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Tag: Greenwich Village

Pride Month in NYC: More Historic LGBT sites to visit in our neighborhoods

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village. The Stonewall Riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation movement in the United States. Celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia, and concerts. […]

Bob Dylan’s First NYC Gig: April 11, 1961

He blew into town on a cold January day in 1961, slammed the door of his car, walked into Café Wha and landed a gig that night. That’s the legend, anyway. Truth is that he slogged around uptown hustling for gigs in the Theater District for months before the Village beckoned. But once he found […]

Edith Wharton vs. Washington Square

This Saturday and Sunday, expert tour guide Joyce Gold will lead tours celebrating the radical, notorious women of Washington Square. The square and its environs have a long been home to creative, politically active, and influential women. In the spirit of these women and Joyce’s upcoming tours, I’ve been thinking a bit about another innovative […]

    Oral History: Gloria McDarrah and Last Chance to Purchase an Iconic Piece of History

    Three years ago today, Village Preservation conducted an oral history with Gloria McDarrah, a Village resident for over 60 years and a longtime member of GVSHP.  She worked in publishing, education, and for a while in the 1990’s, at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Gloria has lived in a variety of locations throughout the Village and […]

    Dissent and “Strange Fruit” in the Village

    It seems that President-elect Donald Trump is having a difficult time filling the roster for his inauguration ceremony. In previous years, the inauguration festivities have included extensive and star-studded ceremonies featuring speeches, musical performances, dance numbers, and dramatic readings. But this year, many artists have shown an unwillingness to participate, or have their work featured, in […]

    Holiday Cheer, and Gifts, in Greenwich Village

    This past Saturday and Monday, many dedicated souls braved the winter weather to celebrate the local businesses of Greenwich Village. With tour guide Joyce Gold, GVSHP and our partners at Village Alliance, Washington Square Park Conservancy, and many local businesses, celebrated the holiday cheer and local atmosphere that is abundant in our neighborhood at this […]

    Mid-Century Modernism on East 9th

    One of my favorite two-block sections in Greenwich Village may be an unlikely one – East 9th Street between Broadway and 5th Avenue. It’s not the oldest strip in the neighborhood, or the one with the best shops. In fact, it’s home to a rather uniform group of mid-century apartment houses, with almost no ground-floor […]

    14th Annual Taste of the Village!

    Where can you enjoy the best of Greenwich Village bars, restaurants, and shops, all in one handy (and beautiful) location? At Washington Square Park on September 14th,  where thirty of the neighborhood’s best food and drink purveyors will be in one place for the 14th annual Taste of the Village! The event has been very popular since […]

      Happy Birthday, Elinor Wylie!

      On this day in 1885, poet and novelist Elinor Wylie was born.  Wylie’s writings were popular in the 1920’s and 30’s, and lived in Greenwich Village from 1921 until her death.

      GVSHPride: Roundup of LGBTQ Resources and Information

      Happy Pride Week! Each June during the week leading up to the Gay Pride March, NYC celebrates Pride Week.  Throughout the week, different groups and organizations will host events, throw parties, and do general outreach and advocacy to promote the history and visibility of the LGBTQ community.  Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has always worked […]

      Old Village Matchbooks

      A generous GVSHP supporter dropped off a fun treat to our offices a few weeks ago – old matchbooks from Greenwich Village bars and restaurants. They’re a philluminist’s dream! (Did you know that “philluminist” is the official term for a matchbook collector?) I love how these books meld historic graphic design with New York City […]

        Happy Birthday, Willem de Kooning!

        On April 24, 1904 artist Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.  de Kooning was one of the major figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement.  Abstract Expressionism was an art movement developed in New York City and the “first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the […]

        Happy Birthday, Max Ernst

        Artist Max Ernst was born on April 12, 1891.  Ernst was a pioneering figure in both the Dada and Surrealist movements.  The former, often referred to as “anti-art,” emerged after World War I as an anti-war, anti-bourgeois far left  movement.  Dadaist art pieces generally included readymade objects, a critique on the establishment of traditional art making, […]

        Tom Wolfe: New Journalism and the Women’s House of Detention

        Acclaimed author and journalist Tom Wolfe is known for his use of New Journalism (employing fiction-writing techniques such as sustained dialogue, well-developed characters, and vivid scenes) and for his best-selling books including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). After earning his Ph.D. in American Studies in 1957 and […]

        121 Charles Street: A Chat with Ingrid Bernhard

        Long-time Off the Grid readers will remember the stir that was caused last summer when an ill-informed real estate listing described the property at 121 Charles Street as a development site. GVSHP was quick to let people know that the property’s location in the Greenwich Village Historic District meant that any proposed work would require […]

        Sunday, May 3rd – Our Village House Tour!

        Okay, everyone, if you’ve been considering joining us for our annual house tour, but haven’t yet purchased tickets,then now is your chance! It’s this Sunday, May 3rd from 1 – 5:30 PM. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind opportunity to see six beautiful homes in Greenwich Village. This is also GVSHP’s biggest annual fundraiser, so […]

        Where Did Ross on “Friends” Live?

