Berlitz: New York City Pocket Guide by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Travel, USA, New York
Publisher: APA
Published: 2013-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Greenwich Village

‘The Village,’ as Greenwich Village is usually called, has been separate, casual, and very different from the rest of the city ever since its beginnings. In colonial times it really was a distinct village called Greenwich, which became a neighborhood of conservative Georgian brick houses and carriage barns in back-alley mews. A few of these houses remain, mostly on Bedford Street and the streets around it, but conservative the Village isn’t. It got its bohemian reputation after World War I, when artists and writers moved here for the area’s cheap lodgings, inexpensive restaurants and speakeasies. Later, the Village became the center for New York’s gay community, which to a large degree has now moved north to Chelsea.

The Village is roughly the area from 14th Street down to Houston and west of Broadway. The area’s heart is Washington Square Park ™ [map], the de facto campus quad for New York University, which controls much of the real estate east of Sixth Avenue and south of 14th Street to Houston. The park’s famous arch was designed by architect Stanford White and erected in 1889 to mark the centenary of George Washington’s inauguration as president.

Bleecker Street with its craft and curio shops, antique stores, cafés, and tiny restaurants has long been the main shopping strip of the neighborhood. The area’s highest concentration of gay and lesbian businesses and bars is still found on Christopher Street, west of Seventh Avenue South. The Stonewall, at 53 Christopher Street, stands on the site of the original Stonewall Inn, which was the site of the riots in 1969 that led to the modern gay rights movement. You may wish to make at least two trips to the Village; by day to shop and see the sights, and at night to catch the atmosphere, have dinner, and hit one of the jazz clubs or bars.

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