Greenwich Village, also known as ‘West Village’ or ‘Village’, is located in the western part of Manhattan. The area has quite low buildings, which is very reminiscent of Europe and is ideal for strolling on Sundays. There are many wonderful gardens and courtyards in Greenwich Village, and with no tall buildings in the area, in summer time it is the sunniest area of ​​New York.

Creative Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is by no means boring. This part of the city plays an important role in the creative history of the United States. In the 30s and 40s, many artists settled here, in the 50s it became popular to experiment with drugs, and in the 60s the courts moved to live many musicians. In such a creative environment, many inspired each other, which was reflected in the emergence of new musical genres and talents such as Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. In some of his writings, Bob Dylan mentions his favorite area, The Village. Against the backdrop of all that is happening, the gay community has become popular in the area. In 1970, the world's first Gay Pride parade was held here.

Greenwich Village in popular TV series.

In Greenwich Village, be prepared to see a few familiar buildings. One of them from the series, in the house where Kerry lived, at 66 Perry Street. If you're a Friends fan, don't miss the chance to visit the Little Owl Restaurant, located on the first floor of the building where the six members of the series lived.

If you are interested in more detailed information about filming locations in New York, be sure to go to.

Shopping and Dining in Greenwich Village

The highlight and feature of this area are small cozy boutiques and shops. At 260 Bleecker Street, try Faicco's Pork Store, famous for its Italian delicacies. Don't miss the cute Pasticceria Rocco with cheap coffee and the best cannoli in town. In good weather, all this can be enjoyed on the banks of the Hudson River (10-15 minutes walk). Check out this link for . In first place is John's Pizza on Bleecker Street. Carmine Street is home to Joe's Pizza, from the movie 'Spider-Man 2', or take the popular Greenwich Village Beer and Pizza Tour, which takes you through different pizzerias. Enjoy a glass of beer at local bars such as Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac loved to visit.

Greenwich Village Tours

There are several interesting excursions in the Greenwich Village quarter. You will get up close and personal with this wonderful part of the city and hear the stories of the locals. Different variants:

2. The Greenwich Village Food Tour and High Line Park Culinary Tour At the beginning, you will walk through the High Line Park and work up a little appetite, after which you will proceed to the appetizing part of the tour. You will stop at 6 places! I recommend not eating breakfast. The tour lasts 3.5 hours.
Book a Food Tour of Greenwich Village and the High Line

3. The ‘Regular’ Greenwich Village Tour takes 2 hours. You will be guided through most of the historical sites. You will be shown where Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin performed and where the gay movement began.
Book a Classic Tour of Greenwich Village

4. Beer and pizza tour of Greenwich Village (Beatniks, Beer and Pizza Tour) - the most mouth-watering tour in this quarter. You will be taken to several pizzerias and bars where you will have a very tasty meal. Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac love to spend time in many of the places you will visit.

West of Washington Square is Greenwich Village, famous for its clubs, coffee shops, eccentric shops and addresses, where half of all the pillars of literature and art of the 20th century lived. In addition to memorial addresses, there are few attractions in the Village: the houses are beautiful, but there are practically no outstanding ones, there are almost no museums either. But for sixty years, the Village was considered the most bohemian area of ​​​​the country, and in the last century, almost all the intelligent youth of America at one time or another of their lives aspired here. True, over the past twenty years, housing prices have risen to such a level that no student can live here anymore - except perhaps in a hostel. If Joseph Brodsky came to New York today, he would hardly have settled on Morton Street - the Nobel Prize would not have been enough. Movie stars are another matter; now Uma Thurman, Demi Moore and Sarah Jessica Parker are among the locals.

