Hip-Hop’s 2nd Birthplace, Part 6: Fab 5 Freddy
Hip Hop at 50This is the sixth in a series of posts that celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Birth of Hip Hop. Our exploration takes us to the seminal places of Hip … Continued
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Tag: Andy Warhol
April in the Archives
April is a wonderful time in New York City, as we transition into spring with flowers blooming and people filling the streets once again. Today we explore April through our … Continued
Jackie Curtis: East Village Superstar, “Pioneer without a Frontier”
“I am not a boy, not a girl, I am not gay, not straight, I am not a drag queen, not a transsexual – I am just me, Jackie.” This … Continued
Slugger Ann and Jackie Curtis — Part of the East Village Family
Some bars come and some bars go, and some are never forgotten. Slugger Ann bar and cocktail lounge was located at 301 East 12th Street/192 Second Avenue at the corner … Continued
Things We’re Looking Forward To Doing Again
We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to … Continued
Penny Arcade’s Village Preservation Oral History – Chronicles of the Queen of Downtown
GVSHP shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. … Continued
M1-5 What? A Lofty History of Zoning in SoHo and NoHo
Scrolling through the NYC Department of City Planning website, it is easy to get lost amidst the zoning texts and maps and terms. But, as we come to realize from … Continued
‘Catholic Boy’ Jim Carroll and The Downtown Scene
It’s rare to become a published poet by age 16, finding yourself praised by the some of the foremost Beatnik writers. It’s even rarer when no less than Patti Smith … Continued
The Pyramid Club: New York City’s First Drag Landmark
101 Avenue A is home to the Pyramid Club which became a launching point for pioneering drag superstars like Lady Bunny and RuPaul, setting in motion the contemporary drag movement. … Continued
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable featuring the Velvet Underground
On April 1, 1966, the Velvet Underground and Nico began their residency at 19-25 St. Mark’s Place in the space that would become the Electric Circus, as part of Andy … Continued
Allen Ginsberg’s East Village Haunts
We recently came across a video on YouTube of what looks almost like silent home movies of beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and several others gathering at an East … Continued
Eight Years Off the Grid
GVSHP launched our blog Off the Grid on February 25, 2011, to share news, research, viewpoints, and historic information about our neighborhoods and beyond. Since then, we have written over 2,000 … Continued
Nico Captured by Fred McDarrah
On January 7, 1967, German-born singer Nico performed with The Velvet Underground at Steve Paul’s nightclub, the Scene, and this moment was captured stunningly in a photograph by Fred W. … Continued
Dylan and the Village on Film
The Village in the 1960s was a hotbed of creativity. In one of the most defining moments of that decade, in January 1961, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan moved here to … Continued
Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground’s Last Show and Album at Max’s
The Village’s misfits, we know quite well, are very dedicated, special kinds of misfits. Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground certainly fall into this category. Everyone remembers when they were … Continued
When Maxfield Parrish’s Magic Came to Greenwich Village
The great American artist and illustrator Maxfield Parrish was born on July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia. Born Frederick Parrish, he died more than ninety-five years later on March 30, 1966 … Continued
Penny Arcade: Downtown Iconoclast and “Queen of the Underground” to host GVSHP’s Village Awards
Penny Arcade has been living the bohemian life in New York City, and making art about it, on and off for more than four decades. She says she is “fundamentally … Continued
Anthology Film Archives — 2018 Village Awardee
Anthology Film Archives is an international center dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. GVSHP is proud … Continued
Valerie Solanas: Questions, Context, and a Messy Legacy in the Village
Valerie Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) is nothing if not divisive. She was a mysterious Villager known for being a radical lesbian feminist separatist, for writing the wild, … Continued
How an East Village building went from gangster hangout to Andy Warhol’s Electric Circus
Fifty years ago this week, the Velvet Underground released their second album, “White Light/White Heat.” Their darkest record, it was also arguably the Velvet’s most influential, inspiring a generation of … Continued
The Women’s House of Detention
To walk by the verdant, lush garden behind the graceful Jefferson Market Library today, one can scarcely imagine that it was once the site of an eleven-story prison, the notorious … Continued
Whaam! Pow! Celebrating the Life and Work of Roy Lichtenstein
In a city filled to the brim with galleries, museums, artists’ studios, and, of course, avid art lovers, we’ve all undoubtedly walked by a display of Pop Art at some … Continued
Celebrating the Birthday and Legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat, born December 22, 1960, may have lived just 27 short years. But in that time he created a language of art which may resonate more than ever today, … Continued
On This Day: Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side”
On November 8, 1972, Walk on the Wild Side, Lou Reed’s classic paean to downtown New York, and some of the more prominent characters that occupied that space and time, was … Continued
Jean-Michel Basquiat and the East Village art scene of the 1980’s
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life and work are synonymous with the East Village/NoHo art scene of the 1980’s. From his early years as a burgeoning young artist while studying at City-as-School, a … Continued
Happy Birthday, Truman Capote
The writer we know as Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans. Although he grew up in the South, he and his family … Continued
Happy Birthday Lou Reed
Famed Rock n Roll legend and Greenwich Village icon, Lou Reed, was born on March 2, 1942.Reed grew up on Long Island and moved to New York City at the … Continued
On This Day: Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”
Lou Reed’s classic paean to downtown New York and some of the more prominent characters that occupied that space and time, Walk on the Wild Side, was released on November 8, … Continued
She Shot Andy Warhol
The 1960’s was a turbulent decade marked by numerous notable murders, assassinations, and attempted assassinations (some of which, like the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, the Bobby Kennedy assassination, and … Continued
Remembering Lou Reed
The world mourned the passing of Lou Reed this past weekend at the age of 71. Front man of The Velvet Underground, Reed was born in Brooklyn and raised on … Continued
Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol
Twentieth century pop art icon Andy Warhol was born on August 6th, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But his life as an artist and visual pioneer was very much about New … Continued
Jefferson Market Garden
On Monday evening I attended the Jefferson Market Garden Friends’ Annual Garden Party. If you are already familiar with the Jefferson Market Garden (a 1991 Village Award winner), there’s no … Continued
Gangsters and Artists on Great Jones Street
We often receive research requests here at GVSHP that ask a very particular question about a particular address in one of the Village historic districts. So when we received a … Continued
What an Electrifying Past: 19-25 St. Marks Place
One of the many wonderful things about the East Village is the fascinating layers of history that convey the evolution of the neighborhood. The buildings at 19-23 St. Mark’s Place … Continued