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.
Dr. Victor Keyloun (b. February 20, 1935) worked at St. Vincent’s Hospital from 1963 to 1983. He was a neighborhood doctor, notably serving extended Italian families as well as the Village’s large gay population, at a time when many doctors would not. His last years in practice overlapped with the first years of the tragic […]
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Otis Kidwell Burger (1923-2021) lived on Bethune Street for 58 years, where her life intertwined with some of the most intriguing and important figures in the Village during that time. She rented a room to Jane Jacobs in the 1950’s, during which time she wrote “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” and threw […]
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Paula DeLuccia Poons (b. 1953) and her husband Larry Poons have lived at 827-831 Broadway since 1977. Both are artists, following a long tradition of artists who have taken refuge in the buildings over the last half century. In this recording, Paula talks about other occupants of the buildings including Willem de Kooning, MoMa Director […]
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Beverly Moss Spatt (1924-2023) was a leading figure in New York City planning and preservation for over fifty years. In this oral history she discussed growing up in Brooklyn, how she helped form the first reform Democratic club in Brooklyn, how she earned her “maverick” reputation during her time on the City Planning Commission from […]
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Robert Sanfiz (b. March 20, 1969) has been the Executive Director of La Nacional since 2008. La Nacional is the 150-year-old Spanish Benevolent Society located on West 14th Street, which represents and historically advocates for the “Little Spain” community that stretched from Christopher to 23rd Street along the west side, once the largest Spanish-American community […]
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Arthur (Art) Levin (b. 1936) has served as a Village Preservation Trustee since the 1990s, including as President from 2012 to 2022, overseeing a period of great organizational growth. He was the longtime director of the Center for Medical Consumers, working to expand access information about healthcare for New Yorkers. Art grew up on the Upper […]
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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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Bass (1928-2018) joined the family business, the Strand Bookstore, at the age of 13 when it was located on 4th Avenue. In 1956 he took over the business, and in 1957 moved it around the corner to its present location at East 12th Street and Broadway. As the years went on, Bass came to spend […]
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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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A renowned painter who focused on views of Lower Manhattan, Ruta (1918-2016) painted for nearly seventy years and lived in Westbeth since its opening in 1970. Born in Germany, he fled to Italy to escape Hitler’s rise to power, finally ending up in NYC. In this interview he discusses his time as an American soldier […]
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Architect Richard Meier (b. October 12, 1934) was commissioned in 1967 to renovate the former Bell Laboratories in Greenwich Village into the affordable artist’s housing Westbeth.
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Daughter of J.M. Kaplan and President of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Joan Davidson (1927-2023) coordinated the founding of the Westbeth Project, an artist’s residence in the West Village. Joan was a lifelong preservationist and progressive champion, who promoted New York’s rich historic heritage and advocated for elevating a variety of voices and perspectives. She served […]
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