazing Amy Sherman-Palladino. Not only is her rapid-fire dialogue and direction a joy to watch and listen to, but the actors who have been cast in the show are sublimely well-suited for their roles. Then, of course, there are […]
POPS goes the Village!
Privately owned public spaces, or POPS, are public areas adjoining or adjacent to buildings created through incentivized zoning. What this zoning means is that by providing a public space, developers are given a floor area bonus, allowing them to build a larger building with a greater Floor Area Ratio (FAR) than they would have been […]
Public Art to #LightTheFight for World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day takes place on the 1st December each year. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Begun in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health […]
New Historic Images- Astor Place, 10th Street, Village Community School, and more.
GVSHP just added 29 new historic images to our archive taken from current public applications to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for significant changes to landmarked buildings in our neighborhoods. Historic photos are typically included in applications to provide explanation or context for proposed changes in historic districts or to individually landmarked structures, and GVSHP […]
The backstory on backhouses: How NYC’s hidden rear residences came to be
New York City is full of hidden surprises that even the most dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker may not know about. One such example is the elusive “backhouse” or rear house. There are literally scores of these hidden structures throughout the older neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan like Greenwich Village and the East Village. But because they are […]
The Cemeteries of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue Shearith Israel
On March 31, 1492, Spain ordered that all Jews living within the kingdom either convert to Christianity or be expelled. Portugal did the same less than five years later. Some of those Spanish Jews converted and remained in Spain, either secretly practicing their faith or genuinely converting (even some of those, however, continued to face […]
Remembering the Ramrod Massacre
“For all of us who were worried that the conservative backlash in this country would bring about unnamed terrible things, the future is now.” These words date to November 1980, and were written by activist and journalist Andy Humm following the mass shooting at the Ramrod bar on West Street in Greenwich Village on November […]
Buy a Book Locally on Small Business Saturday
“Small Business Saturday” is this coming Saturday, a day to promote the independent retailers and other businesses that enrich our neighborhoods. To help you help our local small businesses, we’ve compiled a list of books that we have featured this year at our free public programs, along with local bookstores where you can buy them […]
New York City’s 1940 Tax Photos — Now Online!
New York history buffs have been waiting a long time for this — the New York City Municipal Archives has digitized all 720,000 of its tax photos of every building in New York City, taken 1939-1941, and placed them all on their website. The city agency had already posted digitized versions of its ca. 1980 tax […]
Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive: Interior Motives
With the colder air, the shorter days, and the mania of holiday planning that come with late November, it seems right to start spending more time in the warm, comfortable indoors. And looking through our Historic Image Archive, while our neighborhood’s building facades and street life take center stage, it’s also nice to note the […]
The Birth of Mass Transit in NYC
Mass transit emerged in New York City in 1827 with the omnibus, a large stagecoach pulled by horses that could accommodate about a dozen riders at a time. While horse-drawn carriages had always existed in NYC, the omnibus was different because it ran along a designated route and was a more affordable option. “Omni” meant the bus carried everyone […]
One Street, Many Great Local Businesses: Bleecker Street
Four years ago today, GVSHP launched our Business of the Month program, in which each month a local independent business is featured on GVSHP’s website and blog Off the Grid, and shared with thousands of followers via our e-bulletins and social media, showcasing one of the great retail treasures of the Village, East Village, or […]
Ernest Flagg Roundup!
On November 12th, 1968, Firehouse Engine Co. 33 at 44 Great Jones Street was designated a New York City landmark. The design of the firehouse, a “distinguished example of French Beaux Arts architecture,” is attributed to architect Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947). Flagg has designed quite a few significant buildings around […]
James Renwick, Jr., 19th Century Architect Extraordinaire!
