Local Music History, Mapped Out in the Greenwich Village Historic District
A journey through the narrow, winding streets of the Greenwich Village Historic District is a trip through a living museum, an opportunity to explore an area with more than 2,000 buildings preserved across some 65 blocks. Designated in 1969, the district’s rich mix of row houses, tenements, small apartment buildings, and older Federal-, Italianate- and Greek Revival–style structures has shaped many cultural legacies, including both architectural and musical history.
The convergence of structure and sound in the historic district is the subject of one of 23 tours offered in our Greenwich Village Historic District StoryMap, recently redesigned and streamlined from its initial 2019 iteration. The tour of musicians’ homes offers an exploration of a community featuring some of the most important names in popular music from the 1850s to the 1980s.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, for example, lived in a modest 1846 rowhouse at 105 Bank Street from October 1971 until early 1973, renting an apartment from drummer Joe Butler of The Lovin’ Spoonful. This was the spot the couple shared just before moving to their more famous (and ultimately tragic) home in the Dakota on the Upper West Side. Lennon was often seen throughout the neighborhood: attending lavish parties at the home of Grove Press founder Barney Rosset at 196 West Houston Street, for example, and recording at Electric Lady Studios (“Fame” with David Bowie) and at a former stable in 271 West 10th Street.
Next door to the Lennon/Ono household at 107 Bank Street was the home of composer John Cage and his partner, dancer Merce Cunningham. The building was conveniently located near Westbeth, which housed Cunningham’s studio at the time. Cage’s compositions were highly experimental for their time: his most famous is 4’33’’, in which the musician plays nothing and makes no sounds for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Their home also played a role in Lennon’s local history: aware that his telephones were bugged by the FBI, he would allegedly go to Cage’s apartment and use the phone there for important conversations.
Around the corner a decade earlier, Bob Dylan rented a small apartment at 161 West 4th Street in December 1961 with his girlfriend, Village local Suze Rotolo. Rotolo was the subject of such Dylan classics as “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Boots of Spanish Leather”, and “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” The couple was also photographed for the cover of Dylan’s iconic 1963 album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, on Jones Street, right around the corner from their apartment.
A main inspiration for Dylan, folk legend Woody Guthrie, shared several apartments with the Almanac Singers in his early New York years, but the first place where he put his name on the lease was 74 Charles Street. Guthrie moved into what he called “El Rancho Del Sol” in 1942, the same year he met Marjorie Mazia, a dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company. She and a fellow dancer approached him about performing for a show that featured some of his songs from his recently released album, Dust Bowl Ballads. The couple lived at this apartment from December 1942 to May 1943, and were later married in 1945.
Other noteworthy musicians called the district home as well, including Barbra Streisand, Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed, Nile Rodgers (also featured in our Second Birthplace of Hip-Hop StoryMap), and Steven Van Zandt.
Explore this tour and many more on our Greenwich Village Historic District StoryMap, and check out our 20 other maps on Greenwich Village, East Village, and NoHo here.