softail springer Heard Sgt Pepper there the day it dropped. Someone put it on the sound system, played the whole album for the first time. Moved a lot of product from there in my time.
@@acmeopinionfactory8018 are you serious? I was in the Figaro the first time the album was played! We were all speechless. Sounds like we were both there at exactly the same occasion!!!
@@softailspringer9915 Speechless is the right word. I think that for most people who heard it that day, it changed what we thought music was or could be. Figaro always had an excellent playlist, but this was transformational, nothing like it before or after. Did you live in the village? How long were you there? I grew up there, shuffled between divorced parents on either coast. Best place ever to be a kid, in my mind, the old italian ladies loved the neighborhood kids, the beatniks and hippies taught valuable street lessons, the cops were pretty laid back, if you weren't doing something really stupid. And if you did find yourself in a bit of a jam as a kid, there was usually a guy who was at least a little bit connected to help you out and tell you to not do it again. Good times!
@@acmeopinionfactory8018 I was one of the many runaways who fled to the Village. Arrived in April from Boston, stayed til September. Lived on the streets for a couple of months and then got a job at Figaro, running the downstairs Chess and Bridge club. Don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t gotten that job! I played guitar on the street corners and in the park living out my Bob Dylan dream. But I sure remember the day they played Sgt Pepper for the first time!
@@softailspringer9915 Yeah- I remember there were a lot of runaways from maybe '66-'69 in the village. There was even a cop at the ninth precinct who specialized in identifying them and returning them to their homes. He was pretty good at his job and was able to return a significant percentage of his encounters or persuade them in the case of some, to return on their own. His name was Jimmy something, can't remember his last name. He had a kind, sort of avuncular personality and never came across as mean spirited or 'cop-ish'. Some runaways didn't fare so well and got caught up in the hard drug scene and didn't make it. Glad to see you're not one of those.
Very nice. I'm not a native New Yorker but I've lived here for 39 years, and I've seen a lot of changes. I first lived in Washington Heights, then the Upper West Side, then Brooklyn, then the Village, then the Upper East Side. I love this town... oh, I do love it so.
I don't live in New York, but I've been there many times. I sure wish I could have seen it in the 70s. Must have been really fun back then. It had more character.
I'm a native New Yorker and a product of the 60's 70's. And I do miss these days, but sadly, I lost my love for the place, and I have to give you major Kudos to still love it! Your'e a tougher man than I am! But continue to enjoy and be safe!
What those years were thinking back then we were young hippie style ,long hair,large pants,poetry,love,flowers,artists of all kind , coffee shops,guitars playing in the streets ,bands at bars .such an extraordinary period to be young ,seems like the whole world belongs to you.the music was good ,the tv was black and white ,movies on large sceens,then came the stereo,the big speakers,electric guitars,synthethysers, electric organ ,drums sets ,accoustic guitars singers . what a wonderful time to be alive
This video brought back some seriously wonderful memories for me. Just walking around the West Village was always just a great time to be had for free..
i moved to NY as a young actor to study at gene Frankel's studio- on MacDougal st. Met a guy there and we opened up the first taco stand in the Village called Tortilla Flat- on 7TH AVE. AND 10TH ST.--- Then expanded to Washington Place and 6th Ave, and also one on Thompson st.---- it was a beautiful period to be living in the Village with the music and art bursting out every where--- went back recently after many years away and was blown away by the changes-- glad i made the move to California in the early 70's but there will always be a place in my heart for that time i spent in Greenwich Village.
I was last there,on MacDougal Street[Autumn 1972]Greenwich Village,Manhattan...Had been there the first time in 1966...That Fall an acquaintance & I drove from Miami to NYC...Took us 29 hours.
Grew up in NYC. My husband of 30 years and I met on West 4th and we used to hang out at La Lanterna di Vittorio and Cafe Dante on MacDougal. Lovely times.
Man cafe dante i love the escarole a bean soup and the tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms room never tasted anything close to it today to bad its not there i was in there often from 99 to 07
Being born and raised in the city, all these photos immediately took me back to those times when the streets were alive with music...great place for people-watching for sure. Spent many nights walking along all the blocks of both the West and East Village...all those little cool shops that weren't part of a big corporation...Those were great days ...
I walk the streets I walked... So many times before. And remind myself I do not walk them like before. The times, they are a changing. And I, like they, ain't that way anymore.
Lived not that far away in the seventies, loved it. I was going to school at NYU School of Business, and also working. I remember all the places, and would buy the best bread at Zito's, go to the cafes and the San Gennaro festival too. Haven't returned since moving to California in 1981. Thanks for the beautiful montage of photos, which succeeded in bringing back the spirit of that whole time to perfection, thank you!
@@claudiahansen4938 - You're a doll, Claudia. It seems difficult to send email addresses on youtube, or I would be glad to send you my photo of Zito's. I can still smell the baking bread!
@@monelleny that is so nice of you! I have a powerful visual image and scent of their particular bread in my mind. And it's only because of your video that it came back to me. I am so grateful to you! I also answer to cjh367 at a client starting with the letters gm! Claudia
The song is by Chris Smither...who played in all those clubs, from the late sixties on. Now, he's 78 (12 years after writing the song)...and he still gigs. And kills it.
@@danocable - And Chris Smither performed a lot around this area back in those days. He is an awesome songwriter and performer! See his other tunes on youtube ...
What a beautiful piece Monelle! The music compliments the footage perfectly! I feel such a bittersweetness watching this, as I no longer live in my City. She has slipped into something completely different now, and so many of my beloved old haunts are merely a whisper on those ancient streets! Thank you for sharing! 🥺💗🙏🌺
Thank you so much, hipretty, I feel exactly the same way. I lived in the Village for 13 years, but it is hard to recognize it now--all designer stores. Those were certainly the good old days! :)
@@monelleny aww it was a special secret bar, an old underground speakeasy with a legendary past. Finally crumbled one day. I was still around then. Then like 10 yrs later somebody tried to rehab it but idk… Apparently they folded forever during covid 😕
I worked on 8th St. off MacDougal when I was 16 in the early 70s. I consider myself lucky to have been there at that time of my life and to have had the experience of knowing all the different people who made that area the wonderful, energetic place it was. It was place of spontaneous combustion and you felt it when you walked the streets. Thank you for this great post and the Chris Smither music is a beautiful compliment to the great video you produced.
Nice job! You caught the feeling of the old neighborhood. I was born and raised at 117 MacDougal Street across the street from you and considerably before you got there. You must have lived in the old Louisa May Alcott home across from Caffe Reggio. Many thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it, William. No, I lived at 134, above Miteras restaurant. The yellow building you see on the SE corner of MacDougal and W3rd. Good ole days. :)
@@monelleny By the time I started working in this neighborhood, that old building was already gone. I delivered mail around here for a few years and did MacDougal Street many times, but was never the regular. Was just a replacement. Starting around 1989. I remember that when they put up the NYU Building, which was a big project for such a cramped neighborhood, it threw the apartment building right cross the street, which was a big building (about 40 apartments if I recall correctly) out of plumb, and you couldn't get the mailboxes closed, LOL. They were all mis-aligned. I guess from all the pounding and heavy vehicles doing the construction.
