Most of us have just celebrated the unofficial beginning of summer with the Memorial Day weekend. The first Memorial Day, though, was observed on May 30, 1868, to honor those who died in the Civil War. Flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1873, New […]
Mills House Number 1 at 160 Bleecker Street (at Thompson Street) in the South Village was a large experimental ‘reform housing’ project built by noted architect Ernest Flagg from 1896 to1897 and financed by banker and philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills. The two ten story wings of the hotel for single men were composed of 1,500 small 5 […]
While Memorial Day is often known (unofficially, of course) as the kick-off to summer, it is an official U.S. Federal holiday that recognizes those who have died in service to our country. It began following the Civil War, but has since been extended to include all Americans who died serving in the military.
We’re gearing up for tomorrow’s LPC public meeting in which the commissioners will vote to “calendar” the proposed South Village Historic District. With this in mind, we thought we’d take a look at some buildings that once existed in the proposed area as part of our Map It! series. While Minetta Brook has long been […]
A recent post by Rock Cellar Magazine entitled “Rock Meccas of NYC: What Are They Now?” had us here at Off the Grid lamenting the loss of such wonderful music venues as the recently closed Kenny’s Castaways and Bleecker Bob’s Record Store. The article’s then and now photographs are a must see. But the music […]
Those following May Day protests today might be interested in learning about the day’s long roots in labor history, going back to 1886. May 1, 1886 was selected by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions at a conference in 1884 as a target deadline for labor unions to achieve a standard 8-hour work […]
Richie Havens, the iconic singer and guitarist, passed away yesterday at the age of 72. Though originally from Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, by his late teens Havens had moved to Manhattan and made his home in Greenwich Village, which was in the midst of the beatnik/folk revival scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
On April 17, 1423, an event took place which, implausibly enough, lead to the creation of the modern notion — or at least nomenclature — of ‘bohemia.’ ‘Bohemian,’ as commonly used in the West for the last two centuries, means a person who lives an unconventional lifestyle, often with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic, […]
Earlier in the week we looked at what sites the Landmarks Preservation Commission excluded from our proposed South Village Historic District in their draft proposed phase II designation. As promised, in anticipation of Monday’s night’s public property owner’s meeting on the draft proposal, today we are looking at what’s in. Hint: it’s some great stuff.
Last week the New York Times reported that a large collection of jazz photographs, an archive painstakingly assembled over six decades by the record producer and writer Frank Driggs, had been donated to Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mr. Driggs, a resident of Charlton Street in the Village for many years, was reluctant to part with […]
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 fifteen year campaign to make Dr. King’s Birthday a national holiday — the […]
GVSHP is proud to be working with PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and the Church of the Village at 13th Street and 7th Avenue to memorialize and celebrate Jeanne Manford. Jeanne died earlier this year at 92, but forty years ago this March she held the first meeting of what would […]
March is Women’s History Month; the month-long celebration highlights the accomplishments of women in various fields throughout our history. With so much to choose from in New York City alone, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has put together a slideshow of designated landmarks with 19th and 20th century connections to women in the field of […]
On March 25, 1911, at approximately 4:40 PM, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, just east of Washington Square Park. One hundred and forty-six women and men, mostly recent Jewish and Italian immigrants, many under the age of 20, died in the fire. […]
Yesterday, in anticipation of the vote on the Hudson Square rezoning, we took a look at some of the sites currently threatened or recently lost in the South Village. Today, we thought we’d take a look at some of the wonderful buildings which still survive in the area of the South Village not yet landmarked, […]
With the important vote on the Hudson Square rezoning by the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee this Wednesday, we will find out if the City Council will approve or deny the rezoning, and very importantly, if the City will commit to long-promised landmark protections for the South Village. Without landmark protections, the South Village will be […]
Well, we’ve been waiting for years — though certainly not waiting patiently or quietly — for the long-promised landmark designation of the South Village. Today we found out that it will be yet another couple of days until we find out about the historic neighborhood’s fate. The City Council met this morning for what was […]
