Dixon Bain
Dixon Bain served as the project manager for planning and construction of Westbeth Artist’s Residence in the West Village from 1967 to 1971.
Full TranscriptVillage Preservation Oral History Collection
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.
Arts
Matt Umanov
Matt Umanov (b. August 28, 1947) is the founder and proprietor of Matt Umanov Guitars, located at 273 Bleecker Street. Since 1965, Matt Umanov Guitars has been buying, selling, and repairing vintage guitars, and has served some of the biggest names in music.
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Gloria McDarrah
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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Leticia Kent
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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Edwin Fancher
Edwin Fancher (1923–2023) was a co-founder and part-owner of the Village Voice from the 1950s until the 1970s. In this oral history, Fancher describes the origins of the Voice—how he met his business associate Dan Wolf, what the local New York City press scene was like in the 1950s, and why he and Wolf decided […]
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Virlana Tkacz
Virlana Tkacz (b. June 23, 1962) was born in Newark, but had family connections to the Ukrainian community in the East Village, to which she eventually moved. She pursued theater at La MaMa under Ellen Stewart, whose encouragement led to the creation of Tkacz’s own theater company. The Yara Arts Group addresses themes related to […]
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Lorcan Otway
Lorcan Otway (b. July 27, 1955), the owner of the Off Broadway Theater 80, located at 80 St. Mark’s Place, speaks about the theater’s history, as well as the cultural history of the East Village. He recounts stories of the former repertory movie house and theater’s past as a speakeasy during Prohibition, at which time […]
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Marlis Momber
Born in 1943 in Berlin, Germany, Marlis has lived in Loisaida since 1975. Her photographs document the struggle of the mostly Puerto Rican people living in that part of Manhattan. Her black-and-white and color photographs have been used to illustrate national and international publications on political and cultural topics such as: gentrification, urban development, slumlords/arson […]
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Jonas Mekas
Born in Lithuania, Jonas Mekas (1922-2019) came to New York City after World War II and became part of the downtown arts scene as a writer, poet and auteur. He pursued his passion for making and displaying avant garde film, founding the world-renowned Anthology Film Archive in 1970.
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Wolf Kahn
Born in Germany, Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) came to America as a teenager, and discovered painting while working in a U.S. Navy paint shop. He went on to study under Stuart Davis and Hans Hofmann, and was part of the East 10th Street gallery scene. One of this highly acclaimed contemporary painter’s most vivid Village memories […]
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Phil Hartman
Hartman (b. August 14, 1955) is a co-owner and founder of Two Boots Pizza, a filmmaker, and an advocate for the preservation of the East Village, where he has lived for decades. He also founded the Great Jones Café and maintained his love for punk rock, film, and culture while managing a successful and growing […]
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Frances Goldin
Frances Goldin (1924-2020) was a successful Manhattan literary agent and activist in practically every progressive movement of the past 70 years on the Lower East Side. A fighter for equitable housing, she was a founder of the Metropolitan Council on Housing and the Cooper Square Committee, and was a leader in the successful effort to […]
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