As a native born New Yorker from the Bronx. My both mind and heart are still in the Big Apple despite her unfortunate growing pains she in this guy's view ? is a beautiful city. Followed strongly by? Boston Ma. I can say I honestly miss the great and rich Italian presence and life style there . Salute !! 🥃 Bellissimo N.Y.C.
I played Folk music under the Arch in 2010.... in September, at the Folk music reunion... it was a highlight in my life !! We played till the sun went down. All kinds of song circles, people from all over America, connected by the music!
I lived on MacDougal Street in the 1970s. I am glad you specified some of these pictures are more recent because I was beginning to wonder if I had lost my memory. Nice to see the old neighborhood though.
Wow! Don't even remember much of the Village. Me and a buddy from South Boston took off on a 3 day pass from Fort Monmouth to hear Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore East. Cool times for two privates in the Army making less than $70 a month!
I lived at 79 MacDougal between Bleeker and Houston. For almost 2 years. Rent control 7 floor walk up, 119 steps, I was 18 and worked at the NYSE on Wall Street. Saw so many eye and mind opening people and things. Cafe Wha?Bitter End, The Vanguard, all in their hey day. Hendrix, Zappa, Stills, Tork, Taylor, Fillmore East concerts among the many others. Talk about coming of age. Had to go into the Military in December of 68, but the memories of that time still linger. glorious at age 75.
from 1958 to 1961 i played flamenco guitar at the Cafe Flamenco on Bleeker Street, and worked with dancer Maruja and sometimes Mairo. one night, broadcaster Walter Cronkite and his wife were in the audience. the waitress passed the hat for our pay. my refuge was the Reggio Cafe on MacDougal Street and the grilled sandwiches and pastries. i also remember the Swing Rendezvous and "Smitty From Under The Bridge" at the door. my favorite years.
I lived at 79 MacDougal, between Bleeker and Houston. A seven floor walk up. In 67 and 68, before I went into the military. A couple of teenage years well spent. I saw many musicians, Hendrix, Zappa Stills,Tork, Sebastián, Taylor, Rod, Frampton in clubs and just walking around. Sometimes you don't realize great moments when they are happening right there. Lots of great concerts at the Fillmore. Great memories
It's right where time seems so simple, not much was enough and more fun, cause love covered the rest of the way, thanks for sharing this video, but don't stop there, keep it coming,
In 1970 my girlfriend was apartment sitting on MacDougal for a friend and I stayed with her. It was swell "living" in the Village for a long weekend. I felt soooo freakin' cool with my long hair. The apartment had no bathroom in it, just a bathtub in the kitchen with a board covering it to use as a table. The bathroom was out in the hall.
@@monelleny My grandma lived over on the lower east side, and they had just "upgraded" from that when I was a kid. They stuck a toilet in what used to be a closet, and the bathtub was in the kitchen! With a shower curtain around it, of course.
Loved the village! Would go to cafe Figueroa after going to the limelight. Shop in the stores. Had great times with my friends we were teenagers. Miss them all.
@@dianecerretani2880- the Limelight was an old church converted into a swell club. I recall it being on 20th Street and 6th Ave. Had our 1985 Christmas party from Society of Nuclear Medicine there, it was boss.
I guess we all dig "our time" whenever that may be. But my time was the 70's and I wouldn't have thought so then but I now think it was the best time in Greenwich Village.
There were lots of good times in the Village, many of them considerably earlier than the 70s. However, I think it's save to say that now, in this era of designer boutiques, is certainly not one of them!
@@rudolphguarnacci197 Really? At PS3? I was on Grove St. When you see the opening shot of friends and they show you the apartment building. It’s a Bedford Street address but they show you the side facing Grove St from right next to the school (forget what they call it now). My family were partial owners of the building 2 buildings to the Left, 26 Grove. Whole family grew up there, I went to PS 41 lol. If you were even in the Bleeker St hardware store named Blaustiens around that time, you’d have ran in my Grandpa. He used to get parts and hang out there all the time. Grandparents moved to Jersey after selling in the late 80’s.
@@rudolphguarnacci197 I graduated in 1980 and my teacher was Mrs. Collins, now that’s a memory! Remember leaving for lunch and hitting either Rays (and yes…we had the REAL one, lol) or Blimpies on 6th Ave. Then it was back to the yard.
I'm just here reading all the comments from people that have good memories ..I'm born n raised in NYC here and my parents were out here in the 50's n 60's
Sorry, Georgina, it's true that some of these photos are not from the 1970s--I sometimes had to resort to more recent shots. It's actually a very personal montage. I raised my children in the building that shows in the first and last frame, 134 MacDougal Street, from 1969 to 1977 (that building is no longer there, having been purchased by the NYU Law School and razed). I tried to show all the places they frequented, the buildings we lived in, and their schools. I much appreciate anyone else letting me know that they are moved by these memories.
@@monelleny wow! This must be so powerfully moving for you! We live in North Beach, sort of the Greenwich village of San Francisco. Our daughter is going to college in September and I am already nostalgic about every building in our neighborhood, still here and gone.☮️
Played bass with bands at night owl and cafe au go go where I saw Hendrix for first time in what he called a warm up gig. Needless to say he killed!!!!!!!!!!!
Although I was born in NY I wasn’t raised here. But I went back to go to college. I had the most wonderful time in the 80s. The village was the place to be. My girlfriends boyfriend worked at an ice cream shop on Macdougla Street. And Bleeker street was full of surprises. Fresh hot doughnuts cooking and buying just anything at anytime. Going to Supercuts and All the vintage stores. Andy’s cheapies! Ughhhhhh I miss those days.
Amazing 70's. I was 6 years old in Brazil. In 90's as Flight Attendant, i had a chance do know New York! I love this town. The crew usually stay in Manhathan. Now im retired, in a small city in Brazil. This is the life...
My first gay bar was the San Remo where I met my first lover in 1956; our first date was across the street in the Cafe Figaro. I worked in a small one-man shop/factory on Bleecker Street, where I ended up living, unbeknownst to the owner, sleeping on one of the tables at night. Johnny Romero's was another haunt til the Mafia closed him down for getting too much business. After I moved to Paris, I used to go back well into the late 70s and stay with a friend who had a great apartment, with a terrace, on West 10th Street. The Village share my life off and on from the age of 18 to 43. I'm sure there are still 18 year olds coming of age in its bars and cafes and on its streets. Thanks for this trip down Memory Lane.
Good evocative work, thanks! Lived 8 years in NYC and each day of it something/someone new and special. Every person and place there needs a crazy novel written about them. But the place can also make you crazy and you long for other kinds of landscapes. And if you leave you'll always be homesick for it. Would give a lot to walk into all those shops and clubs again, or just sit and watch the life go on. Grimy and grand!
i went to Gerdes Folk City to see John Lee Hooker. Bob Dylan opened on 12 string guitar and sang Blind Rev Gary Davis's "its hard to be blind." i lived for the Gaslight Hoots and loved Menachem Dworman's Feenjon Cafe, where everyone danced and the oud was king.
