History, Natural History & the Arts
Peter Bennett is a photographer who grew up in Greenwich Village and lived in the East Village from 1979-1988, bartending by night and photographing the neighborhood around him by day.
In the latest addition to the Village Preservation historic image archive, he has shared some of his photographs of the East Village in the early 1980s. [Read more…] about 1980s East Village Photographs Go Online
April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and Village Preservation in New York City is celebrating with a new way to explore the history of this art form in their neighborhoods: an interactive Jazz Map of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.
This map traces the legacy of jazz in these streets, where legendary musicians lived and groundbreaking performances and recording sessions took place. [Read more…] about New Interactive Map Celebrates Greenwich Village Jazz History
New York City has been home to a remarkable breadth of transformative women, and the scene of innumerable movements for women’s equality and empowerment.
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has numerous ways to celebrate and explore women’s history in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Many of the women in these collections have had statewide and national impacts. [Read more…] about Village Preservation’s Women’s History Resources
The French Revolution abolished the privileges that were traditionally reserved to noblemen. Military careers were opened to all talent instead. [Read more…] about New York’s Enlightenment Legacy: Science and Social Mobility
The “French Flat” for the first time made it acceptable for middle class and wealthy New Yorkers to live in apartments, previously thought of as a temporary measure at most for anyone other than the poor and working class. [Read more…] about French Flats: A 19th Century Urban Apartment Innovation
The New York City Landmarks Law was signed into law on April 19, 1965, by Mayor Robert Wagner. Since then, about 38,000 properties in all five boroughs have been protected under the law.
Many of these buildings and sites are contained within the city’s 157 historic districts and historic district extensions, 16 of which are located in the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. [Read more…] about Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo: Historic Districts History
For most of their history, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and the Lower East Side have had an intimately interconnected life and history. These parts of New York have been crossroads and hotbeds of cultural and intellectual innovation.
The East River and Hudson River waterfronts have linked these neighborhoods to global networks of trade and immigration. This lively and vibrant maritime history is perfectly encapsulated in the life of Levi Strauss (1829-1902), and in that of the denim jean. [Read more…] about Blue Jeans: New York’s Waterfront, Levi Strauss & the Gold Rush
Following the federal census of 1890, officials of the newly consolidated New York City thought federal enumerators had failed to give a true account of city residents. As a result, between September 19th and October 14th of that year, an enumeration of the 24 assembly districts of New York County (Manhattan) was taken by city police. [Read more…] about The 1890 New York City Police Census
Charles Ranhöfer (1836-1899) was born in 1836 in St Denis, a northern suburb of Paris known for its Abbey-Basilica, the burial place of French Royals. Charles would become a “king” in his own right. As his father owned a restaurant and his grandfather had been a noted chef, it seemed natural to follow in their footsteps. The family descended from the Alsace. [Read more…] about Culinary History: Charles Dickens, Delmonico’s & A Club of Angry Women
Diana Ross, Peter Jennings and Run DMC all have something unusual in common. Each of has a New York City street or playground named after them.
You can find where each of their eponymous spots are, thanks to a new map by the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS). The map helps connect people to the nearly 2,500 streets, intersections and other locations that have been co-named after notable people. [Read more…] about New Source for New York City Street Name History
Manhattan’s MacDougal Street was named after merchant Alexander McDougall, a Scottish immigrant who hailed from the Isle of Islay. A rebellious character, he had been actively involved in the Revolutionary War.
In later years, McDougall represented New York in the Continental Congress and became the first President of the Bank of New York. Until their reckless destruction in 2008 to make space for New York University’s law school, the buildings from number 133 to 139 were landmark addresses in the history of Greenwich Village. [Read more…] about Village Radicals & A Delirium of Deportations
Cities are always changing. In architecture everything gives way and nothing is fixed. Impermanence is the only constant. Every new generation tinkers with the aesthetics of urban space (or lack of it) to create its own place. At the same time, the fabric of the city is resilient and able to harness its own transformative power which gives it a unique character. The history of Second Avenue is a vibrant example. [Read more…] about NYC History: The Stuyvesant Farm to East Village Punk
As the 1920s advanced, the economy soared. But with that dramatic expansion came irrational exuberance and unchecked speculation: stock prices reached levels that had no basis in reality; margin purchases were rampant; banks handed out loans lavishly and imprudently; and giddy product production resulted in a vast oversupply of goods.