In the New York way, the name of the area is pronounced as Greenwich Village

The area got its name from the estate built near the Hudson in 1731 by the Englishman Peter Warren. Until now, this estate stands at the intersection of Perry Street (Perry Street) and the Fourth. For about a hundred years, Greenwich Village really remained a village, wealthy New Yorkers went there to nature and built country residences there - away from the hustle and bustle of Downtown. Accelerated the construction of a suburban village in the fresh air and epidemics that walked around New York until the 1820s. So when the regular urban layout of Manhattan rose to the height of Fourteenth Street, it was no longer possible to brush Greenwich Village under a regular rectangular grid.

At the end of the 19th century, the richest families of Greenwich began to move even further north, to Central Park, the abandoned houses in the Village fell into disrepair, and their prices fell accordingly. It was then that among artists, writers, artists and other bohemians, the belief spread that the Village is almost a continuation of bohemian Paris. Relative cheapness is not the only thing that attracted them here. The point is also that the Village has a unique historical depth for the city. In New York, it is considered normal for houses to be torn down and new ones built in their place every twenty or thirty years. And here whole quarters of the first half of XIX centuries, when pedestrians still had some rights in New York, and architects were not yet thinking only about how to outdo each other with pretentiousness or height of their buildings. It seemed that this area was simply created to resist what its inhabitants, in all seriousness, called traditional bourgeois values.

Historic, "real" Greenwich Village is located west of Broadway, north of Houston Street and south of Fourteenth Street - this area is now usually called West Village(West Village). His moment of glory came in the 1960s, when he became the world center of the counterculture in general and the beat movement in particular. Then in the clubs and coffee houses of the West Village, concerts were given or poetry was read by Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, etc. Since then, these semi-underground, darkened cafes with exhibitions of local avant-garde and leftist artists have remained, where the atmosphere is so conducive to polemical conversations or just a glass of wine to the sounds of jazz.

New York friends, having heard that you are going to the Village, will advise where to go and what to see and hear, but these tips are unlikely to intersect with different people. The establishments listed below are only guidelines, because they do not exhaust even a hundredth part of the diversity that will open before your eyes.

On a tourist spot MacDougal Street(MacDougal Street), which leads from Washington Square to Sixth Avenue, there are several establishments that need special attention. Firstly, this ancient Italian CafО Reggio, which has been operating near Third Street since 1927, has been featured in many films (for example, in the second "The Godfather") and was Brodsky's favorite cafe. Second - Caf$ Wha? on the corner of Minetta Lane, where Dylan and Hendrix used to play in their youth. Thirdly - Le Figaro Caf$ on the corner of Bleecker Street, once beloved by beatniks, then closed, and then reopened - it ended up, for example, in Carlito's Way. In terms of food on McDougal, basement Middle Eastern cafes that sell falafel, shawarma and freshly squeezed exotic juices deserve special attention.

115 MacDougal St

1 212 254 37 06

www. cafewha. com

Mon- sun from 8.30

184 Bleecker St

1 212 667 11 00

Mon- thu, sun 10.00-2.00, Fri- Sat 10.00-4.00

Having a snack on McDougal, you can turn to Bleecker Street(Bleecker Street) to continue the evening at one of the many rock or jazz clubs for which this place is famous - for example, in the "jazz capital of the world", as the Blue Note club not without reason calls itself on Third Street, between Sixth Avenue and MacDougal. On the other hand, you can not go to the club, but instead arrange for yourself a trip to different shops, which are about the same on Bleeker as there are cafes on MacDougal. One of the funniest ones is Second Childhood between Seventh Avenue and Jones Street, which sells old, somewhat antique, American toys similar to those you see in the New York Historical Society at rather toothy prices.

131 West 3rd St

1 212 475 85 92

www. blue note. net

Mon- thu, sun 19.00-2.00, Fri- Sat 19.00-4.00

Second Childhood

283 Bleecker St

1 212 989 61 40

Before delving further into the West Village, it's worth first taking a short walk north along Sixth Avenue to its intersection with Greenwich Avenue (Greenwich Avenue). There, serenely towering above the bustle of the street, stands a fairy-tale castle with loopholes, stained glass windows and a clock tower - built in 1877 according to the drawings of Calvert Vaux Jefferson Market Library(Jefferson Market Library). It became a library only in 1967, after it was saved from demolition by a group of activists led by the poet E.-E. Cummings, who lived down the street and always wrote his name in lowercase. Initially, the building housed a court (here, in 1906, the murderer of the architect Stanford White, the insane millionaire Harry To), was tried, and the tower served as a fire tower. Fans of "Sex in big city"can identify the romantic public garden at the library as the very place where the characters of the series Miranda and Steve held their wedding ceremony.

