Walking in The West Village, Manhattan

[krulltime]

Let me invite you on another of my NYC photo tour. Ofcourse this is one of NYC most amazing places to live. If you can afford. The West Village is actually part of a much bigger neighborhood called the Greenwich Village, but since the neighborhood is too big, I decided to just concentrate on anything west of 6th avenue, South of 14th Street (Minus the Meat Packing District) and North of Hudson Street. Well this neighborhood for decades has been a mecca for gays and artists. But lately it has become too expensive for the newer generation. I enjoy the West Village with its plentiful boutique shops, restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

Well I hope you enjoy this neighborhood thru my photos. If you are ever visiting NYC, I highly recommend you take a stroll. Just don't get lost, since a lot of the streets tend to curved and run off the grid. Oh yeah and it was a very cold day when I took these photos.

Thanks for viewing my photos. And please leave me a comment.


West Village, Manhattan

The West Village is western portion of the Greenwich Village neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Though there are no defined boundaries, the area is usually defined as bounded by the Hudson River and either Sixth Avenue or Seventh Avenue, extending from 14th Street down to Houston Street. Bordering neighborhoods include Chelsea to the north, the Hudson Square section of SoHo to the south, and the core of Greenwich Village to the east.

A sub-neighborhood, the Far West Village, extends from the Hudson River to Hudson Street.

The neighborhood is distinguished by streets that are "off the grid" — set at an angle to the other streets in Manhattan — sometimes confusing both tourists and city residents alike.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Village,_Manhattan



1. The famous gay couple statues. Facing this little park (Christopher Park) is the gay bar Stonewall, where the 1969 gay riots started. Eventually all the gay celebrations in the world originated after these protests.
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2. Looking away from Christopher Park.
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3.
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4.
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5. Looking back at at Christopher Park.
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6. Residential towers rise on this area.
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7. On 6th Avenue.
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8.
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9. Now on 7th Avenue.
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10.
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[krulltime]

11.
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12.
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13.
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14.
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15. 14th street corridor.
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16.
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17.
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18.
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19. One of those expensive fitness clubs Equinox.
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20.
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[krulltime]

21. The white building that was built in the 50's is own by Saint Vincent Hospital, the biggest Hospital in the West Village.
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22. Apartment towers.
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23. A rare Art Deco style apartment building.
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24.
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25.
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26. A great looking church.
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27.
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28.
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29.
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30.
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[krulltime]

31.
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32. Magnolias Cup Cakes, made famous by Sex in the City is on this street.
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33.
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34.
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35. A wonderful victorian public library on Greenwich Avenue and 6th Avenue.
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36. Yes Gay street.
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37.
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38.
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39.
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40.
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[krulltime]

41. These look really old.
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42.
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43.
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44.
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45. Something interesting and modern grew on an intersection.
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46.
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47.
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48.
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49.
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50.
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[krulltime]

51. Plenty of boutique shops and restaurants in the West Village.
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52.
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53.
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54.
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55.
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56.
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57. Back on Christopher Street. The gay parade goes thru here.
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58.
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59. Plenty of these charming blocks.
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60.
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[krulltime]

61.
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62.
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63.
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64.
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65.
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66.
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67.
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68.
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69.
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70. I believe that the Bill Cosby show was actually film on this block.
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[krulltime]

71. Another one of those nicer blocks.
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72.
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73. You can still find cobblestone streets.
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74.
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75.
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76.
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77.
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78.
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79.
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80.
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[krulltime]

81.
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82.
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83.
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84.
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85. A cool old factory building.
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86.
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87.
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88.
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89. A lonely little house with a yard and driveway.
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90.
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[krulltime]

91. Now I am at the hudson park along the river.
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92.
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93.
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94.
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95.
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96.
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97.
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98.
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99. The new glass towers facing the river.
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100.
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[Capn_Birdseye]

Great pics krulltime!

[The Benniest]

Amazing pictures! I loved them all..

