Known to residents as "
The Village". Area in
Manhattan New York City which is noted as a haven for
avant-garde artists and
Literati and
Jazz music. Composed of the
West Village and
East Village. For 100 years a mecca to the creative, rebellious and
Bohemian.
My favorite Village story: In about 1917 or 1918, Marcel Duchamp climbed up on top of the arch in Washington Square Park. From the top, he declares "the people's republic of Greenwich Village"!
As Wonder Llama accurately observes, the legend of the Village, and the contemporary reality of the Village are two very different things. The Village embodies the very word "gentrification" wherein the rents go up and up until the artists and the musicians cannot possibly pay it. They move out, the boutiques and Home Accessory shops move in. Today Greenwich Village is closer to an outdoor Mall than an area where revolutionaries mingle.
Related nodes:
Sources:
Gruen, John, "The New Bohemia", a capella books, Chicago, 1990.
Gaylord, Bruce, "Picture Book of Greenwich Village", Gaylord's Guides, NY, 1985
Sanders, Ed, "Tales of Beatnik Glory", Citadel Underground, New York, 1975
Last updated 05.28.03