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East Village Spring Tours, Gardens & More

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Springtime has arrived in our wonderful neighborhoods.  Many more people are out and about.  Locals and visitors alike enjoy our diverse culture, community history and Photo from Garden Tour in 2015appreciate a part of the big city where you can see the blue sky instead of towers and the greenery of gardens and trees.  Here are two special walking tours we recommend.  Our own – free-  East Village Community Garden Tour and Save the Village‘s East Village walking tours, based on the photographs of Fred W. McDarrah.

This Saturday, May 21st, join us on a tour of distinct community gardens that showcase the plants, people, and cultures that make these East Village oases such a vital part of the fabric of the neighborhood. Learn about the history, maintenance, and importance of these gardens, and also meet some of the gardeners and organizers who make it possible to enjoy their beauty.  This event is part of the wonderful array of activities that make up Lower East Side History Month and is Co-sponsored by Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens (LUNGS).  Sign up for this FREE guided tour here.

American social and political activist Jerry Rubin (1938 - 1994) stands shirtless as a he holds an M16 assault rifle above his head at the intersection of St Marks Place and 2nd Avenue (view is looking north) in the East Village, New York, New York, September 28, 1968. He wears a beret, a bandolier, and a bell necklace. (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images)
American social and political activist Jerry Rubin (1938 – 1994) stands shirtless as he holds an M16 assault rifle above his head at the intersection of St Marks Place and 2nd Avenue (view is looking north) in the East Village, New York, New York, September 28, 1968. He wears a beret, a bandolier, and a bell necklace. (Photo © 2016 Estate of Fred W. McDarrah.)

As they say, if Greenwich Village is the historic home of the counterculture, then the East Village can be called famous for its off-the-counter culture. On the East Village tour created by Save the Village, see where Chicago 8 defendant Jerry Rubin paraded down St. Mark’s Place with a machine gun; the former Polish catering hall where the Velvet Underground played its first gigs under manager Andy Warhol (and the St. Mark’s Place thrift shop where Warhol often shopped) and the former Fillmore East, the greatest rock venue in history.  These tours will run every Saturday at 3 pm, year round.  Learn more here.

Each participant gets a keepsake multi-postcard set of classic McDarrah images and the tours go to the same locations to see how they have changed, how they are the same, and to hear the stories behind the famous photos.  See more great photos and learn more at their Facebook page.

A customer enters a Digger Free Store (264 East 10th Street), New York, New York, September 22, 1967. The store featured donated items a no cost to anyone who wanted them, (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images)
A customer enters Digger Free Store (264 East 10th Street), New York, New York, September 22, 1967. The store featured donated items at no cost to anyone who wanted them, (Photo © 2016 Estate of Fred W. McDarrah.)

 

 

 

 

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