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Happy Birthday, Paul Robeson
…and Robeson were unable to find a landlord willing to rent them an apartment in Greenwich Village, and he would have to travel to Penn Station or even Harlem to find…
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THE PUBLIC THEATER! The former Astor Library and the quest for a Public Theater
…heritage.” Just a few short years after the loss of the original Penn Station, Papp’s vision to breathe new life into an aging building had a profound impact. Opening as…
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100 Years of Preservation: A Conversation with Anthony C. Wood
…in 1965, touching upon specific events that affected the city’s cultural and environmental landscape, including the demolition of Penn Station and the era of Robert Moses. Wood argued these events…
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Carole Teller’s Changing New York
…of being demolished, like Penn Station or tenements being cleared for urban renewal. In other cases they were fading painted signs growing fainter by the day. But often these were…
Posted June 1, 2020
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Carole Teller’s Changing New York, Part 4
…of being demolished, like Penn Station or tenements being cleared for urban renewal. In other cases, they were fading painted signs growing fainter by the day. But often these were…
Posted June 1, 2020
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Carole Teller’s Changing New York, Part 2
…of being demolished, like Penn Station or tenements being cleared for urban renewal. In other cases, they were fading painted signs growing fainter by the day. But often these were…
Posted June 1, 2020
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Carole Teller’s Changing New York, Part 5
…of being demolished, like Penn Station or tenements being cleared for urban renewal. In other cases, they were fading painted signs growing fainter by the day. But often these were…
Posted June 1, 2020
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When the Village Got a Case of the Wobblies
Imagine over a thousand workers arriving at Penn Station on a dedicated train, gathering at Union Square, and marching up Fifth Avenue toward Madison Square Garden (the Sanford White-designed one…
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NoHo Historic District Becomes a Reality
…1965), the Astor Library had become “one of the city’s more notable white elephants, fated to go the way of Penn Station and the Brokaw mansion,” in the words of…
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Inventing Preservation: A panel discussion at Museum of the City of New York
…Penn Station and the effort to pass the Landmarks Law—it began in the late 19th century. Little-remembered preservation pioneers like Andrew H. Green and Albert Bard, as well as various…
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Wrecking Ball: How Government Shaped New York’s Defining Preservation Battles
…preservation scholars to discuss some of these defining preservation battles, such as those to save Castle Clinton, Penn Station, and Washington Square Park. It’s only appropriate that this conversation, with…
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From Pioneering Women Artists in Greenwich Village to Preservation Battles and More: New Programs for August 2023
…of these defining preservation battles, such as those to save Castle Clinton, Penn Station, and Washington Square Park. It’s only appropriate that this conversation, with Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew…
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Sneak Preview of September Village Preservation Events (and Some August Programs Still Open)
…Castle Clinton, Penn Station, and Washington Square Park. It’s only appropriate that this conversation, with Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman, take place at Jefferson Market Library — subject of…
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A Preservation Pioneer at 100
…the wake of the destruction of Penn Station in 1963 which galvanized New York’s preservation movement. You can read the article HERE. The Public Theater, formerly the Astor Library Interestingly,…
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Many Layers of History Throughout 2018
…Beyond the Village and Back: Penn Station September Many Layers of History at 9th Street and 5th Avenue November Nighthawks by Edward Hopper (1942). Many Layers of History at 7th…
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The 10 most charming spots in the Greenwich Village Historic District
…the signature preservation victories in New York after the tragic loss of the original Penn Station. While the building’s architecture may have been beloved, the activities associated with it were…
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Carole Teller’s Changing New York, Part 3
…of being demolished, like Penn Station or tenements being cleared for urban renewal. In other cases, they were fading painted signs growing fainter by the day. But often these were…
Posted June 1, 2020
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Shining a Light on an East Village Landmark
Recently someone asked me about a building he walked by in the East Village. Showing me a photo of the building on his phone, he figured it was a substation…
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A Different Kind of Transit ‘Signal’ at Broadway-Lafayette
Deep below Broadway and Lafayette Street, in the passageway connecting the intersection’s namesake station with the Bleecker Street downtown platform, is an art installation that honors the communities who lived…
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Can East River Park’s Historic Buildings Be Saved?
