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14 Photos Of Greenwich Village In The 1950s
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 22, 2013
Modified Mar 22, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 22, 2013
Modified Mar 22, 2013
Share
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Old Greenwich Village: it's just like the suburbs! Click through for 13 photos of the neighborhood taken in the 1950s, and some video from the area shot in 1959:
Kerouac in Greenwich Village, 1958
GREENWICH VILLAGE 101:
- The 1950s were an electrifying time for the Bohemian set in the neighborhood, and many of the prominent Beat writers were drawn there.
- PBS notes that during the 1950s "the Village hit its most active time, as musicians, poets, and especially visual artists began to flock there. Two of the most exciting American movements were calling Greenwich Village their home. Nearly all of the Abstract Expressionists, including Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko lived in the neighborhood. Simultaneously, the New York School of Poets was sharing the same bars, restaurants, and lofts."
- Kerouac sometimes lived at the Marlton House at 5 West 8th Street, during his time there he was writing The Subterraneans and Tristessa.
- In 1953, Dylan Thomas died after a night of drinking in at the White Horse Tavern (but his ghost still lives in Manhattan).
- Borders of the neighborhood have since changed, but in 1956 Encyclopedia Britannica stated that the southern border of the Village was Spring Street.
- In 1958, Off-Off-Broadway was created in the neighborhood, it was a response to Off Broadway and a "complete rejection of commercial theatre." Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia Street was considered amongst the first Off-Off-Broadway venues.
Want more vintage Village? Here's some more old footage from the neighborhood in 1960, twenty-four years before Iggy Pop vacuumed his carpeting there.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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