Thanks for sharing,
Ben

[MidtownGuy]

Really wonderful krulltime. Thanks for another great picture tour.
This must be one of the most interesting neghborhoods in America.

[brianac]

A great tour Krulltime, thanks.

[ablarc]

krulltime hits another home run.

Grand slam!

[krulltime]

Thanks for checking out the thread my friends and I am glad to deliver some photo scenes of this city wonderful neighborhoods. ;)

[Merry]

I wondered when/if you were going to post this here. I saw it over on SSP yesterday and noticed it wasn't here then.

SUPERB thread, Krull, amazingly comprehensive. Certainly inspires serious wanderlust. Thank you!

[t-tocs]

Great pics Krulltime.

[Radiohead]

Great pics, Krull. I love the Village.

[tdp]

My favourite neighborhood of the world.
I too, love the Village!
Thanks for sharing, Krulltime.

[JCMAN320]

Excellent pics Krulltime. I love that little white house in the yard. One of my favorite places the village.

[nyc_obsessed]

Great pictures, I recognized a lot of the buildings and restaurants, i've eaten at that Jekyll and Hyde too :)

By the way: PIC 70 That is the place where they filmed the cosby townhouse front porch. :) I've been there on the Movie and TV tour. Most of the cosby kids have filmed scenes on those exact steps.

Also In pictures 90, 91, and 95 the Glass and cream colored apartment building is where the Olsen Twins purchased two apartments to have renovated to make one. Unfortuantely they never moved in. Just if anybody is into where "famous people" live :)

[Merry]

The Coolest Locksmith Shop in New York City

(click photos to enlarge)



http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/5411993726_aa824bc9ea.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scoutingny/5411993726/)



http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5411385201_0dc9650d3f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scoutingny/5411385201/)



http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/5411998148_57fb27b13a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/scoutingny/5411998148/)



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http://www.scoutingny.com/

[KenNYC]

Love the pictures in this thread.... especially since there's no snow and ice in them...

[JCMAN320]

Sick!!!

I was looking back at the photos and I always wondered those two small towers along Hudson River Park; are they vent shafts or what?

[lofter1]

Right-O: Vent shafts for the PATH train tunnels (there's a station just to the east at Christopher near Hudson Street).

[JCMAN320]

Thats what I thought just wasn't sure. Thanks Lofter. :).

[Hof]

Thanks, Krulltime. Some really nice shots. I recognized a lot.
And everything looks so...clean these days.

Some of the neighborhoods you went through were a couple blocks across 7th from my old apartment and I was around there a lot, back when they really packed meat in the Meatpacking District. I worked for a diner on 6th--The Hip Bagel-- right around the corner from the Stonewall, and I used to take breaks in the little park --and I'd make the trip into the Meatpaking area every few days to pick things up for the restaurant.
I never saw the gay riots, but I did see the aftermath. The club was closed and the park was fenced by the cops and entry was forbidden. It sat there gathering garbage, unused for months, like a punishment. Just around the bend from the park-- on Gay Street-- there was a hippie jeweler who worked in silver. My wife had him make a yin/yang pendant for me, and when we went back to get it a few days later, the hippie had died and his grieving widow made the transaction for us.
The piece, which I'm looking at as I write, was probably the last thing the guy made..

The Meat District area's cobbled streets ran a sticky red and the place, for blocks distant, had the Kansas farm-smell of cattle. Most of the newer clubs in the area are build within those old butcher- and pack-houses and I bet on hot and humid nights it smells of dead cow.

It was an interesting area, a plugged-with-trucks, working-class City neighborhood by day, where bloody men sold sides of raw beef out of open loading docks. At night and on weekends, except for a few nacent bars and clubs it was empty.
Here was what fed New York's carnivors. That's it.
- You could buy bales of hay there, probably the only place in New York in the '70s where wholesale hay merchants competed with each other.