Albert, I bet you've got a thousand stories. I would have loved to be in Greenwich Village in those days. I read Suzie Rotolo's and Dave Von Ronk's autobiographies a few years ago, it really painted a picture.
@@joegillis7493 hi Joe, i cherish those memories. The Gaslight was a bit of Heaven, Dave Van Ronk, Buffy St. Marie, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs, Maria D'amato solo and then as Maria Muldaur with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and so much more. it was the 'pass the hat to get paid era', i worked as the Cafe Flamenco on Bleecker Street as a guitarist with dancer Maruja Montero. thank the internet Joe the music is there. also if you want your musical mind blown, Maria Muldaur recorded with New Orleans band "Tuba Skinny" a few years ago, enjoy it.
This has a lot of the same vibe as Old Town in Chicago in the late 60's through the 70's for me - John Prine, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc etc. Watching the video I could really relate to the times and the people so much I wanted to jump inside and go back. They weren't all good times but I sure miss them. My 18 month old grandson was watching a NASCAR race on a large screen TV. He kept bumping up to the screen trying to climb in. I knew exactly how he felt but he's half Irish so it figures. Thanks for posting this great video and song!!
@@monelleny thanks for those photos they bring back the memories.. yep words like the surrounding area could fit in the title. Thanks again stay safe and enjoy the nice weather after this horrible heat wave take care.
Love this! The song with the photos is magical and brought back great memories of coming of age. O'Henry's, Rocky Horror at the Waverly, and Village Cigars, plus so many places west of 7th Ave on Christopher that most straight folks, including photographers, seldom ventured back in the 70s.
Prior to living on MacDougal Street, I lived at 350 Bleecker St., west of 7th Ave., and at 3 Sheridan Square, so that area was home to me for many years. Thanks so much for your kind words!
Fondly remember the Derby Steakhouse. My grandparents came over from Italy and settled in GV. If I’m not mistaken The Derby was formerly an Italian grocery where they shopped.
@@rudolphguarnacci197 My father was a great friend with the owner. He was raised in GV. I remember his son was working with him when I was there. Was his name Daniel, I cannot remember for sure. I think it was his father that owned it prior and it was an Italian market. There was a photo behind the bar, of the place when it was indeed a shop.
Monelle this was very beautiful I was always in the village with my little daughter in the 70s memories I sure would like to know who's singing that lovely song please let me know 😁🎤🎹🎸🎸🎸🎶🎶🎵
This my hometown NYC..I was born here..raised up here...most likely gonna die here..I've visit most of cities in the US..they dont come near to NYC..Yeah we have an outrageous cost of living but the energy of the people and atmosphere here.. it wins by a landslide...I am NYC...
Great Song, good pickin and guitar playing and awesome video to. Kinda reminds me of South Philly back in the 70s. The ITALIAN MARKET. It ain't that way no more.✌️🙏🇺🇲💪☝️
You're absolutely right. I tried to reconstruct the places where my children went in the 1970s, when they grew up there, but sometimes I had to use newer photos (there were no cell phones around in the 1970s). How did you know about the scenes from "Last Stop, Greenwich Village"?! Luckily, some of the scenes from that film were shot directly across the street from our home, which was the corner building painted yellow on top in the first scene. That building is now gone, taken over by NYU Law School.
Hi, Dante, how you been? :) Cybele says to say hi. She has a picture of you two together, but she's been searching for an hour, and can't find it. You can find her on facebook at Cybele Richmond Nielsen and Michel is on there at Michel Richmond. Cybele also asked me to tell you about another Facebook page called "I Went to P.S. 3 in the 70's." Good luck and nice to hear from you!
I worked in this neighborhood for about 25 years. If you want to see it on film, look at the movie "Shaft" which had a couple of good scenes shot on MacDougal and at Cafe Reggio, and an episode of the 1959 TV Show "Decoy" titled "The Red Clown" where you see a couple of the characters walk down MacDougal all the way from West 3rd to Minetta Lane, down Minetta Lane to Minetta Street. It's cool seeing it from back then. Talking about West Third, the picture at 0:41 is the corner of W 3rd & MacDougal. It's a pretty recent picture, but Bleecker Bob's has been gone for a while. A very famous store for old records, I got to know Bleecker Bob pretty well, because I delivered mail to his store, and he'd hang out in front of the store and shoot the breeze. Quite a character. I used to say to him, "If i came in and tried to sell you a collectible old record, you'd offer me two bucks, and if I took it, the next day it would be in your window selling for 40" and he'd say, "You bet. That's business." Ben's Pizzeria was still there last time I was in the neighborhood.
@@monelleny I remember that Bob (full name Robert Plotnik) tried to sell the store & business when he wanted to retire, a couple of years before he died. You'd think such a famous name would be worth something, especially since collecting vinyl has become a popular hobby, but nobody took it up. I guess the rents in the area became too expensive. There is a big store selling vintage vinyl records not too far away on Thompson Street (Generation Records) that has been there over 20 years.
@@monelleny The original, just called "Shaft". The others are sequels and have names like "Shaft In Africa". The episode of "Decoy" that I mentioned is available on TH-cam. I believe, but not sure, that there was also a "Shaft" TV show, but I don't mean that either. Just the original "Shaft" film. I'm guessing 1971 or 72.
Kettle of Fish: where Dylan met Edie Sedgwick. His best songs were allegedly about her; “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Just Like a Woman”, “Positively 4th Street”.
You showed a pic of Ben's Pizza, which was right across the street from Miteras' restaurant which you lived above. Before it was Ben's, it was called Pizza Snack Time, owned, some say, by the outfit. Before it was Pizza Snack Time, it was a pharmacy, which, conveniently, burned down around '66-'67 and was repurposed in a very short time, given the onerous permitting process in the city at that time. An acquaintance of mine used to eat breakfast at Miteras restaurant and would take a rather generous amount of paper napkins as he was leaving to go to his business, Cafe Rienzi, which he and his wife, a local Italian woman had turned into a boutique, as they felt selling a cup of coffee to chess players and newspaper readers who occupied seats for hours on end, was not a viable business.One day some idiot thought he had a huge wad of cash in his pocket and tried to strongarm him, he fought him off and did a good deal of damage, even though he only had one functioning arm as he was wounded serving in the IDF. I think I would have just given up the napkins ;- ), but that ain't how David rolled. I moved to the west coast at about the time you moved there and lost touch with the people I used to know, wonder what happened to Rienzi and David and his wife, whose name escapes me right now, I think it was Gaetana. Anyway, nice to reminisce. I come back to your post every so often, to get the feels, Thanks.
Thank you so much for this history! I remember neither Pizza Snack Time nor the pharmacy, but I love hearing about it. It became Ben's in 1965, and it still is. At 0:32, you can see that it was called Frank's Pizzeria, but I don't know when that's from.
