Historic Station Sequel

Last week, amid the news of an added connection between the Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street subway stations, we offered you the history of the Bleecker Street station, which is listed on the State & National Register of Historic Places.  There is another nearby station that fits this historically significant bill as well- Astor Place. One […]

A Mystery No More

As Curbed and EVGrieve recently pointed out, the renderings for a new building to be constructed on the long-empty lot between 13th and 14th Streets near 3rd Avenue were released the other day. The 83-unit residential building will include “private rooftop cabana terraces,” a residents’ library, fitness center, lounges, and a rooftop terrace with an […]

Storied Village Music Venue to Close

  Kenny’s Castaways, the music venue which has been located on Bleecker Street near Thompson Street since 1976, will stage its last performance tonight. Citing rising rents and a decreased audience, the storefront at 157 Bleecker will become a gastro pub that will also feature music, according to the New York Times.

Board of Standards and Appeals Green Lights Rooftop Additions in East Village

The Board of Standards and Appeals recently decided in favor of developers seeking to build rooftop additions at 329-335 East 9th Street and to allow illegally built additions to remain at 514-516 East 6th Street.  GVSHP, residents, community advocates, as well as Councilmember Mendez had testified before the Board in opposition to the additions citing […]

Map It! Lots Shaped by Minetta Brook

Next in the Map It! series is an unusual quirk in our streetscapes that few people may have noticed.  In fact, it wasn’t until last week when I was looking at the Sanborn map for block 576 that I happened to spot this strange deviation in a neighborhood where idiosyncracies are already the norm. So […]

“Flaw Fixed” at a Historic Station

Yesterday’s news headlines were abuzz with the phrase “subway flaw fixed,” in reference to today’s opening of the connection between the Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street stations.  As the New York Times explains, “Until this week, only riders on downtown No. 6 trains at Bleecker Street could transfer to the B, D, F or M lines […]

Finally, East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Scheduled for Vote

We recently learned that the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District has been scheduled for a vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 9.  Since the district was announced nearly a year and a half ago, GVSHP and other preservation advocacy and community groups have pressed for the LPC to designate the proposed historic district […]

In Memoriam: Howard R. Moody

The Reverend Howard R. Moody, Minister Emeritus of Judson Memorial Church was born on April 13, 1921, and died on Tuesday, September 12, 2012 at the age of 91.  Moody’s 35-year ministry at Judson had an enormous impact on Greenwich Village and New York City. He worked for social justice for those outside the system, reformed […]

Then & Now: Seventh Avenue South

When I was home recently I looked through one of my parents’ photo albums and happened to find this photo of Seventh Avenue South taken at some point in the 1970s. I thought it would make for a great then and now. Even though not that much time has passed, there have been a number […]

Fashion Week Faux Pas

Part of GVSHP’s work with the community is our Preservation Watch program —a way to help ensure that landmarks, buildings, and zoning violations are reported and the law enforced, and to preserve our neighborhood’s historic integrity. GVSHP wants to ensure that such violations are reported and acted upon as swiftly and thoroughly as possible. That […]

Fashion in the Park

With Fashion Week ending yesterday, we thought we’d wrap up our week with a look at some fashions of yesteryear in which the Village played a supporting role. The urban landscape of our neighborhoods has long been a favorite for photographers both as a subject in its own right and as a character-filled backdrop.

What’s In a Name? The Fireman’s Memorial Garden

As we continue to document the research we have compiled on every building and site in the East Village, we run across some incredible stories of the neighborhood’s history. Such is the case for a site at 358-362 East 8th Street, a lush green oasis in the middle of the block between Avenues C and […]

A History of the East Village in 10 Objects

The New York Times recently published an amazing article titled “A History of New York in 50 Objects,” which was “inspired by ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ the British Museum’s BBC radio series and book.”  Of course, we couldn’t resist compiling our own list in reference to the Village.  Here, we look […]

Happy 9th Birthday to the Gansevoort Market Historic District

This coming Sunday will mark the ninth anniversary of the designation of the Gansevoort Market Historic District. The first new district to be enacted in the Village since the first Greenwich Village Historic District in 1969, Gansevoort Market was designated as a mercantile district consisting of industrial, commercial and residential buildings historically linked to the […]

Reminder: Critical Public Hearing Tonight

We hope you can join us for an incredibly important community board public hearing tonight that will affect the future of both the South Village and Hudson Square. It’s at 6:30 tonight at the Saatchi Building at 375 Hudson Street, Ground Floor, ‘S’ space (facing King Street). The City is moving ahead with a plan […]

It’s Back to School at GVSHP’s Lecture Tonight!

