After years of effort by Village Preservation, the historic No. 50 West 13th Street is now on the path to NYC landmark designation. The Greek Revival row house between Fifth and Sixth Avenues has several different histories worthy of note: leading 19th-century Black businessman and abolitionist Jacob Day ran his business here and owned the […]
Hip-Hop at 50This is the third 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 Hop’s early days in our neighborhoods and introduces some of the instrumental figures in the downtown world of Hip Hop. The Ritz Party @ Webster Hall, […]
Webster Hall at 125 East 11th street has a remarkable past. Started as a social club in 1887, it is without a doubt one of New York’s most famous gathering spots. And that long history of bringing people together under one roof had a pretty auspicious start. In February of 1887, the new protected cruiser […]
There are a number of legendary rock venues in our neighborhood, many an integral part of the 1980s NYC club scene. One of the leading ones was ‘The Ritz,’ located in Webster Hall, designated a New York City landmark in 2008, on East 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. The Ritz opened on May […]
Some of the most important events and most prominent figures in the labor movement bear strong connections to the Village and East Village. Without these courageous individuals, or the events connected to them, we might never have had fair wages, better working conditions, or the right to collective bargaining. Below are a few standout homes […]
We had a promising hearing last Tuesday at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on our proposed landmark designation of 827-831 Broadway, with a vote planned for this coming Tuesday, October 31st. We’re hoping for an outcome that will be more treat than trick (if you want to do more than hope, send a letter here); for good […]
It seems well over a year ago when we rallied outside 112-120 East 11th Street to protest the demolition of these five tenement buildings with a history of rent stabilized units in them. Over one hundred people joined us that warm August day. This block of the East Village had been identified by the […]
August 8th, 2007 was a joyous day in the GVSHP office – because that’s when we first received written notice from the LPC than they planned to consider Webster Hall for landmark designation. GVSHP had worked hard to achieve this milestone, providing the LPC with a dossier of research on the historic hall and its […]
11th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues is a pretty short block. But there is a lot of history and activity going on. The block is home to Webster Hall, a building with a long and storied history that GVSHP helped get landmarked in 2008. GVSHP’s partner, the Neighborhood Preservation Center, is celebrating its 17th birthday […]
As both we and the media have recently reported, two months ago GVSHP requested the landmark designation of a potential historic district on East 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. GVSHP was aware that a developer was planning to move ahead with plans to demolish a significant stretch of this block, which we had long […]
For many people, Labor Day means one last trip to the beach or pool before the unofficial end of summer. Or some need to finish their back-to-school shopping, so it means a day at the stores. How you spend your Labor Day is up to you, but here at Off the Grid we are well […]
This year’s Gay Pride Month certainly got off to an auspicious start with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission finally agreeing to consider the Stonewall Inn for individual landmark designation — a proposal GVSHP has been spearheading for the last year and a half — which would make it New York City’s first LGBT […]
Built in 1886, Webster Hall was designated a New York City landmark on a March 18, 2008. According to the Landmarks Designation Report,Webster Hall is “one of New York City’s most historically and culturally significant large nineteenth-century assembly halls.”
There are still a few seats available for our free public program this Thursday evening at the Jefferson Market Library. The subject is the life and times of Rose Pastor Stokes, known to our presenter, Kate Pastor, as “My Great Great Aunt Rose of the Lower East Side.” Kate herself is a Bronx-based journalist who […]
On Wednesday, GVSHP will be celebrating the 14th Birthday of the Neighborhood Preservation Center, the building where we have made our headquarters for the last fourteen years. The celebration – tickets are still available – is a benefit for the center, which serves as a resource center that offers space and shares information to facilitate […]
Six years ago today, on August 8, 2007, the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote to GVSHP responding to our request to consider Webster Hall, the East Village social and assembly hall built in 1887 , for landmark designation. In their letter, the Commission informed us that in response to the information we submitted, the building was ‘calendared.’ […]
As EV Grieve recently reported, the final credits may be on the way for a movie theater turned grocery store on Avenue A. As the end may be coming for the former Hollywood Theater, we thought we’d take a brief look at another East Village showplace that only recently went the way of the silent […]
This Monday most of us will be enjoying a day off, celebrating the last unofficial (long) weekend of summer. This well-deserved holiday makes it a little hard to remember that Labor Day became a national holiday because of labor unions, who have fought for many years on behalf of working people. In the spirit of […]
The sight of striking Verizon workers near GVSHP’s offices (as well as all over New York) reminds us of the long and storied history of the Village and East Village in the labor movement. In fact, their central role in American labor struggles is reflected in some of our neighborhood’s most important landmarks.
Just last week the famed Copacabana nightclub reopened yet again. At its newest incarnation at Times Square, guests were treated to an opening night performance by salsa great Willie Colón. One of the most recognizable names in nightclub history, the Copa opened its doors in 1940 at its original location at 10 East 60th Street. […]
