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 […]
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, and David Rothenberg. Today’s winner that we will be profiling is The Chaim and Renee Gross Foundation.
Today we welcome to the GVSHP staff Matthew Morowitz, GVSHP’s new Administrative Assistant, replacing Meaghan Collins. We’re very excited to have Matthew on board, who will be involved in everything from GVSHP’s advocacy initiatives, to our educational programs, to our member services. You’ll see Matthew at many of our upcoming programs, as well as at […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the winners of the 2015 Village Awards in the lead up to the June 17th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Previous entries include Barbara Shaum and Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Today we will look at the many notable accomplishments of Villager and Fortune Society founder David Rothenberg.
This year’s Gay Pride Month certainly got off to an auspicious start with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission finally agreeing to consider the Stonewall Inn for individual landmark designation — a proposal GVSHP has been spearheading for the last year and a half — which would make it New York City’s first LGBT […]
If you’ve been involved in a movement for going on 40 years, you probably have a few things to say about it. And if you’re as observant and educated about the movement as Anthony C. Wood is about preservation in New York City, those things are probably worth considering. Make that definitely, in Wood’s case. […]
GVSHP presents free public programs all year long, at various venues throughout the East Village, West Village and everywhere in between. Our past two programs were particularly amazing, and got an especially enthusiastic reception from program participants. On Wednesday, May 20th we visited the Spanish Benevolent Society (founded in 1868) on West 14th Street near 8th […]
This is the second of six posts highlighting 2015 Annual Awards recipients. Visit here for more information on the 2015 Village Awards and Annual Meeting. The first blog post highlighted Barbara Shaum. Our second Annual Award winner is Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Bonnie Slotnick has lived on West 10th Street since 1976 and has been the owner of Bonnie Slotnick […]
On May 29th, 1913, the revolutionary musical and dance composition “The Rite of Spring,” by Igor Stravinsky, was first publicly performed at Paris’ Theatre des Champs Elysees. To say the world of music and dance was shaken as a result would be no exaggeration. The composition is considered a landmark of modern, avante-garde classical music, with its […]
In remembering the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination, the Merchant’s House Museum displayed a dress in the house that was worn by a member of the Tredwell family to an entertainment venue known as Laura Keene’s Theatre. In one of the pockets was a ticket from a performance there. This is how I first […]
With our Annual Awards coming up on June 17th, over the next few weeks on our blog we will present a little more information about each of our 2015 Annual Village Award Winners. Visit here for more information on the 2015 Village Awards and Annual Meeting. Today we will highlight 2015 Village Award Recipient Barbara Shaum, […]
Join us on Wednesday, June 17th for the 35th GVSHP Annual Meeting and 25th Village Awards Co-hosted by The New School
The new location of the Whitney Museum, near the High Line in the neighborhood known as the Meatpacking District, has been in the news lately, and has drawn large crowds. Many New Yorkers know that the Whitney Museum has been on the Upper East Side, on the corner of Madison Avenue and 74th Street, for […]
Since 1912, this site has served as a police station for the NYPD (it replaced a 19th century stable and feed store). Originally known as the 15th Precinct Police Station, it became the 9th Precinct in 1929 when the city’s precincts were renumbered. Fans of TV shows “NYPD Blue” and “Kojak” might recognize the building […]
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930. The trailblazing playwright, activist, and Nina Simone song inspiration was perhaps most closely associated with Chicago, but in fact she lived, went to school, and spent much of her life in Greenwich Village.
This past Saturday morning, after a cooling rain shower, a gaggle of curious people went traipsing around a handful of community gardens in the East Village. We visited eight gardens, plus the Wilmer Jennings Gallery, in just two hours, hearing from garden members at each one. Members are the people who actually do the work of […]
The Lower East Side means many things to many people. Working as an architectural historian in New York City, it means a great deal to me. I always consider it a joy to travel the world and learn the history of places near and far, but New York has always been special to me because […]
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 […]
GVSHP is proud to be a co-sponsor of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House Weekend, which is this weekend, Saturday May 16th and Sunday May 17th. According to NYLC: Each spring, congregations throughout the State open their doors so neighbors can experience first-hand the wonderful art, architecture, and history embodied in New […]
An Off the Grid reader contacted us to ask for more background information and history about the buildings mentioned in last week’s e-newsletter “Pushing the Envelope in the West Village“. Fortunately, with the resources available on GVSHP’s website, finding out more information on buildings in our neighborhood is generally pretty easy to do — we’ll walk […]
Modern dance pioneer Martha Graham was born on this day, May 11, in 1894. In the 1930’s, Martha Graham’s dance studio was located at 66 5th Avenue. This part of the Village was a hotbed of social activism, and Graham’s choreography, especially in pieces such as Panorama and Chronicle, was influenced by this. You can […]
In 1984, East Village resident Dan Root took some photographs for a book that a friend of a friend was going to write about the changing East Village. For a couple of months he took pictures, when time and money allowed, of this changing neighborhood. The book was never written and the photographs were put […]
Last week, GVSHP had the honor of hosting a public program “100 Years of Preservation: A Conversation with Anthony C. Wood”, founder of the New York Preservation Archive Project and author of Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks. GVSHP East Village & Special Projects Director Karen Loew led last Thursday’s intimate […]
“The Lower East Side is not gone yet,” Ryan Gilliam told the group assembled in the upstairs auditorium of University Settlement on the corner of Eldridge and Rivington Streets, the country’s first settlement house. “Asserting its identity, its history, its stories, and its complex culture is one way to push back at the forces that […]
Reprinted from Gotham Gazette, May 1, 2015. Think of the classic pieces of advice you’ve heard from parents, teachers or mentors along the way in life: Look before you leap. Think before you speak. Consider the source. Sometimes we forget the obvious. This has been the case over the past two years, as an organization […]
Yesterday’s 17th Annual GVSHP Benefit Village House Tour and reception was a smashing success. One of our highest grossing benefits ever, we had incredible weather, spectacular houses, a glorious reception with food and beverages at Ristorante Rafele. We are also incredibly grateful for the wine donated by Frederick Wildman and Sons, incredible support from local businesses […]
The weather forecast for this Sunday is beautiful — 70’s and sunny — the perfect day for a leisurely stroll through some of the most beautiful homes in Greenwich Village, followed by a delightful reception with cocktails and hours d’oeuvres in a stunning space. All while supporting historic preservation, cultural documentation and education, and GVSHP. […]
On this day, April 30th, in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America. After leading the Continental Army to victory over Britain in the War for Independence, Washington was a popular leader and logical choice. His first inauguration took place right here in New York City, at […]
On April 29, 1996, playwright Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical “Rent” made its Broadway debut at The Nederlander Theatre. As many Broadway show-goers and longtime East Village residents already know, “Rent” takes place in the heart of the East Village during the AIDS epidemic in the mid-to-late 1980s. This legendary rock […]
Okay, everyone, if you’ve been considering joining us for our annual house tour, but haven’t yet purchased tickets,then now is your chance! It’s this Sunday, May 3rd from 1 – 5:30 PM. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind opportunity to see six beautiful homes in Greenwich Village. This is also GVSHP’s biggest annual fundraiser, so […]
A friend of mine – and unabashed New York City chauvinist – has been known to observe a street in Manhattan and pronounce something like, “There’s more style on this one block than in all of Ohio.” (Sorry, Ohio.) Well, if that’s true, then Lower East Side History Month, beginning May 1, has more creativity, […]