Feeling the end-of-summer/back-to-school blues?  Get back in the academic spirit this evening with our free lecture- C. B. J. Snyder’s School Design in the Village. Urban public schools are some of the most architecturally intriguing buildings in the dense city landscape. In New York City, Charles B. J. Snyder almost singlehandedly made school design what […]

Before Stonewall: The “Sip In” at Julius’

GVSHP recently received an inquiry from a researcher looking for information about the historic 1966 “Sip In” that took place at the bar Julius’. This seminal protest, which challenged the regulation that bars were not allowed to serve homosexuals, took place three years before the historic Stonewall Rebellion. While there are many resources for those […]

Few Republicans, And One Big Political Paradox, in the Village

As most everyone knows, we’re kind of map and statistics geeks here at Off The Grid.  Thus it’s no surprise that a handy little tool put together by WNYC in the wake of the Republican National Convention, mapping the levels of Republican voter registration throughout New York City, caught our attention. The interactive map (below) […]

A Call for Consistency: LPC and 186 Spring Street

As we have covered in past Off the Grid posts, the South Village building at 186 Spring Street holds strong historical significance for its role in the Lesbian and Gay Civil rights movement and the early fight against the AIDS epidemic. We presented this information to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (read our letter HERE) in the […]

C.B.J. Snyder and P.S. 64

We hope you can join us for our upcoming lecture on Charles B. J. Snyder on Tuesday, September 4th (RSVP information). An architect and Superintendent of School Buildings from the city’s consolidation in 1898 until 1923, Snyder was the guiding force behind the planning and construction of more than 140 elementary schools, ten junior high […]

Yesteryear: The Theatre Unique

Today, we think of Times Square when we think of the theatre district, but over 100 years ago, 14th Street centered around Union Square was full of theatre houses. The photo above shows what 136 East 14th Street looked like in 1908 when it was occupied by the Theatre Unique. It’s hard to believe that […]

Press Conference to Save 186 Spring Street: Press Release and pictures

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release                                                                                   August 22nd, 2012 EARLY GAY RIGHTS LANDMARK FACES DEMOLITION BUT CITY AND DEVELOPER REFUSE TO SAVE IT Gay Leaders and Preservationists Rally to Preserve Threatened 1824 House With Profound Role in Gay Rights and AIDS Activist History Manhattan – Today the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) was joined […]

Spot the Shot: 229-231 East 12th Street

The building from this “Spot the Shot” post is at 229-231 East 12th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. “The Claremount” was constructed in 1901 by developer Max Weinberg, who built a number of buildings in the East Village and Lower East Side at the turn of the century. Designed by Weinberg’s architect of choice […]

Women Like Beer Too

Walk into McSorley’s Old Ale House today and you will see an equal mix of the genders enjoying a beer.  It’s hard to imagine that for 116 years this would not have been the case, as women were not allowed into the establishment.  The philosophy was, “Good Ale, Raw Onions, and No Ladies.” In 1939, […]

Jennifer Aniston Proposal at Storied Village Restaurant

  Blue Hill, the one-star Michelin rated restaurant located on Washington Place between Washington Square Park and Sixth Avenue, just added another star to its roster. On August 10, actor-screenwriter Justin Theroux proposed to Jennifer Aniston during a quiet dinner at the Greenwich Village restaurant. Blue Hill, which features farm-to-table dining, has been featured in […]

Spot the Shot: Do You Know the Location of This Building?

  Do you know where this building is located? One of the most well known and talented families of Yiddish theater who also happened to own some of the theaters on the Yiddish Rialto once called it home.  It was built by one of the most prolific developers in the Lower East Side and East […]

Inside the LPC: Public Hearings vs. Public Meetings

So, why do we start this blog post with a photo of the Municipal Building located downtown across from City Hall? We thought we would dedicate some time here at Off the Grid to understanding the workings of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the city agency charged with the task of safeguarding historic buildings across […]

Carmine Street Garage on East 4th Street

Don’t let this title confuse you- it’s the magic of Hollywood!  GVSHP’s favorite prohibition-era series Boardwalk Empire is back filming in the East Village today, in the empty lot next to 220 East 4th Street.  Above the entrance-way to the lot a large sign was erected reading “Carmine Street Garage.”  When the show’s plot detours […]

