Greenwich Village is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Broadway on the east, the Hudson River on the west, Houston Street on the south, and 14th Street on the north. The neighborhoods surrounding it are East Village to the east, SoHo to the south, and Chelsea to the north.

Contents

1 History 2 Present Day 3 See also 4 External link

History

The neighborhood was originally a separate village, hence the name, first attested in 1712. In 1822, a yellow fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the more healthful air of Greenwich Village, and afterwards many stayed. (This migration is the cause of the present confusing street layout. The new residents laid out a street grid pattern at roughly a 45 degree angle to the older streets to the south. As the rest of the city grew around the village confusing intersections formed such as W. 4th St. and W. 10th St.) The district was better known as "Washington Square" in the 19th century.

Greenwich Village has long been known as a bastion of artistic and bohemian culture, an image which has roots in the late 19th century, but which became especially prevalent after World War I.

During the golden age of bohemia Greenwich Village became famous for eccentrics such as Joe Gould (profiled at length by Joseph Mitchell) and Maxwell Bodenheim, as well as greats on the order of Eugene O'Neill. Political rebellion also made its home here, whether serious (John Reed) or frivolous (Marcel Duchamp and friends set off balloons from atop Washington Square arch and declared the Village independent).

In the 1950s the Beat Generation drifted through, the coffeeshop folk singing scene moving to the area in its wake. Bob Dylan was one of the most famous members of this group of artists.

Greenwich Village contains Christopher Street and the Stonewall Inn, site of the Stonewall riots in 1969, that signalled the beginning of the gay liberation movement. The world's oldest gay and lesbian bookstore, Oscar Wilde Bookshop, founded in 1967, is also found here. The name "the Village" soon became the generic term for a city's gay neighbourhood (see gay village and The Village People).

Present Day

"The Village," as it is often called, includes the primary campus for New York University (NYU), New School University, Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and, just across Broadway, the The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

The historic Washington Square Park is the center and heart of the neighborhood, but the Village has several other, smaller parks: Father Fagan, Minetta Triangle, Petrosino Square, Little Red Square, and Time Landscape. There are also city playgrounds: Desalvio, Minetta, Thompson Street, Mercer Street, and William Passannante Ballfield. Perhaps the most famous, though, is "The Cage", officially known as the West 4th Street Courts. Sitting on top of the West 4th subway station at 6th Avenue that serves the A-B-C-D-E-F-V trains, the courts are easily accessible to basketball and American handball players from all over New York. The Cage has become one of the most important tournament sites for the city-wide "Streetball" amateur basketball tournament.

The Village also has a bustling performing arts scene. It is home to many Off-Broadway theaters; for instance, Blue Man Group has taken up residence in the Astor Place Theater. Comedy clubs dot the Village as well, including The Boston and Comedy Cellar, where many American stand-up comedians got their start.

Several publications have offices in the Village, most notably the newsweekly The Village Voice.

See also

• Christopher Street, Manhattan
• Gay Street, Manhattan
• The Village Voice

External link

• Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (http://www.gvshp.org/history.htm)

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