GREENWICH VILLAGE,... it's Hip....and....Happening!
Written: Jun 02 '03 (Updated Aug 26 '03)
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Pros: Very diverse, Great music, variety of eateries. Some off beat off Broadway shows.
Cons: Parking on the streets is near impossible after 8pm. Lots only.
The Bottom Line: For tourists this would be day three of your visit. Come here to see a bit of NY's diversity.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Greenwich Village |
HISTORY
In my younger years I grew up in New York City's East Village on 7th Street. This is just a short walk from Greenwich Village. After moving out to Long Island Greenwich Village was still a place to go. At that time I lived through the Hippies culture of anti-war protesting, flower power, drug experimentation, and free love. Nowhere were those sentiments more pervasive than in the village.
Tie dyed t-shirts, torn jeans, beads, and bongs were the uniform of those who inhabited and visited this part of NYC. The Electric Circus which I frequented, was the place to see the latest in music art of the day. Jimi Hendrix did some of his "Electric" work there.
This didn't just all happen in the sixties and seventies. It seems that back after the turn of the century this was a fluent area that lost it's attractiveness due to immigrants coming into the country through Ellis Island. Many of these people rented housing on the waterfront near the village. Locals fearful of declining real estate values moved uptown. Many of the larger apartments were then subdivided. This again brought down rentals in the area.
Artist were attracted to the area due to the low rents. Many writers were anti establishment and printed newsletters pushing non-conformity. Art galleries and small pressed dominated the area. These people were the "Bohemians" of the day.
Many writers lived in the village over the years. Do you recognize any of these names? Edgar Allen Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, Eugene O'neill, Thomas Wolf, Mark Twain. They all lived in the village.
During the forties the Village was the center of the NY Jazz scene. Jazz is still heard in the village. The Blue Note on 3rd street, a good sizes venue, still has major artists like Herbie Hancock who play there.
This continued pretty much into the fifties when the "Beat Movement" started. Those who were living this lifestyle were called "Beatnicks". Who knows the most popular Beatnick of all TV? It was and probably still is Maynard G. Krebbs of the Dobie Gillis Show, that still in syndication. The picture a t-shirted guy sporting a goatee with a set bongos on a street stoop was the essence of the fifties in Greenwich Village.
Into the sixties came the hippies and the settling in of the gay population. This continued into the eighties and nineties and the village remains quite diverse today with some new twists.
VISITING THE VILLAGE AGAIN
On Friday I was in the Village once again. This time to see a new and possibly upcoming band. My son's band, Gordo Gringo, played at one of the many small, dark, and cover charge music venues of the area. Gordo Gringo basically means "Fat white guy". I thanked my son for naming the band after his dad. This area, Greenwich Village, is the place in New York to catch music's rising stars and the newest sounds of the day.
I have been in the village a few times in the last year to see him play. I have also used the village as a destination as part of my business in a couple of different ways.
I was running a corporate event of a scavenger hunt throughout the city. We set up a stop at a place called McSorley's Old Ale House. This is actually on the boarder of the East Village and Greenwich Village. It is an old turn of the century beer joint that is definitely a place to check out. More so for the, how shall I say it, more mature folk. Anyways, team members on the scavenger hunt had to find the place, sit down, order a beer, and have a tattoo put on. Temporary tattoo that is. Then they moved onto their next stop. It was a lot of fun and the out of town corporate people got a whirlwind tour of the town.
GETTING THERE
Getting around Manhattan is pretty easy because it's set up in a grid. One problem though, downtown, in the old part of the city the streets have names and are not in numerical nor alphabetic order. Fortunately the village is around the 2nd street to 10th street part of the map on the west side.
Get out your maps. The biggest and most used street nearby is Houston Street. Just north of it is Bleeker Street. If you then find MacDougal Street, then you are in the middle of it all.
By subway there are many lines that stop within a few blocks of the village. The A, E, C, F, Q, B, 1, and 9 lines make stops nearby.
There is bus service and cabs are constantly coming in and out of the area. It could be difficult getting one back uptown late into the night
If you drive just follow the map downtown. parking is available on the streets just before eight oclockpm. Watch the sign. Most are No parking 6am to 6pm except Sundays. That means you can park there after 6pm. Do not park in no parking or no standing areas. They do tow cars away or boot them. There are parking lots available for a fee.
A BIT ABOUT THE AREA
There are many students in the area as this is the home of New York University. This is a great school with much to offer. I do some entertainment work for them during their "Spring Fling" weekends so I get to see the students first hand.
This is also the home of Washington Square. It has been filmed in many movies. Today it is still the place to hang out on a summer day or evening. There are street performers around. I always have a soft spot for these people and give a buck or two. I love the colour and excitement they bring to any area.
If you have some time and want to follow a chess game, this is the place to be. On any day you will find matches going on by locals.
Small groups will just sit around and hang out and the occasional acoustic guitar can be heard playing. Being right at NYU there are plenty of students around doing studies too.
The streets of the village have mostly four, five and six story walk up apartments. It's not easy or cheap to find one of these places to live in todays market. Greenwich Village is a good area to live with its culture and proximity to other diverse downtown sections and the financial district of lower Manhattan.
Though this is supposedly an area with large gay population I wouldn't say there was anything except for some what you might call "alternative" stores that let you know this was so. The fact is, some of the "toys" in the windows of these shows can be used by gays and Hetros alike. Some others? well I don't think so.
Now if you come down to this area for the "Village Halloween Parade" you will indeed see many "different" kinds of characters. This parade that is held annually for the last twenty nine years starts down at Spring Street, goes through the village and up to 22nd street. There is nothing like you have ever seen that is anything like this parade. OK, maybe some Mardi Gras parades may come close, but, the Village parade does have an "edge' on the others and remember it is Halloween.