Almost opposite the library, on the corner with Eighth Street, there is a less majestic, but no less important New York attraction - a diner Gray's Papaya, where, as critics rightly point out, if not the best hot dogs in New York are sold, then definitely the best hot dogs for 75 cents. Any resident of this city, even if he is a banker from Wall Street or a diamond broker from Forty-seventh Street, has bought a sandwich at Gray's Papaya at least once.

From the library, one of the main streets of the West Village, Christopher Street, leads to the Hudson, along which you can walk to sheridan square(Sheridan Square) on Seventh Avenue. Sheridan Square can hardly be called a square - in fact, it is a slightly chaotic intersection of several streets, which, to the northwest of here, generally leads to a geographical paradox: Fourth Street, which theoretically should run parallel to all the other "streets", suddenly begins to intersect first with Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, and then rests on Thirteenth - this is nowhere else in New York.

The area around Sheridan Square is remarkable for being home to several of the city's most important jazz clubs: the old-fashioned Arthur's Tavern, the claustrophobic Smalls, which closed briefly but is now back to life again, and the Village Vanguard, where Miles Davis once played every night. .

In general, you need to be more careful with clubs and bars in these places: many of them serve as a gathering place for gays who, in in large numbers live around Christopher Street(Christopher Street). Gays began to settle in these places in the sixties, because the locals thought progressively and were more tolerant of sexual minorities than, say, the inhabitants of Little Italy. Nevertheless, they were harassed here too - so after the general arrests that the police carried out on June 27, 1969 in the Stonewall Inn gay bar, street battles took place here, which became the official beginning of the political struggle of gays and lesbians for their rights. In honor of those events in Greenwich Village and other cities around the world, every year on the last Sunday of June, a noisy "Christopher Street Parade", aka Gay Pride, is held. A symbol of the struggle of gays with society is George Segal's sculpture "Gay Liberation" (Gay Liberation) in Sheridan Square, depicting two same-sex couples: men stand, women sit on a bench.

Nearby, on Bedford Street, one of the oldest streets in the Village, behind an unsigned door is Chumley's- an underground bar opened in 1922, where both Fitzgerald and Kerouac visited. Somehow, the atmosphere of Prohibition has remained almost untouched here - sitting in Chumley's feels like in the movie Only Girls in Jazz, where gangsters drink whiskey from tea cups.

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Greenwich Village and the Gilded Age

Any reprint of the text or use of author's photographs is possible only with the permission of the author of the project.

Greenwich Village is a small area located in the blocks around Washington Square. Its border runs from the west along 6th Avenue, from the south along West Houston Street, from the east along Broadway, from the north along 14th Street. Greenwich Village originated in the 19th century. This is one of the few areas that have consistently prospered throughout its existence, thanks to which it has retained its buildings in excellent condition and is an excellent example for getting to know the residential architecture of New York before the last century.

In the 18th century, there was a cemetery on the site of Washington Square, where poor and nameless people were buried, mostly victims of epidemics and executed criminals. Due to its seclusion, the place was popular among duelists, and robbers lived in the forest nearby.

There is a legend that a few kilometers north of Washington Square they kept the stolen goods in a cave. Long years, until the middle of the 20th century, these rumors excited the minds of impressionable youth and haunted treasure hunters. Only after the area was completely built up and paved, the unsuccessful search for hidden treasures stopped.

