As we do every month, we just added some new historic images to the Village Preservation historic image archive from the latest Landmarks Permit Applications which we have reviewed. This round had an intriguing one of Astor Place/Cooper Square from 1925 which shows how many of the striking historic buildings remain from that time (largely […]
This is part of a series of curated tours to help the public explore the buildings and history shared on our recently-launched East Village Building Blocks site — see it here. From 19th-century concert halls to punk palaces of the 1970s, many influential music scenes got their start or found a home among the East Village’s legendary music venues. […]
If you look at Astor Place and Cooper Square on a map, it looks as though somebody took a lasso and tied a bunch of streets together. Multiple streets and thoroughfares converge and diverge here, and perhaps because of that, this New York City nexus has a long and varied history. One longtime witness to […]
February is Black History Month. We here at GVSHP are celebrating it by highlighting different sites of significance to the African-American community within our neighborhoods, including those on our new Civil Rights & Social Justice Map. In early 1962, writer Amiri Baraka (then known as LeRoi Jones) and then-wife Hettie Jones moved into the house at 27 Cooper […]
Village Preservation is fortunate to be participating in two terrific events this coming Saturday, September 17th and we invite our friends and readers to come and visit us! Astor Alive! Festival is being presented by the Village Alliance and is free to the public. The Festival will celebrate The New Astor Place, a vibrant cultural […]
New York City Trolley or Streetcar service ended in New York City on April 6th, 1957 on Welfare (now Roosevelt) Island. But it began one hundred twenty five years earlier on November 14, 1832, with not only New York City but the world’s first streetcar line which ran on the Bowery and Fourth Avenue, between […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Although the summer months mean vacation time for some people, here at GVSHP, we don’t slow down! Our free public programs are still in full swing. This Wednesday evening we’ll present a program with our co-sponsors at The New School about the history of this Village institution. Julia Foulkes, Associate Professor of History, has entitled […]
In the 1890s, the Bowery, like Bleecker Street, was a center of ‘gay’ nightlife in New York City. On Bleecker Street, the Black Rabbit and the Slide did business, offering live sex shows and male prostitutes. On the Bowery, Manilla Hall and Little Bucks, like the Slide, served as ‘fairy resorts,’ where male prostitutes waited […]
The Carl Fischer Music building dominated the skyline of Astor Place and Cooper Square for many decades. This 12-story building with its iconic sign along the north face is located across the street from Cooper Union and within the NoHo Historic District. For over seventy-five years it housed the printery and a retail store for […]
Last week’s announcement in The Villager confirming The Village Voice’s move from its offices in Cooper Square got us thinking about the history of the storied Village newspaper. The Voice, which began in 1955 in a tiny space in Sheridan Square, had been located in Cooper Square since 1991. Its office is now located downtown […]