More than likely you will be hit on by a panhandler. I have found these "professionals" are eager to take some change but will move right on if you say no. It's all up to you.
The times I have been in the village I have never felt threatened in any way. You can find yourself suddenly walking down a darker and dirtier street. Just use common sense, and stay with the crowds.
Walking through the streets I did get an occasional whiff of marijuana. I didn't notice any sales of the stuff going on but.....
MUSIC
Bleecker Street runs east west through the village and has many hot spots. My son played at the Elbow Room. Just steps away is the Bitter End. This is the villages club that has had continuous rock music. It opened in 1961 and people like Bob Dylan started there rise in this place. Just across the street is Terra Blues and a few steps away is the Red Lion. On the next corner is the Back Fence. These places have cover charges of between five and twenty dollars depending on the night and who is playing. Drinks can vary in price too. In the Elbow room beers were four bucks.
There are other venues with great music too. My son played at the Village Underground a couple of months ago. The band is set to play next month at the Mercury Lounge and Arleen's Grocery. There are plenty more places to listen to live music too!
The way the clubs generally spot the musicians is by having the new bands play early like ten or eleven o'clock and then the headliners coming in midnight till two or three am.
There are many more places scatterer around. There are also many places that are comedy clubs. You can't help but have flyers advertising these places on Friday and Saturday nights. You can also expect to see headliners trying out some of their new stuff down there. Most comedians do some work in the village. It's the place to hone the comedic skills.
I'm curious now that New York has banned all smoking in public areas and restaurants, what some of the little places that held poetry reading etc are now like. Just a couple of months ago I walked into one and was almost swept back outside the door by the wave of smoke coming from the room. The ban just has to change the atmosphere of these places.
There are many little places that cater to the writers. Book and poetry readings are held almost nightly in one place or another.
On Bleeker Street is the Village Theatre. Right now the show "Dream a little Dream" is playing. It stars Poppa Elliot and a cast doing "Momma's and Poppa's" tunes of the sixties.
Not that far away in the Astor Theatre on Lafeyette Street is the great performance art show of The Blue Man Group
Nearby is also the Museum of African Art and the Alternative Museum.
A great source of information of what bands are playing, and up to date schedules and advertisements look for the Village Voice. It is a free, well known, off beat paper that has a very liberal slant. It has all the Village news you may want to read and perhaps some you do not want to read. You can check out the review they just gave for my son's band in it.
FOOD
The food is diverse as the people who visit the village. On any given night you will see the young and the old. Suits are walking the streets and the punk and Goth look is around. Many different peoples from all over the world come down to site see here.
On just Bleeker street alone you will find Korean, Japanese, Mexican, American, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Indian, and much more. Cafe Figaro is a landmark place to visit. It's been around for years. Cascata Cafe Italiano is also known to be a good stop.
There are many small pizza shops too! The best pizza in New York!!
During the day you may be drawn into a bakery store by the smells coming out their doors and into the streets.You can even find chain eateries like The Subway.
Some of the restaurants cater to the tourist. They are very neat and clean while trying to present the village character with brick walls, Tiffany lamps, tin ceilings, candles, and low lighting. My wife and I ate at one of these places a few months ago. It was good and moderately priced.
SHOPPING
Like any other neighborhoods the village has stores that are supported by the local population. Being it is a tourist area there are souvenir stores too. As you walk the streets you'll happen upon music shops, jewelry shops, framing shops, art galleries, flower shops, antique shops, tattoo and piercing parlors, and what I call "alternative" shops. Remember, this is an artists town. You will be drawn to stores by the artistic appeal.
A FEW OTHER NOTES IN CLOSING
When I was there Friday night a guest that we know from England had taken a walk with my son. They told us of some sort of protest going on down one of the side streets. They said it was a quiet thing but yet I suppose that is what is continuing the culture of this anti-establishment piece of real estate in New York City.
When I was in the club where my son was playing I notices a small table with literature.
I picked up a couple of them. One was inviting me to The Revolutionists Ball, and other to an activists meeting with the topic Occupation is Not Liberation. There was a piece giving information about joining the Freedom of Speech Coalition and another yet speaking about The Axis of Arrogance. A young lady walked up to me and asked if she could put me on her protest list. I asked what we would be protesting against. She answered, "Whatever we feel we need to protest against".
I feel blessed to live in a country that, though I may not agree with it all, allows protest, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. I know no other place that lives this as well as Greenwich Village New York.
Downtown Manhattan reviews by Popsrocks
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Castle Clinton National Memorial
Battery Park Home of the temporary 9/11 memorial.
SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
NY WATERWAY Tour NYC by boat.
Federal Hall National Historic SiteDowntown across from Wall Street, our first Capitol Building was there.
Fraunce's Tavern George Washington ate here. You can too!
Jewish Heritage Museum
St Paul's ChapelA living Memorial to 9/11
Greenwich VillageIt's Hip and Happening
Millenium Hilton., directly across from ground zero. They have reopened!A great location to all that is downtown
More NYC reviews
The Empire State Building
Radio City Music Hall A Spectacular place to see a show!
The INTREPID Sea-Air-Space MUSEUM It's a good one!
Museum of Natural History
TKTS half price tickets to Broadway
Aida, the Broadway Play Great show at half price
Thoroughly Modern Millie A 6 Tony award winner Broadway Play
Central Park
Stardust DinerA great place for before a show in Times Square. Aspiring actors are here.
Sylvia's, a southern soul restaurant in Harlem
Something is Missing A Tribute to the good people and the twin towers that were lost on 9/11 http://www.epinions.com/content_3161628804
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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