On the morning of January 31, 1857 the body of Dr. Harvey Burdell was discovered in his office at 31 Bond Street, strangled and stabbed fifteen times with the walls and doors “besmeared with blood,” according to The New York Times. A search of the building, owned by Dr. Burdell, revealed a bloody towel and […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. The Police Athletic League Building at 34 1/2 East 12th Street between University Place and Broadway was built in 1855 for the […]
Last night GVSHP presented a program at the Jefferson Market Library about the history of magic and magicians in our neighborhoods. The speakers were long-time GVSHP supporter Tom Klem and his colleague Richard Cohn. Tom is an artist and historian, and a member of the Society of American Magicians, of which he is the former archivist […]
As Halloween is right around the corner, we here at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation would like to satisfy your cravings for hauntings as you go out and wander the Village for candy. Preserving the Village not only means maintaining the old buildings and historic landscapes, but sometimes also the domiciles of the […]
On October 28, 1972, Stevie Wonder released his album, Talking Book recorded at Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street. Rolling Stone Magazine’s review of the album at the time described it as “…the laid back funk of the vocals resting on a deliciously liquid instrumental track like a body on a waterbed. Yet […]
Influential American abstract expressionist painter Lee (Lenore) Krasner, was born on October 27, 1908 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from high school, where she spent three years majoring in studio art, Krasner was awarded a scholarship and attended the Women’s Art School of Cooper Union and later studied at […]
At this time last year, the Metropolitan Opera was aflame in controversy about an opera production called The Death of Klinghoffer. The eight performances between Oct. 20 and Nov. 15 brought waves of accusation and defense, of every political and artistic variety, over this dramatization of a real-life cruise ship hijacking and murder. In that […]
On October 25, 2011, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously to landmark Westbeth, following through on a promise made seven years earlier to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and other community groups working to extend landmark protections in the Far West Village. In 2009, GVSHP’s nomination of Westbeth was accepted […]
We celebrate Landmarks50 by taking a look at Joseph Papp Public Theater (often referred to as The Public Theater), which, at the time of its designation in 1965, was the Astor Library / New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. This individual landmark at 425 Lafayette Street was built in 1849 and completed in 1881. The […]
“You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish rye,” was the slogan for a brand of bread baked in Brooklyn, and offered with a memorable ad campaign to the wider world. Well, you also don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy a feast for the senses tomorrow evening, Thursday October 22, when […]
Ever since the Stonewall designation back in June, the push for designating LGBT sites around New York City and Greenwich Village has been met with more energy and enthusiasm. One site in particular, Christopher Park, has gained the attention of the National Park Service (NPS), thanks to the advocacy of the National Parks Conservation Alliance, […]
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on February 22, 1892 in Rockland, Maine. But the Village was always in her blood; her middle name, St. Vincent, came from the Greenwich Village hospital where her uncle’s life had been saved just before her birth, and she often referred to herself as ‘Vincent.’ Millay moved to Greenwich […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Greenwich Village in the early 19th century had a varied mix of racial communities living within its boundaries. As slavery was not formally abolished within New York until 1827, there existed both slave and free black communities, inhabiting an area around the now disappeared Minetta Creek (namesake for Minetta Lane/Minetta Street) known as “Little Africa.” […]
We continue the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Landmarks Law by learning about individual landmarks in and around Greenwich Village. Next up: the Bayard-Condict Building in NoHo. Located at 65-69 Bleecker Street, the Bayard-Condict Building is universally considered one of the most significant commercial building utilizing skyscraper structural techniques in New York City. […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the adoption of the NYC Landmarks Law in 1965, we took a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. On October 13, 2009 the Ralph and Ann E. Van Wyck Mead House (later Isaac T. Hopper Home […]