The meat people would move their product around in the streets--a bleeding half-dozen swaying half-cows hung on big dollies, and it reminded me of the Garment District, just somewhat more gruesome. It was totally deserted after dark and had a living, film-noir quality to it that I have seen nowhere else. A few people lived there, but not many. It probably had the after-hours population density of Wall Street on a Winter's night.

I'm glad that so many of the historic structures West of 7th have survived and adapted.

[Merry]

The Oldest Building in the Village?

by Elizabeth

Call it whatever you’d like: antique, vintage, or historic. If one thing is for certain, the Village is really, really old. Old by New York City standards, and even old by American standards. But which building is the oldest of the old?

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/3.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/3.jpg)
121 Charles Street is one of the buildings we researched while tracking down the oldest in the Village

Fortunately for us as we attempt to answer this question, the Village has been well researched. We know the histories of many West Village buildings because a large number of them are included within historic districts (which means the Landmarks Preservation Commission has authored designation reports with information including dates of construction for each, which can all be read on our Resources (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/resources/his_dist_sites.htm) page.). The same is true for a portion of the South Village, for much of NoHo and the Meatpacking District, and for a tiny section of the East Village around Stuyvesant Street known as the St. Mark’s Historic District. As far as the non-landmarked sections are concerned, we have done our own research on every single building in the South Village (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/south_village/south_village-main.htm) and in the East Village (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/east_village/east_village-main.htm).

So we had oodles of information to pour over as we took on the task. Let’s take a look at some of the contenders.

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Taffner1.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Taffner1.jpg)
17 Grove Street

We’ll start on the west side. On the corner of Grove & Bedford Streets sits this lovely wood frame house, which we were lucky enough to sneak a peak inside during our 2007 Annual House Tour Benefit (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/events/tour-main.htm). Because of NYC fire codes, it’s rare to find wooden houses anywhere in Manhattan, but No. 17 Grove Street has survived in near-pristine condition.

Built in 1822, it was originally only two stories high and gained it’s top floor in 1870, which is presumably when it’s Italianate-style cornice was added. The original owner, William F. Hyde, was a sash maker and likely made many of the house’s double-hung windows.
1822 makes it old, indeed. But the oldest? Not quite.

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/11.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/11.jpg)
121 Charles Street

Moving slightly north, we come to the anomaly that is No. 121 Charles Street. Who hasn’t wondered about this house? It’s as if a farmhouse, in the manner of a spaceship, fell from the sky and landed smack in the middle of a dense urban setting.

Which actually isn’t far from the truth – the house actually was transported here from another place. Prior to its move here in 1967, the house stood on a rear lot at 71st Street & York Avenue, where it was occupied briefly in the 1940s by Margaret Wise Brown, author of ”Good Night Moon.” A couple decades later, when it was slated for demolition by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, its owners saved the house by moving it downtown to its current location (more on this can be found at New York Daily Photo (http://newyorkdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/05/121-charles.html)).

An exact date of construction for the house has yet to be determined. It first appeared on tax maps on York Avenue in 1898, suggesting that it was built elsewhere and moved to York Avenue in the mid-19th century. Since we don’t know when it was built, we can’t yet claim that it’s the oldest house in the Village, but we can say for sure that it’s one of the most intriguing.

Moving along…

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77 Bedford Street

The 1799 Isaacs-Hendricks House at 77 Bedford Street, on the corner of Commerce Street, was originally a wooden house; its brick front was added in 1836. What’s even harder to imagine is that it was originally a free-standing building surrounded by undeveloped land! A year after its construction the house was bought by Harmon Hendricks. Hendricks and his brother-in-law Simon Isaacs, according to the LPC’s designation report, “were New York agents of Paul Revere, who laid the foundations for the copper-rolling industry in America.” Around 1812, Isaac & Hendricks set up their own copper rolling factory in Bellville, NJ, where they supplied copper boilers for a number of ships (keep in mind that a large shipbuilding industry thrived along the NYC waterfront at that time). In an interesting twist, the factory also supplied copper for the Savannah, the first steamship ever to cross the Atlantic. Followers of GVSHP will recall in the fall of 2010 we fought hard to save 326 & 328 East 4th Street (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/326-328-e4/326-328-e4-main.htm), developed by Francis Fickett, the Savannah’s builder.