        It seems like there are countless mentions on the Internet of the apartment building in which Monica, Rachel, Chandler, and Joey lived on “Friends,” the hit show that ran from 1994-2004. Even we here on Off the Grid wrote about it and several other locations. In that post we also mentioned that, in addition to […]

          Village Scenes: A March of Snow and Sunshine

          After a long, cold, and snowy January and February, Mother Nature decided we weren’t quite ready for spring just because our calendars told us it was March. Only a few days into the month, the city was covered in snow. While we weren’t exactly thrilled, we couldn’t help but notice how pretty the neighborhood looked. […]

            What’s in Store for 237 Bleecker Street

            If you love walking our Village streets, chances are you’ve come across the neglected little building at 237 Bleecker Street. Once a stagecoach house when it was built c. 1835, the wood structure is a cherished piece of Village history, yet it’s fallen on hard times. A proposal to reconstruct most of the facade and […]

            Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, Then & Now

            Today, the building that houses the Salmagundi Club at 47 Fifth Avenue is a bit of an odd duck. At four-and-a-half stories, the 1853 Italianate style rowhouse is sandwiched by taller apartment buildings on either side. To someone walking by, the stately old brownstone may almost look like the Little House from the Stuart Little […]

            The Art of Frederick Brosen

            As part of GVSHP’s ongoing programming, native New Yorker and world renowned artist Frederick Brosen will give a free talk and slideshow at Theater 80 on Tuesday, December 9th at 6:30pm. Brosen’s presentation will feature his selected watercolor works of locations in New York City, including paintings featured in GVSHP’s book Greenwich Village Stories. For his […]

            Saving Sacred Spaces

            After a nearly half-century wait, last week the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission finally voted to approve landmark status for the 150-year old religious building located at 334 East 14th Street, now the Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue, and prior to that a German Baptist and a Ukrainian Autocephalic Church. Ironically, the Commission’s decision was followed soon […]

            Building Profile: St. Denis Hotel

            Completed in 1853, by architect James Renwick, the St. Denis Hotel stood at the corner of East 11th Street and Broadway. The property, which was owned by the Renwick family, had been given to them by their relative, Henry Brevoort, a successful farmer and prominent landowner during the late eighteenth century. The hotel was named […]

              My Greenwich Village Story

              This is the latest installment of the Off the Grid series in which we highlight the people, places and events featured in our new book Greenwich Village Stories, available for purchase now. Visit our Facebook page for the latest on book contributors, release events and readings. My first winter in New York was hard for reasons far greater than the polar […]

              293 and 297 West 4th Street: Then & Now

              At 293 and 297 West 4th Street, between Bank and West 11th Streets in the Greenwich Village Historic District, sit two new townhouses that, at first glance, look like three. The façade of no. 293 was designed to resemble two three-bay wide rowhouses that are prevalent in the neighborhood, but in actuality it is one […]

                1980s Tax Photos: Then & Now

                For today’s post in our Then & Now series, we thought we’d feature a few locations in our neighborhoods as they looked in the 1980s. Similar to last week’s post on using historic maps, the City of New York’s 1980s tax photos are an invaluable resource in helping us understand our built past. As with […]

                Building Broadway: Incredible Photographs from 1920

                Here we are in the midst of the holiday season. The city was blanketed with snow this weekend and shoppers are frantically working through their holiday gift-giving lists. For today’s Building Broadway post, I’d like to share a wonderful gift that was left to all of us almost 100 years ago: Arthur Hosking’s photographs of […]

                The Red Herring at 570 Lex

                If the “art deco masterpiece” that is 570 Lexington Avenue no longer stood on the southwest corner of Lexington Avenue and 51st Street, perhaps affordable housing could be constructed in its place. But this “suave fantasy of polished marble and modern metals,” built in 1931 for the Radio Victor Corporation and since known as the […]

                The Village Vanguard is Singin’ in the Rain

                On this particularly rainy Monday, an image of Gene Kelly singin’ and dancin’ in the rain sure does come to mind. Lo and behold, an exciting discovery was made: the writers of the classic 1952 movie musical Singin’ in the Rain (and countless other Broadway shows and Hollywood musicals) got their big break at the […]

                  A Greenwich Village Guide: 1959

                  Although more and more of the research that GVSHP documents and shares is done online today, we also house a modest non-circulating resource library which contains fiction and non-fiction books, reports and guides on the subject areas of Greenwich Village, Historic Preservation, and New York City history. The library also contains hard copies of designation […]

                  Katie Holmes Loves the Village!

                  In an article from the October issue of O Magazine actress Katie Holmes declares, “I love Greenwich Village.”Back in 2009 it was widely speculated that Holmes and her husband Tom Cruise purchased a $15 million townhouse at 42 West 12th Street in the Greenwich Village Historic District.

                  Peeking into Grove Court

                  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 Digest featured the gorgeous […]

                    Who ya gonna call?! Happy anniversary Ghostbusters

                    This is an updated version of a post from 2011. The Washington Square Ghost! That’s right folks, we’re talking about Ghostbusters! Today marks the anniversary of the release of the classic film, which spawned a sequel, two animated television series, and a 2016 reboot. When released, the film was the most successful comedy in film […]