James Renwick, Jr. was born on November 11, 1818, in New York City. He would become one of the most successful American architects of the 19th century, designing such high profile buildings as New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Smithsonian “Castle” in Washington D.C., and Grace Church, right here in our neighborhood on Broadway […]
World War I Centennial and the Village
November 11, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I, a war that engulfed most of Europe since 1914. United States troops tipped the balance toward Allied victory, placing the United States on the world stage in a new way. The war came at a great cost, though. WWI claimed […]
Many Layers of History at 7th Avenue and 11th Street
This post is part of a series about Village intersections that correspond to the date. In July, we took a look at 7th Avenue and 12th Street and discussed the former St. Vincent’s Hospital. Yet, just a block down on 11th Street more history can be seen that’s not connected to the demolished medical center. In […]
Business of the Month: Village Tannery, 173 Bleecker Street
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Need a bag of any kind? Or […]
My Favorite Things: Andrew Berman Edition
This post is part of a series about our favorite things in and about the Village. Andrew Berman, GVSHP’s Executive Director since 2002, has a plethora of favorite things about our neighborhoods, so it’s hard to press him for a discreet list. But there are a few things that Andrew feels particularly passionate about, […]
Spiral Group: From Greenwich Village to the Brooklyn Museum
A recent visit to the powerful exhibit Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at the Brooklyn Museum surprised me with its deep Greenwich Village roots. The show begins in 1963, before the emergence of the Black Power Movement later in the decade, with work by members of the Spiral Group arts […]
Stephen Crane: A Greenwich Village “Genius”
On November 1, 1871, one of America’s most influential writers, Stephen Crane, was born in Newark, New Jersey. He is probably best know for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote from his home at 61 Washington Square South, part of what was known as “Genius Row” — so named […]
Halloween Has Gone to the Dogs!
The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade has been a much-loved event in the East Village since the 1990s. This year’s parade was initially canceled, but then moved to the East River Park Amphitheater.
My Favorite Things: Tom Birchard Edition
We decided it was high time for some of our most ardent and vocal supporters to have a say here on Off the Grid. To that end, we have invited one of our favorite East Villagers, Tom Birchard, owner of Veselka, to let us know his favorite East Village spots. We at GVSHP highly endorse […]
Remembering Hurricane Sandy
On Monday, October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy a.k.a. “Superstorm Sandy” made landfall in New York. It was one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever hit New York. It inflicted $19 billion in damages and killed 43 people in New York City. Many neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens were flooded by the 14-foot storm […]
Map Every Street Tree — Which is Your Favorite?
Fall is the time to notice the sublime changing colors of the leaves on the trees. Or smell the fallen nuts of a gingko tree that some harvest in parks to eat. Did you know that there is a great online map of every street tree in NYC? Which one do you walk by and admire? […]
Basque & Bank
October 25 is the Day of the Basque Country, the national holiday of the Basque Autonomous Community. But did you know that 82 Bank Street was once a major hub for the Basque community in NYC?
“An Intimate and Unconventional Space:” Caffe Cino
Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia Street was a community, a haven, the birthplace of countless theatrical careers and movements, and the origin of off-off-Broadway theater. In November 2017, Caffe Cino was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which is a great symbolic honor for the Caffe, which opened in 1958 and closed its […]
Contest: Recreate A Historic Photo!
GVSHP has partnered with the free Urban Archive App over the past year to share our historic image archive via this location-based tool. As part of this partnership, we conducted scavenger hunts in the East Village and Greenwich Village, and created guided walking tours of the Bowery and Meatpacking District. Now we’re sharing the opportunity […]
John Reed: Journalist, Revolutionary and Villager
John “Jack” Silas Reed was an American journalist, poet and communist activist at the beginning of the 20th century whose writing about revolutionary events and radical causes made him a very polarizing figure in this country and abroad. He is probably best known as the author of Ten Days That Shook the World, his account […]
Business of the Month: East Village Vintage Collective, 545 East 12th Street
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. A little shop on East 12th Street […]
Woody Guthrie’s New York Comes Alive
Folk music icon Woody Guthrie was a little man with beady eyes – as described by his second wife Marjorie, though she had imagined him to be taller, strapping, and more like a proper cowboy than he was. Perhaps it was because of his Dust Bowl Ballads, his first album, chronicling his travels from Dust […]
Historic Broadway Gems Saved from Demolition
On October 17, 2017 the Landmarks Preservation Commissions (LPC) held a hearing to consider landmarking 827-831 Broadway, the threatened 1866 lofts once home to Willem de Kooning. Just two weeks later, the LPC voted to landmark them, culminating a year and a half campaign by GVSHP and our allies to save them from the wrecking […]
Wanamaker’s, A Shoppers Paradise
In a recent application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make some changes to the building at 770 Broadway (8th/9th Streets), there is a great picture of this impressive building being constructed; the photos from this application are now part of our historic image archive. This photo really showcases the construction technology of a steel […]
Gay Activist Alliance Headquarters Bombed
On October 15, 1974, the Gay Activist Alliance Firehouse, located in SoHo at 99 Wooster Street, was bombed.