The construction date of 1799 makes the Isaacs-Hendricks House the oldest extant house in Greenwich Village. But is the oldest house in the entire Village? Let’s wander a little east to see what we can turn up…

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Merchant's House Museum

Our first contender on the east side is the Merchant’s House Museum (http://www.merchantshouse.com/) at No. 29 East 4th Street, aka the Seabury Tredwell House and arguably the Village’s most well-known historic house. One of the city’s first landmarks, the beautiful late Federal-style residence was originally one of a row of six near-identical houses all built together in 1832. Today, its is the only 19th century home in Manhattan that has been preserved completely intact on both the interior and the exterior. Gertrude Treadwell was born in this house in 1840 and lived here until her death at age 93!

Alas, though Gertrude may have been the oldest person on the block, a construction date of 1832 means the Merchant’s House Museum is not the oldest house in the Village.

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/EDITED.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/EDITED.jpg)
143-145 Avenue D

Moving all the way east, we come to 143-145 Avenue D, which Off the Grid has covered recently in a series of posts (see parts one (http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/2011/03/15/from-banking-to-biscuits-part-1-2/), two (http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/2011/03/16/from-banking-to-biscuits-part-2/) and three (http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/2011/03/29/the-decline-of-the-dry-dock-district-143-145-avenue-d-part-3/) and four (http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/2011/04/25/the-strangers-hospital-143-145-avenue-d-part-4/), and stay tuned for the next installment to be published soon). Originally used as the Dry Dock Banking House, it was built in 1825, when the surrounding neighborhood was virtually uncharted territory. While this makes it by far the oldest extant building in Alphabet City, it is certainly not the oldest in the entire Village.

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/465-291.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/465-291.jpg)
21 Stuyvesant Street

Built 21 years prior, an obvious contender for the title is No. 21 Stuyvesant Street, aka the Hamilton Fish House. It is one of those rare gems that is rich in both architectural integrity and historical associations. Its exterior looks almost exactly as it did when it was built in 1803 by Petrus Stuyvesant, great-grandson of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland. Petrus built the house for his daughter Elizabeth when she married Nicholas Fish, a close friend of both Alexandar Hamilton and General Lafayette. Fish would later become Governor of New York, a US Senator, and Secretary of State.

Like the Isaacs-Hendricks House, the Hamilton Fish House was once surrounded by open land. The house sat inside a garden, which remained untouched until after Elizabeth’s death in 1854. In 1861, the rows of Anglo-Italianate homes that make up much of the St. Mark’s Historic District (http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/resources/his_dist_sites.htm#SM) were finally developed.

1803 is indeed very early, but not early enough for the house to called the oldest in the Village.

So where IS the oldest building?

http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/465-44.jpg (http://gvshp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/465-44.jpg)
44 Stuyvesant Street

Funnily enough, it order to answer that, one needn’t look further than just across the street from our last stop, or peek through the back window of our offices at the Neighborhood Preservation Center (http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/the-oldest-building-in-the-village/www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/). At No. 44 Stuyvesant stands a Federal-style house built for Nicholas William Stuyvesant in 1795, making it seven years older than the Hamiliton Fish House and four years older than the Isaacs-Hendricks House in Greenwich Village. The house is crawling with stylistic signs of its age, including splayed lintels, Flemish Bond brickwork, and doorway proportions that are typical of that era. It was built in the same year that Nicholas, son of Petrus Stuyvesant and Elizabeth Fish’s brother, married Catherine Livingston Reade. In 1969, the house was designated a landmark as part of the St. Mark’s Historic District.