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, it all came crashing down. This is the story of the Great Depression in New York City. [Read more…] about The Great Depression in New York City: A Primer
Painters such as James McNeill Whistler and Childe Hassam exported the streetscape from Paris to America by creating various impressionistic vistas or bird’s-eye city views. As society became increasingly urbanized, art took a less genteel direction. Members of New York Ashcan movement urged painters to drop orthodoxy and depict the bustling streets of the city. [Read more…] about Greenwich Village’s Free and Independent Republic & John Sloan at Jefferson Market’s Night Court
Today, the city of Frankfurt-am-Main is the largest financial hub in Continental Europe, home to the European Central Bank (ECB), the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The same city was at one time the epicenter of a liberal uprising that swept the German states. The Frankfurt Parliament was convened in May 1848; its members were elected by direct (male) suffrage, representing the full political spectrum. In the end, the revolution of 1848 failed and was suppressed with excessive force and retribution. [Read more…] about Justus Schwab & East Village Radicalism
The work that historians do influences their lives, especially if they spend a considerable time in a foreign land that they write about. Slowly, their topic of choice becomes an essential part of their identity. Russell Shorto, a renowned writer of narrative history, writes about his own evolution at the intersection of Dutch-American history.
This essay concerns itself with the intersection of Dutch and American history. Previous posts have explored slavery in New Amsterdam, the naming – and renaming – of that city, and John Adams’ role as unofficial ambassador to the Netherlands during the American war of independence. As I pondered the task of contributing to that lineup, and scrolled through a mental list of possible topics, it occurred to me that, as I have lived at the intersection of Dutch and American history for more than twenty years, my own identity, and its evolution over that time, might be a relevant topic. [Read more…] about Russell Shorto: The Dutch-American Perspective
On August 31st, 1901, Polish-American anarchist Leon Czolgosz booked a room in Nowak’s Hotel at 1078 Broadway.
Six days later he made a trip to Buffalo, site of the Pan-American Exposition where President William McKinley was due to speak. He shot him from close range. [Read more…] about 1899 And The Making Of New York City
In 1780, a young man traveled from his provincial hometown in Baden-Württemberg to London to meet his elder brother who had settled there two years previously as a wooden instrument maker. The many small states that constituted Germany at the time had a reputation for developing and producing musical instruments. The export of technology was an important feature of German design and many craftsmen had migrated to London (and eventually to New York and other American cities).
The seedy location of his brother’s workshop must have come as a shock to the youngster and he was eager to better himself. Four years later he left the capital for the docks of Southampton, carrying few belongings and a number of flutes with him, and set sail for America. Half a century later he owned large parts of Manhattan.
This remarkable tale could have served as one of the “rags to riches” stories that made Horatio Alger such a popular author in America during the later decades of the nineteenth century. [Read more…] about The Astor Dynasty: Rag Street to Broadway, A Waldorf Tale of New York
It must be hard to foster a decent public image if your family was responsible for spreading the plagues across Europe, Asia and North Africa that killed between 75 and 200 million people. If rats were able to launch a rebranding campaign, it would never work. I imagine that even NetReputation.com would throw up their hands and give a refund. [Read more…] about Rats! The Frenemy Among Us
A press release from the New York City Parks Department announced “In honor of the 51st anniversary of Black Solidarity Day … 10 park spaces” would be named in “honor of the Black experience in New York City.” This was intended to fulfill a pledge made by the Parks Department “to demonstrate how it stands in solidarity with the Black Community in its fight to combat systemic racism.”
The newly named park spaces recognize national figures like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Elston Howard, and Ella Fitzgerald who all had New York ties and were local community leaders. Baldwin gets a lawn in Harlem. Langston Hughes gets a playground. Elston Howard, a baseball MVP for the Yankees, gets a baseball field near Yankee Stadium. Ella Fitzgerald gets a playground in Queens. [Read more…] about NYC Park ‘Spaces’ Recognize African American Contributions, But
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