Changing Streets and Names: Waverly Place
To understand where Waverly Place came from is to explore historic maps and records. Many other streets have a little more of a basis to begin with.
Read MoreOct, 2023 | History, Neighborhood
To understand where Waverly Place came from is to explore historic maps and records. Many other streets have a little more of a basis to begin with.
Read MoreSep, 2023 | History
The charm of the Village is undeniably wrapped up in the unusual street layouts. But that ‘charminess’ can be confusing. In earlier issues, we explored early streets, such as the “Monument Lane” aka “Road to the Obelisk” aka “Greenwich Lane,” and crooked West 4th Street. The rhetorical question is, “Why did the city fathers make the choices they did?”
Read MoreSep, 2023 | History
In July, readers of Village View read about what were called the NYC Draft Riots of 1863, but they were actually a race riot in Lower Manhattan, which killed more than 100 Black New Yorkers, and drove the entire Black population, most of them freed slaves, from Lower Manhattan.
Read MoreAug, 2023 | History, Neighborhood
The charm of the Village is undeniably wrapped up in the unusual street layouts. But that ‘charminess’ can be confusing. My friend Pat has lived here for years, yet still admits to getting turned around occasionally.
Read MoreAug, 2023 | History, Neighborhood
People in New York love to talk about real Estate. They love to define the buildings as “pre or post-war.” They are referring to the “big one,” WWII, as the dividing line between old and new.
Read MoreJul, 2023 | History
We recently celebrated Juneteenth, a holiday enacted since the George Floyd murder in 2020. It is a holiday few understand and which has irony right here in our own community.
Read MoreJun, 2023 | History
I love maps of all kinds–ancient mariners’ maps, explorers’ maps, geography maps, demographic maps, trail maps and city plans. I may be a history buff but I am definitely a map nerd. For years, ever since I noticed there was once a street called “Monument Lane” on an old Village map, I’ve wondered about the location of the street and the monument.
Read MoreJun, 2023 | History
For nearly 170 years Union Square has been a gathering place—for commerce, for entertainment, for labor and political events and for recreation. The park owes its name to its location at the intersection—or union—of two major roads in New York City, Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and Bowery Road (now Fourth Avenue).
Read MoreMay, 2023 | History
To stop this potential disaster from destroying one of the oldest intact corners of Lower Manhattan, the community and city went to work, demanding the developer to restore (the intact 19th century painted signage on the buildings
Read MoreDefying the Holocaust didn’t just mean uprising and revolt. In a place meant to destroy all Jewish life, the smallest acts of support and comfort were resistance.
Read MoreApr, 2023 | History
The historic Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 229-231 West 14th Street was founded in 1902 in two adjacent 1850 townhouses that had belonged to the storied Delmonico Family; the current Spanish Baroque facade dates to 1921.
Read MoreApr, 2023 | History
Parks are often the heart of a neighborhood, but public markets can serve that vital uniting function as well. A case in point is the Jefferson Market, bounded by Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Avenue, Christopher Street and West Tenth Street, forming a triangular block.
Read MoreLessons To Be Learned By GORDON HUGHES It’s just a little over a year ago that the Russian Federation marched across the border and invaded the Ukraine. It’s just a year ago last April that I wrote an article titled “Two Small...
Read MoreMar, 2023 | History
Greenwich Village in the late 19th century had matured from a rural village to an important commercial center as the rapidly growing New York City expanded north.
Read MoreJan, 2023 | History, Neighborhood, NYC Trivia
MAP OF ELEVATED RAIL LINES, C. 1881. Image: Library of Congress. BY DAVID HERMAN THE SIXTH...
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