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Tag: historic plaque program

Village Preservation Plaques Highlight LGBTQ+ History Throughout Our Neighborhoods

On April 21, Village Preservation joined with the the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project to honor the city’s oldest gay bar and a pioneering event from the early days of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights. The honoree was Julius’ Bar at 159 West 10th Street and the notable event was the Sip-In. In the 1960s, […]

LGBTQ+ Pride Programs Roundup

The roots of LGBTQ+ life in our neighborhoods are deeper than we even know. In the documentary PS. Burn This Letter Please, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was presented at one of Village Preservation’s Pride programs, gay historian George Chauncey spoke about using police records and newspaper articles because personal papers […]

Village Preservation Historic Plaques Honor Trailblazing Women in our Neighborhoods

Today we’re looking at the historic plaques that Village Preservation has placed throughout our neighborhoods commemorating some of the amazing women who have lived, worked, and changed history here. Historic plaques are a great tool to educate the public about the remarkable history of our neighborhoods, and the incredible people, events, and movements connected to sites […]

Village Preservation Historic Plaques Honoring African Americans in Our Neighborhood

Historic plaques can be a wonderful way to educate the public about the remarkable history of our neighborhoods, and the incredible people, events, and movements connected to sites all around us. Historic plaques benefit local communities, as well as tourists and visitors, by sparking further interest in local history.  Dedication ceremonies, which celebrate the installation […]

    2020 Village Preservation Public Programs Roundup

    Despite all the challenges of the year, Village Preservation proudly hosted 76 programs (most of which were virtual), reaching over 9,000 people in 2020. How does one choose favorites? It’s nearly impossible, especially given that each program represents, at minimum, someone’s research, passion, skill, life’s work, book, or all of the above. So, in wrap-up […]

    Woody Guthrie’s New York Comes Alive

    Folk music icon Woody Guthrie was a little man with beady eyes – as described by his second wife Marjorie, though she had imagined him to be taller, strapping, and more like a proper cowboy than he was. Perhaps it was because of his Dust Bowl Ballads, his first album, chronicling his travels from Dust […]

      The Who, live at the Fillmore East

      On April 6th, 1968, The Who rocked the Fillmore East as part of a two-night residency.  On April 20th, they will release a double CD and triple LP of that seminal two-night stint, in honor of its fiftieth anniversary.  The Who have played around the world for decades, but among their many performances they chose to […]

      Remembering James Baldwin

      Through his writing, televised debates, and public speaking across the globe, author and activist James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 — December 1, 1987) was a vital voice for the civil rights movement. He was part of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as well as the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.  From 1958 to 1961 […]

      PFLAG Plaque Unveiled

      On Sunday, June 23, 2013 outside the Church of the Village at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 13th Street, GVSHP helped to unveil a plaque to commemorate the first meeting of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The organization, which now has 350 chapters in all 50 states, had its humble […]

      Frank O’Hara’s East Village

      This post is adapted and updated from an earlier Off the Grid post written by Karen Loew in 2014. On June 10, 2014, GVSHP and Two Boots Foundation had the great pleasure of marking, with a commemorative plaque, the home of poet Frank O’Hara at 441 East 9th Street (just west of Avenue A). In […]

        Happy Birthday Martha Graham!

        On this day in 1894 the revolutionary dancer and choreographer Martha Graham was born.  She is largely responsible for modern dance as the art form we know today. Graham was an essential part of the early- to mid-century Village arts scene. In 2015 we unveiled one of our historic plaques in honor of her, with The New School, at 66 […]

          Fillmore East Then and Now

          On March 8, 1968, the Fillmore East opened at 105 Second Avenue. The first night’s lineup of Big Brother & Holding Company, Tim Buckley, and Albert King was the start of a three year run of music legends that included The Who, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Grateful Dead, Hot Tuna, the Allman […]

            James Baldwin Returns to the Village

            This week, James Baldwin, one-time resident of Greenwich Village, returns to his old neighborhood — on the silver screen at least. Film Forum is showing the new documentary I Am Not Your Negro, based on Baldwin’s unfinished text Remember This House, and directed by Raoul Peck. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film explores the […]

              Plaque Unveiling for Sculptor Chaim Gross

              Yesterday we were honored to unveil the latest in our Historic Plaque Program at 526 LaGuardia Place, where  sculptor Chaim Gross lived and worked.  You may have passed by it many times and not be aware of the magic inside. Working predominantly in wood, stone, and eventually bronze, the work of Chaim Gross conveyed a […]

              See You on the Dark Side of the Village!

              In 1973, Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon; the album hit U.S. shelves on March 1st and UK on March 16th.  Dark Side of the Moon was the band’s eighth studio album, their most commercially successful album, and one of the best-selling albums ever worldwide.  Conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness […]

              James Baldwin and His Greenwich Village

              What is it about James Baldwin? This writer, long recognized as an important voice in American literature, has been gone for over a quarter-century, yet seems to be speaking incessantly in the country’s ear. He was born in Harlem in 1924, and died in the south of France in 1987, and achieved the kind of […]

              What’s In a Historic Plaque?

              There’s an appealing 1951 painting by Stuart Davis owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, though it’s not currently on view in the new building. Vibrant and memorable, the work is titled “Owh! In San Paõ.”  The Whitney explains the unusual name: “…Davis had planned to exhibit it at the 1951 Biennial in São […]

              One Year Ago Today: PFLAG Plaque Unveiled

              One year ago today outside the Church of the Village at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 13th Street, GVSHP helped to unveil a plaque to commemorate the first meeting of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The organization, which now has 350 chapters in all 50 states, had its humble beginnings […]

              PFLAG Historic Plaque Unveiling On A Beautiful Day

              Yesterday the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and The Church of the Village unveiled a bronze historic marker now permanently affixed to the facade of this landmark church memorializing the first meeting of what came to be PFLAG, led by Jeanne Manford, at the church […]