…of the East River Park’s opening on July 27, 1939. Both the Track House and the Tennis Center Comfort Station have been recognized by the New York State Historic Preservation…
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Putting Historic Images On The Map
…and interior detail Remember when there was more than one gas station in Greenwich Village? Take a look at these images of Joe’s Friendly Service Station: Joe’s Friendly Service gas…
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Thomas Paine, the American Crisis, and Greenwich Village
…19, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Journal. Paine, an eighteenth-century philosopher and author of the Enlightenment, was known as the ‘Father of the American Revolution,’ in large part because of The American Crisis…
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VILLAGE VOICES 2022
…Exhibit Construction, MADE Design/Build Exhibit Design, Penny Hardy | PS New York Audio & Digital Experience, Serge Ossorguine | SergeAudio Supporters BENEFACTOR Craig Newmark Philanthropies VISIONARY Douglas Elliman Real Estate…
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The Weight of Demolition Waste
…history. Next on the chopping block is another massive haul of C&D waste that will result from the demolition of the Hotel Pennsylvania for PENN 15, a 1,200-foot tall commercial…
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Dr. Rebecca Cole, African-American Female Medical Pioneer Who Changed Lives On Bleecker Street
…education. She graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1867. Her medical thesis at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania was titled “The Eye and Its Appendages.” You can…
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Jackie Curtis: East Village Superstar, “Pioneer without a Frontier”
…resident company at La MaMa. In 1969, she performed with the Playhouse of the Ridiculous in Tom Murrin’s Cock-Strong alongside Penny Arcade, Anthony Ingrassia, and others. Jackie Curtis, Penny Arcade,…
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Exploring Virtual Village Voices, Part 6: Larry Kramer, Helen Levitt, and Edna St. Vincent Millay
…Awards; the controversial book Faggots (1978); and the screenplay for Women in Love (1969), which receiving an Academy Award nomination. Larry Kramer shadowbox designed by Penny Hardy, PS New York…
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Exploring Virtual Village Voices, Part 3: cummings, Cunningham, and Draper
…designed by Penny Hardy, PS New York The audio is narrated by actor, filmmaker, and Village resident Edward Norton. https://soundcloud.com/villagepreservation/ee-cummings-village-voices-audio?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fvillagepreservation%252Fee-cummings-village-voices-audio Click here to read more about e.e. cummings. Merce Cunningham…
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Exploring Virtual Village Voices Part 1: Abbot, Auden, & Baldwin
…1965. Berenice Abbot shadowbox designed by Penny Hardy, PS New York Click here to read more about Berenice Abbot. The audio is narrated by photographer Jessica Craig-Martin, event photographer for…
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2021 Village Awardee: Pangea Restaurant and Carbaret!
…tour or played a larger venue. A few notable performers include musician/activist Stephen Said, performance artist and former Village Preservation award winner Penny Arcade, and Broadway’s Michael McAssey. Penny Arcade…
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Groundbreaking Artist and Educator Selma Hortense Burke’s Home at 88 East 10th Street
…Carolina. Smithsonian American Art Museum via Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina. After marrying architect Herman Kobbe In 1949, Burke moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and opened the Selma Burke Art…
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History’s Mysteries: Ghost Sign on East 6th Street
…where we get to the connection with “The Office.” Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company The new factory was built in Scranton, Pennsylvania less than a mile and a half from…
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My Greenwich Village Story
…here because you could be creative and free, two of the most important things,” Penny Arcade said of the Village. Thanks to Penny Arcade and the rest of the Greenwich…
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VILLAGE VOICES
…McFarland & Natasha Zarin, Farley Pennington, Katherine Schoonover, Allan Sperling & Ferne Goldberg, Adrienne Ward & Dan Levy, Howard Wolfson ARTIST Lauren Belfer & Michael Marissen, Blaine & Tim Birchby,…
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Beyond the Village and Back: Harlem’s St. James Presbyterian Church
…and located at the Odd Fellows Hall at 108 West 32nd Street. Later, it moved to 211 West 32nd Street, but was soon displaced by the construction of Pennsylvania Station….
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Happy Birthday to Villager Gloria McDarrah!
