Greenwich Village: The Past and the Present

Known simply as "The Village", Greenwich Village is a small section of Manhattan south of 14^th Street and west of Broadway. Because it wasn't originally part of New York City, the streets in the Village are named as opposed to being numbered. Though it was once a veritable mecca of Bohemian and alternative culture, very few Bohemians could afford to live here today. Now, Greenwich Village has traded its edge for sophistication. Many celebrities and personalities now call The Village home; among them Liv Tyler, Jon Stewart, Uma Thurman, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also, Greenwich Village hosts some of the nation's top universities-- New York University's and Cooper Union's main campuses are located in The Village.

Modern Greenwich Village is located on former marshland. 16^th century Native Americans called it Sapokanikan (Tobacco Field); Dutch settlers called it "New Amsterdam." In the 1630s, English settlers conquered the New Amsterdam settlement, and Greenwich Village began to exist as a hamlet completely separate from the rest Manhattan/New York City. In 1713, Greenwich Village was officially referred to as Grin'wich in Common Council records. A yellow fever outbreak in the early 1820s forced many Manhattan residents to abandon their homes and seek the healthier air in Greenwich Village; thus, The Village became densely populated. The Village has always been at the forefront of new movements in art, politics, or culture, but many believe it reached its creative peak in the middle of the 20^th century.

The entirety of Greenwich Village is a bohemian culture landmark. The neighborhood is known for its various incarnations of alternative and avant-garde art and culture. Eugene O'Neill, a celebrated American playwright, was a regular in Greenwich Village in the 1910s. In the 1950s, a group of artists that would eventually come to be known as the Beat Generation found a haven in Greenwich Village; The Village figures heavily in the works of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William S. Borroughs, and Dylan Thomas. Additional, many legendary musical acts of the 1960s can trace their roots to Greenwich Village, such as The Mamas and the Papas, Peter Paul, and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Nina Simone, and Joan Baez.

Though Greenwich Village may no longer be a conglomerate of starving artists, it is still a leader in progressive, liberal attitude. The Village Voice, an arts-oriented tabloid newspaper focusing on events in and around Greenwich Village was the first and best of its kind, though a recent buyout has left the paper inconsistent at best. The alternative underground newspaper is available via subscription to non-Village residents. The Village Voice kept Greenwich Village "on the map" after the disintegration of the Beat Generation and heralded the Village's love affair with anything and everything alternative or avant-garde. The world's oldest gay and lesbian bookstore, Oscar Wilde Bookshop, is located in Greenwich Village and was founded in 1967. Every year, the Village hosts New York's Village Halloween Parade-- a mile-long cavalcade of drunks, misfits, drag queens, exhibitionists, and "regular" costumed individuals. The Parade is the largest Halloween event in the United States and draws an audience of about two million spectators.