An Unfortunate Facelift on East 12th Street

A 19th century row house on the south side of East 12th Street between Second and Third Avenues is currently undergoing a facelift, though we can’t say it’s for the better. No. 224 East 12th Street was constructed in 1852. Since this year pre-dates the formation of the New York City Buildings Department in 1866 […]

A Greenwich Village Guide: 1959

Although more and more of the research that GVSHP documents and shares is done online today, we also house a modest non-circulating resource library which contains fiction and non-fiction books, reports and guides on the subject areas of Greenwich Village, Historic Preservation, and New York City history. The library also contains hard copies of designation […]

Little India in the East Village

Many people know that the East Village is abundant with Ukrainian restaurants and Eastern European lunch counters.  They also know that there are plenty of old-school Italian joints to get some authentic red sauce or cannolis.  But another part of the East Village’s mouth-watering culinary heritage is its own Little India– a block of 6th […]

Remembering the former Pennsylvania Station

On August 2, 1962, a group of concerned citizens protested in front of Pennsylvania Station, the McKim, Mead, and White Beaux Art structure in pink granite that spanned two full city blocks. The impending demolition of this historic structure was opposed by leading architects, artists, and critics, including Philip Johnson, Aline Saarinen, and Villagers Eleanor […]

Back To School

Amid the cast-iron facades of commercial and converted residential buildings between Broadway and University Place in the Village resides a large brick and brownstone institutional building. With its Police Athletic League (PAL) banners and Police Department signage over the door, it looks like it could have been an old station house re-purposed for PAL uses. […]

Welcome to 1940s Greenwich Village

GVSHP recently came across a great website called 1940s New York.  In 1943, four local newspapers published a New York City Market Analysis, which provided hundreds of photos & color-coded maps, statistics, and short narratives about neighborhoods across the city, all based on the 1940 census.  According to the site, “The Center for Urban Research […]

My Favorite Things: Archive Edition II

One of the most frequent questions we get at GVSHP is where to find historic photographs. We have focused on this topic before here at Off the Grid, but the newly created online gallery at the New York City Municipal Archives is such an excellent resource, we thought it deserved another look.

City Council Votes to Approve NYU Plan

Today the City Council chose to ignore thousands of New Yorkers and by far the majority of NYU faculty, staff, and workers who had called upon them to reject the plan. GVSHP had offered several alternative approaches which both the university and the City Council refused to consider.  As you have seen in previous Off […]

An Update on 27 East 4th Street

For a few months now, many of you have been following the proposal for a new nine-story hotel at 27 East 4th Street. The site, which currently holds a one-story garage, sits directly next to the Merchant’s House Museum, one of the few exterior and interior landmarks in the city. Because 27 East 4th Street […]

Adaptive Reuse in Chelsea

Simply put, adaptive reuse is defined as the process of adapting old structure for new uses.  From a preservation perspective, adaptive reuse is often a wonderful way to preserve historic buildings while still updating them for modern living or working.  It is also an effective way to reduce urban sprawl and environmental impact. There are […]

The Truth About Open Space & The NYU Plan

Although NYU’s massive Village expansion plan was modestly reduced at this week’s City Council Land Use Committee meeting (the university would still get over 80% of what it proposed), if it is approved by the full City Council next week, the plan would still dramatically alter the physical character of the neighborhood. While much attention […]

NYU Development Battles Past and Present

The Atlantic Cities featured an article called “A Brief History of NYU Land Battles” on its site this past Tuesday, before the City Council Land Use Committee voted nearly unanimously to approve a slightly modified version of NYU’s massive proposed Village expansion plan. The article details the history of four different university developments the Greenwich […]

LGBT History and 186 Spring Street

In light of demolition plans that GVSHP uncovered for the Federal row house at 186 Spring Street, we recently discovered an incredible bit of history about the building. If surviving nearly 190 years in the ever-changing landscape of New York City isn’t remarkable enough, 186 Spring also stands as a significant link to the early […]

Mapping the Italian South Village

It’s no secret that preservationists often turn to maps for inspiration and research, but it isn’t all the time that a map can can lead to an extremely revealing discovery.  Over six years ago, when GVSHP was in the throes of its South Village research, we came across a deceivingly simple map from 1919.  This […]

