Greenwich Village Stories
A Collection of Memories
Greenwich Village Stories is a love letter to Greenwich Village written by artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, restaurateurs,and other neighborhood habitués who each share a favorite memory of this beloved place.
The sixty-six stories in this collection of Village memories are original and vivid—perfectly capturing the essence of the Village. Every corner ofthe Village is represented in the book: recollections of jazz clubs and existentialism on Bleecker Street to rock music on St. Mark’s Place and folk singers in Washington Square Park.
There are stories of Hans Hofmann teaching modern art on 8th Street and Lotte Lenya performing in The Threepenny Opera on Christopher Street. Decades later, Brooke Shields muses on renovating a brownstone and finding history behind its walls while Mario Batali lyrically describes a Sunday morning walk through the food markets of Bleecker Street. The stories are complemented by a wide range of photographs by iconic figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Rudy Burckhardt, Berenice Abbott, Saul Leiter, Ruth Orkin, and Weegee. Paintings depict elegant red-brick façades and raffish Hudson River piers, now restored; theater posters spotlight Karen Finley and John Leguizamo.
This book is a lovingly rendered collection of memories from America’s bohemian enclave, perfect for anyone interested in culture, the arts, history, or New York. It will fascinate those who are already beguiled by the Village, as well as those just discovering this fabled place.
Royalties for Greenwich Village Stories will go towards the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
April 10th at 7:00pm: Launch reading featuring actor and comedian John Leguizamo at Strand Bookstore (located at the Strand’s 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway at 12th Street). Click here for more details.
April 16th at 7:00pm: Reading with musician Lenny Kaye and performance artist Penny Arcade at Writers Room (740 Broadway at Astor Place, 12th floor). Event is for GVSHP members only. Click here for more details. Become a GVSHP member.
April 23rd at 7:30pm: “Greenwich Village Stories” at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street)featuring performance artist Penny Arcade, Barneys New York creative ambassador Simon Doonan, writer Dave Hill, organizer of the Village’s first Halloween parade Ralph Lee, and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi reading alongside other well-known Village residents Jane Curtin and Parker Posey as part of the Selected Shorts series to be broadcast on 130 NPR stations. Click here to learn more and to purchase tickets.
April 29th at 6:00pm: Come Celebrate Your Village with contributors from Greenwich Village Stories at Three Lives & Company (154 West 10th Street at Waverly Place). Reception will feature meet and greet and signing with book contributors, including: author Lauren Belfer, Film Forum director Karen Cooper, author Tony Hiss, poet Bob Holman, Annisa restaurant owner and chef Anita Lo, author Calvin Trillin, and guitar store owner Matt Umanov.