@@monelleny I just saw your reply to my post about Pizza Snack Time, Ben's Pizza, et al, and I'm confused. I know I'm pretty old and my memory may not be the best, but I'm sure that it was Pizza Snack time before it was Ben's, and that there was a pharmacy there before the pizza joints. I lived practically across the street (sorta) at 123 West Third St. which, strangely enough is the same address as Ben's, only on Third Street instead of Mac Dougal. I remember the newsstand, but not the pizza place next to it, I used to buy candy there when I was a kid, and later, the Sunday NY Times on Saturday night. By the time I moved there in the mid sixties, it was gone. I moved out of my parents' place to an apartment on 11th between C and D which cost me $45 per month and was, in my opinion, vastly overpriced at that, but it was my first place to live on my own and I thought it was great. That lasted about three or four months, putting up with no heat, no electricity half the time, people throwing their trash into the air shaft, which was filled about three feet deep with garbage when I moved out, and a rather long commute to my usual haunts in the Village, so when the opportunity arose to move there, I jumped on it. The "East Village" did not really exist at that time and it was not a place one wanted to spend time in, cheap rent was the only attraction. I'm gonna have to research the pharmacy fire and the mob putting in the pizza place to make sure I remember this stuff correctly. I remember at PST there was no "inside", you bought your pizza from the sidewalk, at $.25 a slice, ( I usually got it with peppers and onions for an extra dime, as they also sold sausage,pepper and onion sandwiches, so there were always sauteed veggies available,) it was basically open on third st with shutters that served as rain shields when it was open, and closed the windows when it was closed. On another note entirely, do you remember the Spanish restaurant on the corner katty corner from your building that had tables outside? Great sangria, and weren't too concerned with ID requirements, even though the legal age was eighteen, some of us would take our girlfriends there when w were younger and get away with it.
He sure did. On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," he is walking arm-in-arm with Suze Rotolo on Jones Street, a one-block street between Bleecker and West 4th (photo Don Hunstein). In the early 60s, he played at both Gerde's Folk City and the Gaslight.
4:00 Rocky Horror was here FIRST (1977?) ; then the 8th street Playhouse for a VERY long run (did it make it into the 1990s ?) . What's puzzling me here is : the "Cineplex Odeon" sign. Did Rocky Horror return here AFTER the fact? I saw Eraserhead at the Waverly in 1980 . LOL. wow - was that a trip. Remember the term "Cult Movies" ?
All of these photos are not from the 1970s, some are earlier, some are later. You can easily determine later ones from the cars. But it's a nice video anyhow.
A CONCRETE JUNGLE, STILL - Just as I left my Art Gallery at Mac Dougal & Bleeker in 1970 for a much brighter future...artist, Old Naples Florida🌴🎨......... When Dylan left, in the mid-'60s because of the Weathermen underground bombings, the creative wind of Greenwich Village also left...Sad, but true...
What is the tan/creme colored building in the background but prominent? I lived in NYC in 80s but don’t recognize it. Anyone know what took its place...
@@monelleny found pics of the replacement school, I am looking for original school on Greenwich Ave at Charles street, if you have would appreciate giving me link!
@@aallen681 - Oh, I never realized there was an older one. I see it was demolished and replaced in 1957. There is a drawing of the old one at www.ps41.org/pdfs/2017HistoryArticle.pdf. I did not find a photo, although surely there must be some somewhere. Maybe call the school itself?
I attended the old school, checked with the school, told me they didn’t have pic, checked with various city agencies, still nothing, gotta be pics somewhere, my memory is of a unique building in the heart of the village, shame they demolished it!
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I worked at cafe figaro in the summer of '67. Oh man, what a summer!
softail springer Heard Sgt Pepper there the day it dropped.
Someone put it on the sound system, played the whole album for the first time.
Moved a lot of product from there in my time.
@@acmeopinionfactory8018 are you serious? I was in the Figaro the first time the album was played! We were all speechless. Sounds like we were both there at exactly the same occasion!!!
@@softailspringer9915 Speechless is the right word.
I think that for most people who heard it that day, it changed what we thought music was or could be.
Figaro always had an excellent playlist, but this was transformational, nothing like it before or after.
Did you live in the village? How long were you there?
I grew up there, shuffled between divorced parents on either coast.
Best place ever to be a kid, in my mind, the old italian ladies loved the neighborhood kids, the beatniks and hippies taught valuable street lessons, the cops were pretty laid back, if you weren't doing something really stupid.
And if you did find yourself in a bit of a jam as a kid, there was usually a guy who was at least a little bit connected to help you out and tell you to not do it again.
Good times!
@@acmeopinionfactory8018 I was one of the many runaways who fled to the Village. Arrived in April from Boston, stayed til September. Lived on the streets for a couple of months and then got a job at Figaro, running the downstairs Chess and Bridge club. Don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t gotten that job! I played guitar on the street corners and in the park living out my Bob Dylan dream. But I sure remember the day they played Sgt Pepper for the first time!
@@softailspringer9915 Yeah- I remember there were a lot of runaways from maybe '66-'69 in the village.
There was even a cop at the ninth precinct who specialized in identifying them and returning them to their homes.
He was pretty good at his job and was able to return a significant percentage of his encounters or persuade them in the case of some, to return on their own.
His name was Jimmy something, can't remember his last name.
He had a kind, sort of avuncular personality and never came across as mean spirited or 'cop-ish'.
Some runaways didn't fare so well and got caught up in the hard drug scene and didn't make it.
Glad to see you're not one of those.
Very nice. I'm not a native New Yorker but I've lived here for 39 years, and I've seen a lot of changes. I first lived in Washington Heights, then the Upper West Side, then Brooklyn, then the Village, then the Upper East Side. I love this town... oh, I do love it so.
NY is a disgusting shithole!
I don't live in New York, but I've been there many times. I sure wish I could have seen it in the 70s. Must have been really fun back then. It had more character.
I'm a native New Yorker and a product of the 60's 70's. And I do miss these days, but sadly, I lost my love for the place, and I have to give you major Kudos to still love it! Your'e a tougher man than I am! But continue to enjoy and be safe!
Wish I'd never left.
Imma 60s baby..I was born here.. raised here..mostl ikely gonna die here.. I love this city..NYC 4 life...
What those years were thinking back then we were young hippie style ,long hair,large pants,poetry,love,flowers,artists of all kind , coffee shops,guitars playing in the streets ,bands at bars .such an extraordinary period to be young ,seems like the whole world belongs to you.the music was good ,the tv was black and white ,movies on large sceens,then came the stereo,the big speakers,electric guitars,synthethysers, electric organ ,drums sets ,accoustic guitars singers . what a wonderful time to be alive
This video brought back some seriously wonderful memories for me. Just walking around the West Village was always just a great time to be had for free..
i moved to NY as a young actor to study at gene Frankel's studio- on MacDougal st.
Met a guy there and we opened up the first taco stand in the Village called Tortilla Flat-
on 7TH AVE. AND 10TH ST.--- Then expanded to Washington Place and 6th Ave, and
also one on Thompson st.---- it was a beautiful period to be living in the Village with
the music and art bursting out every where--- went back recently after many years away
and was blown away by the changes-- glad i made the move to California in the early
70's but there will always be a place in my heart for that time i spent in Greenwich Village.
