Village Preservation’s Oral History Project includes interviews with some of the great artists, activists, business owners, community leaders, and preservation pioneers of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. It captures and preserves their first-person perspective on the important histories they witnessed or of which they were a part.
Click here for an alphabetical list of our entire Oral History Collection.
The views expressed by the contributor(s) are solely those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or endorsement of our organization.
Orselli (b. 1949) immigrated from Italy to Brazil in 1954 and to New York in 1960. He has been a passionate advocate for affordable housing for almost 50 years, especially in the Lower East Side/East Village. His life-long commitment to activism and advocacy has led to work with the Cooper Square Community Land Trust, Cooper […]
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Architect Tod Williams (b. May 11, 1943) worked with Richard Meier during the conversion of Westbeth from an industrial building to artist’s housing in the late 1960s and early 70s. He, along with this wife and two children, were also original tenants of the building.
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Since 1983, Cominskie has lived in Westbeth, a nonprofit housing and commercial complex dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations, located in the old formerly disused Bell Telephone Labs at Bethune and West Streets. In this oral history, he discusses the significance of an affordable housing community for artists, […]
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Gloria McDarrah (1932-2020) lived in Greenwich Village beginning in the 1950s. She worked in publishing and was married to Fred McDarrah, who established himself as a photojournalist and a leading documentarian of midcentury Greenwich Village. She also worked at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and promoted her late husband’s body of documentary work.
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The child of Irish immigrants, Maria Kenny (b. October 25, 1963) grew up in the Bronx and Greenwich Village. Her father, Pat, was owner of the Village music club Kenny’s Castaways and a part owner of The Bitter End. Kenny recalls musicians and the scene, and the changed circumstances that eventually led her and her […]
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Colette Douglas (November 19, 1926-September 30, 2023) lived in MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens in the 1950s and her oral history tells a classic story of midcentury Village life, from attending Little Red Schoolhouse as a child to witnessing her husband fight the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway that would have destroyed the neighborhoods of SoHo, Little Italy, and […]
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A native of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Tom Bernardin (b. September 25, 1948) moved to New York City as a young man and enjoyed the freedom and community for gay men that he found in Greenwich Village. Preservation pioneer Margot Gayle inspired him to become involved in preservation, which Bernardin has especially pursued via a passion for […]
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A noted musician, bandleader, prolific composer, and pioneer of the jazz French horn for more than the past half-century, David Amram (b. November 17, 1930) lived in various parts of Greenwich Village and has worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston Hughes, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein, Tito Puente, Joseph Papp, Arthur Miller, Pete […]
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Claire Tankel (1926-2020) was the widow of Stanley Tankel, an architect and city planner who was involved in Greenwich Village’s early preservation efforts.
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Verna Small (1916-2008) was one of Greenwich Village’s preservation pioneers and helped lead the successful campaign in the late 1960s to create the Greenwich Village Historic District.
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Edith Lyons (1906-2002) was one of the leaders in the seven-year battle with Robert Moses over the use of Washington Square Park as a thoroughfare to Lower Manhattan. Moses’ plan to extend Fifth Avenue through the park was defeated in part by a group that Lyons co-founded and co-chaired: the Joint Emergency Committee to Close […]
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Leticia Kent (1928-1999) was an esteemed freelance journalist and long-time Villager. This oral history was conducted in anticipation of an interview Kent was scheduled to conduct with Jane Jacobs and also covers the community’s opposition to the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway, the creation of artists’ housing in the West Village, and her role in the […]
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