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Tag: Greenwich Village

Romare Bearden and the Formation of An African American Artistic Identity Downtown

Groundbreaking artist, intellectual, and activist Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was born in Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. When Bearden was about 3 years old, his parents Bessye Johnson Banks Bearden and Richard Howard Bearden moved the family to Harlem in search of a better life as so many other southern African Americans […]

VILLAGE VOICES: A New Interactive Art and History Exhibit

Village Preservation is pleased to announce the launch of VILLAGE VOICES, an outdoor exhibition celebrating people, places, and moments from our neighborhoods’ history. VILLAGE VOICES will be an engaging installation of exhibit boxes displayed throughout our neighborhoods featuring photographs, artifacts, and recorded narration that will provide entertaining and illuminating insight into our momentous heritage. We are […]

John Sloan: Village Visionary

Many artists have been inspired by the scenes of life in New York City, particularly Lower Manhattan. But perhaps no artist captures the feeling of New York during the hot, heavy days of August like the painter John Sloan. Sloan was one of the leading figures of the “Ashcan School,” a loose collection of artists who […]

Louise Bryant

Louise Bryant was always her own person, and always somewhat of a paradox. She was a fearless journalist, activist, suffragist, and talented writer, who was also a study in contradictions — a chronic dissembler who sought the truth, a free love advocate who was prone to fits of jealousy, and a communist who twice married wealthy […]

A ‘Strange’ Spot on Bleecker Street

You’re walking along Bleecker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village when the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You feel all sorts of magic surrounding you, as if you’re at the nexus of mystical energies coming at you from all corners of the globe. You spy an elegant three-story brownstone […]

Roots of Jazz Run Deep in Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is, in some circles, considered the “Capital of Jazz.” As jazz critic, author, and president of the Jazz Journalists Association Howard Mandel put it: “Greenwich Village is the capital of jazz because it has welcomed adventurous thinking, artistic expression, and audiences eager to hear the best of what’s exciting and new.” Some things […]

Women Crush Wednesday: The Wonder of Villager Judy Holliday

Judy Holliday, the brilliant star of stage and screen, was a New Yorker through and through.  It makes perfect sense that while she was an up-and-coming superstar, she made her home in Greenwich Village in a floor-through apartment at 158 Waverly Place, a gorgeous 1839 Greek Revival townhouse.  It is also no surprise that Holliday […]

    Who’s That Rapping At My Chamber Door? Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” Takes Flight in Greenwich Village

    Almost 200 years after it was first published, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven still terrifies and delights. The poem, about a forlorn lover tormented by a mysterious bird as he slowly descends into madness, permeated both critical circles and the popular consciousness, proving that the macabre could and should share a space with literary fiction […]

    Remembering “The Day The Music Died” With a No. 1 Hit

    “American Pie” is perhaps one of the most compelling, beloved, and cryptic songs in the American songbook.  Written by Don McLean in 1970, the song sprang from the Folk Music movement in Greenwich Village.  Izzy Young, well known to musicians and music aficionados around the world, whose Greenwich Village shop, the Folklore Center, was the […]

      Bertram Goodman’s Views of the Village

      We love historic photos of our neighborhoods, many of which appear in our vast historic image archive. A subset of that archive includes artists’ renderings and interpretations. One Village artist whose work we’ve often admired, Bertram Goodman, created a number of works showing Greenwich Village in the mid-20th century with a particularly special quality. Bertram […]

        Georges Clemenceau, the Dreyfus Affair, and the fight against Anti-Semitism

        On December 22, 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian and Jewish descent, was court-martialed, convicted of treason, and sentenced to life in prison at the notorious Devil’s Island prison for allegedly sharing military secrets with the German Embassy in Paris. Two years later, an investigation into the already closed case […]

        Theater Thursday: Checking In On Off-Broadway

        Throughout history, societies look to the arts to give insight and meaning to events and experiences. And so with good reason, we have been thinking a great deal about our theater artist community in these days and months since the pandemic has closed our beloved cultural institutions. Artists who create theater have been given the […]

          Lenny Bruce Convicted of Obscenity After Greenwich Village Gig

          Lenny Bruce pushed buttons. A regular at the clubs in the Village, he was also, arguably, one of the leaders of the counterculture movement in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, and honed his stand up acts gigging in various Village night clubs. The counterculture movement in our neighborhoods during that time helped numerous comedians evolve more personal […]

          Oral History with the Queen of Cuisine, Mimi Sheraton

          GVSHP shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each includes the experiences and insights of leaders or long-time participants in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. 2020 marks the 75th year […]