This year the city is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Landmarks Law that created the legal framework to preserve for posterity the architectural and scenic treasures that help make our city so aesthetically and culturally rich. In the East Village, two historic cemeteries were designated as individual landmarks in 1969, not long after the […]
Eight years ago today, on October 8, 2007, GVSHP published the report, “The Italians of the South Village” as part of the Historic South Village Preservation Project — you can see and read about the Columbus Day celebration GVSHP held to announce the release of the report here. The purpose of this project was to […]
Today marks the 11th year and anniversary of the Art in Odd Places (AiOP) festival. AiOP is a visual and performing arts festival that strives to present works outside the confines of traditional public space and stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm. The festival itself runs along 14th Street, all the way […]
There are hundreds of individual landmarks in Manhattan alone – many in Greenwich Village, NoHo, the East Village and surrounding areas. In celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Landmarks Law, enacted in 1965, we’re taking a look at some of these important sites, one of which is the Andrew Norwood House at 241 West 14th Street. […]
New York City is known as one of the art capitals of the world. Art is all around us – from the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side to the galleries of Chelsea and beyond. We are often told to look up as to not miss any of the magnificent architecture above our heads. […]
What is it about James Baldwin? This writer, long recognized as an important voice in American literature, has been gone for over a quarter-century, yet seems to be speaking incessantly in the country’s ear. He was born in Harlem in 1924, and died in the south of France in 1987, and achieved the kind of […]
Our latest examination of honorific street names takes us further into the East Village to 1st Avenue. From 14th Street all the way to Houston, 3 honorifics exist along this avenue: Jodie Lane Place- Located on 11th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A, there is an unfortunately tragic story behind this honorific. Jodie Shonah Lane (1973-2004) […]
The writer we know as Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans. Although he grew up in the South, he and his family moved to New York in 1933, where he lived until moving to Connecticut in 1939. In 1942 the family returned to New York, and soon […]
There are hundreds of individual landmarks in Manhattan alone – many in Greenwich Village, NoHo, the East Village and surrounding areas. We’re taking a look at some of these important sites, one of which is the 203 Prince Street House.
When we think of Art Deco architecture in New York City, what often comes to mind are Midtown icons such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, or Rockefeller Center. However Greenwich Village and the East Village boast some of their own Art Deco gems, also worth examining.
One of the quirkiest and most beloved icons of the Village and its propensity for non-conformity, defying the street grid, and embracing a diminutive scale is also the smallest piece of property to ever be privately owned in New York City. The story of the ‘Hess Triangle,’ at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue South […]
The East Village was the first home of the Ferrer Modern School of New York City. First located at 6 St. Marks Place, this school was based on the European model of the Esquela Moderna founded by Catalan educator and anarchist Francisco Ferrer, executed for sedition in 1909. Ferrer espoused education for all regardless of […]
Today is Yom Kippur, so let’s take a look at some East Village buildings that are, or used to be, synagogues. Jewish immigrants to the East Village and Lower East Side were a significant segment of the population of these neighborhoods, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sixth Street Community Center, 638 East […]
The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) at 135 Second Avenue was designated an individual New York City landmark September 20, 1977. The library was built in 1883-4 by Oswald Ottendorfer, a wealthy German newspaper magnate, along with the adjoining Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital. These buildings are both representative of Kleindeutschland, or “Little Germany,” […]
On September 20th, 1966, the Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark. One of New York’s most beloved and iconic landmarks, the Flatiron Building is known for (among other things) its unique shape, formed by the intersection of Broadway and 5th Avenue forming an acute angle amidst the otherwise right-angled, rectilinear street grid of Manhattan. […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. The building complex now known as Colonnade Row, first named LaGrange Terrace, was one of the first properties landmarked under the Landmarks Law in […]