…108 East 4th Street and then to Lebanon, Pennsylvania where her father worked in the garment industry. Gloria visited New York City once a year throughout her childhood, staying with…
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GVSHP Oral History: Gloria McDarrah
…a family of Ukrainian immigrants. They later moved to 108 East 4th Street and then to Lebanon, Pennsylvania where her father worked in the garment industry. Gloria visited New York…
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Little Tiles, Big Words: The Hess Triangle
…was not to last. Voorhis Building was located in Lot 55 in the G.W. Bromley & Co. Atlas of 1897 . In August 1910 , the original Pennsylvania Station was…
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Catholic Churches: Anchor of New York’s 19th Century Irish Community
…Tyrone, left behind poverty and British oppression, originally settling in Pennsylvania to study at St. Mary’s college. A popular apocryphal tale was Hughes would later gain the nickname of Dagger…
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Skirmish in the Subway: A Not So Merry Christmas for Gangster Monk Eastman
…14th Street/Union Square subway station. Eastman died in the early hours of December 26, 1920. Union Square today. Monk Eastman’s violent death in the oft-traveled subway station means little to…
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59 Bleecker Street – Art Deco in NoHo
…buildings were replaced by gas stations and garages, and the ground stories of a number of store and loft buildings were converted to automobile showrooms and repair shops. Located at…
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Downtown Underground: A Look at Subway Art
…any of the magnificent architecture above our heads. But there is also art beneath us, in dozens of subway stations throughout the five boroughs, including right here in Greenwich Village….
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When Four “Els” Ran Overhead On Our Streets
…Avenue Lines. For each one, it describes the route, the hours of operation, and the different stations where passengers could get on or off. Underneath a simple diagram of the…
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Business of the Month
Every month, Village Preservation combs through nominations from the public and other resources to choose a special independent store to honor in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or NoHo. Please…
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When Valentines Were Works of Art
…New Yorkers weren’t just sending valentines in February. Printers’ shops, as well as smaller stationery stores, often had displays year-round advertising their attractive valentines. 19th-century New Yorkers could have strolled…
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How Greenwich Village Saved Piet Mondrian
…who promoted abstraction in painting, furniture design, and architecture. Spurred on by the disaster and devastation of the First World War, which lay waste to countries and empires which had…
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New Abingdon Playground
…furniture and lighting Existing comfort station – north facade Existing comfort station – east facade Existing north and south facades Proposed north and south facades Proposed east and west facades…
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And the Village Awards Go to …
…Barbara Kahn, and the Sixth Street Community Center; and bottom row from left, Penny Arcade, Trash and Vaudeville, and the Washington Square Park Conservancy. From hundreds of nominations from the…
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Exploring Virtual Village Voices, Part 4: Bob Dylan, Martha Graham, and Lorraine Hansberry
…in Westbeth. Martha Graham shadowbox designed by Penny Hardy, PS New York Narrating the audio is Leslie Mason, Leslie Mason is a curator and creator of VILLAGE VOICES, long-time trustee…
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Coming Soon — Greenwich Village Stories
…Strand’s 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway at 12th Street). Click here for more details. April 16th at 7:00pm: Reading with musician Lenny Kaye and performance artist Penny…
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Jessie Redmon Fauset: The Unsung Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance
…(Pennsylvania) High School for Girls and was the only African American in her graduating class. Following her graduation, Fauset received a scholarship to attend Cornell University, and in 1905 made…
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Ida Tarbell: An Icon of Investigative Journalism
…moments in our democracy. Born in a log home on November 5, 1857, Ida Minerva Tarbell grew up in the oil region of northwestern Pennsylvania. Her father, Frank Tarbell, built…
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What’s Lost in a Name: The Bowery and the Lost Mohican Trail
…early ancestors of the Lenape. Lenape refers to the group of native people of the territories of eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Lower New York, and eastern Delaware. The Lenape had…
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End of Summer Reading: Greenwich Village Stories
…has my name on it….Penny Arcade: Politics, Sex, & Reality. Destiny, I suppose.” — Penny Arcade “My first and fondest memories emanate from that most excellent corner of Cornelia and…
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Mysterious Name & Address Cast in Iron Reveals Layers of History
…to the era of Boyce & McIntire’s firm, the below image by John Penniman shows a foundry on East 12th street at the foot of the East River, the same location…
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Irish American Heritage Permeates #SouthOfUnionSquare
…was a teenager, Harnett enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1866, then moved to New York in 1869. Here he worked at a silver engraving shop…
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Rita Mae Brown and Her “Rubyfruit Jungle”
…and activism to celebrate her work in forwarding the LGBTQ & Femenist movements. Early Life Rita Mae Brown was born November 28th, 1944 in Hanover, Pennsylvania to an unwed, teenage…
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2018 Annual Meeting
…of The New School. We were honored to be joined by several hundred friends and supporters including host Penny Arcade. Screen reader support enabled. On June 6, 2018 Village Preservation…
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Why Isn’t This Landmarked?: 32 East 10th Street, Home of artist Franz Kline
…floor became the home and studio of abstract expressionist painter Franz Kline. Franz Kline (1910-1962) was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania and moved to New York City in 1938. He…
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They Lived on West 9th Street: Ida Tarbell