The 1863 Draft Riots and Abigail Hopper Gibbons

As Off the Grid chronicled last year, today is the anniversary of New York City’s draft riots, five days of rioting, looting, burning, and wanton violence that erupted after the Federal government instituted the Draft Act of 1863, the first instance of compulsory service in the federal military services. The riots began on July 13, […]

St. Anthony of Padua – Then and Now

St. Anthony of Padua Church has stood on Sullivan Street in the South Village since it was designed and built in 1886 by Arthur Crooks. St. Anthony’s is America’s earliest extant Catholic church established to minister to Italians and served the South Village’s growing immigrant Italian population at the turn of the 20th century. Not […]

Come Out to Weigh In on East Village Landmarks

Tomorrow, July 12th, marks a big day for landmark review in the East Village. That’s because Community Board 3‘s Landmarks Subcommittee will be holding its first public hearing regarding proposed alterations to two landmarked properties in the St. Mark’s Historic District. GVSHP will be attending the meeting, as we do in Community Board 2, and […]

The New School vs. NYU — A Telling Comparison

The New School recently “topped out” its new “University Center” at 65 Fifth Avenue at 14th Street.  With the building now having reached its full height and bulk, and the facade beginning to take shape, it’s worth comparing this project, The New School’s ambitious look toward its future, with NYU’s proposed developments under its twenty-year […]

Cool off at the Tony Dapolito Center

Summer makes one think of our public pools and recreation centers (whether they’re open or not). The first one that came to mind was the Tony Dapolito Center, which opened on May 6, 1908.  Located on 7th Avenue between Carmine and Clarkson Streets, this South Village recreation center is named after the late “Mayor of […]

    Manic Panic – 35 Years of Making Our Lives More Colorful

    You can’t watch a music video, open a fashion magazine or even walk down the street without seeing the latest fashion craze,  Technicolor hair. Like so many fashion trends (mohawks on toddlers, anyone?) wearing brightly colored hair started as a rejection of mainstream culture, primarily among the youth of the punk scene.  The brand that has […]

    Greenwich Village Generals

    This week, the Fourth of July holiday has us here at Off the Grid thinking about the connections the Village has to the Revolutionary War. While the Village remained a pastoral suburb of the city proper during the war, there are some reminders of the fight for independence in the neighborhood.

    Hot Dog Hottness

    The food world is abuzz with anticipation of Joey Chestnut and the 97th annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest which takes place tomorrow.  Although we love a good frank here at GVSHP, no one on staff can throw them back quite at that level.  To make up for our lack of eating competition skills, […]

    Pride on West 13th Street

    As June comes to a close, we wanted to celebrate Pride Month with a look at one of the great resources of our community, the LGBT Community Center.  Located at 208 West 13th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, the Center “provides a home for the birth, nurture and celebration of our organizations, institutions and […]

    Map It! Stuyvesant Street

    Next in the Map It! series is Stuyvesant Street, which runs through the northern portion of the East Village between Second and Third Avenues. Today, it’s one of the shortest streets in the city, but did you know at one point it was much longer?

    Happy Birthday to Four NYC Landmark Districts

    Two years ago today, the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II, or what GVSHP terms the South Village Phase I District, was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. It seems that come this time in June, many new landmark districts are born.

    Save the Date – East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Hearing – June 26

    On Tuesday, June 26 the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. This historic district was proposed last year by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and its boundaries were extended after GVSHP and other community groups advocated to include sites like the Pyramid Club at 101 […]

    Prohibition is Back

    Right around this time last year, we were more than excited by the filming of Boardwalk Empire at nearby restaurant John’s of 12th Street (check out photos from the filming HERE).  So we were thrilled last week when EV Grieve alerted us that the prohibition-era mob show would be back .  Today the HBO series […]

    On This Day: Gansevoort Market Opens

    On June 14, 1884 – or 128 years ago today – a municipally-sanctioned public market was opened on the five-sided block bounded by Little West Twelfth, Washington, Gansevoort, West Streets and Tenth Avenue. Vendors primarily from New Jersey and Long Island came by ferry to sell produce. As you can see in the photo above, […]

    Save the Date: June 29th @ City Hall

    Start spreading the news — the City Council’s public hearing on NYU’s massive proposed Village expansion plan has been set for Friday, June 29th at 9:30 am in the Council Chambers, at City Hall. This is likely the ONLY public hearing the City Council will hold on the plan before a vote takes place in […]