            Distance Learning for Children: History and Historic Preservation

            Village Preservation has now developed online resources for students from our acclaimed children’s education program, History and Historic Preservation. These videos and activities are designed for children ages 5-7.  During this time of remote learning these are a great resource and a way to keep children engaged and expand their horizons from home.  Watch the videos […]

            Take a Virtual Walk! Visit the Homes of Greenwich Village’s Social Change Champions

            Greenwich Village has long been the home of many of history’s most important social change champions. Now, using Village Preservation’s interactive map of the Greenwich Village Historic District, we can take a virtual walk through the neighborhood to visit the homes of these remarkable individuals. Get to know a nineteenth century abolitionist, an early-twentieth century […]

            Young Philip Roth in the East Village

            In 1958, a twenty-five-year-old Philip Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) moved into a basement apartment at 128 East 10th Street in the East Village. The Anglo-Italianate building, which forms the point of the triangular piece of land shaped by Stuyvesant and East 10th Streets, was perfectly situated for Roth, who often visited  […]

            Politicians, Playwrights, and Parades: The Irish legacy of the East Village and Greenwich Village

            For many, celebrating Irish American heritage in March brings one to Fifth Avenue for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, or perhaps a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. But for those willing to venture beyond Midtown, there’s a rich Irish American history to be found in Greenwich Village and the East Village. While both neighborhoods […]

            Cyrilly Abels: Friend and Agent of Katherine Anne Porter

            Cyrilly Abels (1903-1975), the managing editor of Mademoiselle magazine and an agent for many of the most prominent writers of the twentieth century, was a longtime resident of 14-16 Fifth Avenue in the Greenwich Village Historic District, recently proposed for demolition. Abels lived here with her husband Jerome Weinstein at least as early as 1954 […]

            Civil Rights, the NAACP, and W.E.B. DuBois: The African American history tied to 70 Fifth Avenue

            When we think of great African American historic sites in New York, we typically think of Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Lower Manhattan’s African Burial Ground, or Brooklyn’s Weeksville Houses. But one building that should perhaps join the list is 70 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, which housed the headquarters of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights […]

            14 historic sites of the abolitionist movement in Greenwich Village

            In the years before the abolition of slavery in New York State in 1827 and the Civil War, New York was a hotbed of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery sentiment. The latter group consisted of both prominent African-American institutions and individuals (mostly associated with churches) who organized economically, politically, and socially against slavery, and whites who […]

            31 Literary Icons of Greenwich Village

            Greenwich Village, specifically the historic district at its core, has been described as many things, but “literary” may be among the most common. That’s not only because the neighborhood has an air of sophistication and drama, but because it has attracted some of the nation’s greatest writers over the last 200 plus years. Ahead, learn about just […]

            Greenwich Village Is Both the Obstacle and the Solution in Neil Simon’s Romantic Romp, Barefoot in the Park

            This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District in 2019.  Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50.  Barefoot in the Park by playwright Neil Simon, which premiered on Broadway on October 23rd, 1963 at the Biltmore Theatre, is a romp through the […]

              Lady Gaga’s Greenwich Village

              Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is a born and raised New Yorker. While she spent most of her early years growing up on the Upper West Side, she owes some of her breakout career moments to Greenwich Village. Lady Gaga performs for a crowd during the Stonewall50 concert […]

              How Greenwich Village and the East Village Launched the 19th Century Hebrew Free School Movement

              Nineteenth-century Jewish immigrant life in New York is well-documented, when massive waves of Jews, first from Germany and then from Eastern Europe, began to flood into the city.  This made New York the largest Jewish city by population in the world, which it remains to this day.  Like all immigrant stories, the Jewish community had […]

              Storefronts in Historic Districts — What You Need to Know

              Stores and commercial spaces provide important services, products, jobs, and character to our neighborhoods and communities. Small businesses in landmarked buildings and historic districts have many wonderful assets, while also having NYC Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) rules to follow. The LPC recently released guidelines to help business owners get approval for changes and better understand […]

              Uncovering the stories behind downtown’s overlooked synagogues

              On August 8, 2008, Village Preservation and the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC) submitted a request to the LPC to landmark a little-known but remarkable survivor– Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 515 East 6th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A.  The building was the last operating “tenement synagogue” in the East Village. A young, little-known developer named Jared Kushner was […]

              Remembering Margot Gayle, In Her Own Words

              Village Preservation shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each includes the experiences and insights of leaders or long-time participants in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. Born May 14, 1908, […]

              Making Way for Ducklings in a Greenwich Village Bathtub

              One day in 1939, famed writer and illustrator Robert McCloskey took a trip to a market near his Greenwich Village apartment and left with a group of live ducklings in tow. He brought them to his home at 280 West 12th Street, which he shared with his roommate, the illustrator Marc Simont, and placed them […]

