This past Wednesday marks six years since the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II (click HERE for the designation report),which was Phase I of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District from 2006. This 235-building, 12 block designation was at the time the largest expansion of landmark protections in Greenwich Village since 1969. […]
On this day in 1984, the movie The Pope of Greenwich Village was released in theaters. It starred Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts as Charlie and Paulie, cousins and would-be gangsters who attempt to make some fast money with an ill-conceived scam. In the backrooms of downtown bars and restaurants, the two characters fumble their […]
Today marks the ten year anniversary of the LPC designation of 605 East 9th Street, the former P.S. 64 & Charas-El Bohio Cultural Center. GVSHP fought hard in support of this designation along with many neighborhood partners, which saved the property from imminent destruction. As part of an all too common story, the owners of the […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo offer a vast array of architectural styles that span their long histories. Through this series “What Style Is It?” we will explore the architecture of our area and look at the various architectural styles and their features. So far we have looked at the Federal style, Greek Revival and […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the 2016 Village Awards winners in the lead up to the June 14th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Click here for more information about the event and to RSVP. Read about other awardees here. The East Village Meat Market was opened in 1970 by Julian Baczynsky as a meat market but quickly morphed into an […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Whether […]
On April 24, 1904 artist Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. de Kooning was one of the major figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Abstract Expressionism was an art movement developed in New York City and the “first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the […]
On Friday, July 17, 2015, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation lead tours around the East Village looking at buildings that made up the German immigrant community in the late 19th and early 20th century. Kleine Deutschland, or “Little Germany” at one point boasted one of the largest German-speaking communities in the world and many […]
The Lower East Side means many things to many people. Working as an architectural historian in New York City, it means a great deal to me. I always consider it a joy to travel the world and learn the history of places near and far, but New York has always been special to me because […]
The history of Greenwich Village is a history of immigration. Although the St. Patrick’s Day Parade as we know it follows an uptown route along 5th Avenue, the original Irish immigrants to New York were a major presence here in Greenwich Village and the East Village. From our office window we look out at the […]
Free Image from Creative Commons The Jones-Shafroth Act, which conferred United States citizenship upon residents of Puerto Rico and set the stage for the huge migration of Puerto Ricans to NYC following WWII, was enacted on March 2, 1917. In 1945, there were 13,000 Puerto Ricans in New York City. Within 10 years this number […]
In celebration of Valentine’s Day today, we thought we would tip our hats to some of our neighborhood’s architectural cherubs. There’s a wonderfully rich supply of them in the East Village, particularly within what had been known in the late 19th and early 20th century as “Kleine Deutschland” or “Little Germany,” the area centered along […]
This post is the first in a three-part series about holidays held in the Village, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2014 Intro to Public History course. In conjunction with the public program held on Wednesday, December 17th, each group was also tasked with sharing their discoveries with us on Off […]
At this time of year it’s easy to get in touch with your inner child. Everywhere you look there are reminders of how much of this holiday season is geared toward children. “Toys for Tots,” “Charlie Brown Christmas,” and of course, academic winter break. We all remember how much we enjoyed the end of the […]
Veselka, an East Village institution, is celebrating its 60th anniversary and invites the community for free perogies and other Ukrainian comfort foods and beverages this Monday from 6pm to 11pm. Bring your party hats, a hungry appetite and come celebrate this village treasure! A Brief History In the wake of World War Two, Wolodymyr Darmochwal […]
This post is part of the Looking Up series, which explores the unique architectural and historical stories that can be discovered when we raise our gaze above the sidewalk, the storefront, and the second floor. Adjacent to the Ottendorfer branch of the New York Public Library on 2nd Avenue north of St. Mark’s Place is […]
With all the talk about immigration reform in the news lately, it got us thinking here at Off the Grid about the effect of United States immigration laws on the history of the Village. We’ll leave the debate about current immigration issues for a different forum, and instead take a look at past immigration trends […]
Welcome back to another post in our Throwback Thursday series where we feature everyday scenes of yesteryear. I recently came across some neat market photos taken by Andrew Herman as part of the Federal Art Project. The ones featured today were all taken in the 1930s on First Avenue between today’s St. Mark’s Place (referred […]
It’s estimated that in 2024, about 36% of New York City’s population is foreign-born, which is one of the highest percentages among U.S. cities. Immigrants also make up 44.2% of the city’s labor force, which is higher than the 64% of native-born New Yorkers who participate in the labor force. The federal Immigration Act of […]
This is part of the Looking Up series of posts, which explore the unique architectural and historical stories that can be discovered when we raise our gaze above the sidewalk, the storefront, and the second floor. The stretch of St. Mark’s Place between Second and Third Avenues holds a variety of building types — tenements […]
