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 TranscriptVillage 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.
- Activists & Advocates
- Arts
- East Village
- Greenwich Village
- Immigration
- LGBTQ
- Local Business
- Preservationists
- South Village
- Westbeth
Greenwich Village
Ralph Lee
Puppeteer Ralph Lee has lived at Westbeth since 1970 and is known as the “Father” of the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Tod Williams
Architect Tod Williams worked with Richard Meier during the conversion of Westbeth from an industrial building to artist’s housing in the late 1960s and early 70s. He, along with this … Continued
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Peter Ruta
A renowned painter who focused on views of Lower Manhattan, Ruta painted for nearly seventy years and had lived in Westbeth since its opening in 1970 when he passed away … Continued
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