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.
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 […]
Full Transcript
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 […]
Full Transcript
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 […]
Full Transcript
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 […]
Full Transcript
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.
Full Transcript
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.
Full Transcript
Norman Redlich (1925-2011) was the former Dean of the NYU School of Law. This oral history interview serves as a follow-up to a lecture Redlich gave to a preservation course taught by former Village Preservation Executive Director Vicki Weiner at NYU in November 1996.
Full Transcript
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 […]
Full Transcript
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 […]
` Full Transcript
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban planner, author, and activist. Jacobs discusses various preservation battles in which she participated while living in Greenwich Village, including the fight to prevent Robert Moses from expanding a roadway through Washington Square Park, the effort in the early 1960s to challenge the City’s proposed urban renewal plan for the […]
Full Transcript
Shirley Hayes (1912-2002) was a community activist who led the successful fight in the 1950s against Robert Moses’ plan to extend a highway through Washington Square Park.
Full Transcript
Margot Gayle (1908-2008) led the grassroots effort to save the landmark Jefferson Market Courthouse building in Greenwich Village and transform it into a library. Gayle begins this interview by discussing the origins of that effort — the formation of the Village Neighborhood Committee and its activities in the late 1950s to reactivate the courthouse’s clock.
Full Transcript