New Yorkers are practical, busy, and no-nonsense people. The scariest thing for most is missing that subway connection when trying to get to an important meeting on time. We simply don’t have time for ghosts and spirits. But they seem to have time for us, especially in New York’s spookiest neighborhood. Greenwich Village is no stranger […]
April is both the time of year when immigrant heritage week is celebrated in New York (commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants passed through Ellis Island than any other single day), and when we celebrate the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District in April of 1969, finally extending landmark protections to a […]
Today marks the beginning of Immigrant Heritage Week. Immigration is a core theme in the history of New York City and especially our neighborhoods. People from all over the world come to Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, adding to the vibrancy, creativity, and life. On April 29th, 2019, we launched our new interactive […]
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. In the years leading up to April 29, 1969, when the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Greenwich Village Historic District, […]
Each year, immigrant history week is celebrated in late April, commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants came through Ellis Island than any other day in history. More than a few of those immigrants came through Greenwich Village, which has a long and storied history of welcoming newcomers from across the city, country, and […]
The Village in the 1960s was a hotbed of creativity. In one of the most defining moments of that decade, in January 1961, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan moved here to play the clubs and become a recording artist. Photographer Fred W. McDarrah was the photographer behind the Village Voice at the time. McDarrah had a […]
There have been a handful of times in this country when the outcome of a political campaign was truly stunning. Such was the case in 1919 when several groups known as the “Drys” won a 70 year campaign to prohibit the production, sale, and distribution of alcohol. The 18th Amendment abolished booze in on January […]
1950 was a seminal year in the life of the “last rock star poet,” Dylan Thomas (October 27, 1914 –November 9, 1953). On February 20th of that year the much-celebrated Welsh poet arrived in New York to begin what would be the most exhilarating yet grueling period of his career. The period between 1950 and […]
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 […]
On Wednesday, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation will be hosting a walking tour on Dylan Thomas that will culminate in a visit to the White Horse Tavern on Hudson Street. The tavern is one of Thomas’s favorite haunts and the last place he drank at before he died. It is even rumored that his […]
As Halloween is right around the corner, we here at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation would like to satisfy your cravings for hauntings as you go out and wander the Village for candy. Preserving the Village not only means maintaining the old buildings and historic landscapes, but sometimes also the domiciles of the […]
The exact date is impossible to confirm. But it is widely accepted that Bob Dylan arrived in New York City on 24 January 1961, in the midst of the coldest winter New York had seen in 28 years. He’d dropped out of the University of Minnesota, and spent the last twenty-four hours driving east with […]
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 in 1957.
Fifty years ago, in May of 1962, folk group Peter, Paul and Mary released their self-titled debut album. The group went on to become one of the most, if not the most, successful folk groups in recording history. Songs like “If I Had A Hammer”, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, and “Puff, The Magic Dragon”, […]
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” […]
As recent news about the painting over of the sign for the Fat Black Pussy Cat on Minetta Street can attest, historic signs add an important dimension to how we view our built environment, advertising our beloved owner-operated businesses and reminding us of some long lost, but well-remembered icons from the past. Illuminated signs seem […]
