Listen to Village Stories from Lenny Kaye and Penny Arcade

On April 16th at 7:00 pm, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation will continue a series of readings of our new book, Greenwich Village Stories at The Writers Room. The reading will feature Lenny Kaye, renowned musician, songwriter, music producer, critic, and author, who has performed and recorded with Patti Smith since 1974, and celebrated performance artist Penny Arcade, who is also a playwright, director, actor, and a founder of the Lower East Side Biography Project. This event is for GVSHP members only.

Listen to Penny Arcade and Lenny Kaye recount their memories of the Village, from Penny’s wonderment as she first set eyes on it as a sixteen-year-old, to Lenny’s description of walking through the Village when Coltrane held court at the Vanguard and music was everywhere. Following the reading, Lenny Kaye and Penny Arcade will participate in a Q&A.

While at the event, discover The Writers Room, an organization that provides more than 200 writers with a quiet, affordable place in which to work in the Village. In addition to workspace, The Writers Room offers a reference and research library, seminars and workshops on subjects of interest to members, and readings of members’ works.

This is a free event for GVSHP members only (become a member!). Reservations are required.
The Writers Room is located at 740 Broadway at Astor Place, 12th floor.
To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.





Upcoming Programs

Please note that space is often limited. Reservations are not confirmed until you receive a response from GVSHP regarding your reservation.

If space becomes an issue, all reservations will be honored up until the start of the program, at which point your seat may be given away to those on the wait list.   





Wooden Houses of Greenwich Village
A lecture by Elizabeth Finkelstein and Michael Devonshire

This program was so popular last October that we had to turn people away! We are thrilled to be able to present this encore.

Wednesday, March 26
6:30 – 8:00 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Village Community School, 272-278 West 10th Street, between Washington and Greenwich Streets


Greenwich Village is celebrated for its beautiful rows of brick and brownstone townhouses. But those who meander through the neighborhood's winding, historic streets are usually surprised to encounter the occasional wooden house sandwiched between masonry houses and apartment buildings, channeling a bygone era. How and when did these houses arrive here? Why are there so few? And, perhaps most curiously, how on earth have they survived for so long? Join urban historian Elizabeth Finkelstein and preservation architect Michael Devonshire as they explore the history and mystery surrounding these fascinating wooden relics and discuss the challenges to their preservation.

To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.




Developing an Opera about Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses
Composer Judd Greenstein and director Joshua Frankel discuss the process of creating their new opera


Thursday, April 10
6:30 – 8:00 P.M.
Free; reservations required
Village Community School, 272-278 West 10th Street
between Greenwich and Washington Streets
Jane Jacobs was the leader of epic struggles against Robert Moses, first stopping his destruction of Washington Square Park, and then his efforts to build the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Join composer Judd Greenstein and director Joshua Frankel in a conversation about the process of expressing this story as an opera and the translation of the ideas that run through it into music, text, visuals and stage movement.
Greenstein and Frankel also will screen two short animated films: their previous collaboration, Plan Of The City, as well as Mannahatta, which premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival this past fall and represents their first thematic exploration for the opera. More information about this opera can be found at mosesjacobsopera.com.
To register, please call (212) 475-9585 ext. 35 or email.