…Born in a log home on November 5, 1857, Ida Minerva Tarbell grew up in the oil region of northwestern Pennsylvania. Her father, Frank Tarbell, built wooden oil storage tanks…
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W.E.B. Du Bois Makes – and Teaches – History at the New School, September 27, 1948
…history class. Previously, Du Bois had taught Greek and Latin at Wilberforce University in Ohio, sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and economics and history at Atlanta University, among other…
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Dorothy Canning Miller: Champion of Abstract Expressionism
…this Greenwich Village resident from including the then-revolutionary work of many little-known artists in future displays, helping to forge the world of modern art. Irving Penn, Eight American Artists &…
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Demolitions in Our Historic Image Archive: Gone, But Not Forgotten
…and it was demolished in 2006. This image, taken in 1963, shows Pennsylvania Station undergoing demolition, as seen from Seventh Avenue and 32 Street. The image was taken by…
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How Alphabet City’s ‘milk laboratory’ led to modern pasteurization
…the immigrant poor. Starting in 1893, Straus set up a series of “milk depots” throughout Lower Manhattan where safe, pasteurized milk could be made available for just a penny a glass. Mothers…
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Purdy & Henderson: Engineering NYC from #SouthOfUnionSquare
…— the Whitehall Annex (1910), and McKim, Mead & White’s Pennsylvania Train Station (1911), in addition to the Reed & Stern and Warren & Wetmore collaborative project for the Grand…
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What the Preservation Movement Needs Now
…signal events in the struggle for the Law, almost on par with the destruction of Pennsylvania Station. If you’ve been involved in a movement for going on 40 years, you…
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Greenwich Village Stories book events
Greenwich Village Stories book events April 23rd at 7:30pm: “Greenwich Village Stories” at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street) featuring performance artist Penny Arcade, Barneys New York creative ambassador…
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The Life and Lithographs of Laurie Ourlicht
…York Life Insurance Building in Tribeca at 346 Broadway, which was designed by McKim, Mead, and White (the architects for the Washington Square Arch and the historic Pennsylvania Station). Laurie…
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The Preservationist’s Progress: Mark Twain and 21 Fifth Avenue
…Pennsylvania Station, and, of course, 21 Fifth Avenue. It is only a shame that the commission was formed too late to save such beautiful and historically significant structures. Village Preservation…
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Bertram Goodman’s Views of the Village
…135 Charles Street, c. 1935. MCNY Now a condominium, 135 Charles street used to be the 9th Police Precinct Station House and was built in 1896-97. Designed by John duFais,…
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The History of Sheridan Square
…place for children to play. In 1918, the IRT subway station at Christopher Street/Sheridan Square opened, cementing Sheridan Square’s prominent association with the Village. A bronze statue of General Sheridan…
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The Animal Rights Movement’s Origins (and still-visible legacy) in Greenwich Village
…the Astor Place Subway Station But lo and behold, the A.S.P.C.A. got its start in our neighborhood. The organization’s founding meeting took place at Clinton Hall, located in the since…
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The Brant Foundation & Gluckman Tang Architects, 2019 Village Awardees
…Whitehill as a substation for Consolidated Edison in 1919-20. The building was converted to a multi-use commercial structure in 1963 and subsequently served as the home and studio of famed…
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A New Chapter for Local Bookstores
…of McNally Jackson on West 8th Street with its Goods For the Study stationary store offshoot. McNally Jackson opened its original location in 2004 at 52 Prince St. The bookstore includes a…
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Kitty Genovese and the Village
…of shops next to the Long Island Railroad Station at 80-20 Austin Street in Kew Gardens, Queens. She was coming home from her shift at the bar at about 3:15…
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Changing Views on Seventh Avenue South
…In addition to the price of gasoline (eight gallons for $1.05 at the ‘Sheridan’ Shell gas station in the photo), some other changes have occurred to the view from this…
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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Michael Stewart, and ‘Defacement’
…artist, was allegedly drawing on the walls of the Brooklyn-bound L train platform at the 14th Street and 1st Avenue subway station in the East Village, when he was approached…
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Final MTA Mulry Square Vent Plant Designs Unveiled
…neighborhood, such as the MTA Substation at Greenwich Avenue and 13th Street (see images and info). Thus far, however, the MTA has stubbornly refused. MTA Substation at Greenwich Avenue and…
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President William McKinley Assassinated
…storied career was as New York City Police Commissioner beginning in 1895. Among many facets of his notable tenure as Police Commissioner was his commission of new police precinct station…
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Then & Now: Seventh Avenue South
…at odd angles (think of the Jefferson Market Library). If you look at the 1970s photo, you can see that it replaced an Exxon gas station. According to the Greenwich…
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Members Only ($500+): Exclusive Curator Tour of the Brant Foundation
…occupies a century-old building originally designed as a substation for Consolidated Edison. Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Tang Architects renovated the former substation, which is currently featuring a selection of the…
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Art Deco in the Village
…entertainment centers. One Fifth Avenue from www.nyc-architecture.com Greenwich Substation 235 Here is just a sampling of Art Deco…
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Washington Square Park
…maintenance & comfort station structures in the park and to replace them with a single building that would house public restrooms as well as offices for Parks Dept maintenance operations….