The development of these places began with the fact that in 1826 a military parade ground for parades was set up here. Death sentences were carried out immediately. Until now, there is an elm tree in the park, on which criminals were hung in early XIX century, and on the site of the executioner's house, the New York University building was recently built, which, of course, is a joke among students.

Period after graduation civil war and Reconstruction Era markedintensive development of industry, construction, trade and transport, as well as a colossal population growth due to a new wave of immigration. During these years, the country increased its power, enterprising people very quickly created huge capital, the names of Americans began to top the list of the richest people in the world. For New York, it was a time of rapid growth and prosperity, big money dictated its own style - architecture and interiors gravitated towards luxury. In a mockery of the deliberate demonstration of wealth, Mark Twain in his book, published in 1873, called these years the Gilded Age of America (Gilded Age).).The name turned out to be so figurative and apt that it stuck to this period forever. But the stock market panic of 1893, which essentially laid the foundation for the Great Depression, led to the fact that in 1901 the legendary “gilded” time ended, and although the economic and financial crisis was still far away, the years of rampant spending of money have sunk into the past.

Intensive development of modern Greenwich Village began in the 40s of the XIX century. Until 1820, the northern border of New York was in the Chambers Street area - a little north of City Hall. But in 1822, the yellow fever epidemic forced New Yorkers to leave their homes and go away from the epicenter of the disease - "out of town". And the fire that happened in 1835 accelerated the process of rapid resettlement of the townspeople in a northerly direction. In just a few decades, New York's area has tripled. It stretched first to what is now Washington Square, and then further along 5th Avenue to the end of Central Park. It is interesting that new districts, as they appeared, became the most fashionable and prestigious. So for 20 years, wealthy New York families could change 2-3 addresses, striving to live in "the best area in New York."

In the 40s and 50s of the 19th century, the neighborhoods around Washington Square were considered such a coveted and fashionable area. Rich people settled here: entrepreneurs, merchants, industrialists who moved from the Lower Manhattan that suffered during the fire. And only at the beginning of the 20th century, the area acquired the glory of a bohemian: by that time, many wealthy families moved to the Upper East Side, and accomplished artists, musicians, artists and writers took their place. The prosperity of the area continued.

Washington Square appeared on the site of a military parade ground in 1850 - it was then that the first alleys were laid and a simple fence was built. Much later, in 1871, when most of the quarters around were already inhabited, it was given the official status of a park. At the same time, its design also changed significantly: new alleys, flowers and ornamental plants, beautiful fence.

Now nothing reminds of the military and, even more so, the robbery past of Washington Square. This is a fairly large, by New York standards, park with old branchy trees, shady alleys, cozy benches and a fountain, around which a record number of street musicians gather in New York with their large army of fans. Many of them study at New York University (NYU, New York University), whose buildings are scattered throughout Greenwich Village, and some student dormitories overlook the park. It is noteworthy that only first-year students are accommodated in these prestigious historic mansions, while those who are older and more experienced must look for housing on their own. So today Washington Square can rightly be considered the campus of New York University.

NYU was founded in 1831. For many years he was one of the 10 top universities America, but now his glory has faded. But its former graduates firmly established the name of their University in US history. Especially two of them, who largely determined the path of development of America - Samuel Morse and Samuel Colt. Their names speak for themselves.

During the Gilded Age, there was an unbridled craze for urban beautification in New York. The capitals of citizens grew, and the desire for beautiful life came to the fore. Many American architects went to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts and returned from Europe inspired by the Beaux-Arts style that America's wealthy people liked.

During these years, the main architectural dominants of New York appeared, many of which are almost as good as world architectural masterpieces.

Perhaps the Arc de Triomphe near Washington Square is not one of them, but it is quite consistent with its time and quite successfully repeats the style of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It was built in 1889 for the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington. It is believed that it was here in 1789 that the first US president entered his future capital. Since 1916, on the side of 5th Avenue, the arch has been adorned by two statues of Washington at once: in uniform - in memory of his military prowess, and in a particular camisole - in memory of his civil virtues.

