Counter Culture: New York City‘s Greatest Diners and Luncheonettes with James and Karla Murray

Join us as photographers James T. and Karla L. Murray speak about their most recent book, Counter Culture, and some of our neighborhoods’ and New York’s most iconic lunch spots, such as B&H Dairy and Veselka.

Blending New York history, culinary culture, and interior design with epicurean delight, Counter Culture offers a wealth of details to be savored at length over a black-and-white cookie. Perch on a swivel stool along the sweeping Formica counter where the action is hot, or slide into a cozy booth, perusing the sumptuous array of comfort foods like syrup-soaked pancakes, classic burger and fries, and bottomless mugs of coffee — or sample family favorites from the old country, like Greek gyros, Ukrainian borscht, Cuban sandwiches, Thai disco fries, and Korean fried chicken wings. In Counter Culture, there’s a little something for everyone.

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In the Footsteps of Bridget Murphy: The Life of an Irish Servant at the Merchant’s House Museum

Now featuring recent research on the lives of Irish immigrants, this “back-stairs” tour tells the heroic story of the Irish women who worked in domestic service in 19th-century New York. You’ll visit four floors of period rooms at the Merchant’s House Museum, from the ground floor kitchen to the 4th floor servants’ quarters, experiencing what daily life was really like for the Tredwells’ Irish servants.

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Follow in Her Footsteps — Greenwich Village Women’s History Walking Tour

This is the inaugural program in conjunction with our WE STAND public art and history project. Created by Village Preservation to celebrate remarkable women from Abigail Adams to Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marsha P. Johnson to Patti Smith, Jane Jacobs to Sonia Sotomayor. Women who have lived, worked, and transformed our neighborhoods and our country. Visionaries whose legacies continue to inspire. 

Join Village Preservation as we take a walk through history in our own backyard and learn how our neighborhoods have impacted women’s history in New York City. 

We’ll learn about notable women and Village residents, including the first female Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, pioneering female doctor Elizabeth Blackwell, and singer and activist Billie Holiday. The tour will end at Village Preservation’s newly installed WE STAND arch in Washington Square Park, where participants can learn more about the incredible trailblazing women who have called the Village home.

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Vibrant Chaos — NYC’s East Village and Lower East Side in the 1980s

Sure to evoke memories for many, join us as photographer Peter Bennett speaks about his new book Vibrant Chaos —NYC’s East Village and Lower East Side in the 1980s.

Peter Bennett photographed the East Village and Lower East Side during the early 1980s. Bartending by night and shooting by day, Peter captured the colorful street life of St. Mark’s Place, the dystopian landscapes of Alphabet City, the unique shops, cafes, and clubs, and the music and art world. These photographs, mostly taken on Kodachrome color slide film, show what everyday life was really like in this eclectic community.

Peter recently donated several of his images to Village Preservation for a collection in our historic image archive. Learn more about Peter’s photography and see samples of his work at his website Citizen of the Planet Photography.

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Underground Railroad Tour of the Merchant’s House Museum

Join us for this special tour of the Merchant’s House Museum.

This tour will focus on the construction and history of the house through the lens of it original builder Joseph Brewster, a staunch abolitionist, who designed the house with a hidden passageway, making it one of Manhattan’s only documented sites of the Underground Railroad. We will also discover what daily life was really like for a wealthy merchant-class family and their Irish servants in the mid-19th century, when New York City evolved from a seaport to a thriving metropolis. The tour covers four floors of period rooms of this landmark late-Federal and Greek revival style rowhouse.