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Category: Neighborhood

Village businesses step up

It’s easy to see much of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. But one of the biggest impacts from the storm was the loss of income suffered by hourly employees due to businesses closed because of power outages, or the inability to get to work. Businesses are not required to pay hourly employees when they […]

“Simple Gifts” on Copland’s Birthday

This morning, just before Appalachian Spring played on the radio, I learned that today would have been composer Aaron Copland’s 112th birthday. This struck a particular chord with me as I grew up listening to his music. His pieces always brought to mind images of rural America, but, actually, Copland was born and raised in […]

Who is King Juan Carlos I of Spain?

Each December GVSHP teams up with students in the Introduction to Public History course in NYU’s Public History and Archives program for a unique event where students  present their semester-long research about the social history of a specific East Village street.  This year, in conjunction with GVSHP’s architectural resource survey of the East Village, the […]

Help a Village small business post-Hurricane Sandy

After riding out the week of Hurricane Sandy at home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as the Greenwich Village Society office was without power, I was fairly anxious to explore somewhere outside my local neighborhood once the city got transit underway. Because my usual train wasn’t running and I had to alter my commute, I found myself […]

Hudson Square Rezoning and the South Village

As GVSHP recently announced, the Hudson Square rezoning application is now on the desk of the Manhattan Borough President,  after Community Board #2 pointedly recommended it be turned down UNLESS the neighboring South Village is protected from its impacts through landmarking, allowable building heights in Hudson Square are reduced, and other changes made.  Like GVSHP, […]

Chelsea Market Should Not Have Been Upzoned

Just prior to Sandy’s devastation, we reported the disappointing news that the City Council had agreed to approve the upzoning of Chelsea Market and allow a developer to construct two large additions atop the historic complex.  The deal, brokered by City Council Speaker Quinn and approved by the Council’s Land Use Committee, was headed to […]

Tonight’s Program Cancelled

Tonight’s program, Greenwich Village Catholics: A Lecture by Thomas J. Shelley, is cancelled. This evening’s program, Greenwich Village Catholics, with Thomas J. Shelley is cancelled because of complications from the storm. GVSHP plans to reschedule this program as soon as we possibly can.  Thank you for your understanding while we continue to recover from Sandy.In […]

Following Sandy: Our Neighbors in Need

Many residents in and near our area are still without power, heat, or water.  Some are elderly or infirmed, and some have small children. Two complexes in need are Westbeth in the West Village and Fulton Houses between 16th and 19th Streets in Chelsea. To help at Fulton Houses: Come at noon or 3pm to […]

75 First Ave.: The Incredible Shrinking Development Plan

We have recently learned that a new building permit application has been filed with the Department of Buildings for 75 First Avenue in the East Village. The permit, just filed and not yet approved, calls for an 8-story residential building.  What had originally been proposed was a 14-story building that would have been completely inappropriate […]

Get Involved: Landmarks Review at Community Boards

Following up on our earlier post discussing public hearings at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, we thought we’d focus our attention on another important part of the landmarks public review process: community board hearings. Alterations to landmarked buildings that require an LPC public hearing must also be presented to the local community board. GVSHP attends all […]

Honor Local Business in November

Promoting and celebrating local, small businesses in the neighborhood has always been a top priority for GVSHP.  Such establishments create a valuable and unique presence in our neighborhoods, vital to their character.  This November, we are offering three exciting lectures that will focus on historic local businesses in the Village.  Each event is distinct in […]

A Video Legend in the East Village

Today marks the anniversary of the opening of the first Blockbuster store in the country in 1985, in Dallas, Texas.  Filled with childhood nostalgia, we couldn’t help but recall the days when a trip into the local video store to pick out a VHS tape was one of the more exciting moments of any given […]

Your East Village Historic District Guide

Last Tuesday, October 9th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. Stretching between the Bowery and Avenue A, East 2nd Street and St. Mark’s Place, the district includes about 325 buildings and is the largest  ever created in the East Village. We’re excited to see that landmark protections have […]

Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde

Irish writer Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born October 16, 1854. The author of many short stories, plays such as The Importance of Being Ernest and The Duchess of Padua, and the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde was a popular writer during his lifetime, and continues to be so today. To celebrate […]

Jodie Lane’s Place

When you’ve been living in, working in, and researching the East Village for many years you sometimes start to think you know it all.  But then there are moments when you’re casually walking down the street, look up, and see something you have never before noticed and know nothing about (this is the beauty of […]

A Look Back at the Public Theater

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 13th, the Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street (off Astor Place) will be hosting a block party to celebrate the re-dedication of their historic theater space, and you’re invited! The block party will run from noon to 5pm and will also feature an open house in the historic NoHo space. According to […]

5th and 14th — Then and Now

The New School’s new building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 14th Street is getting closer and closer to being completed.  After topping out back in May, the patinated brass and glass cladding has been steadily climbing the sides of the new sixteen-story building (full view below) which will house dorm units and library and […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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) […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Astor Place: Then and Now

  Astor Place — in one form or another — has been part of Manhattan’s landscape for centuries. It follows the path of an old Native American trail that appears on maps of the island at least as early as 1639.  Today we thought we would take a quick look back at the area’s more […]

Titanic Connections

In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, the 883 foot long, 50 ton, and reputedly unsinkable ocean liner the RMS Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage from England to New York off the coast of Newfoundland, after hitting an iceberg just before midnight the night before. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, […]

Researchers Rejoice 1940 Census Released!

Yesterday, the National Archives released its records of the 1940 Census. And that’s a big deal because census records remain sealed for 72 years. So historic researchers, genealogists and family history buffs rejoice, you can now track down information on who lived where and what they did in 1940. Census data has certainly been useful to […]

What’s in a Name: Bleecker Street

It is hard to imagine Bleecker Street, with its high fashion boutiques, small businesses, cafes, and food shops as farmland, but then again it is hard to visualize any part of Manhattan in its rural state. Bleecker Street’s provenance is that of the Bleecker family, prominent New York City citizens who owned farmland in the […]

Happy 20th Anniversary, Blue Man Group!

Twenty years ago today, on November 17th, 1991, Blue Man Group “Tubes” opened at NoHo’s own Astor Place Theatre, where the group continues to dazzle audiences to this day. Happy Anniversary to one of our favorite things in the Village!

372 Lafayette Street – Take Two!

Back in August, we wrote about 372 Lafayette Street, the proposed new building designed by Morris Adjmi that will – once given the go-ahead by the Landmarks Preservation Commission – occupy the site of the existing one-story garage on the corner of Great Jones Street in the NoHo Historic District. The LPC was only partially […]

My Favorite Things: Alamo (the Cube)

It’s fall, 1967. A one-ton steel cube is dropped by the Lindsay administration into the middle of a grimy traffic island in an increasingly dodgy part of town. Instantly scuffed and plagued by graffiti, the hulking, monochromatic form could have easily been dismissed as a bland mid-century beautification scheme. A stark gift to the people […]

Stop the Presses!

As GVSHP announced on its blog last Thursday, we will be hosting a fundraiser in November featuring our own Greenwich Village writer Calvin Trillin, and the 98-year-old appetizing store Russ & Daughters. The event is taking place at Astor Center, the food and wine educational center connected to Astor Wines & Spirits. We thought we […]

On Set in the Village

Last week we took a look at some of the many Village locations used on the television series Friends. Not content to stop there, however, today we are going to showcase more locales in and around the Village which were supposedly the scene of several popular TV shows. Let’s start with Will & Grace.  Where […]