Our Beyond the Village and Back series takes a look at great landmarks in New York City outside of our neighborhoods, finding the sometimes hidden connection to the Village. Today we take a slightly unorthodox approach of looking back at a groundbreaking exhibit which took place on June 18, 1994 at one of our city’s most beloved […]
On June 15, 1904, a disaster of unprecedented proportions took place in New York City, resulting in the loss of over 1,000 lives, mostly women and children. This largely forgotten event was the greatest peacetime loss of life in New York City history prior to the September 11th attacks, forever changing our city and the […]
Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley) was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas. He was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer who was one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll as it emerged in the 1950s. His impact on music and musicians resonates to this day, and those who cite him as […]
Once again, another date has come that lines up with an intersection in the Village, but as the calendar starts to climb, our focus also starts to move westwards. In honor of today’s date, we are taking a look at some of the buildings and history on and around the intersection of 6th Avenue and […]
On June 6th in 1892, the Chicago “L” (elevated train line) began running. But did you know that elevated trains (or “Els” as they were known) were once a not uncommon sight throughout the Village and East Village? The IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit) 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Avenue lines all ran through our neighborhoods […]
As we reflect upon the life and legacy of Robert F. Kennedy, his central role in the progress of civil rights in America comes immediately to mind. Kennedy was to become one of the heroes of the movement for his tireless and ultimately successful work through the Department of Justice to secure the Civil Rights […]
This is an updated version of a previous post by Andito Lloyd. On May 30, 2012, GVSHP officially launched its historic plaque program with the unveiling of our very first plaque, commemorating the life of Justus H. Schwab and the role he played in the social movements that shaped the East Village and the Lower […]
One of the most radical and influential women of the 19th century changed the course of public health history while living and working in Greenwich Village and the East Village. Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female doctor, established cutting-edge care facilities and practices throughout these neighborhoods, the imprint of which can still be felt to this […]
With its parallel octagonal towers rising above the beach, the sprawling Art Deco bathhouse complex at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways has, since opening in 1932, served as a monument to Art Deco design, grand public works, and popular beach-time fun.
Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city — its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is […]
Nirvana is one of the most influential alternative rock bands of all time. They helped to popularize this genre of music and brought the Washington State grunge scene that emerged in the 1980’s-90’s to the masses. Though most closely associated with that other coast, on April 26th, 1990, the band played a highly important gig […]
Standing diagonally on its lot at the intersection of East 10th Street, Stuyvesant Street, and 2nd Avenue, St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery is the oldest site of continuous worship in our city. The cornerstone for the church was laid on April 25, 1795, and the church we know and love today isn’t even the first structure of […]
In the course of our research about buildings and events in our neighborhood, we often come upon some unusual characters and stories. One which certainly qualifies is Richard Harding Davis, an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama born on April 18th, 1864, andthe house he lived in, 108 Waverly Place (between Washington Square and […]
The 12th of April isn’t a particularly special day of the year, but the spots around 4th Ave. and 12th St. are some special locations themselves. In honor of today’s date, we are taking a look at some of the buildings and history on and around this intersection.
Ida Tarbell was a trailblazing writer and investigative journalist – although she famously did not like the term “muckraker” — who is best known for exposing the corrupt business practices of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil.