    190 Homes for 190 Years

    Yesterday, the real estate and architecture blog-o-sphere was abuzz with Property Shark’s new interactive timeline, NYC Homes: Two Centuries of Architecture, spanning 1821 to 2011.   They created this feature in honor of the 145th birthday of Frank Llyod Wright and, much to our excitement, featured many houses in early historic districts such as Greenwich […]

    The Lower East Side History Project: 2012 Village Award Winner

    Fourth generation Lower East Side resident Eric Ferrara has always been interested in the history of his community. In 2003, he made his commitment to researching, documenting, and preserving the history of the neighborhood official by founding what is now the Lower East Side History Project.  The project will be presented with a 2012 Village […]

      Arturo’s: 2012 Village Award Winner

      Arturo’s, best known for its delicious coal-oven pizza, first opened on MacDougal Street in 1957 before moving to its current location on Houston and Thompson Streets in the early sixties. Their delicious food and family atmosphere have made it a popular destination in the Italian South Village for many years. Please join us as we […]

        Foods of New York Tours: 2012 Village Award Winner

        Foods of New York Tours was unofficially launched in 1998 by Todd Lefkovic, a New Jersey native who started coming to the Village in 1977. What began as a sideline job for Todd giving food tours of the Village to New Yorkers on Saturday afternoons has grown to become a successful business with seventeen employees […]

        LREI: 2012 Village Award Winner

        Educator, psychologist, and reformer Elisabeth Irwin founded the Little Red School House, an experimental curriculum within PS 61 in the Village, ninety years ago. While the school has grown over the years—it now offers a pre-kindergarten through High School education — it continues its progressive curriculum of social justice, active citizenship, and community service. The […]

          6th and B Garden: 2012 Village Award Winner

          The many community gardens of New York City were developed as the City tore down abandoned buildings in some of the worst neighborhoods and the community worked together to reclaim these blighted spaces. While the history of the 6th Street and Avenue B Garden closely follows this narrative, the current efforts of the garden to […]

            Viva Loisaida!

            This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Loisaida Festival, a celebration of Latino culture, community, and the arts. Marlis Momber, a commercial photographer who moved to and began documenting the East Village and Loisaida in the mid 1970’s, was kind enough to share an image she took of Luis Rivera, son of Adela Fargas […]

            Howard Johnson’s in Greenwich Village

            The show Mad Men reminded us all that Howard Johnson’s, that slice of mass-produced Americana, had a home in Greenwich Village in the mid-20th century, even as Greenwich Village was one of the spots in this country known for most visibly rejecting mass-produced Americana. Digging back we found scant but interesting  evidence of the chain’s […]

              Marilyn Appleberg: 2012 Village Award Winner

              It is hard to imagine East 10th and Stuyvesant Streets today without thinking about neighborhood resident and activist Marilyn Appleberg. Marilyn has worked tirelessly as an advocate for the blocks since she moved to the neighborhood in 1969. In recognition of her service, Marilyn will be presented with a 2012 Village Award, which will be […]

              A Campus Comparison

              As part of its massive proposed Village expansion plan, NYU is seeking to build 2.5 million sq. ft. of space – the equivalent of the Empire State Building – on the blocks south of Washington Square.  All of the university’s proposed development is prohibited under current laws and zoning, but would be made possible if […]

              Landmark Bid Pays Off at Former Horse Auction Mart!

              We’re thrilled to announce that last week the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to confer individual landmark status on one of our favorite East Village buildings: the former Van Tassell & Kearney Horse Auction Mart at 128 East 13th Street! The Commission’s vote marks the finishing touch on GVSHP’s six-year campaign to preserve this remarkable […]

              Have You Heard of the Green Book?

              No, it’s not about recycling and no, it’s not a list of past dates.  It’s a New York City resource that lists contact information for all city agencies and many of their important staff members.  For nearly a century the physical manual has kept New Yorkers informed about the agencies, offices, boards, and commissions that […]

              Architecture of the Spirit

              This weekend, the New York Landmarks Conservancy is again organizing the state-wide Sacred Sites Open House Weekend. This free event offers a unique opportunity to explore the interiors of more than 30 historic religious sites in New York City and 70 sites throughout New York State – and two right here in our neighborhoods!

              The Portico of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

              Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced 40 preservation projects in the running for grants through their annual Partners in Preservation program.  This program seeks to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of historic preservation, and this year it’s focusing on preservation in New York City. From April 26 through […]