This coming March will mark the twenty-sixth anniversary of the founding of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) — the direct action and advocacy group organized to affect change in order to fight the AIDS Crisis. ACT UP was formed in New York City after a series of meetings at the LGBT Community Center […]
Betty Friedan’s (February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) seminal work, The Feminine Mystique, was published on February 19, 1963 by W.W. Norton publishers, then located at 55 Fifth Avenue. After authoring The Feminine Mystique, Friedan would go on to become the national voice of second-wave feminism, help found the National Organization for Women (and serve as […]
In honor of Black History Month, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has released a list of 25 designated landmarks related to African-American culture and history. One of the 25 is the Charlie Parker Residence at 151 Avenue B in the East Village. The building became an official New York City Landmark in 1999 for its […]
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Archive and Oral History Project was begun in 1995, a project to document over sixty-five years of grassroots advocacy to “Save the Village.” The collection contains oral history interviews, clippings, and photographs that illuminate this preservation history. Today we’ll be spotlighting the oral history interview of Edith […]
From The Villager Newspaper, February 14, 2013 Op-Ed: Quinn Holds the Cards on Hudson Square Rezoning and South Village Landmarking http://www.thevillager.com/?p=10221 By Andrew Berman, Katy Bordonaro, Zack Winestine, Micki McGee, Richard Blodgett, Carl Rosenstein and Silvia Beam The Hudson Square rezoning currently before the City Council presents a rare case where a win-win is possible. Done […]
Last week the design team behind the AIDS Memorial in St. Vincent’s Park presented some design changes at a public meeting held at the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). Off the Grid has been covering this story as it’s gone through the public review process. We thought we would update you on this memorial designed to […]
Tomorrow evening GVSHP will be holding a special event at one of the East Village’s newest cultural hot spots- the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MORUS). Opened on December 8, 2012, on Avenue C between 9th and 10th Streets, MORUS preserves neighborhood history of the East Village and promotes scholarship of grassroots urban activism by […]
Today we note the passing of Edward I. Koch, Mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989 and former Greenwich Village Congressman, City Councilmember, and Democratic District leader. A resident of Greenwich Village since the 1950’s, for the last several decades Koch lived in an apartment overlooking Washington Square Park at No. 2 Fifth […]
Ninety-six years ago today a group of artists gathered at the top of the Washington Square Arch. Poet Gertrude Drick, painters John Sloan (who drew the etching above) and Marcel Duchamp, and Provincetown Playhouse actors Russell Mann, Betty Turner, and Charles Ellis got into the arch and up the spiral staircase through an unlocked door. […]
On this day, January 16, in 1919, Prohibition took effect, prohibiting the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.” Today, the Prohibition speakeasy has become a novelty in New York City. Countless new bars and restaurants spring up in “hidden” locations and seek to embody the old-time spirit of these illegal establishments. […]
This Tuesday, Jeanne Manford died at the age of 92. Sometimes referred to as the “Mother of the Straight Ally Movement,” Jeanne’s may not be a household name in all quarters, but her legacy and impact upon our broader culture is enormous. And it has strong roots in Greenwich Village, and its early embrace of […]
Yesterday, legendary architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable died at the age of 91 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 1963, Ms. Huxtable was appointed as the architecture critic for the New York Times where she became the first full-time architecture critic at an American newspaper and transformed architectural review into a mainstream and respected field of […]
Two weeks ago, Off the Grid featured a notice announcing the lighting of the tree in Tompkins Square Park. At this year’s lighting ceremony on December 9th, a plaque was also unveiled that details the history of the tree, and how its annual lighting is a memorial to the devastation of the AIDS epidemic on […]
Today marks the last day in 2012 of public hearings for the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the City agency in charge of regulating designated landmarks and historic districts across the five boroughs. At each public hearing, the LPC hears a number of applications from property owners who wish to make changes to their landmarked buildings. […]
Six and a half years ago, a pitched battle began against the scheme to construct a 454 ft. tall behemoth at 246 Spring Street which came to be known as the “Trump SoHo Condo-Hotel.” GVSHP and many neighbors and community groups opposed having this 46-story monument to ego and self-promotion in their midst, but unfortunately the zoning […]
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 […]
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 […]
Monday, October 8, is Columbus Day, a day of recognition of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World 520 years ago as well as a day to celebrate the contributions and heritage of Italian Americans. Though the parade on Monday will be on 5th Avenue, when we think of Columbus Day we are […]