The designation reports states that, except for the Jumel Mansion and the Dyckman farmhouse, this is the only building from the 18th century “which has been solely used for residential use, successfully retaining for over 175 years its original plan (which is two rooms off the hall) and its many architectural elements” (that was at least until 1969, when the report was written).

Visible from our office windows, through the courtyard of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, 44 Stuyvesant Street stands everyday as a proud reminder to us of the importance of our mission.

We would love to hear from you! If you think you know of a house in the Village that dates from before 1795, or if there is a house whose history you have always been curious about, leave us a comment! We’ll let you know what we can dig up about its history.

http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/06/02/the-oldest-building-in-the-village/

[Merry]

West Village thoroughfare looks to upgrade from shaky retail past

By Jason Sheftell
(photos by Jeff Bachner)

http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/content_main_image/images/2012/02/03/eighth.jpg


Eighth St. in Greenwich Village between Fifth and Sixth Aves. was the stuff of legends. In the early 1960s, Bob Dylan met Allen Ginsberg at Eighth St. Books. Jack Kerouac hung out in local coffee shops. In the 1930s, Gertrude Whitney established the Whitney Museum of American Art in a pale pink building where an art school resides today. Jimi Hendrix later lived in a two-bedroom glass cottage tucked behind a building. It’s like a Zen garden back there. In the 1970s, hippies from Washington Square Park begging for pennies added to authentic Village cool.



Still, the famous street with more potential than any other thoroughfare below 14th St. has for years remained under-retailed with head shops, shoe stores and boutiques selling what some call “stripper clothes.”



Recently, upgrades to micro-sections indicate what’s to come as real estate forces, business owners and local leaders look to transform the street into one of downtown’s most creative mom-and-pop-based thoroughfares. In the past six months, a bakery owned by friends from Gambia, a textile store with weaving classes owned by twentysomethings from Brooklyn, and a store selling jugs of microbeers called Growler Station have come to one stretch joining a downstairs wine bar restaurant and upscale hair salon owned by a Japanese stylist.


http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/sites/default/files/images/stumptown.jpg
Stumptown comes to Eighth and MacDougal


The Portland-founded coffee shop Stumptown, a hit in the Ace Hotel on Broadway, will complete the corner when it opens in a 1,600-square-foot space on Eighth and MacDougal Sts. It replaces a print-cartridge shop, deli and clothing boutique that moved to Brooklyn.



Buchbinder & Warren, one of New York’s most low-key but influential family-run real estate companies, manages and owns that invigorated stretch. Norman Buch-binder, a founding partner now deceased, helped found in 1993 the Village Alliance, the not-for-profit local business improvement district. Buchbinder dreamed of a New York where opportunity was around every corner.





“New York was about the people and places to my father,” says Lori Buchbinder, who runs the firm with her sister Susan and Gene Warren, her father’s partner. “He loved this city. To him, every New Yorker had a dream. Small business owners were heroes to him. What we’re trying to do on Eighth St. is bring back what made it great and improve upon what didn’t.”


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Jimi Hendrix lived in this glass and brick cottage behind Eighth St.

Buchbinder & Warren owns eight residential buildings on the street with 13 retail properties. They rent studio apartments for $1,950. They have several properties on MacDougal Alley, one of New York’s quaintest streets built as stables for merchants in the 1800s. A studio at 5 MacDougal is listed for $2,495. They also own the Hendrix cottage, nestled behind the entry hallway at 50 W. Eighth St. An Internet entrepreneur lives there, paying $8,500 for a New York City escape.


In Buchbinder & Warren’s other properties, Insomnia Cookies, an eyeglass store, GigiK stockings and a State Farm Insurance agency bring small-town services. Two storefronts recently became available. They seek retail rents of $125 per square foot and up.



“We’re looking for the right kind of tenant,” says Bill Abramson, Buchbinder & Warren’s director of leasing and sales. “We meet with prospective tenants to get a feel for who they are. We are not going to just fill a space. We’re in the business of making money, but we want what’s good for the street. That’s the win-win.”