Greenwich Village is home to what is considered by many one of the finest examples in the nation of a mid-century modern residential complex: the University Village/Silver Towers. Designed by I.M. Pei & Associates with James I. Freed as lead project architect, the complex was built between 1964 and 1966. Critics from the time of […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
As we here at GVSHP have previously discussed, many streets in Greenwich Village bear an honorary secondary name recognizing important people and institutions associated with the Village and its history. These honorary names are given in additional to the street’s standard or existing name, and typically only applies to a specific block. These renamings are implemented by […]
A while back on Off the Grid we wrote about some of our favorite theaters. Theater, performance spaces, and the arts have all always been an important part of the Village, East Village, and NoHo’s cultural heritage and built environment. And last week, as part of our free public programs, we started a series about theaters […]
Renowned musician Andy Statman and the Andy Statman Trio will perform in the main sanctuary of the Eldridge Street Synagogue on Thursday, October 22, 2015. This special concert, presented by the GVSHP Brokers Partnership and benefiting GVSHP and the Museum at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, provides a unique opportunity to hear one of today’s best klezmer […]
Today is the second installment of a new occasional series, “The Village Seen,” to display the work of the many talented visual artists in our neighborhoods. Longtime East Villager Patricia Melvin has been painting downtown for more than three decades; you may have seen her stationed outside with her easel near Jefferson Market Library, St. […]
On September 9, 2003, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Gansevoort Market Historic District. GVSHP led the fight to protect the important historically significant buildings in this neighborhood, and continues to fight today when those protections are threatened. In its designation report (read the two parts here and here), the LPC noted that the […]
Today we’re thrilled to welcome aboard Sarah Bean Apmann, GVSHP’s new Director of Research and Preservation. Sarah fills the position most recently held by Amanda Davis. In her new position, Sarah will interact with the public in many capacities, including as the point person for GVSHP’s review of landmarks applications, coordinator of our historic research, and […]
For many people, Labor Day means one last trip to the beach or pool before the unofficial end of summer. Or some need to finish their back-to-school shopping, so it means a day at the stores. How you spend your Labor Day is up to you, but here at Off the Grid we are well […]
Chess tables have been a staple of New York City public parks for decades. While the first ones appeared in parks during the 1940s, the popularity of “street chess” as it is known, came about beginning in the 1960s when a man named Bobby Hayward set up a chess set on top of a garbage […]
Next Wednesday, September 9th, a City Council hearing will be held on a bill that will drastically change NYC landmarks preservation protections. Intro. 775, if passed, would give those opposed to historic preservation a new tool to remove historic structures from our city. Read this Gotham Gazette editorial published today by GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman: “Intro. […]
On September 1, 1940, Lillian Wald passed away. While not a household name, Wald’s influence on public social services in New York City is exemplary, as she is the founder of the Henry Street Settlement, The Visiting Nurse Services of New York, and is the namesake for the Lillian Wald Houses on Avenue D in […]
On Wednesday, September 9, a bill will be introduced to the City Council that, if approved, will deal a devastating blow to the cause of historic preservation. The bill, Intro 775, would impose strict, unfair deadlines and rigid timeframes to the landmarks application process, potentially enabling the demolition of historically or culturally significant properties. This […]
It’s been over four years since the original It Happened Here: 80’s Music Videos graced the pages of Off The Grid. But like all good sequels, this one hopes to be worth the wait. These last dog days of summer often make one think of their misspent youth; and what better way to see how much […]
Dive bars and dead prostitutes! While these could be plot points in any Hollywood movie, back in the late 19th century these unwholesome characteristics gave the infamous McGurk’s Suicide Hall its name. Originally located at 295 Bowery (between Houston and East 1st Street) and opened in 1893, McGurk’s was the latest in a string of […]
That’s the name of Tim McDarrah’s new walking tours. The tours are based on the photographs his late father, Village Voice photojournalist Fred W. McDarrah, took of people and places in the Village starting in the mid-1950s. I joined Tim and a group of 8 others recently for an amazing 90-minute journey through the neighborhood […]