Despite the cloudy skies, today GVSHP was joined by community, affordable housing, and tenant groups from the Village and Chelsea to call upon the City Council to reject the proposed Chelsea Market upzoning, which will come up for a vote next month. You can view a photoset of today’s press conference here as well as […]
We hope you can join us for tonight’s critical public hearing on the proposed Hudson Square rezoning at 6:30 pm at the Fire Museum, 278 Spring Street (Varick/Hudson Streets), 3rd floor. This meeting will focus on the zoning impacts of the plan. It’s critical that we have a strong turnout tonight (we’ll be ready with […]
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 […]
Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) will be hearing the new building application for 27 East 4th Street, the site next to the landmarked Merchant’s House Museum. If you can make it, the hearing time has been set for 3:45pm. Those planning to testify should plan to arrive early (by about 3:15) to get through […]
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 […]
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) […]
In our continuing efforts to save 186 Spring Street in the South Village, we’ve highlighted the significant role the building played in the early LGBT rights movement. In the immediate post-Stonewall era, 186 Spring Street was home to an array of critical figures of this era. From this house, they helped establish some of the […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A little over two months ago, Off the Grid covered a meeting regarding the proposed AIDS Memorial in the triangle park next to the former St. Vincent’s Hospital. The proposal, spearheaded by AIDS Memorial Park, was presented to Community Board 2’s Parks Committee and the public, at which time public feedback was taken into consideration […]
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 […]
Off the Grid recently reported on how St. Mark’s Bookshop, the beloved independent bookshop in the East Village that won a GVSHP Village Award in 2007, was able to successfully renegotiate their lease after falling sales left the store struggling to make ends meet. Now that St. Mark’s has a new lease, they are getting […]
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 […]
“On Saturdays when I did not have to lecture, we used to visit the saloon of Justus Schwab, the most famous radical center in New York. Schwab was the traditional Teuton in appearance, over six feet tall, broad-chested, and strait as a tree. On his wide shoulders and strong neck rested a magnificent head, framed […]
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 […]
NYU’s massive, out-of-scale plan to construct 2 million square feet of new buildings within the Washington Square Village and Silver Towers superblocks is touted by the University as being desperately needed to accommodate its growth. NYU President John Sexton in particular called out the need for more faculty housing. We have to call this in […]
On this day in 1895 (that’s 117 years ago if you’re counting), Washington Square Arch was dedicated. The above image shows what the arch looked like that year. Designed by Stanford White of McKim, Meade & White, the arch has become one of the most prominent symbols of Greenwich Village. Off the Grid went into […]
Last night, the Parks, Recreation & Open Space Committee of Community Board 2 held the first public discussion of the design for the AIDS memorial in the new St. Vincent’s Triangle Park in the West Village. This comes just as the rezoning plan which would allow its development received its final approvals. The park, which […]
We always thought the building at 193 Second Avenue at the corner of 12th Street was extraordinarily handsome and well-designed. Based on our extensive research of the East Village we learned a lot more about the building owners, architects and some of its notable residents. It is said that the building was designed to […]
A recent visit to the highly-anticipated Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, Keith Haring: 1978-1982 did not disappoint. The show looks at the early years of Haring’s career before his breakthrough exhibition at Tony Shafrazi’s SoHo space in 1982. According to a New York Magazine review, during these years Haring was “merely one of […]
On April 8 1935, the creation of the Works Progress Administration was approved by Congress as a part of FDR’s New Deal. The New Deal was born at the height of the Great Depression as a series of economic programs that focused on the three R’s- Relief (for the unemployed and poor), Recovery (of the […]
While we look back and honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., it’s interesting to also note that one of his early influences and closest confidantes, Bayard Rustin, had a very close connection to Greenwich Village, especially the legendary club Café Society. Bayard Rustin was a pioneering activist involved in the struggles for civil […]
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 […]
This Sunday, March 25, marks the 101st Anniversary of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The 1911 fire took the lives of 146 workers, mostly immigrant women, inspiring the young labor movement and precipitating new worker safety regulations across the country.