Historic Spaces Open to the Public
Ever walk past a particular building or gate and wish you could go inside? Well this weekend, maybe you can, since it is Open House New York. More than 140 sites can be visited for free and without reservations!
Open House New York in Greenwich Village: The history of three unique sites
Among the many delights included in this weekend’s Open House New York will be three iconic Greenwich Village buildings–a Gothic Revival church with many architectural firsts, a library that was originally a courthouse which heard the “Trial of the Century,” and a groundbreaking artists’ housing complex that was formerly home to Bell Telephone Labs and the site […]
Coming Out, and Going Out, in the Village
October 11th is National Coming Out Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness and visibility of the LGBT community through the process of “coming out,” or identifying one’s LGBT identity to friends, family, and others. In the Village, what better way to live loud and live proud than to frequent some of the establishments that […]
The Ninth Street Five
The now infamous Ninth Street Show, a ‘coming out’ of sorts for the post-war New York avant-garde art scene, began as a whimsical idea, but ended up literally overturning the hegemony of the uptown artists and art dealers over the art world in the mid-20th century New York art scene. The show was to become the […]
One Track Mind: Drawing the New York Subway
The New York City subway system is messy, crowded, unreliable, full of musicians, and generally teeming with folks who will bowl you over if you’re not careful. It’s also full of art. Graffiti and advertisements, yes, but that’s not the kind of art we’re talking about. The stations themselves were built with art. The tiles may be […]
No One Had Ever Heard a Howl Like That Before
The Beat poets, inextricably linked with the Village and East Village, materialized in the post-WWII American of white picket fences to celebrate all things messy, countercultural, drug-addled, disenfranchised, and unstoppably vital. East Villager Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” was an anthem of this movement, with its power, breathlessness, and breadth of content. And on October 7, 1955, Ginsberg […]
Lost Saints of the Village
The Village is hallowed ground, and much like any sacred space, its landscape is marked by holy figures. For our neighborhoods, these figures are the architecture, and we even have our own “saints.” Yet, while these saints are often canonized in our memory, some of them have unfortunately left our temporal plane. With our fighting […]
Ithiel Town: It’s All Greek (and Gothic) to Him
Ithiel Town, born on October 3, 1784, transformed American architecture, as well as the landscape of our neighborhoods. A significant figure in beginning the Greek and Gothic Revivals in this country, he was among the first professional architects here and started the first architectural firm, later joined by Alexander Jackson Davis, another seminal figure in […]
Trendy Nightspot is the Clue to this Historic Image Mystery, Hiding in Plain Sight
Last week we solved one of our longstanding historic photo mysteries, when Eric Robinson, the cousin of the photographer, Carole Teller, was able to identify the location of this elevated train which had been demolished almost fifty years ago. Many of the images we receive as donations to our historic image archives are unidentified in terms of […]
Only Seven Landmarks in One of New York’s Most Historically Rich Areas?
Seven late 19th and early 20th century buildings are now under consideration for landmarking by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. They are all located along Broadway south of Union Square, in an area rich in architectural and cultural significance, and also increasingly endangered. So in looking around the area, it begs the question: […]
What’s in a name? Gay Street
Gay Street is one of the most charming and picturesque streets in Greenwich Village, an icon of the historic neighborhood’s anachronistic character. But the origins of its name are hotly debated, with the LGBT rights movement and abolitionism often cited as the source of its unusual nomenclature. And while the street certainly has strong connections to […]