                Village Rallies for NAACP, with Lorraine Hansberry

                Politics and rallies have always been an integral part of the DNA of Greenwich Village. One particularly significant rally of note took place on June 13, 1959.  Dubbed “Village Rallies for NAACP,” it took place in Washington Square Park, and among the speakers was Greenwich Village’s own Lorraine Hansberry.  Hansberry was the co-chair of the […]

                  The Man Who Sculpted Our Image of Abraham Lincoln

                  On May 30th, 1922, fifty-seven years after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, over 35,000 people gathered at the western end of the National Mall in Washington D.C. to see him once again. Sitting within the grand, neoclassical Lincoln Memorial building designed by architect Henry Bacon, the statue of the beloved president seemed to convey to the […]

                  The Bitter End, 2019 Village Awardee

                  People commonly note that Bleecker Street is a far cry from what it was half a century ago, with high-end retail chains replacing its bohemian past. But, thankfully, a few stars of that era have stayed alive, including the well-known music venue The Bitter End at 147 Bleecker Street. Since its opening in 1961, The […]

                    Go inside 7 landmarked houses in Greenwich Village this weekend

                    This Sunday, Village Preservation will hold its 21st annual Spring Benefit House Tour. As this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District, all the homes and the reception site are landmarked structures located within the district. The tour is the main annual fundraiser for Village Preservation, allowing us to conduct hundreds […]

                    12 social change champions of Greenwich Village

                    Few places on Earth have attracted more or a broader array of activists and agitators for social change than Greenwich Village. And much of that activity took place right in the heart of the neighborhood in the Greenwich Village Historic District, where that rich history has been preserved through landmark designation for the past half-century. […]

                    13 places in Greenwich Village where the course of history was changed

                    This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District.  One of the city’s oldest and largest landmark districts, […]

                    20 transformative women of Greenwich Village

                    This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29, 1969.  One of the city’s oldest and still largest historic districts, it’s a unique treasure trove of rich history, pioneering culture, and charming architecture. GVSHP will be spending 2019 marking this anniversary with events, lectures, and new interactive […]

                    Good News on Chain Stores for the New Year

                    The eleventh annual ranking of national retailers in New York City by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) just came out, and it reveals a 0.3 percent decline in the number of chain stores over the past year, marking the first year-over-year citywide drop in national retail locations since they began the annual analysis of […]

                    If Beale Street Could Talk’s West Village Scenes

                    If Beale Street Could Talk is the newest release from award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins. The film is Jenkins’s adaptation of a novella by James Baldwin of the same name. The story, based in 1970s New York City, is about mother-and-wife-to-be Tish, who vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her […]

                    Open House New York in Greenwich Village: The history of three unique sites

                    Among the many delights included in this weekend’s Open House New York will be three iconic Greenwich Village buildings–a Gothic Revival church with many architectural firsts, a library that was originally a courthouse which heard the “Trial of the Century,” and a groundbreaking artists’ housing complex that was formerly home to Bell Telephone Labs and the site […]

                    What’s in a name? Gay Street

                    Gay Street is one of the most charming and picturesque streets in Greenwich Village, an icon of the historic neighborhood’s anachronistic character. But the origins of its name are hotly debated, with the LGBT rights movement and abolitionism often cited as the source of its unusual nomenclature. And while the street certainly has strong connections to […]

                    The oldest house in the Village? It’s not what you think

                    The Village is known as one of the oldest parts of New York City, where historic architecture can be found everywhere, and charming houses from a bygone era still stand. Here at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, a perennial question we’re asked is “which is the oldest house in the Village?” It’s a […]

                    My Favorite Things: Ice Cream Edition!

                    It’s August in New York.  It’s hot.  Need I say more? And conversations tend to revolve around the temperatures at this time of year.  How hot is it?  How humid is it?  When will the heat let up?  Is autumn around the corner yet?  We here at GVSHP decided that it was high time to […]

                    Celebrating Willa Cather

                    The Village is a very far cry from the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather spent much of her childhood.  But her most productive writing period was indeed while she lived in various apartments in the Village, where she lovingly and vividly wrote about the people and places she knew and cherished from her childhood in […]

                    Elizabeth Blackwell In Our Neighborhood: The historic sites where America’s first female doctor made her mark

                    One of the most radical and influential women of the 19th century changed the course of public health history while living and working in Greenwich Village and the East Village. Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female doctor, established cutting-edge care facilities and practices throughout these neighborhoods, the imprint of which can still be felt to this […]

                    Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

                    Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city — its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is […]

