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.
The views expressed by the contributor(s) are solely those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or endorsement of our organization.
Vincent Livelli (April 9, 1920 – June 21, 2024) lived in the Village for over 100 years. From the 1940s to 1970s, Vincent helped revolutionize the cruise ship industry as a music and dance director. Vincent reminisces about his early years growing up in the South Village as the child of Sicilian and Genovese immigrants […]
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A native of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Tom Bernardin (b. September 25, 1948) moved to New York City as a young man and enjoyed the freedom and community for gay men that he found in Greenwich Village. Preservation pioneer Margot Gayle inspired him to become involved in preservation, which Bernardin has especially pursued via a passion for […]
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A painter and interior designer, Albert Fabozzi grew up in Coney Island and lived in the West Village as a young adult. When he and his longtime partner moved to the East Village, Fabozzi took an interest in making the neighborhood, and especially Tompkins Square Park, safer and more appealing. He served on Community Board […]
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The oral history with this icon of the Downtown arts scene and “Queen of the Underground” (b. 1950) covers her life in New York City since leaving home as a teenage runaway. It covers topics from her association with Andy Warhol to the AIDS epidemic, and her work giving voice to female and transgressive sexuality […]
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