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Weaving classes at Textile Arts Center are popular with all ages


William Kelley just became director of the Village Alliance, the local BID. He wishes all landlords were as strategic as Buchbinder & Warren. In his mind, Eighth St. could develop into an artisanal center where mom-and-pop businesses thrive. The geography of the street with residential buildings and small retail shops lends itself to hands-on operators.



Recently, a small kiosk-size shop selling Turkish coffee and a tapas bar called Alma 33 opened. Growler Station, which sells carryout microbeers in jugs, and 8th St. Wine Cellar, opened by two Union Square Cafe alum, are success *stories.



“These new crop of tenants are really about handcrafted creativity with a modern edge, and they bring all kinds of people to the street,” says Kelley. “The Textile Art Center offers classes for kids and adults. Apple Bakery Cafe is two doors over. That’s great for families. You want a mixed-use, vibrant place that people can use.”


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The Marlton House at 5 W. Eighth St. will soon be a boutique hotel

The street isn’t just quaint mom-and-pops. BD Hotels, owners and operators of the Bowery and Jane St. Hotels, purchased an SRO-hotel building called the Marlton House at 5 W. Eighth St. They plan on opening a boutique hotel in early 2013.


“Eighth St. is this charming little jewel,” says BD’s Richard Born, who will partner with Sean MacPherson on the project in what was a New School dormitory. “Considering where it is, Eighth St. could be the most pristine and quaint shopping district in the city. It’s located near one of the most expensive residential districts on lower Fifth Ave. It surprises me that retailers haven’t seen what this street can be.”



Previous BD projects have injected services, nightlife and culinary cool to an area.



“We’ve had the experience of changing neighborhoods like with the Bowery Hotel, where we saw the area take off,” Born says. “We think that will happen here. I bet we raise square-footage prices by $100 across the street when we open. We’re not going ultra high-end. We want to make this approachable. The beats hung out here, and in a way, hipsters of today are the beatniks of yesterday. I think Eighth St. will be as cool as Prince St. in SoHo.”


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Growler Station serves fresh beer to go


Some say the street still has a ways to go. One resident who wished to go unnamed said stores open only to close four months later. Rumors that Barnes & Noble on the corner of Sixth Ave. and Eighth St. may soon shut have people fearing that empty storefronts could hurt the street.



“I believe in Eighth St.,” says Untitled owner Kevin Kelly, who has operated his clothing boutique on the street for 28 years and recently moved across the street to a new location. “This is the crossroads of Greenwich Village. I was here when it was great and it can be again. The hotel coming will be a major boost and losing the smoke shops will help, too.”


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Uncle Sam’s Richard Geist has plans for the military outfitter anchoring Eighth St.


Richard Geist opened Uncle Sam’s on the street in 1998. He likes a little edge. The fashionable Army-Navy outfitter with authentic French trench coats from World War I and Swedish military blankets has become a street institution, drawing celebrities such as Johnny Depp and costume stylists from “Saving Private Ryan” and “War Horse.”



“This is the village,” says Geist, who will continue to use Eighth St. as the base of his operation when he takes the concept national in the next few years. “We want edgy. Eighth St. is the most unique street in the city. It’s not gentrified. We still have great character. People from Chanel and Ralph Lauren come to our store to get inspired. That’s what Eighth St. is all about. They want grit.”


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With bakeries and textile stores, Eighth St. is for families, too


The next year looks strong for the street. Six stores are set to open in 2012. Of the 102,722 square feet of retail, only 5,000-plus remain vacant, much lower than the past average of 10,000 to 15,000. For landlords like Buchbinder & Warren, it takes constant nurturing.



“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” jokes Buchbinder. “Every day you do the same thing over and over again hoping for the best possible results. We’re in the business of holding on to our properties. We think this street can have a European flair. Like in Paris where you have a bakery, a wine shop and small stores that enhance everyone’s life and have local feel. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.”

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