The Honor of Co-named Streets — Dave Van Ronk Street

Text and photo by Brian J Pape, AIA

In 2003, this section of Sheridan Square, where Barrow Street meets Washington Place, was renamed Dave Van Ronk Street in his memory.

People have been honored here in Greenwich Village with co-naming of streets or places for them. Look for the special green signs below the regular street signs and see http://www.nycstreets.

Dave Van Ronk Street is located on West Washington Place between Barrow Street and Grove Street. The honoree is Brooklyn-born Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002), a folk music pioneer, an important figure in the American folk music revival and Greenwich Village’s scene in the 1960s, who was nicknamed the “Mayor of MacDougal Street.”

Beyond his expert finger-picking style, he inspired, aided and promoted the careers of several singer-songwriters nurtured in the blues. According to Wikipedia, he was a friend to many up-and-coming artists, inspiring, assisting, and promoting them, including  Phil Ochs, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell said that his rendition of her song Both Sides Now (which he called Clouds) was her favorite version of the song. Although he never achieved the commercial success of his pals Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton, he remained an influential performer on the folk circuit for more than 40 years.

Van Ronk was among 13 people arrested at the Stonewall Inn June 28, 1969, the night of the Stonewall Riots when he joined the crowd after dining out at a nearby restaurant.

He refused for many years to fly and never learned to drive (he took trains or buses or, when possible, recruited a girlfriend or young musician as his driver), and he declined to move from Greenwich Village for any extended period of time.

Van Ronk received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in December 1997. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the World Folk Music Association in 2004.

Van Ronk died in a hospital in 2002 before completing work on his memoirs, which were finished by his collaborator, Elijah Wald, and published in 2005 as The Mayor Of MacDougal Street.