And a year later, on a cold winter night in 1917 (almost 100 years ago), perhaps under the influence of the revolutionary passions raging in Russia, a small “revolution” took place in Greenwich Village. Six friends, including Marcel Duchamp, "armed" balloons, crackers, sandwiches and wine, climbed to the top of the Washington Arc de Triomphe and declared Greenwich Village an independent republic of American bohemia.

Many in the early 20th century yearned for renewal and change, and New Yorkers were no exception. Here the old foundations collapsed and the first shoots of modern avant-garde art appeared. One of the ascetics of such changes was Marcel Duchamp, a French and American artist, art theorist, who stood at the origins of Dadaism and Surrealism. His creative heritage is small, however, due to the originality of his ideas, Duchamp is considered one of the most significant figures in the art of the 20th century. In many ways, it is to him that such trends in art as pop art, minimalism, and conceptualism owe their formation.

But change is only just beginning to hover in the air, and in anticipation of them, the city continues to be built up with pompous Beaux-Arts houses. .

Beaux Arts, literally translated from French as "fine arts", is an eclectic style of architecture that continued the traditions of the Italian Renaissance and French Baroque. The Parisian School of Fine Arts became the founder of the style. The main thing that future architects were taught here was the history of art and the ability to reproduce various historical architectural styles. The architecture of the Beaux-Arts style is characterized by strict symmetry, a hierarchy of "noble" (entrances, stairs) and utilitarian spaces, an eclectic use of elements from French and Italian architecture, rich decor - molding, bas-reliefs, sculpture, etc., as well as polychrome inserts usually imitating gold. Unlike pure neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque, Beaux Arts freely varies elements of both directions. In Paris, such well-known buildings as the School of Fine Arts, the Opera Garnier, the Trocadero Palace, the Gare d'Orsay, the Petit Palais, the Pont Alexandre III, the new wings of the Louvre can be attributed to the Beaux-Arts style. In New York, many buildings were built in this style and almost all sculptures and monuments were created. Here are just a few of them:
Old Customs House, Statue of Liberty, Metropolitan Museum of Art Central Building, New York Public Library, Central Post Office Building, Chambers Street Probate Court, Macy's, Arc de Triomphe near Washington Square, numerous 19th century fire department buildings .
A diploma from the School of Fine Arts was considered the key to a brilliant career as an architect, not only in France, but also in the United States. alumni of this educational institution made Beaux Arts the dominant architectural style in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Walking around Washington Square, it is not difficult even today to imagine yourself as a wealthy resident of New York in the second half of the 19th century - the surrounding neighborhoods are so well preserved. Houses No. 7-13 on the north side of Washington Square (7-13 Washington Sq North) are known as "The Row". Built in the style of the Greek neo-Renaissance, they first appeared in the area in 1832 and were then considered the best houses in the city. In general, the Greek Neo-Renaissance style took root in New York, and there are still many buildings built in this style throughout the city.

From the south side of Washington Square (55 Washington Square South) rises a pseudo-Romanesque church with a classic Italian campanile - the Judson Memorial Church. Like much in New York, the history of the church and its architectural style do not quite correspond to each other - St. Adoniram Judson, in whose honor the cathedral was built, was a Baptist preacher and at the beginning of the 19th century translated the Bible into Burmese.

One block from the northeast corner of Washington Square, the traveler is in for a pleasant surprise: these are two tiny lanes paved with cobblestones back in 1842: Washington Mews (Washington Mews) and MacDougal Alley (MacDougal Alley).

