GREENWICH VILLAGE

Description

Essentials about Greenwich Village in brief

Greenwich Village is one of the most famous and popular neighborhoods in Manhattan. It is located between 14th Street to the north, Houston Street to the south, the Hudson River to the west and Broadway to the east. Greenwich Village, often referred to simply as “The Village,” is still an artist and trendy neighborhood with many cafes, bars, restaurants and (experimental) theaters. In contrast to noisy Manhattan, Greenwich Village has a rather quiet, almost intimate atmosphere. This is mainly due to the development of the neighborhood. You won’t find any high-rises in the Village. By New York standards, there are very low buildings here with many backyards and gardens, which contributes a lot to the special flair of the neighborhood.

Characteristics of Greenwich Village

“Live and let live” could be the motto of Greenwich Village. The neighborhood has always been a stronghold of individualists, dissenters and freedom lovers. Since the 1930s, the Village has been the birthplace of many artists and musicians, in the 1950s the neighborhood was known for its drug scene, and in the 1960s the liveliest lesbian and gay scene in New York City emerged here.

And in general, Greenwich Village is one of New York City’s most popular and correspondingly most expensive residential neighborhoods. This is not only due to its open culture, but also to the beautiful so-called brownstones and townhouses, many of which date back to the early 19th century and are known primarily for their magnificent staircases. Anyone who lives in Greenwich Village has “made it.” No wonder the neighborhood has a very high celebrity density. With a little luck, you can run into stars like Cameron Diaz, Julianne Moore, Tiger Woods or Julia Roberts during a walk through The Village.

The music and theater scene of Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is home to some of the best-known institutions in New York City’s music and theater scene. The neighborhood’s famous theaters include the Lucille Lortel Theater and the Cherry Lane Theater, which was founded in 1924 in a former brewery and was one of New York’s first off-Broadway theaters.

Music fans are strongly advised to visit Café wha? Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Kool and the Gang, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers and Bill Cosby are some of the greats who started their careers here, enjoyed stopping by for a drink or turned night into day. Even today, the Café wha? still performs live music.

Greenwich Village is also well worth a visit for jazz fans. Of particular interest is the Village Vanguard, the oldest jazz club still in existence in the city. It became famous beyond the borders of the USA through numerous live recordings of jazz greats such as John Coltrane and Bill Evans. The café-restaurant Cornelia Street Cafe, in business since 1977, is a popular venue for art, literature and avant-garde jazz. The Blue Note Jazz Club can also be found here.

Eating and drinking in Greenwich Village

If you like to go out for a drink, you shouldn’t miss the White Horse Tavern. Built in 1880, it’s one of the ten oldest bars in New York City and was made sadly famous by the death of writer Dylan Thomas (he allegedly drank himself to death here).

Fans of the series “Friends” also have a good reason to visit The Village. For at the corner of Bedford Street and Grove Street stands the home of the most famous Friends in television history. In reality, the house houses a café-bistro (and not the Central Perk café from the series), but true fans will find it worth a photo stop.

If you love to laugh, don’t miss the Comedy Cellar at the Olive Tree Café and Bar. Here, some of New York’s best comedians perform and make the audience laugh.

The LGBT scene of Greenwich Village

A special feature of Greenwich Village is that the streets in the neighborhood mostly have names and not numbers like everywhere else in Manhattan. The Village is also home to the smallest street in New York City, Gay Street. It leads into the world-famous Christopher Street, which was the center of the gay and lesbian movement in the 1960s and today still serves as a symbol of equal rights for people of all sexual orientations. Every year in June, the Gay Pride Week takes place. Then everything around Christopher Street is under the sign of the LGBT movement.

Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village

And those who need a little relaxation after so many sights will find it in Washington Square Park, centrally located in the Village. The nearly four-hectare city park is one of the most popular and busiest in all of New York City. Here, locals and tourists alike gather to chill in the sun, play chess or listen to jazz music. The park is also known for its beautiful triumphal arch, the Washington Square Arch, inaugurated in 1895, through which you have a great view of the top of the Empire State Building along Fifth Avenue, which starts here.

Shopping in Greenwich Village

And last but not least, it’s worth taking a walk through Greenwich Village also for the excellent shopping opportunities and the neighborhood’s excellent gastronomic scene. There are countless great, mostly small restaurants, bars and cafés – the choice is not easy in The Village. When it comes to shopping, it’s also not easy to decide which stores to go into. Especially the many small boutiques and creative stores will make shopaholics happy. Bleecker Street is not without reason considered one of the best shopping addresses in the world.