NYC Neighborhood Greenwich Village
O.Henry, Jasper Johns, Dashiell Hammett, and Alvin Ailey Lived Here
Sep 2, 2008
Greenwich Village is internationally famous, for its iconoclastic newspaper, The Village Voice, as well as for the trendy music venues that popped up in the era of folk-rock, jazz and R&B, including The Village Gate. That club closed in 1993, to be replaced by a CVS Pharmacy, but not before it had helped Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin get famous.
No longer dotted with basement-level clubs sporting beat poets, the area nonetheless continues to attract both residents and visitors because of its quirkiness. It could be, too, that its long association with the 'other' New York--the one not concerned with global banking and business--has imbued the bricks and stones with an offbeat evanescence.
A Mix of Interesting Housing
Housing in Greenwich Village is sparse. There are a few high-rises, but mainly, housing consists of low-rise buildings that were once single-family homes (usually of the wealthy) now divided into apartments, and some brownstones originally built as rental housing. There are virtually no tourist hotels.
Great Shopping for Local Stuff
For locals, shopping is great. Natural foods stores abound, but there is also a butcher shop of the sort seldom seen anymore, Ottomanelli's at 285 Bleecker Street. Apparel shops are also numerous, and quirky. One can even see the odd hippie caftan, although Euro-fashion is moving up from SoHo and down from midtown.
Great Food and The Best Waiter
Monte's, at 97 MacDougal Street (212 228-9194 or 674-9456) has been there since 1918. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, it boasted New York's best waiter, Herbie. It boasted a very ordinary, but incredibly reasonable, menu. Then it was sold. The new owners don't have Herbie, but they do have truly exemplary modern Italian cuisine. They've spiffed up the space from its acoustic tile ceilings and crooked pictures, but not too much. In any visit to Greenwich Village, it is not to be missed.
For coffee and croissants or lunch, stop in anywhere. Greenwich Village is a "people" place, and residents go out for a lot of meals.
Points of Interest From Taverns to Theaters
The White Horse Tavern at 567 Hudson Street (212-243-9260) is where poet Dylan Thomas is reputed to have downed 18 whiskies in a row.
Grove Place is the locale for O. Henry's famous short story, "The Last Leaf."
Between 1960 and 2002, The Fantasticks played at The Sullivan Street Theatre. One of its original cast members was the late Jerry Orbach, long-time star of Law and Order on TV.
Patchin Place was once home to poet e.e. cummings. The tiny street has New York's last remaining gas streetlight, although the pole and bulb have been electrified.
A Canvas Painted by Modern Artists
Greenwich Village recent history is mainly artistic. Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell lived here. So did early mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, as did modern dance troupe founder Alvin Ailey.
Varied History of All Colors
Like most of lower New York, Greenwich Village was Indian land, then Dutch, then English and finally, American. Its romantic place names reflect all of that, sometimes unexpectedly. Minetta Street, for example, sounds Italian--and Italians are a large population in The Village--but is really Indian, a corruption of the term "manetta", meaning "devil water," and referring to a stream forced underground in 1820, as the city grew. The waters, however, still wreak havoc in local basements during heavy rains.
The area was once known as Little Africa, as it was the city's first black neighborhood, housing freed slaves during the 19th century, before other immigrants moved in and moved the black population northward, eventually to Harlem.
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