The area now known as the East Village was historically part of the Lower East Side, which was one of the most densely populated and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city, especially during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time, it was primarily populated by immigrants, particularly from Eastern, and to a […]
Ada Louise Huxtable (March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) loved architecture, New York and its neighborhoods, preservation, and the gifts to society that built environments shape. It is this love, and her incredible skill as a writer, that earned Huxtable her job at the New York Times as the first-ever architecture critic, her reputation, […]
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. Each includes the experiences and insights of leaders or long-time participants in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. 2020 marks the 75th year […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. Aviatrix Amelia Earhart is a household name for shattering a record-breaking 18,415-foot glass ceiling in her airplane. Almost as famous is her mysterious disappearance […]
On February 7, 1960 the New York Times wrote an article discussing changes in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. Four years beforehand the El (above ground subway) had been removed from Third Avenue. With that barrier dismantled, Villagers from the west began to move east as “new shops, luxury and middle-income housing, and […]
Happy (slightly late) birthday to Greenwich Village resident and long-time GVSHP supporter Calvin Trillin, born December 5, 1935. Mr. Trillin was a contributor to GVSHP’s publication Greenwich Village Stories (available for purchase this holiday season!), and has been the host of several of our annual Village Awards Ceremony, as well as a featured speaker at GVSHP’s benefit […]
On September 21, 1965, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held its very first public hearing. Twenty-eight buildings were on the agenda, including five in Brooklyn, fifteen in Manhattan, one in the Bronx, and seven in Staten Island. Eight of the properties are located in GVSHP’s catchment area between Houston and 14th Street. We have written extensively about […]
On February 7, 1960 the New York Times wrote an article discussing changes in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. Four years beforehand the El (above ground subway) had been removed from Third Avenue. With that barrier dismantled, Villagers from the west began to move east as “new shops, luxury and middle-income housing, and […]
Twenty years ago today the movie ‘Kids’ was released. The film is about a day in the lives of a group of New York City teenagers. The film received more than its share of negative reviews and accusations of exploiting and sensationalizing its teenage subjects. But unsurprisingly a movie about young people being independent and participating in adult activities […]
On July 3, 1981, the New York Times ran a small story with perhaps one of the most foreboding and portentous headlines in modern history: “Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals.” Of course this was one of the very first published reports dealing with what has come to be known as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) […]
On March 13th, 1964, Kitty Genovese was brutally raped and murdered in Kew Gardens, Queens. The crime, and Kitty Genovese’s name, became symbols of much more than this one savage act. Largely through reporting in the weeks that followed, the murder became a parable of sorts about the unravelling of society, increasing crime, racial fears, […]
So there I was, innocently paging through the New York Times Real Estate section this past Sunday — I know you were, too, dreaming about the $2.5 million Mercer Street loft splashed on page 3 — when a pesky contradiction that’s been buzzing around the world of preservation and development landed right on my nose. […]
Yesterday, legendary architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable died at the age of 91 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 1963, Ms. Huxtable was appointed as the architecture critic for the New York Times where she became the first full-time architecture critic at an American newspaper and transformed architectural review into a mainstream and respected field of […]
