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Tag: San Remo Cafe

James Baldwin Leaves an Enduring Legacy in Greenwich Village

“For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.”                    -James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December […]

“On the Road” Published

This is an update of a post written by former GVSHP staffer Andito Lloyd. The seminal tome of the Beat generation, Jack Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road,” was published  on September 5, 1957.  Though written in 1951 on a continuous 120 foot roll of paper it took many years and many revisions to finally get published […]

Let Me Introduce To You: Sgt. Pepper’s Greenwich Village Band

The classic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, considered by many the greatest and most influential rock album of all time, was released on May 26, 1967 in the U.K., and June 2, 1967 in the U.S.  The lasting influence of “the first concept album” is undeniable, but so too is the Village’s […]

    LGBTQ History: MacDougal Street

    (This post is the first of a series on the history of the LGBTQ community in Greenwich Village.) It is easy to assume, in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots, that Greenwich Village’s LGBTQ history happened entirely on Christopher Street. Of course, there’s a lot more to LGBTQ history in the Village than Stonewall, just […]

    The San Remo Cafe: Archive Edition

    Off the Grid often features images from GVSHP’s Preservation Archive and Oral History Project. The image archive includes approximately 300 images from ten different collections that document the architecture, cultural history, and preservation of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. This summer, we were pleased to accept two new images into the archive.

      Great Album Covers, Preserved Forever

      They may not necessarily be a basis for landmark designation, but it’s always nice when the setting for a great album cover gets landmark protections, ensuring that it lives on for future generations to appreciate. The Village and East Village have inspired and launched the career of many musicians over the years.  So it’s no […]

      James Baldwin, born August 2, 1924

      This past Monday evening, many of us gathered on MacDougal Street near Bleecker for the unveiling of a bronze plaque honoring the San Remo Café. The San Remo Café operated in this corner location for many years and was a home of sorts for so many of Greenwich Village’s most creative people. One of those […]

      Another Summer in the City

      On Monday, July 29th, GVSHP, along with our friends at Two Boots, unveils our latest historic plaque, this one commemorating the San Remo Café, which was a favorite Village hangout for writers, musicians and other artists from the 1940’s to around 1970.  Regulars included Allen Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Miles Davis, […]