We are thrilled to share with you the news that GVSHP successfully nominated the South Village to the Preservation League of New York State’s “Seven to Save” list — their bi-annual list of the seven most significant, endangered historic sites in New York State. The announcement was made yesterday morning by the League’s president, Jay […]
If you’ve gotten our program email or flyer you know that Time and Space on the Lower East Side is the title of one of our upcoming events. But it’s also a wonderful book of photographs that looks backward and forward, positing the idea that places are not simply “then and now,” but exist in […]
With St. Patrick’s Day just this past Saturday, we thought we would take a look at two seminal Irish institutions in Greenwich Village, The University Parish of St. Joseph’s and the Church of St. Veronica-In-the-Village. Both churches were built to accommodate increasing Catholic immigrant populations in the neighborhood, particularly the Irish laborers who began populating […]
Last week Time Out New York compiled a list of the 100 Best NYC Songs. While perusing this list we were surprised to see the number of songs with a Village connection So, of course we have to share them with you…. #87: “La Vie Boheme”, Original Broadway Cast of Rent (1994) Says TONY: “dedicated […]
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” […]
Strolling through Father Demo Square at 6th Avenue and Carmine and Bleecker Streets, one might naturally assume that the name of the park has something to do with the neighboring Our Lady of Pompei Church, whose bell tower rises over the west end of the plaza. That assumption is correct, but who really was Father […]
Forty-four years ago today, music promoter Bill Graham opened the Fillmore East at 105 Second Avenue. This 2,600 seat venue hosted concerts from 1968 to 1971, including performances by the Allman Brothers Band, the Who, and the Doors. The venue was known for launching many seminal bands of the era, and because of its excellent […]
Many vestiges of the immigrant communities that called the East Village home remain to this day. The area in and around First Avenue and Avenue B between East 11th and East 12th Street was once a thriving Italian-American community. Our research on each of the thousands of buildings in the East Village has helped us […]
It was on this date in 1951 that the infamous espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg began. 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 Laboratory and allegedly supplied Julius with information regarding the atomic bomb. […]
For historic preservationists, who often use the built environment as a major source of information about a community’s past, the hardest stories to capture are those where the physical trace no longer remains. We can find evidence of the many communities that have called the Village home over the years in the built fabric of […]
As I was considering a topic for last week’s Presidents’ Day post, I came across a great find from our nation’s past that took place right here in present-day NoHo. To my delight, the anniversary of this historic event was right around the corner, today in fact! Yes, on February 27, 1860, relatively unknown presidential […]
The East Village is renowned for its avant-garde, Off-Off Broadway theaters. One of the great examples is the Theater for the New City. Founded in 1971 by Crystal Field, George Bartenieff, Lawrence Kornfeld, and Theo Barnes, TNC was an offshoot of the Judson Poets Theater. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had recently given a speech envisioning a […]
Can you name the only United States president to be born in New York City? Here’s a hint: he served as the city’s Police Commissioner when the 9th Police Precinct Station House on Charles Street in the Far West Village was constructed in 1896-97.
With Presidents’ Day, celebrating George Washington’s birthday (among other things) just around the corner, we thought we would take a brief look at one of the Village’s most conspicuous monuments to the nation’s first leader.
On February 16, 1990, we lost one of the most memorable and enduring figures of the 1980’s Downtown arts scene, Keith Haring (born May 4, 1958). Haring came to New York in 1978 to study at the School of Visual Art, and quickly became a noted up and coming artist. Haring utilized whatever canvas was […]
If you’ve taken a trip to the new Cooper Union building or gone for a beer at McSorley’s, you’ve most likely noticed that small one-block street that runs between St. George’s Ukrainian Church and Cooper Union, between Seventh Street and Sixth Street. This little off-the-grid street is known as Taras Shevchenko Place, named after the […]
Pigeons shake their wings on the copper church roof out my window across the street, a bird perched on the cross surveys the city’s blue-grey clouds. Larry Rivers ‘ll come at 10 AM and take my picture. I’m taking your picture, pigeons. I’m writing you down, Dawn. I’m immortalizing your exhaust, Avenue A bus. O […]
On this day in 1979, Sex Pistols punk rocker Sid Vicious was found dead of a heroin overdose in a Greenwich Village apartment. Born John Simon Ritchie, Vicious (as he came to be known) joined the band in 1977, taking over for bassist Glen Matlock. Vicious notoriously faked his musical ability, with his own band […]
As EV Grieve recently reported, the final credits may be on the way for a movie theater turned grocery store on Avenue A. As the end may be coming for the former Hollywood Theater, we thought we’d take a brief look at another East Village showplace that only recently went the way of the silent […]
On Thursday evening, Village Preservation and the New School for Public Engagement hosted a lecture titled, “Jackson Pollock’s Downtown Years” given by art historian and MoMa educator Larissa Bailiff. While we can’t recount the entire amazing lecture to you (you’ll have to wait until a video of the event is available!), we can highlight some […]
Today we celebrate the birthday of tortured but beloved poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe. Born in Boston in 1809, and long associated with Baltimore, Poe called New York City home on several occasions during his lifetime. Of particular interest to GVSHP was the time the poet and author spent in the Village.