I wonder, did you know a woman from Arkansas named Cindy? It truly was a wonderful time for me, 1976 NYC
Yes,…revisiting these streets as I knew them…oh so many years ago…🙏🏼❤️☮️
I was last there,on MacDougal Street[Autumn 1972]Greenwich Village,Manhattan...Had been there the first time in 1966...That Fall an acquaintance & I drove from Miami to NYC...Took us 29 hours.
Grew up in NYC. My husband of 30 years and I met on West 4th and we used to hang out at La Lanterna di Vittorio and Cafe Dante on MacDougal. Lovely times.
Man cafe dante i love the escarole a bean soup and the tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms room never tasted anything close to it today to bad its not there i was in there often from 99 to 07
Boy, that brings back lots of visual memories.
Being born and raised in the city, all these photos immediately took me back to those times when the streets were alive with music...great place for people-watching for sure. Spent many nights walking along all the blocks of both the West and East Village...all those little cool shops that weren't part of a big corporation...Those were great days ...
I walk the streets I walked... So many times before. And remind myself I do not walk them like before. The times, they are a changing. And I, like they, ain't that way anymore.
Right? I used to zip along all those streets.
Lived not that far away in the seventies, loved it. I was going to school at NYU School of Business, and also working. I remember all the places, and would buy the best bread at Zito's, go to the cafes and the San Gennaro festival too. Haven't returned since moving to California in 1981. Thanks for the beautiful montage of photos, which succeeded in bringing back the spirit of that whole time to perfection, thank you!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Claudia. My one regret is that I forgot to include a picture of Zito's Bakery, which was fabulous! :(
@@monelleny sorry I misspelled it! Must have been thinking of baked ziti lol. Your work is truly great!
@@claudiahansen4938 - You're a doll, Claudia. It seems difficult to send email addresses on youtube, or I would be glad to send you my photo of Zito's. I can still smell the baking bread!
@@monelleny that is so nice of you! I have a powerful visual image and scent of their particular bread in my mind. And it's only because of your video that it came back to me. I am so grateful to you! I also answer to cjh367 at a client starting with the letters gm! Claudia
Love this it brings back so many memories especially 1967 fell in love went to the village and Central Park every weekend. It was a blast!
The song is by Chris Smither...who played in all those clubs, from the late sixties on. Now, he's 78 (12 years after writing the song)...and he still gigs. And kills it.
Yes, Michael--I did put that information and the name of the album under Show More. I love Chris Smither. He's awesome! :)
I love the lyrics to his song. There Dylanesq
@@danocable - And Chris Smither performed a lot around this area back in those days. He is an awesome songwriter and performer! See his other tunes on youtube ...
Thanks for the info. I thought he sounded like Springsteen.
I really miss my Folk Channel on XM Radio..
What a beautiful piece Monelle! The music compliments the footage perfectly! I feel such a bittersweetness watching this, as I no longer live in my City. She has slipped into something completely different now, and so many of my beloved old haunts are merely a whisper on those ancient streets! Thank you for sharing! 🥺💗🙏🌺
Thank you so much, hipretty, I feel exactly the same way. I lived in the Village for 13 years, but it is hard to recognize it now--all designer stores. Those were certainly the good old days! :)
@@monelleny Remember Chumleys?
@@RobinHerzig - Can't say that I do, Rilly.
@@monelleny aww it was a special secret bar, an old underground speakeasy with a legendary past. Finally crumbled one day. I was still around then. Then like 10 yrs later somebody tried to rehab it but idk… Apparently they folded forever during covid 😕
@@RobinHerzig - Sad! Thanks for info, Rilly.
thank you very much , i grew up on macdougal st...
brings back memories ,,,
I worked on 8th St. off MacDougal when I was 16 in the early 70s. I consider myself lucky to have been there at that time
of my life and to have had the experience of knowing all the different people who made that area
the wonderful, energetic place it was. It was place of spontaneous combustion and you felt it when you
walked the streets. Thank you for this great post and the Chris Smither
music is a beautiful compliment to the great video you produced.
There were some great stores right around that corner!
Nice job! You caught the feeling of the old neighborhood. I was born and raised at 117 MacDougal Street across the street from you and considerably before you got there. You must have lived in the old Louisa May Alcott home across from Caffe Reggio. Many thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it, William. No, I lived at 134, above Miteras restaurant. The yellow building you see on the SE corner of MacDougal and W3rd. Good ole days. :)
@@monelleny By the time I started working in this neighborhood, that old building was already gone. I delivered mail around here for a few years and did MacDougal Street many times, but was never the regular. Was just a replacement. Starting around 1989. I remember that when they put up the NYU Building, which was a big project for such a cramped neighborhood, it threw the apartment building right cross the street, which was a big building (about 40 apartments if I recall correctly) out of plumb, and you couldn't get the mailboxes closed, LOL. They were all mis-aligned. I guess from all the pounding and heavy vehicles doing the construction.
@@RRaquello - Wow, I never realized. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it.
As a native born New Yorker from the Bronx. My both mind and heart are still in the Big Apple despite her unfortunate growing pains she in this guy's view ? is a beautiful city. Followed strongly by? Boston Ma. I can say I honestly miss the great and rich Italian presence and life style there . Salute !! 🥃 Bellissimo N.Y.C.
so poignant it hurts.
Right?
I played Folk music under the Arch in 2010.... in September, at the Folk music reunion... it was a highlight in my life !! We played till the sun went down. All kinds of song circles, people from all over America, connected by the music!
That just made me homesick.
Thanks so very much for this wonderful montage. This is truly how it looked back then----
I lived on MacDougal Street in the 1970s. I am glad you specified some of these pictures are more recent because I was beginning to wonder if I had lost my memory. Nice to see the old neighborhood though.
Wow! Don't even remember much of the Village. Me and a buddy from South Boston took off on a 3 day pass from Fort Monmouth to hear Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore East. Cool times for two privates in the Army making less than $70 a month!
Wonderful. Was missing my hometown and my salad days; this helped a lot. Thank you.
You are so welcome!
I hear ya, my friend. I miss home, too
I used to hang around there when I was younger I should have embraced it and loved it
I lived at 79 MacDougal between Bleeker and Houston. For almost 2 years. Rent control 7 floor walk up, 119 steps, I was 18 and worked at the NYSE on Wall Street. Saw so many eye and mind opening people and things. Cafe Wha?Bitter End, The Vanguard, all in their hey day. Hendrix, Zappa, Stills, Tork, Taylor, Fillmore East concerts among the many others. Talk about coming of age. Had to go into the Military in December of 68, but the memories of that time still linger. glorious at age 75.
Wow. Knew it in the 70s, havent been back much since. Mind = blown. Thanks!
This is the sweetest love song to the Village I've ever seen. And heard. Perfect.
from 1958 to 1961 i played flamenco guitar at the Cafe Flamenco on Bleeker Street, and worked with dancer Maruja and sometimes Mairo. one night, broadcaster Walter Cronkite and his wife were in the audience. the waitress passed the hat for our pay. my refuge was the Reggio Cafe on MacDougal Street and the grilled sandwiches and pastries. i also remember the Swing Rendezvous and "Smitty From Under The Bridge" at the door. my favorite years.