Washington Mews is a street of very small houses. Despite the formidable poster that you have a private alley in front of you, you can freely walk along it (the street is private, but the passage through it remained public). Until the beginning of the 20th century, this street was a stable nearby, and cute houses respectively - stables. This area is characterized by dense buildings - the houses are wall to wall. And this is not surprising, because at the time when these quarters were laid, there was little transport in the city and it never occurred to anyone to leave a place for a carriage near the house, for this there were carriage and stable rows, which have now turned into quite prestigious housing. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were completely rebuilt, and now these streets resemble the quarters of London's Chelsea. Many celebrities lived here, among them the sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney, who founded the museum, which now bears her name. It's nice to walk along Washington Mews, looking at the tiled facades of houses and porches covered with ivy and flowers, which are so unusual for New York. At the end of the street, two houses facing each other belong to the French and German NYU compatriots, as evidenced by their architectural styles.

Leaving through the arch next to them, you find yourself on University Place (Univercity Pl), and from there not far to the house number 7 on East 10 Street - a building with an unusual black bay window, made in oriental style. It was built by Lockwood de Forest, who, along with Louise Comfort Tiffany, opened the first professional interior design firm in America. If this house was supposed to testify to the skill of designers, then it fulfilled its function to the fullest. The black bay window was crafted in India from bartender teak (Burmese teak) by an army of workers who hand-crafted the woodwork for its gorgeous paneling and decorations. When the house and its decoration were completed, the public came to look at it from the most remote corners of the city. The neighboring house is also decorated by Forest, and although its design looks much simpler, the craftsmanship and style leave no doubt about the virtuoso work of the architect.

Time fled, and rich merchants in Greenwich Village were replaced by famous writers, poets, and artists. walk along West 10 Street and West 11 Street may be a clear confirmation of this. In addition to the fact that these streets are a wonderful collection of elegant houses of the 19th century, they are also interesting because it was here that famous artists and writers began to settle together. Mark Twain lived in No. 14 on 10th Street; at number 48 on 11th Street lived Oscar Wilde when he came to New York with his lectures. And nearby, in house number 118 on West-11- street in a small 2-room apartment on the ground floor after a divorce from his wife in 1923, Theodore Dreiser settled. It was here that he wrote his American Tragedy.

On the south side of Washington Square, just one block away, at No. 85 on 3rd Street lived with his wife Edgar Poe. He settled in the back rooms of the second floor of this 3-storey building in 1845. Poe worked at that time for several New York magazines and wrote short stories. It is known that he never stayed long in one place, and this time, a little more than a year later, he moved with his family to the Bronx. Soon, in January 1847, his wife died of tuberculosis, the famous writer outlived her by only 4 years and died at the age of 40.

In confirmation of the fact that Greenwich Village was famous for intellectual celebrities, we need to recall the house that stood, until the middle of the 20th century, on the corner Washington Square and La Guardia Place (La Guardia Place). It was called the House of Geniuses, as it different time lived: singer Adeline Patti, writers O'Henry, Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, playwright Eugene O'Neill. The house was, unfortunately, demolished and now the NYU Student Center has been built in its place.

Not only the famous personalities of the past, but also the idols of our days opted for this area. Bob Dylan's house (92-94 MacDougal) located here, between Bleecker Street (Bleecker St) and West Houston Street. The house was built back in 1844, Bob Dylan bought it in 1969 and lived here with his wife and 4 children for several years. His son Jacob was born here and songs were written for 2 albums "Self-Portrait" and "New Morning".

History reference.

Some dissonance in the history of the prosperous residential area of ​​Greenwich Village is introduced by the tragedy that happened in the Brown Building, located on the corner of Green Street east of the park. On this side, Washington Square adjoined the infamous Bowery Street, which was worst example Soho factory building. Now in the Brown Building of the auditorium of New York University, and earlier in this huge house there was a garment factory for women's blouses. The working conditions and work schedule here were considered one of the most difficult in the city. The factory became infamous on a Sunday in 1911 when it caught fire and killed 146 people. The factories at that time worked without days off and breaks for 12 hours a day. The workers were locked in the workshops so that they would not leave their jobs even for a short smoke break. When the fire started, they could not leave the building and died, jumping out of the windows in desperation, or burning alive. A terrible tragedy shocked New York, and after an investigation and trial, the first measures in the history of the United States were taken to protect the safety of factory workers.