Valerie Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) is nothing if not divisive. She was a mysterious Villager known for being a radical lesbian feminist separatist, for writing the wild, controversial SCUM Manifesto, for shooting Andy Warhol and two others at Warhol’s Factory in Union Square and defending herself at her trial. It’s clear that what is known […]
On April 6th, 1968, The Who rocked the Fillmore East as part of a two-night residency. On April 20th, they will release a double CD and triple LP of that seminal two-night stint, in honor of its fiftieth anniversary. The Who have played around the world for decades, but among their many performances they chose to […]
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an […]
On April 3rd, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what would become both his last and one of his most powerful speeches, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” In it, he called for unity and non-violent protests while challenging the United States to live up to its promise and ideas, saying he could see the day […]
Victoria Woodhull is perhaps best known (if she is known at all) as the first woman to run for President of the United States, a campaign she first publicly announced on April 2, 1870 with a letter to the New York Herald. In fact, she was so much more. This one-time resident of what we […]
On March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was certified as duly ratified, prohibiting the denial of citizens the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” by state or federal government. This was of course meant to ensure that African-American men could vote, though that right was […]
On March 7th, 1898, Our Lady of Pompeii Church was incorporated as a separate parish. This South Village icon has been serving the neighborhood since 1926, but Our Lady of Pompeii has been a part of the Village since 1892. In addition to serving the neighborhood, Our Lady of Pompeii also has a connection to […]
Continuing our celebration of Women’s History, today we look at a seminal figure not only in women’s history but medical history as well — Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. You may already know that she was the first woman in the United States to receive her medical degree. But did you know that she not only lived […]
On March 5, 1967, a rather unusual new arrival made its way to the West Village from way uptown. Decades later, it’s hard to imagine the Village without it. It would be a vast understatement to say that the house currently located at 121 Charles Street is a unique building with a complicated history. Based […]
Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and ’70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, […]
Exploring African American history in our neighborhoods, today we look at Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a woman who, in her simple quest to get to her church on East 6th Street sparked one of earliest challenges to institutionalized racial discrimination in public accommodations. In 1854 Graham challenged the segregation of New York City’s trasportation system, about […]
Greenwich Village has been known throughout its existence for breaking new ground and embracing outsiders. One often-forgotten but important element of that trailblazing narrative is the extraordinary role the Village played in relation to African American history. The neighborhood was home to North America’s earliest free Black settlement in the 17th century, to some of America’s […]
In continuing our celebration of black history, we have a new and exciting entry to our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map: North America’s First Freed Black Settlement. According to historian Christopher Moore, the first legally emancipated community of people of African descent in North America was found in Lower Manhattan, comprising much of present-day […]
The innocuous-looking apartment building at 226 East 13th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, may raise few eyebrows now. But on February 8, 1976, the building became synonymous in the popular imagination with drugs, prostitution, runaways, murder and mayhem, steeped in the urban decay which many saw as defining New York City in the 1970’s.
On February 7, 1960 the New York Times wrote an article discussing changes in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. Four years beforehand the El (above ground subway) had been removed from Third Avenue. With that barrier dismantled, Villagers from the west began to move east as “new shops, luxury and middle-income housing, and […]
In this part of New York, the Stuyvesant name is all around us: Stuyvesant Street, Stuyvesant Town, Stuyvesant Square, the old Stuyvesant Casino (a former East Village jazz club, now the site of the Ukrainian National Home) and, Stuyvesant Polyclinic, just to name a few. Many know that this stems from the Stuyvesant clan being the […]
On January 16, 2004, Jodie Lane was walking her dogs in the East Village, where they began to act erratically around the corner of 11th Street and 1st Avenue (about a block away from GVSHP’s offices). When Jodie went down to investigate, she received a fatal dose of electricity coming from a metal ConEd junction […]