I lived at 79 MacDougal, between Bleeker and Houston. A seven floor walk up. In 67 and 68, before I went into the military. A couple of teenage years well spent. I saw many musicians, Hendrix, Zappa Stills,Tork, Sebastián, Taylor, Rod, Frampton in clubs and just walking around. Sometimes you don't realize great moments when they are happening right there. Lots of great concerts at the Fillmore.
Great memories
It's right where time seems so simple, not much was enough and more fun, cause love covered the rest of the way, thanks for sharing this video, but don't stop there, keep it coming,
Hey even the weather underground loved that part of New York City😜
In 1970 my girlfriend was apartment sitting on MacDougal for a friend and I stayed with her. It was swell "living" in the Village for a long weekend. I felt soooo freakin' cool with my long hair. The apartment had no bathroom in it, just a bathtub in the kitchen with a board covering it to use as a table. The bathroom was out in the hall.
Back then, there were many apartments all over the Village with that setup! :)
@@monelleny My grandma lived over on the lower east side, and they had just "upgraded" from that when I was a kid. They stuck a toilet in what used to be a closet, and the bathtub was in the kitchen! With a shower curtain around it, of course.
Loved the village!
Would go to cafe Figueroa after going to the limelight. Shop in the stores.
Had great times with my friends we were teenagers.
Miss them all.
@@dianecerretani2880- the Limelight was an old church converted into a swell club. I recall it being on 20th Street and 6th Ave. Had our 1985 Christmas party from Society of Nuclear Medicine there, it was boss.
Beautiful..Music and images. Great memories I have from that time! :) Thanks.
I guess we all dig "our time" whenever that may be. But my time was the 70's and I wouldn't have thought so then but I now think it was the best time in Greenwich Village.
There were lots of good times in the Village, many of them considerably earlier than the 70s. However, I think it's save to say that now, in this era of designer boutiques, is certainly not one of them!
We used to hang out at McSorley's back in the late 70's. Ah memories! Thanks for the vid!
Beautiful reveries... I miss living there.
I grew up on Grove St between Bedford and Bleeker during the 70's and 80's. Still have family down there. Great memories
It was a great neighborhood then!
I used to play roller hockey on Grove St. between Bedford and Hudson in 1971 with my friend Scotty whose father owned Arturo's.
@@rudolphguarnacci197 Really? At PS3? I was on Grove St. When you see the opening shot of friends and they show you the apartment building. It’s a Bedford Street address but they show you the side facing Grove St from right next to the school (forget what they call it now). My family were partial owners of the building 2 buildings to the Left, 26 Grove. Whole family grew up there, I went to PS 41 lol. If you were even in the Bleeker St hardware store named Blaustiens around that time, you’d have ran in my Grandpa. He used to get parts and hang out there all the time. Grandparents moved to Jersey after selling in the late 80’s.
@@RovingRoninEDC
I graduated P.S.41 in 1971. Mrs. Newman was my 5th grade teacher. Who was yours?
@@rudolphguarnacci197 I graduated in 1980 and my teacher was Mrs. Collins, now that’s a memory! Remember leaving for lunch and hitting either Rays (and yes…we had the REAL one, lol) or Blimpies on 6th Ave. Then it was back to the yard.
I'm just here reading all the comments from people that have good memories ..I'm born n raised in NYC here and my parents were out here in the 50's n 60's
Back then, it was a real neighborhood.
Wonderful memories of back in the day - Souvlaki anyone??
I bet that place is STILL there.
Wonderful!! Thank you for sharing this and giving us a great trip in time.
Thank you, John. I miss the Village of those days.
Cafe Wha! The fascinating thing about this collage is how similar many of these places still looked when I lived there (2001-2019)
Pardon. Missed the then-now approach @ work. Neat. Thank You for great memories and a sense of continuity!
Sorry, Georgina, it's true that some of these photos are not from the 1970s--I sometimes had to resort to more recent shots. It's actually a very personal montage. I raised my children in the building that shows in the first and last frame, 134 MacDougal Street, from 1969 to 1977 (that building is no longer there, having been purchased by the NYU Law School and razed). I tried to show all the places they frequented, the buildings we lived in, and their schools. I much appreciate anyone else letting me know that they are moved by these memories.
@@monelleny wow! This must be so powerfully moving for you! We live in North Beach, sort of the Greenwich village of San Francisco. Our daughter is going to college in September and I am already nostalgic about every building in our neighborhood, still here and gone.☮️
Played bass with bands at night owl and cafe au go go where I saw Hendrix for first time in what he called a warm up gig. Needless to say he killed!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great memory lane. I lived in 103 decades ago.
We were neighbors!
Although I was born in NY I wasn’t raised here. But I went back to go to college. I had the most wonderful time in the 80s. The village was the place to be. My girlfriends boyfriend worked at an ice cream shop on Macdougla Street. And Bleeker street was full of surprises. Fresh hot doughnuts cooking and buying just anything at anytime. Going to Supercuts and All the vintage stores. Andy’s cheapies! Ughhhhhh I miss those days.
Amazing 70's. I was 6 years old in Brazil. In 90's as Flight Attendant, i had a chance do know New York! I love this town. The crew usually stay in Manhathan. Now im retired, in a small city in Brazil. This is the life...
My first gay bar was the San Remo where I met my first lover in 1956; our first date was across the street in the Cafe Figaro. I worked in a small one-man shop/factory on Bleecker Street, where I ended up living, unbeknownst to the owner, sleeping on one of the tables at night. Johnny Romero's was another haunt til the Mafia closed him down for getting too much business. After I moved to Paris, I used to go back well into the late 70s and stay with a friend who had a great apartment, with a terrace, on West 10th Street. The Village share my life off and on from the age of 18 to 43. I'm sure there are still 18 year olds coming of age in its bars and cafes and on its streets. Thanks for this trip down Memory Lane.
Good evocative work, thanks! Lived 8 years in NYC and each day of it something/someone new and special. Every person and place there needs a crazy novel written about them. But the place can also make you crazy and you long for other kinds of landscapes. And if you leave you'll always be homesick for it. Would give a lot to walk into all those shops and clubs again, or just sit and watch the life go on. Grimy and grand!
i went to Gerdes Folk City to see John Lee Hooker. Bob Dylan opened on 12 string guitar and sang Blind Rev Gary Davis's "its hard to be blind." i lived for the Gaslight Hoots and loved Menachem Dworman's Feenjon Cafe, where everyone danced and the oud was king.
Those were the days, my friend.
Albert, I bet you've got a thousand stories. I would have loved to be in Greenwich Village in those days. I read Suzie Rotolo's and Dave Von Ronk's autobiographies a few years ago, it really painted a picture.
@@joegillis7493 hi Joe, i cherish those memories. The Gaslight was a bit of Heaven, Dave Van Ronk, Buffy St. Marie, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs, Maria D'amato solo and then as Maria Muldaur with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and so much more. it was the 'pass the hat to get paid era', i worked as the Cafe Flamenco on Bleecker Street as a guitarist with dancer Maruja Montero. thank the internet Joe the music is there. also if you want your musical mind blown, Maria Muldaur recorded with New Orleans band "Tuba Skinny" a few years ago, enjoy it.
