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.

View All

Greenwich Village

Rob Mason

For more than a quarter century, Robert Mason operated RPM studios from his live/work loft on 12th Street south of Union Square, one of the first boutique recording studios in the … Continued

Full Transcript

Michael E. Levine

Michael E. Levine is an urban planner who worked as the NYC Department of City Planning’s CommunityBoard #2 liaison beginning in the 1960s, and was intimately involved in the landmark … Continued

Full Transcript

Mimi Sheraton

Mimi Sheraton is a food critic and food writer who has lived in the Village since 1945. In 1975 she was she hired as a food critic for the New … Continued

Full Transcript

Ralph Lee

Puppeteer Ralph Lee has lived at Westbeth since 1970 and is known as the “Father” of the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

Full Transcript

Rich Wandel

Rich is a former president of the Gay Activist Alliance, and served as the Archivist Historian at the LGBT Community Center from its founding in 1990 to today. From the … Continued

Full Transcript

David Rothenberg

David Rothenberg 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 a movement to serve … Continued

Full Transcript

Victor Keyloun

Dr. Victor Keyloun worked at St. Vincent’s Hospital from 1963 to 1983. He was a neighborhood doctor, notably serving extended Italian families, as well as the Village’s large gay population … Continued

Full Transcript

Otis Kidwell Burger

Otis Kidwell Burger has lived on Bethune Street for 58 years, and her life has intertwined with some of the most intriguing and important figures in the Village during that … Continued

Full Transcript

Paula DeLuccia Poons

Paula DeLuccia Poons and her husband Larry Poons have lived at 827-831 Broadway since 1977. Both are artists, following a long tradition of those in the arts who have taken … Continued

Full Transcript

Robert Sanfiz

Robert Sanfiz 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 represents and historically advocated … Continued

Full Transcript

Arthur Levin

Arthur (Art) Levin 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 on the … Continued

Full Transcript

Fred Bass

Bass (1928-2018) joined the family business, the Strand Bookstore, at the age of 13 when it was located on 4th Avenue. In 1956 he took over the business, and in … Continued

Full Transcript

About Us

Who We Are

About Our Work

Newsletter

Advocacy

All Campaigns

LPC Applications

Get Involved

Events

All Events

Chaim Gross’s 100 Years in the Village

Resources

Maps

Archives

Research & Education

Village Preservation Oral History Collection

Greenwich Village

Rob Mason

Michael E. Levine

Mimi Sheraton

Ralph Lee

Rich Wandel

David Rothenberg

Victor Keyloun

Otis Kidwell Burger

Paula DeLuccia Poons

Robert Sanfiz

Arthur Levin

Fred Bass