The stately church building at 141-145 West 13th Street in the West Village is the picture of serene elegance. Built in 1846-47 in the Greek Revival style, the classical balance and symmetry of the façade mask a history full of controversy, including the birth of a notorious slur in American politics, which arguably changed the […]
The following is a re-posting of a post by Elizabeth Finkelstein from 2011: Call it whatever you’d like: antique, vintage, or historic. If one thing is for certain, the Village is really, really old. Old by New York City standards, and even old by American standards. But which building is the oldest of the old? 121 Charles Street […]
Most New Yorkers spend some time underground every day as part of their daily commute, but some spend eternity beneath our streets, and in a few cases occupy some pretty surprising real estate. Manhattan cemeteries are tougher to get into than Minetta Tavern without a reservation on a Saturday night because as far back as 1823, New […]
On December 21, 1969, the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) was founded. Almost exactly six months after the Stonewall Riots, the group was founded by Marty Robinson, Jim Owles, and Arthur Evans, as an offshoot of the Gay Liberation Front. The GAA was intended to be a “single issue, politically neutral [organization]”, whose goal would be to […]
“These are the times that try men’s souls…” so says the opening line of the first pamphlet of the series, The American Crisis, written by Thomas Paine, which was published on December 19, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Journal. Paine, an eighteenth-century philosopher and author of the Enlightenment, was known as the ‘Father of the American Revolution,’ in large […]
On December 14th, 1963, the Presbytery of the City of New York officially voted that the historic Spring Street Presbyterian Church would close its doors at the end of the month of December, with the last service to be held on December 29, 1963. Why is this important to us today? For so many reasons, […]
Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while […]
On this date in 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to designate the final piece of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District, an incredibly important part of our rich history. After a hard-fought, ten-year campaign led by GVSHP, three new historic districts were created including the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II in 2010, the South Village Historic District in 2013, […]
Many today are too young to remember that the name LaGuardia didn’t always just refer what is frequently called the worst airport in America. Rather, it also referred to a three-term New York City mayor often cited as New York City’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political […]
On December 5, 2012, GVSHP asked the New York State Office of Historic Preservation to find Julius’ Bar (a Village Award winner) eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places based upon research and documentation we provided (click HERE to see the letter), citing its critically important place not just in New York […]
Jimi Hendrix would have turned 75 this week. In his brief 27 years and even briefer musical career, Hendrix left an indelible mark upon guitar playing and rock music, permanently transforming both art forms. But perhaps in some ways his most lasting impact came from a project completed just three weeks before his death–the opening of Electric […]
If you look at Astor Place and Cooper Square on a map, it looks as though somebody took a lasso and tied a bunch of streets together. Multiple streets and thoroughfares converge and diverge here, and perhaps because of that, this New York City nexus has a long and varied history. One longtime witness to […]
Who doesn’t know the opening notes? Who can’t recognize the wild, seething energy behind them? Who hasn’t seen his face, wavering with smoke and mystery? We heard him at concerts and celebrations all over the world. We watched and heard those first stark notes at Woodstock. We see him in his bright, colorful outfits. We […]
As we reflect upon the turbulence of the past year, we at GVSHP are continually reminded that while the times may be tough, we have an abundance of things for which we are deeply grateful. We have prevailed in several of our most “nail biting” issues. And we continue to fight another day!
On November 22, 1909, a frail 23-year-old woman, who’d been brutally beaten by strike-breakers, was helped up onto the stage of the Great Hall at the Cooper Union. Leaders of the labor movement – all men – had been speaking for hours to a crowd of thousands, speaking out against poor garment factory working conditions […]
I recently wrote about the rich and interesting cultural history behind the Ukrainian National Home, located at 140-142 Second Avenue just south of 9th Street in the East Village, for the website 6sqft. That incredibly diverse story extends from Peter Stuyvesant and his direct descendants to German teetotalers, Jewish gangsters, Ukrainian Nationalists, Dixieland Jazz stars, […]
On November 14, 1851, Herman Melville’s magnum opus, Moby-Dick, was published. Unlike the search for a white whale, it isn’t difficult to find Melville’s deep connection to the Village, as his grandfather is the namesake of Gansevoort Market.