San Gennaro Feast was a little bit of a cheat, but it's great to include it. Also love the Jefferson Market library 👏
My neighborhood was great when I lived there. Now not so much. Moved at the right time. Thank you NY!
This has a lot of the same vibe as Old Town in Chicago in the late 60's through the 70's for me - John Prine, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc etc. Watching the video I could really relate to the times and the people so much I wanted to jump inside and go back. They weren't all good times but I sure miss them. My 18 month old grandson was watching a NASCAR race on a large screen TV. He kept bumping up to the screen trying to climb in. I knew exactly how he felt but he's half Irish so it figures. Thanks for posting this great video and song!!
Thanks so much for your very thoughtful comment!
You ever go to Burton Place on Burton and Wells
I want to experience this NYC when neighborhoods were real. I lived in Manhattan for 2 years (2008-2009) and was surrounded by hipsters.
Wow this was my play area from 2000-2014...nice to see how it looked in the 70s...Cafe Wha..memories
What a fun reminiscence! Thanks!
Wow nice vintage photos by the way not all these photos are from just McDougal Street but all the streets around the neighborhood of Greenwich village
Thanks for your note, George--I added the word "area" to the title.
@@monelleny thanks for those photos they bring back the memories.. yep words like the surrounding area could fit in the title. Thanks again stay safe and enjoy the nice weather after this horrible heat wave take care.
This is beautiful
Thank you so much, Carol.
Love this! The song with the photos is magical and brought back great memories of coming of age. O'Henry's, Rocky Horror at the Waverly, and Village Cigars, plus so many places west of 7th Ave on Christopher that most straight folks, including photographers, seldom ventured back in the 70s.
Prior to living on MacDougal Street, I lived at 350 Bleecker St., west of 7th Ave., and at 3 Sheridan Square, so that area was home to me for many years. Thanks so much for your kind words!
Fondly remember the Derby Steakhouse. My grandparents came over from Italy and settled in GV. If I’m not mistaken The Derby was formerly an Italian grocery where they shopped.
Sadly, all those Italian grocery stores are gone. Bleecker Street had so many back then.
The Derby had the absolute BEST porterhouses. My friend's father owned it and passed it on to him in the 8
@@rudolphguarnacci197 My father was a great friend with the owner. He was raised in GV. I remember his son was working with him when I was there. Was his name Daniel, I cannot remember for sure. I think it was his father that owned it prior and it was an Italian market. There was a photo behind the bar, of the place when it was indeed a shop.
@@poppynurse
The son's name is Andrew.
@@rudolphguarnacci197 Yes! Thanks, I couldn’t remember. The father was Daniel too, I think.
Smoked my first joint on MacDougle st when I was 13 in 1968 what a great time
Monelle this was very beautiful I was always in the village with my little daughter in the 70s memories
I sure would like to know who's singing that lovely song please let me know 😁🎤🎹🎸🎸🎸🎶🎶🎵
It's written in "SHOW MORE" under the text above. :) It's Chris Smither's "Leave the Light on" by his album of the same name. I love it, too!
Home sweet home
was a streetsinger there for many years.
lived at 114 MacDougal
Hi, neighbor. :)
This my hometown NYC..I was born here..raised up here...most likely gonna die here..I've visit most of cities in the US..they dont come near to NYC..Yeah we have an outrageous cost of living but the energy of the people and atmosphere here.. it wins by a landslide...I am NYC...
Great Song, good pickin and guitar playing and awesome video to. Kinda reminds me of South Philly back in the 70s. The ITALIAN MARKET. It ain't that way no more.✌️🙏🇺🇲💪☝️
Thanks for the kind words and you're right, it ain't. :(
Thank you great memories
Good ole days my grandmother loved
I worked at the Cafe Au Go Go in ‘68 & ‘69.
Hmmmm...most of these are not from the 70's but I like the photos. Some of them are from a period movie called,"Last Stop, Greenwich Village"
You're absolutely right. I tried to reconstruct the places where my children went in the 1970s, when they grew up there, but sometimes I had to use newer photos (there were no cell phones around in the 1970s). How did you know about the scenes from "Last Stop, Greenwich Village"?! Luckily, some of the scenes from that film were shot directly across the street from our home, which was the corner building painted yellow on top in the first scene. That building is now gone, taken over by NYU Law School.
Which was a fabulous movie
@@monelleny how cool!!!!🥀
@@monelleny
The area is zoned for 8 stories but they got 12, Tony Dapolito was telling me. He made the BEST pepper biscuits.
Looks like Glasgow's west end !Especially the rain .
Nice video.
Back when I lived in the west village.
I went to grade school with Cybele and went to her and Michel's house often as a child.
Hi, Dante, how you been? :) Cybele says to say hi. She has a picture of you two together, but she's been searching for an hour, and can't find it. You can find her on facebook at Cybele Richmond Nielsen and Michel is on there at Michel Richmond. Cybele also asked me to tell you about another Facebook page called "I Went to P.S. 3 in the 70's." Good luck and nice to hear from you!
Thinking of Phil Ochs
We lost a great talent, there :(
I worked in this neighborhood for about 25 years. If you want to see it on film, look at the movie "Shaft" which had a couple of good scenes shot on MacDougal and at Cafe Reggio, and an episode of the 1959 TV Show "Decoy" titled "The Red Clown" where you see a couple of the characters walk down MacDougal all the way from West 3rd to Minetta Lane, down Minetta Lane to Minetta Street. It's cool seeing it from back then. Talking about West Third, the picture at 0:41 is the corner of W 3rd & MacDougal. It's a pretty recent picture, but Bleecker Bob's has been gone for a while. A very famous store for old records, I got to know Bleecker Bob pretty well, because I delivered mail to his store, and he'd hang out in front of the store and shoot the breeze. Quite a character. I used to say to him, "If i came in and tried to sell you a collectible old record, you'd offer me two bucks, and if I took it, the next day it would be in your window selling for 40" and he'd say, "You bet. That's business." Ben's Pizzeria was still there last time I was in the neighborhood.
Our apartment was right across MacDougal Street from Ben's. I remember Bleecker Bob's well. My husband's family owned the Music Inn on W. 4th St.
@@monelleny I remember that Bob (full name Robert Plotnik) tried to sell the store & business when he wanted to retire, a couple of years before he died. You'd think such a famous name would be worth something, especially since collecting vinyl has become a popular hobby, but nobody took it up. I guess the rents in the area became too expensive. There is a big store selling vintage vinyl records not too far away on Thompson Street (Generation Records) that has been there over 20 years.
@@RRaquello - Thanks for keeping me up to date!
I see more than one film called "Shaft." Which one do you mean?
@@monelleny The original, just called "Shaft". The others are sequels and have names like "Shaft In Africa". The episode of "Decoy" that I mentioned is available on TH-cam. I believe, but not sure, that there was also a "Shaft" TV show, but I don't mean that either. Just the original "Shaft" film. I'm guessing 1971 or 72.
Kettle of Fish Bar was later Esperanto Cafe and more recently Saigon Shack. 00:57
It was Kettle of Fish when I lived there.
