Oral Histories - Village Preservation

Village Preservation Oral History Collection

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.

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Activists & Advocates

Barbara Kahn

Barbara Kahn is an East Village playwright who has produced dozens of works rooted in history, especially the history of New York and marginalized or oppressed people, with a frequent … Continued

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Ayo Harrington

Ayo Harrington has lived in the East Village since the 1960s, and been deeply involved in the community garden, urban homesteading, environmental, resiliency, educational equality, and civil rights movements. She … Continued

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Rich Wandel

Rich Wandel (b. May 20, 1946) is a former president of the Gay Activist Alliance, and served as the Archivist Historian at the LGBT Community Center from its founding in … Continued

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David Rothenberg

David Rothenberg (b. August 19, 1933) is one of the Village’s most prolific activists. A former Broadway producer, he also produced the off-Broadway play “Fortune in Men’s Eyes”, which ignited … Continued

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Robert Sanfiz

Robert Sanfiz (b. March 20, 1969) has been the Executive Director of La Nacional since 2008. La Nacional is the 150-year-old Spanish Benevolent Society located on West 14th Street, which … Continued

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Arthur Levin

Arthur (Art) Levin (b. 1936) has served as a Village Preservation Trustee for over 20 years, including as President since 2012, overseeing a period of organizational growth. Art grew up … Continued

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Valerio Orselli

Orselli (b. 1949) immigrated from Italy to Brazil in 1954 and to New York in 1960. He has been a passionate advocate for affordable housing for almost 50 years, especially … Continued

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Tod Williams

Architect Tod Williams (b. May 11, 1943) worked with Richard Meier during the conversion of Westbeth from an industrial building to artist’s housing in the late 1960s and early 70s. … Continued

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George Cominskie

Since 1983, Cominskie has lived in Westbeth, a nonprofit housing and commercial complex dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations, located in the old … Continued

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Gloria McDarrah

McDarrah (1932-2020) lived in the Village since the 1950s. She worked in publishing and was married to Fred McDarrah, who established himself as a photojournalist and a leading documentarian of … Continued

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Maria Kenny

The child of Irish immigrants, 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, … Continued

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Colette Douglas

Douglas (b. November 19, 1926) lived in MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens in the 1950s and tells a classic story of mid-century Village life from attending Little Red Schoolhouse as a child to … Continued

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Village Preservation Oral History Collection

Activists & Advocates

Barbara Kahn

Ayo Harrington

Rich Wandel

David Rothenberg

Robert Sanfiz

Arthur Levin

Valerio Orselli

Tod Williams

George Cominskie

Gloria McDarrah

Maria Kenny

Colette Douglas