There’s an appealing 1951 painting by Stuart Davis owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, though it’s not currently on view in the new building. Vibrant and memorable, the work is titled “Owh! In San Paõ.” The Whitney explains the unusual name: “…Davis had planned to exhibit it at the 1951 Biennial in São […]
Acclaimed author and journalist Tom Wolfe is known for his use of New Journalism (employing fiction-writing techniques such as sustained dialogue, well-developed characters, and vivid scenes) and for his best-selling books including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). After earning his Ph.D. in American Studies in 1957 and […]
Greenwich Village has long been associated with the arts and countercultural movements. Former publishing house Grove Press in particular exemplifies this history. Founded in 1947 and named for its location on Grove Street in Greenwich Village, Grove Press rose to prominence after it was purchased by Barney Rosset Jr. in 1951. Though the original location is not […]
Last night GVSHP held a public program co-sponsored by The Merchants House Museum; The Merchant’s House Museum – A Tale of Survival, a lecture and slideshow with Michael Devonshire. The Merchants House is one of only a handful of interior and exterior NYC landmarks, and is one of the first designated NYC landmarks. Michael Devonshire is a commissioner at the […]
Today we launch a new occasional series, “The Village Seen,” to display the work of the many talented visual artists in our neighborhoods. Longtime East Village resident Dan Efram is a producer, manager and curator in various media, whose sensibilities as a photographer caught our attention. As you can see in full on his Instagram […]
On August 18, 1970, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated landmark status to the grand Greek Revival house at 37 East 4th Street. The house was built in 1844-45 by Samuel Tredwell Skidmore, a relative of Seabury Tredwell, who lived with his family a few doors away at 29 East 4th Street, known today as the […]
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its doors at its new location—99 Gansevoort Street—on May 1, 2015. Founded by sculpture and arts patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum famous for twentieth-century and contemporary art of the United States, first opened on West Eighth Street in 1931. The Whitney later moved uptown and beginning in 1966 […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Here at Off the Grid we are primarily concerned with Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, but tomorrow we will be happy to help our neighbors celebrate an important anniversary. It was on August 14, 1973, that the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District.
The hyped musical “Hamilton” opened on Broadway last weekend to rave reviews. The excitement surrounding the musical and the legacy of Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States’ Founding Fathers, has us reflecting back on Village history and preservation related to the famed New Yorker (and his rival, Aaron Burr). 54 MacDougal Street Located in […]
On August 11, 1981, the interior first floor of the Ottendorfer Library received landmark designation from the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission. The building is a prime example of work commissioned for and utilized by the primarily German population of the late 19th and early 20th century, when the East Village was known as […]
On this day, 45 years ago, the famous McSorley’s Old Ale House at 15 East 7th Street (just east of Cooper Square) in the East Village admitted its first female patron following a discrimination lawsuit by the National Organization for Women. GVSHP 2015 Village Award Winner Barbara Shaum was the bar’s neighbor and became the bar’s […]
On August 7th, 1967, the J.M. Kaplan Fund and the newly-constituted National Endowment for the Arts announced plans for a project that would help transform Greenwich Village, New York, housing for artists, industrial buildings, and older industrial cities across the world. The project was the conversion of the disused former Bell Telephone Labs on the […]
Police brutality, class warfare, gentrification — today these are hot button topics, both nationally and in New York City. But on August 6, 1988, frustrations over these issues converged in the form of protest and riots in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. These protests reflected somewhat the shifting nature of the park and the neighborhood […]
The Ashcan School refers to a loosely knit group of urban realist painters based in New York City during the early 20th century. Founded by artist and teacher Robert Henri in Philadelphia around 1891, the movement attracted a gathering of newspaper illustrators including George Luks, John Sloan, William Glackens*, and Everett Shinn. Artists of the […]
Aaron Hill, a dedicated Greenwich Village resident and New School Assistant Professor of Data Visualization, has compiled an interesting new map for GVSHP. This interactive map is sortable by the height and age of every building in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The map also provides the date built, square footage, number of units, number of […]