The final performance of the off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks took place at the Sullivan Street Playhouse at 181 Sullivan Street in the South Village on January 13, 2002. That marked the end of a remarkable 42-year run of the show – making it the longest-running musical ever. Unfortunately, the closing of the show and playhouse would also […]
We often receive research requests here at GVSHP that ask a very particular question about a particular address in one of the Village historic districts. So when we received a request about 57 Great Jones Street, part of the NoHo Historic District Extension, we turned our questioner straight to the historic district report. But sometimes, […]
Walking East 7th Street is a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2011 Intro to Public History course. Each pair of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of one particular block of East 7th Street and sharing with us something fascinating they discovered along the way. All posts in the […]
Walking East 7th Street is a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2011 Intro to Public History course. Each pair of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of one particular block of East 7th Street and sharing with us something fascinating they discovered along the way. All posts in the […]
Walking East 7th Street is a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2011 Intro to Public History course. Each pair of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of one particular block of East 7th Street and sharing with us something fascinating they discovered along the way. All posts below were […]
You may have seen 60 Minutes last night with a segment about the impact of the mortgage crisis on neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio. With owners and banks abandoning homes the city has decided to demolish them as a means to prevent blight and crime. The reporter, Scott Pelley, walked down the street with a former city official counting […]
Ever since Ralph Lee staged the first annual Halloween parade in the courtyard of Westbeth in 1973, October 31st has been a day of heavy reveling in Greenwich Village. But that’s been covered. And anyway, today is Veteran’s Day, not Halloween, so what’s the connection? Well, fifty-two years prior to Lee’s first parade, on the […]
Earlier this week, we were thrilled to announce that Westbeth – the country’s first subsidized housing complex for artists and the first large-scale adaptive re-use of an industrial building for residential purposes – was designated an individual NYC landmark. Originally built as the Bell Telephone Labs, the complex was a birthplace of numerous modern technological […]
CBGB, the legendary rock club on the Bowery and Bleecker closed its doors on October 15, 2006, due to lease issues, 33 years after it opened. The last evening at CBGB’s featured a headline set by Patti Smith, an unforgettable evening outlined by one fan in a recent blog post.
Today, the first Monday in October, is the traditional start of the new United States Supreme Court session. This year the court is expected to have an incredibly full roster, dealing with cases ranging from the new health care law to same-sex marriage to the status of undocumented immigrants in the United States. These are […]
NYU releases sham parks plan (City Room) Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York looks back at the Wall of Remembrance at Saint Vincent’s The City’s narrowest house can now be yours for $14,000/month (Curbed) New Yorkers celebrate end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at Stonewall (NY1) Publisher, Pearson PLC, moving to Hudson Square with $13.5 million in […]
This Monday most of us will be enjoying a day off, celebrating the last unofficial (long) weekend of summer. This well-deserved holiday makes it a little hard to remember that Labor Day became a national holiday because of labor unions, who have fought for many years on behalf of working people. In the spirit of […]
The sight of striking Verizon workers near GVSHP’s offices (as well as all over New York) reminds us of the long and storied history of the Village and East Village in the labor movement. In fact, their central role in American labor struggles is reflected in some of our neighborhood’s most important landmarks.
Rent, the Broadway musical set in Alphabet City, comes back to Off Broadway (NY Times) A history of Ratner’s of Second Avenue, in the Saul Birns Building (Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York) East Villagers protested the onslaught of gentrification (Gothamist) A look at the current state of 326 & 328 East 4th Street (EV Grieve) 636 […]
The 1870’s were difficult years for our Nation. Economic depression had hit Europe and on September 18, 1873, it reached the U.S. with the failure of banking firm Jay Cooke and Company, which had been the main backer of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The country went into a steep economic downward spiral in what is […]
As one-time Villager Bob Dylan famously called it, the Times, They Are A-Changing. This Sunday New York State will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and apparently the New York City Clerk’s office is expecting a flood of marriage license applicants that first day. The occasion presents a good opportunity to wonder how many […]
On July 13, 1863 began several days of violence in New York City known as the Draft Riots. These civil disturbances rocked New York City and revealed a deep racial and class divide that existed in New York City in 1863, one that was particularly visible in the Far West and South Village.
Today marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of riotous protests at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village that many scholars consider the launching pad for the modern Gay Rights Movement. In 1999, GVSHP and the Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers, gained federal recognition for the site when it became […]