Last time we put out a call to the public to help us solve some mysteries in historic photos, we got a great response. While we have identified many of the people and places in the photos on GVSHP’s growing image archive, some still remain a mystery, and therefore we are putting out a call […]
The African Free School was founded on November 2, 1787 in Lower Manhattan by the New-York Manumission Society and founding fathers Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. It was the very first school for blacks in America. Ultimately consisting of seven schools, the system’s third school was located in Greenwich Village, at 120 west 3rd Street, then known […]
As a surprise Halloween treat, this year’s Bowery Boys ghost stories podcast is focused all on the Village! While some of the stories are quite familiar to us at GVSHP, two particularly caught our eyes and ears: one about a haunted NYU dorm and the other about a townhouse on Bank Street…
There’s no overstating it – we at Village Preservation love our members and friends sharing old mementos and images of our neighborhood. Personal or family pictures taken of one’s surroundings or familiar spots often now become, years later, important historical documents. Case in point: we’ve just added to our ever-growing Historic Image Archive a mini-collection of […]
Our neighborhoods are home to many charms and delights, known throughout the world. But they’ve also been home to more than their fair share of horror and mayhem. Below are just a few of the more notorious examples that have wreaked havoc upon our neighborhoods. The Butchery on Bond Street On January 31st, 1857, dentist […]
Puerto Rico is in our hearts and minds these days, both as the island continues to work towards a sustainable recovery after Hurrican Maria, and with the upcoming federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus. Columbus landed on Puerto Rico in 1493, which was already populated by the Taino people, whom the Spanish also referred to […]
Many think of Little Italy’s Mulberry Street or the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue as the centers of Italian-American life and culture in New York. But some of the most historically significant sites relating to the Italian-American experience in New York can be found in the Greenwich Village blocks known as the South Village–from the first church […]
As a historian and researcher who frequently relies on census data for information, nothing frustrates me more than the fact that nearly all of the 1890 Federal Census records were lost. For those who don’t know the story, the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1921 in the basement of the Department of […]
There’s no shortage of sites in the Village and East Village where great makers of popular music lived or performed. Less well known, however, are the multitude of sites that were the backdrop for iconic album covers, sometimes sources of inspiration for the artists or just familiar stomping grounds. Today, many are hiding in plain […]
Walking on East 9th Street the other day I saw a new and surprising element on the Mud Cafe storefront at 307 East 9th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, that I never before noticed. The inviting bench that is usually outside was moved for a delivery, and one could see what at first appeared […]
The utilitarian building at 151 Avenue C between 9th and 10th Streets would hardly elicit a second glance from the casual passerby today. But its unassuming looks belie the incredible story of how Gilded Age science and philanthropy converged here to save thousands of children’s lives. In the 1800s, intestinal infections and diseases like tuberculosis caused by […]
On this day in 1664, then-Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered what was known as New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to English naval Colonel Richard Nicolls. The European settlement on Lenape indigenous lands extended as far as Wall Street at the time and was the cause of a protracted war, despite the lore of […]
Lafayette Street in NoHo is much on my mind today. September 6 happens to be the birthday in 1757 of the man for whom the street is named, the Marquis de Lafayette — an immigrant and a hero of the Revolutionary War. It’s also on my mind because I grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, and […]
Though the Village Voice ceased production some time ago, old issues can provide a nice insight into what was going on in the neighborhood and the world in years passed. So today we’re taking a look back at the August 31, 1967 issue, to see how things were looking as the “Summer of Love” came […]
The most notorious bank robbery in New York City history took place on August 22, 1972, during the decidedly dog days of that long hot summer. Immortalized in the film “Dog Day Afternoon,” it was an unlikely anti-hero tale with a backstory that began in Greenwich Village, interwoven with the social and political currents running […]
It was August 23 of 1813 when the Common Council of New York City officially put the name “The Bowery” on the books as a city street name. But New Yorkers had already been calling it by that name for centuries, and native residents of the island had been walking its path for even longer. […]
One of many wonderful things GVSHP does is accept donations of old photos for our historic image archive, so we can share them with the world. Old photos of course can be wonderful to view, and provide valuable information about historic sites, events, or people, as well as charting how things have changed over time. […]
This is an updated re-posting of a piece written by former GVSHP staffer Dana Schultz. 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 […]