It seems that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish or of Irish descent. The parade winds its way up Fifth Avenue, tourists and locals patronize the many Irish pubs that dot the City, and the City is awash in green. It is easy to forget that St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday – […]
…well, it almost happened that way. The Village and East Village have historically been home to all sorts of strange bedfellows. Today we look at one of the most unusual such pairings, two people whose paths crossed just around the corner from our offices at 208 East 13th Street. 208 East 13th Street is a […]
The structure that architectural historian Francis Morrone calls “one of the most important buildings in the East Village” is on the market for $14 million. It’s also set to be considered for city landmark designation this spring. On the first day of October, East Villagers awoke to the news that Tifereth Israel, the Town & […]
This post is the last of a four-part series called Everyday Lives, Ordinary People: A History of East Village Immigrants, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2013 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of everyday people in the East Village between […]
This post is the first of a four-part series called Everyday Lives, Ordinary People: A History of East Village Immigrants, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2013 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of everyday people in the East Village between […]
Yesterday the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved an application for a new storefront at 259-263 Bleecker Street in the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II. If this address rings a bell to you, it’s likely because it was the home of the popular Zito’s Bakery for many decades. I really love historic storefronts in the […]
Tucked mid-block between historic tenements on 6th Street in the East Village is a modern building devoted to the preservation and exhibition of Ukrainian art. While the building is new, the non profit that makes it home, The Ukrainian Museum, is not. Founded in 1976 by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA), the […]
On October 1, 1998, Charlie Zito passed away after years of baking bread on Bleecker Street, in the heart of the South Village. There is nothing like the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and when Zito’s Bakery was making bread, I remember that aroma on Bleecker Street – because sometimes it would stop me in my […]
Last month we featured the drawings of Anthony F. Dumas, a man who was responsible for illustrating countless theaters across the world. One of the beauties of his drawings is uncovering theaters that have been lost for decades, some for well over half a century. That’s exactly how we found the Fugazy Theatre. But just […]
The Fourth Arts Block will present its tenth annual FAB! Festival on Saturday, September 28, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Festivities take place on East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery and are free and open to the public. FAB received a 2011 Village Award from GVSHP for its work to preserve the […]
Eminent architect Matthew W. Del Gaudio died on September 17, 1960. One of his most well-known buildings is right here in the heart of the South Village, Our Lady of Pompeii Church, which stands on the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets. The building that stands today was constructed in the years 1926 – 1928, […]
It’s always fun to look at then and now photos of buildings and streetscapes we’ve long come to admire here on Off the Grid. Today, just ahead of the Labor Day weekend, we wanted to check in on the Hebrew Actors’ Union building at 31 East 7th Street in the East Village. With its stark […]
A couple of weeks ago I was walking along 3rd Street in the East Village and stopped in front of a sculpture park that I had seen many times before. Just past Avenue B, the park holds a number of metal sculptures which, without doing any research, seemed to be the work of current artists […]
On August 8, 2008, GVSHP and the East Village Community Coalition formally requested that the City landmark the historic Congregation Mezritch Synagogue building at 415 East 6th Street in the East Village (you can read the request, and more about the building’s history, here). At the time, plans had been filed to demolish the […]
On July 31, 1923, the New York Times featured an article about an injunction against seven places of business located in the South Village that served alcohol against the strictures of the Volstead Act, or Prohibition. The article refers to “anti-Bohemian” sentiment by neighbors resulting in tip-offs to the authorities about the speakeasies. As GVSHP […]
Now that I have your attention, what I have to say isn’t just about pizza. It’s about what we already know: Greenwich Village is a really special place. Why would you ever want to leave? Imagine if you had a successful business in New York City – any neighborhood in New York City – and […]
For those who don’t know it, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection at 59 East 2nd Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, is one of the most striking and impressive ecclesiastical structures, not only the East Village, but all of New York (their website is here). While it has served as the […]
In honor of Bastille Day this Sunday, July 14, we here at Off the Grid thought we would take a look at the French Quarter, a small area south of Washington Square with a large French population in the latter decades of the 19th century. This area, part of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District […]
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 […]
Off the Grid has featured many posts about some of the place names within Greenwich Village and the East Village, including Bleecker Street, Taras Shevchenko Place, and Father Demo Square. So a series of posts on how some Manhattan neighborhoods have gotten their names, particularly Greenwich Village, caught our eye.