                    Edward Hopper’s Greenwich Village: The real-life inspirations behind his paintings

                    There’s no lack of artists deeply associated with New York. But among the many painters who’ve been inspired by our city, perhaps none has had a more enduring and deeper relationship than Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882–May 15, 1967), particularly with Greenwich Village. Hopper lived and worked in Greenwich Village during nearly his entire adult life, […]

                    How Greenwich Villager Howard Bennett fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

                    On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an […]

                    Carole Teller’s ‘Changing New York’ captures the city’s 20th-century transformation

                    Change in New York is an expected norm, sometimes so constant it almost goes unnoticed. It’s such an ingrained part of the New Yorker’s experience, we often forget just how much our city has transformed, and what we have left behind. To help us remember, we have Carole Teller. A Brooklyn-born artist who’s lived in the […]

                    Tennessee Williams: A Restless Fugitive

                    Born Thomas Lanier Williams, III, on March 26th, 1911, playwright Tennessee Williams was as much a New Yorker as anyone, really. While his place of birth was really Columbus, Mississippi, he was an itinerant traveler of the world, but spent much of his professional career in New York City, primarily in Greenwich Village. Much like […]

                      15 Trailblazing Women of Greenwich Village and the East Village

                      Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and ’70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, […]

                      Edward Hopper’s Village Muses

                      This weekend I went to the Whitney Museum, and as I was wandering around on the 7th Floor I found images of the Village that are familiar, nostalgic, bright, and utterly unique. Identifiable from a distance, Edward Hopper’s paintings live in moments of light, clear and still, while also evoking movement like film stills, eerie […]

                        15 Sites of Critical African American History in Greenwich Village

                        Greenwich Village has been known throughout its existence for breaking new ground and embracing outsiders. One often-forgotten but important element of that trailblazing narrative is the extraordinary role the Village played in relation to African American history. The neighborhood was home to North America’s earliest free Black settlement in the 17th century, to some of America’s […]

                        Hats Off to John Guare

                        I’ll take Manhattan! If you had to draw a picture of a New York playwright, you would probably draw someone like John Guare.  Guare was born on February 5, 1938. A New Yorker’s New Yorker, he has lived in Greenwich Village with his wife, Adele Chatfield-Taylor, for 43 years.  In his delightful piece in our […]

                        Mapping Civil Rights and Social Justice — A Year Later

                        On January 3, 2017, GVSHP launched our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map.  Something in the air told us there might be a hunger and need for this kind of information.  But even we would not have guessed that the map would receive over 70,000 views in that time, with its praises sung in BrickUnderground, […]

                        Peeking Into Grove Court

                        This post by Dana Schulz originally ran in 2011. This secluded alley of beautiful pre-Civil War homes made recent real estate headlines when one of its houses, 5 Grove Court, went on the market for $4.2 million.  The Corcoran listing describes its drool-worthy details: “exposed beams, 3 fireplaces, handsome working kitchen and a rooftop garden.”  In fact, in 2003, Architectural […]

                        How the Elevated Train and the Streetcar Both Began In Greenwich Village

                        Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while […]

                        Happy Birthday to Wolf Kahn, who Draws the City like a Landscape

                        The renowned painter Wolf Kahn was born on October 4, 1927.  In his oral history with GVSHP, Wolf Kahn brought wit, snark, and great, detailed memories about his time in the Village and the role he played in the art scene there, attending salons, renting half his apartment to Robert De Niro Sr., and spending […]

                          Iconic album covers of Greenwich Village and the East Village: Then and now

                          There’s no shortage of sites in the Village and East Village where great makers of popular music lived or performed. Less well known, however, are the multitude of sites that were the backdrop for iconic album covers, sometimes sources of inspiration for the artists or just familiar stomping grounds. Today, many are hiding in plain […]

                          Business of the Month – Blaustein Paint & Hardware – 51 Greenwich Avenue

                          Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo:  click here to nominate your favorite.  Want to help support small businesses?  Share this post with friends. Sometimes you  just have to attend to […]

                          The Ashcan School and the Beginnings of the Whitney

                          The streetscapes and street life of New York City are some of the most robust sensorial experiences. From towering skyscrapers to bright flashing lights to pungent (sometimes fragrant) smells and blaring sounds, the city runs on energy. It has been said that if the United States were a car, New York City would be its […]

                            Village Remains Tops for Artists in NYC

                            From the Center for An Urban Future Report Greenwich Village has long enjoyed a reputation as a mecca for artists.  The same can be said of nearby NoHo and SoHo, though the reputation for those neighborhoods is slightly newer (about fifty years, as opposed to well over a hundred for the Village).  The list of […]