@@southernhippie9058 im a newbie 08.. saw it go from esperanto cafe to saigon shack
Dylan met Edie here (of “Like a Rolling Stone” fame (allegedly)
delightful
does anyone remember the Swing Rendezvous and "Smitty From Under The Bridge", the greeter and bouncer when necessary?
Judging by the age of the cars in some of the pictures, more like the 50’s onward.
Kettle of Fish: where Dylan met Edie Sedgwick. His best songs were allegedly about her; “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Just Like a Woman”, “Positively 4th Street”.
when i hear this song i think of the Carter Family's "Come To The Church In The Wildwood" i'm not sure why
You showed a pic of Ben's Pizza, which was right across the street from Miteras' restaurant which you lived above. Before it was Ben's, it was called Pizza Snack Time, owned, some say, by the outfit.
Before it was Pizza Snack Time, it was a pharmacy, which, conveniently, burned down around '66-'67 and was repurposed in a very short time, given the onerous permitting process in the city at that time.
An acquaintance of mine used to eat breakfast at Miteras restaurant and would take a rather generous amount of paper napkins as he was leaving to go to his business, Cafe Rienzi, which he and his wife, a local Italian woman had turned into a boutique, as they felt selling a cup of coffee to chess players and newspaper readers who occupied seats for hours on end, was not a viable business.One day some idiot thought he had a huge wad of cash in his pocket and tried to strongarm him, he fought him off and did a good deal of damage, even though he only had one functioning arm as he was wounded serving in the IDF.
I think I would have just given up the napkins ;- ), but that ain't how David rolled.
I moved to the west coast at about the time you moved there and lost touch with the people I used to know, wonder what happened to Rienzi and David and his wife, whose name escapes me right now, I think it was Gaetana.
Anyway, nice to reminisce.
I come back to your post every so often, to get the feels, Thanks.
Thank you so much for this history! I remember neither Pizza Snack Time nor the pharmacy, but I love hearing about it. It became Ben's in 1965, and it still is. At 0:32, you can see that it was called Frank's Pizzeria, but I don't know when that's from.
Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid shot a short scene in that pizza place in 1973. The movie was called The Last Detail. They played AWOL sailors.
@@tomcarl8021 - Thanks, Tom! I just watched the movie and got a couple of shots of the street and our building.
@@monelleny I just saw your reply to my post about Pizza Snack Time, Ben's Pizza, et al, and I'm confused.
I know I'm pretty old and my memory may not be the best, but I'm sure that it was Pizza Snack time before it was Ben's, and that there was a pharmacy there before the pizza joints.
I lived practically across the street (sorta) at 123 West Third St. which, strangely enough is the same address as Ben's, only on Third Street instead of Mac Dougal.
I remember the newsstand, but not the pizza place next to it, I used to buy candy there when I was a kid, and later, the Sunday NY Times on Saturday night.
By the time I moved there in the mid sixties, it was gone.
I moved out of my parents' place to an apartment on 11th between C and D which cost me $45 per month and was, in my opinion, vastly overpriced at that, but it was my first place to live on my own and I thought it was great.
That lasted about three or four months, putting up with no heat, no electricity half the time, people throwing their trash into the air shaft, which was filled about three feet deep with garbage when I moved out, and a rather long commute to my usual haunts in the Village, so when the opportunity arose to move there, I jumped on it.
The "East Village" did not really exist at that time and it was not a place one wanted to spend time in, cheap rent was the only attraction.
I'm gonna have to research the pharmacy fire and the mob putting in the pizza place to make sure I remember this stuff correctly.
I remember at PST there was no "inside", you bought your pizza from the sidewalk, at $.25 a slice, ( I usually got it with peppers and onions for an extra dime, as they also sold sausage,pepper and onion sandwiches, so there were always sauteed veggies available,) it was basically open on third st with shutters that served as rain shields when it was open, and closed the windows when it was closed.
On another note entirely, do you remember the Spanish restaurant on the corner katty corner from your building that had tables outside? Great sangria, and weren't too concerned with ID requirements, even though the legal age was eighteen, some of us would take our girlfriends there when w were younger and get away with it.
That's my generation that's my New York city. Music is all wrong though it should be disco and punk. Thanks for the video .
@@monellerichmond7208 you are a true artist.
@@RebekahCurielAlessi - Thanks for the kind words, Rebekah!
@@monelleny 😊
Chris Smithers played in many of the clubs in this video back in the day. I love his music!
Dylan walked those streets back in the day.
He sure did. On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," he is walking arm-in-arm with Suze Rotolo on Jones Street, a one-block street between Bleecker and West 4th (photo Don Hunstein). In the early 60s, he played at both Gerde's Folk City and the Gaslight.
Well, there goes the neighborhood!
I remember it well. ✌
4:00 Rocky Horror was here FIRST (1977?) ; then the 8th street Playhouse for a VERY long run (did it make it into the 1990s ?) . What's puzzling me here is : the "Cineplex Odeon" sign. Did Rocky Horror return here AFTER the fact? I saw Eraserhead at the Waverly in 1980 . LOL. wow - was that a trip. Remember the term "Cult Movies" ?
You mixed in a photo later than the 1970s..the car in photo was a 1990s auto..Busted!!!
You're the one who's busted for not reading what I said about the photos.
There are some great street scenes of the West Village in the original Shaft movie including a scene shot inside Café Reggio.
See 0:25. :)
All of these photos are not from the 1970s, some are earlier, some are later. You can easily determine later ones from the cars. But it's a nice video anyhow.
Thanks, Justin. You said pretty much what I said in my text under the video. Wish you had read it.
A CONCRETE JUNGLE, STILL - Just as I left my Art Gallery at Mac Dougal & Bleeker in 1970 for a much brighter future...artist, Old Naples Florida🌴🎨......... When Dylan left, in the mid-'60s because of the Weathermen underground bombings, the creative wind of Greenwich Village also left...Sad, but true...
What is the tan/creme colored building in the background but prominent? I lived in NYC in 80s but don’t recognize it. Anyone know what took its place...
Not sure which one you mean ...
@@monelleny Yeah?
Been looking for a picture of PS 41, Charles St and Greenwich Ave, no luck!
I just went to Google images and got pictures of all three, right away! :)
@@monelleny will try it, let you know!
@@monelleny found pics of the replacement school, I am looking for original school on Greenwich Ave at Charles street, if you have would appreciate giving me link!
@@aallen681 - Oh, I never realized there was an older one. I see it was demolished and replaced in 1957. There is a drawing of the old one at www.ps41.org/pdfs/2017HistoryArticle.pdf. I did not find a photo, although surely there must be some somewhere. Maybe call the school itself?
I attended the old school, checked with the school, told me they didn’t have pic, checked with various city agencies, still nothing, gotta be pics somewhere, my memory is of a unique building in the heart of the village, shame they demolished it!
I had to respond again. More memories rushing in,
Some of these photos are from the 1940's and 1950's.
Yes, they are. I said so in my text under the video. But some of these buildings didn't change that much from 1950 to 1970.
Groovy
C'mon man...No shots of Panchito's. That was my Village hangout back then...Great food and drink but not cheap.