On August 2nd, 1967, MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens was designated a New York City historic district. These 22 homes surround a beautiful private garden oasis, and this was one of the first historic districts to be designated in our area, prior to even the Greenwich Village Historic District in 1969 (only the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District was designated earlier, […]
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Richard M. Nixon be impeached and removed from office. And while many remember the two year saga which placed the executive office and country in turmoil, they might not remember that several prominent Villagers were at the forefront of this chapter in our history. […]
On July 26, 1775 the United States Postal System was established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General. Franklin, in his turn, put in place the foundation of many aspects of today’s mail system. Today, the U.S. Postal Service is one the nation’s largest civil employers, with over 40,000 […]
On July 25, 1916, New York City adopted the very first zoning rules anywhere in the country. This system for regulating the size, height, use, and other related characteristics of new development revolutionized the way cities looked and developed, and changed forever how we see property rights and our responsibilities and obligations to our neighbors […]
On July 14, 1789, the Storming of the Bastille was the galvanizing event that kicked off the French Revolution. The Bastille was a fortress-prison that held both political prisoners and a cache of weapons. By storming the oppressive structure, the revolutionaries were not only able to obtain armaments to further their cause, but provide a symbol […]
1804. Weehawken. Dawn. Guns. Drawn.* Perhaps the most famous duel in American history took place on July 11, 1804, a result of a bitter political rivalry. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had been at loggerheads off and on throughout their careers, but escalating tensions between the two led to their face-off on a dueling ground […]
This is a re-posting of a piece written by GVSHP’s Matthew Morowitz. Sunday, July 9th marked the 198th anniversary of the last execution that took place in Washington Square – the site of our neighborhood’s now-beloved public park. To commemorate this striking and layered anniversary, we are reposting an article on the subject originally written […]
In the wake of the Stonewall anniversary last month, it’s a good time to look back at some of the inspiring figures that were involved with the uprising that helped cement Greenwich Village as the birthplace of the modern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) right’s movement. Marsha P. Johnson, a black transwoman, is iconic […]
This summer, members of GVSHP’s first-ever book club (myself included!) are reading Tim Murphy’s Christodora together. It’s a time-travelling exploration of evolving neighborhoods, the impact of HIV/AIDS, and how the lives of New Yorkers can intertwine and connect in ways you never quite expect. Each week, members receive an email containing story recaps, additional reading, discussion […]
The infamous raid on the Stonewall Inn occurred at 3am on June 28th, 1969, and was followed by five nights of ongoing protests. These events came to be known as the Stonewall Riots or Uprising, which is considered to be a major turning point in the gay rights movement, or in many ways the birth of […]
The Espionage Act was passed on June 15th, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I in April of that year. Its goals included limiting interference with recruitment efforts and preventing the support of enemies of United States during wartime. In his message to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson warned that the war would require a […]
Gansevoort Market, a giant, open-air farmer’s market located on the enormous block between Gansevoort and Little West 12th streets, Washington and West Streets, officially opened for business on June 15, 1884. This was the former site of Fort Gansevoort, and is now the home of the Gansevoort Market Meat Center and the Whitney Museum. That […]
Two pretty big things, actually, which is surprising, considering one is the funky heart of our nation’s largest city, while the other is a ‘city’ of 36,000 in pretty sparsely-populated northeastern Oklahoma. And we’re betting that depending upon your areas of interest, while you may know one surprising connection between the two places, you probably don’t […]
This is an updated version of a previous post by Andito Lloyd. On May 30, 2012, GVSHP officially launched its historic plaque program in partnership with the Two Boots Foundation with the unveiling of our very first plaque, commemorating the life of Justus H. Schwab and the role he played in the social movements that […]
The following is an updated re-posting originally authored by Dana Schulz. As May is Lower East Side History Month, we at GVSHP thought it would be nice to revisit a post from 2012 which gives a nod to ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ the British Museum’s BBC radio series and book.” We […]
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation recently released two new oral histories. Today, we dive into Otis Kidwell Burger‘s.
It was on May 17th, 1966, that the Schermerhorn Building at 376-380 Lafayette was designated a New York City landmark. The grand Romanesque Revival edifice was actually the third on Lafayette Street to be given landmark status, following Colonnade Row and the Astor Library (now home to the Public Theater, a 2017 Village Award winner!).