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place each year from September 15th to October 15th, we wanted to highlight an institution in our neighborhood that has dedicated itself to the promotion of Spanish culture for nearly 150 years.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Loisaida Festival, a celebration of Latino culture, community, and the arts. Marlis Momber, a commercial photographer who moved to and began documenting the East Village and Loisaida in the mid 1970’s, was kind enough to share an image she took of Luis Rivera, son of Adela Fargas […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
New York City has no shortage of Irish watering holes, but if you’re looking to escape the parade crowds there are plenty of Village pubs where you can celebrate St. Patty’s Day! Let’s start over by the Hudson and work our way east…. Brass Monkey (55 Little West 12th Street) Opened in the summer of […]
The Village Voice recently released its annual 10 best picks for the best restaurants in the East Village. Check it out and see how it compares to your personal list of East Village culinary favorites. GVSHP has been no stranger to food in the East Village. Be sure to check out our stories on eating […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Last week, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to landmark East 10th Street, from Avenue A to Avenue B. So we thought we would welcome our newest district with a quick overview. Learn more about GVSHP’s efforts to landmark this district.
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 […]
Recently, we told you all about the East Village Meat Market, a traditional Ukrainian butcher shop on 2nd Avenue and 9th Street. We also told you that this was the last such surviving butcher shop in the East Village. Two others that have been lost within the past 5 years are Kurowycky Meat Products, formerly […]
One of the many wonderful things about our neighborhoods is the seemingly limitless possibility for surprises. Though small in scale and geography, the Village, East Village, and NoHo may have more unexpected and often unknown nooks and crannies than any other area of New York City. And sometimes those surprises are hidden from the public, […]
Talk about 6 degrees of separation! A half- painted over, fading ghost sign (old hand painted advertisement) on a wall of a tenement building at 620 East 6th Street has more random connections than Kevin Bacon. If you’re curious to find out how an old ad on a wall on East 6th Street is connected to “The […]
On this day in 1954, November 12th, America’s gateway, Ellis Island, closed its doors for good. According to History.com, 40% of Americans today can trace their roots through Ellis Island. If we had to guess, that percentage most likely increases dramatically when looking at the population residing in the Village. The South Village was marked […]
If you’re like me and grew up around Eastern-European family, you know that it’s pronounced kah-bah-see and that it’s best served with a little sauerkraut and spicy mustard. You then also probably know that the traditional neighborhood butcher shops that serve up this sausage delight, among other smoked and cured meaty goodness, are now few […]
As GVSHP gears up for our benefit evening Much Ado About Noshing this evening with Village writer Calvin Trillin and two generations of the Russ & Daughters family, we decided to revisit our roots and explore the history of 179 East Houston Street, the building owned by the beloved appetizing store. Russ & Daughters has been […]
Tough decision, I know. Luckily, in the East Village/Lower East Side, you don’t have to travel far to stock up on both of these Jewish treats. If you’ve ever stood on line for a pastrami on rye at Katz’s or grabbed a bagel with lox and a schmear at Russ & Daughters, you know what […]
Its irrepressible mid-century modern façade of opaque black glass is punctuated by cheery yellow balconettes, a slender projecting wall of red glazed brick, and cube-shaped letters spelling out B-U-R-G-E-R K-L-E-I-N. Many in the East Village are familiar with the unique building at 28 Avenue A and have wondered who or what Burger Klein was […]
We know that you all know it’s Bastille Day, but did you know that the South Village once had a large and lively French community? The 1880 U.S. census showed that a large number of French immigrants were, at this time, living on the streets south of Washington Square and as far east as Broadway. […]
On the morning of June 15, 1904, the General Slocum steamship set sail carrying over 1,300 passengers, most of whom were women and children and members of the East Village’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark at 325 East 6th Street. Passengers were headed for a pleasant Sunday jaunt to the Locust Grove Picnic […]
When former South Village resident Josette Lee emailed GVSHP a picture of her Dad from the 1970’s standing in front of two pushcarts located on Bleecker Street, we became as curious as she was about when exactly such carts disappeared from the South Village.
This spring marks the 30th Anniversary of the St. Mark’s Greenmarket and Music at Abe Lebewohl Park. The joint milestone got us a little nostalgic (okay, we know, when are we not nostalgic?) and we decided to take a walk down the memory lane of this neighborhood staples’ home- Abe Lebewohl Park. If you’ve ever […]
Our survey of every single building in the East Village has left us questioning some of the neighborhood folklore we’ve always taken for granted. For instance, the building at 105-107 Third Avenue, most people assume, has been home to Kiehl’s Since 1851 since, well, 1851. But the building is clearly styled in a late 19th-century fashion. […]