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Bright Lights, Big Village
…start of his descent into drugs and alcohol — and into the nearby Christopher Street subway station, jumping the turnstiles to escape on the 1 train. Conway walking to his…
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9/11 Tiles For America Collection — Memorial at Mulry Square
…to give the memorial “oasis-like” privacy. However, the memorial was threatened again later that year when the MTA announced plans to build an emergency ventilation substation on the site. Through…
Posted September 8, 2021
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The Animal Rights Movement’s Origins (and still-visible legacy) in Greenwich Village
…the Astor Place Subway Station But lo and behold, the A.S.P.C.A. got its start in our neighborhood. The organization’s founding meeting took place at Clinton Hall, located in the since…
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William Kunstler: Armchair Liberal Turned Radical Lawyer
…by bus to challenge the segregation of bus station waiting rooms and restaurants. Kunstler went to a Mississippi bus station, where he watched as five determined young people sat down…
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East Village Rock Tours – Part 1
…This tour will begin at the NE corner of 4th Ave and 11th st in front of the Cooper Station Post Office (93 4th Ave, New York, NY 10003) and…
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East Village Rock Tour A: Making Music in the East Village
…Village Rock and Roll Tour: Part A This tour will begin at the NE corner of 4th Ave and 11th Street, in front of the Cooper Station Post Office and…
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Jean Shepherd: Village Raconteur
…a very regular presence on the radio waves in the 1950s and 60s thanks to his program that aired on WOR Radio. While his tales were typically stationed in suburban…
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Business of the Month: Fountain House + Body, 105 Thompson Street
…In keeping with the goal of selling low-waste, plastic-free products, the store has recently added a refillery station, where customers can replenish their cleaning supplies using their own containers, spare…
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Bright Lights, Big Village
…start of his descent into drugs and alcohol — and into the nearby Christopher Street subway station, jumping the turnstiles to escape on the 1 train. Conway walking to his…
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My Personal Remembrance of 9/11
…were now some people heading in an uptown direction. First there were a few, then dozens, then hundreds, all fleeing the devastation they had just narrowly escaped. Many were desperately…
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2023 Village Awardee: Essex Card Shop, 47 Avenue A
…an “everything” store with cards, stationary supplies, cleaning supplies, clothing, kitchen good, toys, and anything else one could need in a pinch. From floor to ceiling, one can find useful…
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Welcome to the Neighborhood: India & Purry by Jessica Hollander, 147 Sullivan Street
…wander down Sullivan Street between Houston and Prince Streets and into one of our neighborhood’s most recent additions, India & Purry, a home decor, stationery, and accessory store that will…
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State’s ‘Path Through History’ Remains a Mystery
…website. Here’s your chance to learn about the Hamilton Fish House (a.k.a. Stuyvesant-Fish House). That seems odd, given that new signs in at least two different subway stations broadcast the…
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This Day in History: Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated
…in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, to Washington D.C. for burial near his brother, President John F. Kennedy, at Arlington National Cemetery. Thousands of mourners silently lined the train route and stations…
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Press Conference to Save 186 Spring Street: Press Release and pictures
…several much more highly altered buildings that are less old and with much less architectural integrity intact, as well as a gas station at the corner of Houston and Lafayette…
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January Favorites from the Archive
…the group took to Shanksville, Pennsylvania in 2002. Click here to see the full collection. Do you have unique photos of Greenwich Village, the East Village, NoHo, or other NYC…
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New Oral History: Shirley Wright and the Founding of the West Village Nursery School
…Mekas; musicians like David Amram; and performance artists like Penny Arcade. Read or listen to Shirley Wright’s oral history — CLICK HERE Explore all our oral histories — CLICK HERE…
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