Greenwich Village has an amazing history! We could build a very large library with the history and the biographies of the people who have lived here and you will likely be familiar with many of them. Perhaps it is most renowned for being the place for the heart of folk music and the beatnik culture that blossomed there.
Washington Square Park was known for groups of radicals, hippies, beatniks, folk singers, drug users and drug dealers. It has retained its popularity as a place for protests. But the park is typically filled with New York University students, babies and their mothers or nannies and there are 2 dog parks as well. The Washington Monument which is a little replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, was erected at the 100 year anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as the first US president. There are 2 statues of Washington on the Monument.
Greenwich Village covers a lot of territory and the area around Washington Square Park is the heart of New York University’s campus. There are many little restaurants, bars and cafes that cater to students. You can find some of them as well as places to go in other parts of Greenwich Village in Discover New York City.
Bleecker Street is a fabulous street and it starts in Noho, the area north of Soho and just west of the East Village, and it continues west through Greenwich Village. There are a few blocks west of Sixth Avenue that have some amazingly good Italian food and some of the best pizza in the city.
Also West 8th Street is very nice. It used to be lined with shoe stores and cobblers. Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios is still there and is one of the top recording studios in the US. Just around the corner from there are the famous West 4th Street basketball courts. When the weather is nice you can see some amazing games going on there and many people standing around watching.
Christopher Street is in Greenwich Village and it has become synonymous with Gay Rights. The Stonewall Inn is the scene of riots that took place in 1969 when the police raided the bar.