The illusion of a corner of England or Europe in Greenwich Village would be even more complete if it were not for the skyscrapers of Fifth Avenue, which originates right at the Arc de Triomphe in Washington Square. But, oddly enough, it is these huge houses that give charm to the area, creating a special, unique charm.

Interesting residential house number 1 on Fifth Avenue, built in the art deco style, it became one of the first residential skyscrapers in New York, at different times many famous New Yorkers lived here, and even today this address remains coveted by wealthy citizens. The building was built in 1927-1929 by Harvey Wiley Corbett, the architect of Rockefeller Center.

Very near at the corner of 5th Avenue and 10th Street, located Church of the Ascension. It was built in 1840 by the architect Richard Upjohn, in the style of the English Gothic Renaissance. The interior of the church deserves special attention, it is recognized as one of the most interesting from an artistic point of view in America and since 1987 it has been included in the list of outstanding historical and cultural attractions in New York. All the decoration of the church, from the figures of angels to the stained-glass windows, was made by famous American masters.

In the next quarter between 11th and 12th Streets) along Fifth Avenue located First Presbyterian Church (The First Presbyterian church) known under the name Straray First (“Old First”). It was built in 1844-46 by the architect Joseph Wells in the Gothic Renaissance style. Interestingly, the Oxford Magdalen Tower (Oxford) served as the prototype for the main tower of the cathedral.

On the corner of 12th Street and Fifth Avenue at 60 FifthAvenue Forbes Building is located. Until recently, it housed not only the editorial office of Forbes magazine, but also an excellent gallery, which contains various collections of representatives of the male half of the Forbes family. Several halls are dedicated to working models of ships, several to tin soldiers; a separate room is occupied by the first sketches and early editions of the Monopoly board game, invented by Charles Darrow at the beginning of the Great Depression. But most recently, the house was sold for $55 million. This building is now owned by NYU (New York University)

Off the route.

Walking in the Washington Square area, you should take a look at one pretty monument. It is located on LaGuardia Place, which departs from the park. The monument is in harmony with environment something you don't see often in New York. On a low pedestal stands a plump, short-legged man in a short jacket. To be more precise, it is not standing, but moving rapidly somewhere, energetically clapping its hands and sitting up in a scream. This is Fiorello LaGuardia, the son of Italian emigrants, the commander of the US Air Force in Italy in the First world war, senator, and most importantly - the mayor of New York for ten very difficult years - from 1934 to 1945. A hyperrealistic statue could be considered a caricature if it did not show through obvious sympathy to the depicted character. New Yorkers remember LaGuardia as a reformer of city social services and a fighter against the behind-the-scenes intrigues of Democratic functionaries. True, it was precisely during the time of LaGuardia that those same Italian godfathers, known to us from the novels of Mario Puzo and the films of Coppola. But, most likely, this had nothing to do with his political activities.

Before moving on to the West Village, it's worth taking a short walk down 6th Avenue to its intersection with 10th Street. There, serenely towering above the bustle of the street, stands a fabulous castle with loopholes, stained glass windows and a clock tower, built in 1877 according to the drawings of Calvert Vaux. For a while, the castle was a fire station, and the clock tower was a watchtower. Initially, the building was built as a court, but for some reason in the church style. A specific church arch draws attention above the entrance, but instead of Christ, the figures of a judge and a Venetian merchant rise in it with a knife in one hand and scales in the other - he is preparing to receive a pound of meat from his debtor. The court is famous for hearing the scandalous murder case of the architect Stanford White in 1906 by the insane millionaire Harry To. Now here is the Jefferson Market Library (Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas), which opened in this building only in 1967, after it was saved from demolition by a group of enthusiasts led by the poet E.-E. Cummings.

To the left of the building there is a wonderful square, an oasis of beauty and peace between two streets that are always crowded with cars. Sex and the City fans may recognize this romantic square as the place where the characters of the series Miranda and Steve held their wedding ceremony.