In commemoration of Jacob Riis’s birthday on May 3rd, we’re re-posting an earlier piece by Ted Mineau about Riis’ life and work. Interested in reading more about the famous photojournalist? Check out all our past posts on Riis and his legacy. On May 3, 1849, Jacob August Riis was born in Denmark. At age 21, he immigrated […]
One of my favorite places in New York has always been St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street. Long before I actually stepped inside it’s peaceful courtyard or impressive interior, I was so charmed by the way it sits diagonally on its lot – an obvious vestige of a bygone, pre-grid era in New […]
On April 23, 1976, the Ramones self-titled debut album was released, changing the face of music forever. Clocking in at just 29 minutes, ‘The Ramones’ was the absolute antithesis of the bloated, album-oriented, arena rock of the era. It was quick, it was simple, and anyone could play it in their basement or local bar […]
Seen a movie lately? If so, you have the West Village’s Bell Laboratories (now known as Westbeth) to thank for all the dialogue, music and sound effects that you heard. On this date in 1926, the revolutionary technology responsible for what were then known as “talkies” — or the addition of soundtracks to motion pictures […]
“Miss West, are you trying to show contempt for this court?” “On the contrary, your Honor,” Mae sweetly responded. “I was doin’ my best to conceal it.” Known for her easy, breezy banter, laden with double entendre, Mae West was a force to be reckoned with. In the mid-1920’s, West’s much-lauded vaudeville career was on […]
On this day in 1954, the West Washington Market, which stood on the west side of West Street at Gansevoort Street for sixty-seven years, was demolished, ending its tenure as the City’s meat, poultry and dairy market center. The Gansevoort Market area was actually home to three distinct markets that existed here at various times […]
This is an updated re-posting of a piece originally penned by GVSHP staff member Drew Durniak. It was on April 14, 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington. The event was the first assassination of an American president and sent shock waves throughout the nation. […]
This was originally posted by Amanda Davis, GVSHP’s former Director of Preservation & Research. It has been updated with new information. New law tenement at 151 Bleecker Street in the South Village. Photo by GVSHP. The 20th century had hardly begun when the New York State legislature signed into law a new act to address […]
He blew into town on a cold January day in 1961, slammed the door of his car, walked into Café Wha and landed a gig that night. That’s the legend, anyway. Truth is that he slogged around uptown hustling for gigs in the Theater District for months before the Village beckoned. But once he found […]
On March 3, 1865, The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, commonly referred to as The Freedmen’s Bank, was created by the United States Congress to aid freedmen in their transition from slavery to freedom. During the bank’s existence, 37 branches were opened in 17 states and the District of Columbia, making it one of the […]
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Witnesses point towards the fleeing gunman moments after King was shot. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a fifteen year […]
On this last day of Women’s History Month, we would be remiss if we didn’t salute one of my favorite 20th century female figures, Eleanor Roosevelt. Aside from being First Lady (1933-1945), a political leader, a social reformer, a civil rights activist, a writer, a mother and a UN delegate (1945-1953 & 1961-1962), she was […]
On March 30, 1974, the Ramones played their very first public performance. The Ramones are of course considered the inventors of punk rock, as well as the ultimate downtown band and the embodiment of the CBGB’s scene. The Ramones’ lightning-fast performances rarely lasted more than a few minutes.
The following is an updated re-posting originally authored by Dana Schulz. It was on this date in 1951 that the infamous Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage. The Jewish-American Communists, along with Soviet spy Morton Sobell, were accused of selling nuclear secrets to Russia. Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, worked at Los Alamos National […]
On March 29, 1516, the Venice Ghetto was established by decree of the Venice Ruling Council. The very first ghetto, it was a tiny 2 1/2 block area on a small, dirty island housing over 4,000 people. The name comes from the Italian getto meaning “casting,” or Venetian geto meaning “foundry.” The Venice Ghetto, long after the […]
106 years ago, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took place, which was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history. This tragedy is commemorated each year with memorials and reflections upon the plight and progress of workers, women, and immigrants. The Shirtwaist Factory Fire also offers a time to reflect on another more recent tragedy […]