If you have ever noticed the beautiful row houses along MacDougal Street and Sullivan Street between Houston Street and Bleecker Street, these are part of the MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District. There are 22 houses included in the district. The addresses are 74-96 MacDougal Street and 170-188 Sullivan Street. The houses were built in 1844 (MacDougal […]
Here at Off the Grid we are sad to report that we have lost a good friend. Bert Waggott, a long-time Greenwich Village resident, graphic designer and professor of graphic design at Pratt Institute, passed away on Monday. Bert accepted our Village Award in June of 2013 for his work in the Winston Churchill Square […]
East Village activists were surprised to learn recently that the city’s Department of Buildings had issued new work permits for 605 E. 9th Street, the former public school that served as the CHARAS-El Bohio community center for two decades, until it was sold by the Giuliani administration to a private developer in 1998. Since 2001, […]
Twenty years ago today the movie ‘Kids’ was released. The film is about a day in the lives of a group of New York City teenagers. The film received more than its share of negative reviews and accusations of exploiting and sensationalizing its teenage subjects. But unsurprisingly a movie about young people being independent and participating in adult activities […]
Marvel Duchamp was born in France on July 28, 1887, trained as a painter in Paris until 1905, and spent much of his adult life living in Paris and New York City. His early work was Post-Impressionist, but in 1914, Duchamp introduced his readymades. These common objects, sometimes altered, presented as works of art, had […]
Great Jones Street is located between Lafayette Street and the Bowery and is named for Samuel Jones, who was born on July 26th, 1734. Jones was born in what is now Massapequa and educated in Hempstead. He spent part of his youth with the Merchant Marines before deciding to settle down and study law. At the […]
David Bowie’s plastic soul-funk hit “Fame,” his first (and one of only two) American number one singles and a biting cautionary tale about success and excess in the entertainment business, was released on July 25th, 1975. The song is considered a classic of the era, and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 […]
I recently read the novella Washington Square for the first time, eager to see how this 1880 work by Henry James might paint the Square of olden days. Although the story was absorbing – centering on the relationship between a successful physician and the grown daughter who disappoints him – it didn’t provide quite as […]
We received several emails from readers asking about the history of their building following our post about Bagatelle. 95 Horatio Street, aka “The West Coast” is a 320-unit rental property that takes up almost a full block from Horatio Street to Gansevoort Street and Washington Street to West Street. This property encompasses nine lots that were […]
Today there are many ways for us to access the news: radio, print, television and internet. However, back in 1899 the only way to get the news besides word-of-mouth was to read it in the newspaper. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young children (mostly boys – but girls too) called newsies would […]
On Friday, July 17, 2015, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation lead tours around the East Village looking at buildings that made up the German immigrant community in the late 19th and early 20th century. Kleine Deutschland, or “Little Germany” at one point boasted one of the largest German-speaking communities in the world and many […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
The Donald has been in the news quite a bit lately, which is always fun for everyone. Mr. Trump’s recent verbal assaults on our senses and sensibilities have reminded us of some of his shenanigans in our neighborhood over the years, largely in connection to the Trump SoHo ‘Condo-Hotel,’ and just how much the City […]
NYCityMap is a user-friendly portal containing various ways to access the wealth of information it contains. Users can locate specific buildings – with links to relevant websites for each facility – as well as use it as an single-access entry point to find many of the numerous location-based applications on NYC.gov (including: online property, building, […]
It’s summer and the flowers are in bloom! We are so lucky to have so many parks and gardens in Greenwich Village and the East Village, where we can enjoy beautiful flowers, without having to do any of the gardening work. One of my favorites is 2013 Village Award winner Sir Winston Churchill Square. This […]
Stonewall was designated an individual landmark on June 23, 2015. Since then, people have asked us why, if the building was already located in a designated historic district, was the “double landmarking” necessary?