Opposite the library, on the opposite side of 6th Avenue is historic pharmacy (C.O. Bigelow Apothecary, 414 6-avenu) discovered over 170 years ago. Its interior has changed only within the framework of necessity; the wood-clad walls seem to remember how Mark Twain came here, who lived just a few blocks away.

The picture of the area would be incomplete without mentioning at least one of the jazz clubs that Greenwich Village is famous for.

Jazz in New York is loved and understood. It can be called the key to the character of the city. The rhythm of New York is akin to jazz improvisation. It is not a problem to find a place in the city where an interesting jazz concert will take place. There are many such halls - of any rank, quality and price. But Blue Note (Blue Note jazz club, 31 West 3rd St) has been a leader in the American ranking of jazz clubs for 30 years. Almost all the stars of the jazz world performed here.

The interior in the style of the 60s (although the club opened only in 1981) emphasizes the democratic and artistic atmosphere of the club. In addition, delicious food and good cocktails are served here. Usually, at the last performance, many musicians gather in the hall and the “concert after the concert” in the form of a jazz “jam” often drags on until the morning.

Currently, we are accompanied by a professional guide.This Walk, like many others, you can do, individually or in a group, with our guide.And we We will arrange a tour at a convenient time for you. You might be interested in other tours -

Text and photos by Tatyana Borodina

Historical photos – internet resources

To be continued:

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Greenwich Village was a small community whose layout had nothing to do with the current checkerboard layout of Manhattan. When building Manhattan in Greenwich Village, it was decided to keep the original layout. Many of the streets are crooked, narrow and intersect at sharp angles. Unlike many streets in New York, most of the streets in Greenwich Village have their own names, not numbers. The few numbered streets run counter to the traditional Manhattan numbering. For example, 4th Street intersects 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th (in the rest of Manhattan, all numbered streets are parallel).

History

Before the foundation of the settlement, the marshy Plavni were located in its place. In the 16th century, the Indians called this area Sapocanican("tobacco field"). The Dutch settled here in 1630. Northwijk(Noortwyck). In 1664, after the capture of New Amsterdam by the British, it began to grow rapidly. Officially, it became a village from 1712; since 1713 - title Greenwich Village (Greenich Village, Greenwich Village). After a yellow fever epidemic in 1822, many New Yorkers moved to Greenwich Village.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Greenwich Village has become a haven for bohemian people and radical political figures (among them the most famous playwright Eugene O'Neill, dancer Isadora Duncan, poetess Edna St. Vincent Millay, journalist John Reed). Artist Marcel Duchamp) and his friends launched balloons proclaiming the "Independent Republic of Greenwich Village" from the top of the arch in Washington Square (the district's central square). In the 1950s, Greenwich Village became one of the centers of the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burrows, Dylan Thomas), Folk Rock (The Mamas & the Papas, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel). This area is known for the anti-war and pacifist actions that took place there. Greenwich Village has played an important role in the gay rights movement, with famous Christopher Street and the center of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion.

Greenwich Village today

Now the bohemian life is a thing of the past: artists are leaving Greenwich Village due to rising housing prices, leaving for Brooklyn, Long Island City (Queens) and New Jersey. However, Greenwich Village residents still stand out for their liberal lifestyle and pride in their history, sometimes calling the rest of New York north of 14th Street "the countryside" (upstate). Here are the homes of many celebrities such as Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Uma Thurman, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Several institutions of higher education are located in Greenwich Village, including the main New York University Campus, the New School, and several Jewish educational institutions.

Greenwich Village is a green area. In the center of the district is the famous park on Washington Square (Washington Square Park), around which the educational buildings of New York University are concentrated. There are many small squares in the area, as well as numerous sports grounds, one of which hosts city-wide Streetball competitions.

The Village is home to many off-Broadway (Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway) theatres, jazz clubs, comedy clubs, and the Greenwich Village Orchestra.

• Greenwich Village is home to characters from the famous American comedy television series Friends.