On July 9th, 1819, Rose Butler was executed in the Potter’s Field located in what is now Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Rose, a nineteen year old black female slave, was convicted of arson. She had set fire to the residence of her owners, though there were no reported injuries or casualties other than […]
Long-time Off the Grid readers will remember the stir that was caused last summer when an ill-informed real estate listing described the property at 121 Charles Street as a development site. GVSHP was quick to let people know that the property’s location in the Greenwich Village Historic District meant that any proposed work would require […]
Cinema Village, located at 22 East 12th Street, is the oldest continuously operated cinema in Greenwich Village and one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in the city. Information from GVSHP’s research notes the following about the Cinema Village building: The façade appears to date from a 1964 alteration. The NB application shows that the […]
Although the summer months mean vacation time for some people, here at GVSHP, we don’t slow down! Our free public programs are still in full swing. This Wednesday evening we’ll present a program with our co-sponsors at The New School about the history of this Village institution. Julia Foulkes, Associate Professor of History, has entitled […]
Many people know the restaurant Bagatelle located at 1 Little West 12th Street for their lavish brunch parties, where as one recent brunch reviewer stated “I’ve never seen so many bottles of Dom Perignon ordered in my life”. Bagatelle helped changed the face of NYC brunch in 2008 from a laid back Sunday afternoon meal to a […]
Historically, the Village and East Village have always been the place for artists, writers, performers, and a slew of other creatives in New York City, a fact that is widely celebrated as one of the area’s defining characteristics. The HOWL! Festival is a celebration of this history. Founded in 20013 and named for long time […]
Last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision ruling that same-sex couples can marry nationwide occurred nearly 46 years to the day after the famed Stonewall Inn Riot. Supporters continue to show their elation with rainbow colored-everything – from banners and socks to layer cake and even a Facebook app that lets you shade your profile picture […]
Following on some groundbreaking events last week – the LPC designation of the Stonewall Inn as the city’s first LGBT individual landmark and then the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality – we thought we’d feature some historic images taken by photographer Diana Davies. Yesterday, we also celebrated the 46th anniversary of the June 28, […]
Think about the neighborhood where you live, whether West Village or East, Astor Place or University Place. Regarding your retail shopping options, if you could pick one of the following as your reality, would it be: Status quo: both independent businesses and chain stores open and close in response to current market conditions Chain stores […]
On June 23, 2015, The Stonewall Inn, the place where the modern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement was born, was officially designated a city landmark, becoming the first landmark designated by New York City soleyor primarily based upon its significance to LGBT history (GVSHP proposed and led a year and a half […]
There are many reasons to celebrate the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. Not only did she change the role from passive hostess to active political leader, she also became an outspoken politician in her own right. During her time as First Lady (from 1933 to 1945), Eleanor Roosevelt […]
On the corner of 12th Street, the highly ornamented 817 Broadway is a visual treat. The building, which turns 120 years old this year, was constructed in 1895 to the designs of prolific architect George B. Post. Post designed several well-known buildings in New York that have long been demolished, so it was nice to […]
In June of 1969, a not uncommon police raid of the gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, was met with a spontaneous resistance that launched the modern Gay Liberation Movement here in Greenwich Village. Ellen Shumsky, a young photographer, joined the movement as an activist and documentarian. As an insider, she captured images of the people, […]
Perhaps the most well-known art movement associated with Greenwich Village is Abstract Expressionism (also known as the New York School). Abstract Expressionism, which focused on the portrayal of emotions rather than objects, originated in the Village during the mid-1940s, and artists of the movement echoed Surrealism (think Salvador Dali’s dreamlike paintings) and/or European Modernism (think […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
This is the final post on the 2015 Village Awards. Previous posts highlighted Barbara Shaum, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, David Rothenberg, The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation and the 201 East 12th Street Renovation. Join us tomorrow as we honor these awardees at the 2015 Village Awards. Today we look at the 2015 Regina Kellerman Award Winner – James and Karla Murray.
Shirley Hayes is a pioneering figure in the preservation of the Village and the fight against Robert Moses’ planned Lower Manhattan Expressway through Washington Square Park. She was born on June 15, 1912 and would have been 103 today. Back in the year 2000, GVSHP had the honor of interviewing Mrs. Hayes as part of […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the winners of GVSHP’s 2015 Village Awards, in the lead up to our June 17th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Previous entries include Barbara Shaum, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, David Rothenberg, and The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation. Today we will look at the amazing renovation job at 201 East 12th Street.
Structures from New York City’s past are leading vibrant new lives all around us every day. An 1878 military drill hall is now an exhibition space for cutting-edge art and performance; an 1865 firehouse serves as a community media center; an abandoned rail line from the 1930s draws throngs of visitors in its second life […]
Today we welcome Lauren Snetiker, the newest member of our staff, who joins the GVSHP team as our Development and Communications Manager. Lauren is looking forward to managing the individual membership program, initiating and maintaining website and interactive features, and creating print materials for special events. She is excited to be part of the important […]
