If you’re a Village regular, you probably recognize all the stapes of the neighborhood and can point them out to any tourist.
But
Can you identify the classic Village places these photos capture when shown just a piece?
A door on the Minetta Lane side of this famed music venue
The top of the building, just above the awning of this staple institution that has managed to stay delicious and (somewhat) under the radar.
A sliver of a sliver.
Something new (brought to you by something old) and something old (that might be something new to you)
^^^ The concept makes sense, I tried to make it sound better/cooler/wittier.
Anyway.
A new bookstore. Hoorah! I’m always searching for bookstores in the city. And the announcement of an existing one closing tends to be more common than the announcement of a new one opening. So it was exciting to read about the addition of Bravo's Book Nook at 115 MacDougal St, which “focuses on offering books on theater, music, children’s books and Greenwich Village history.”
Because a lot of bookshops in New York are in small spaces, it’s hard to fit that big of a variety of any genre in one of them. So I think a niche bookshop has an extra exciting element. And Bravo’s is in a fitting location— the lobby of the Players Theatre— which has been around since the late 1950s.
Karen Dalton is my something old, rediscovered. Have you ever found yourself knowing and listening to a musician frequently without thinking about or remembering how you found them?
I’ve been listening to music by an artist named Karen Dalton for a while. I don’t remember how it started.
It was only when I was doing research recently that I came across a few NPR articles about her and how she was deeply involved in the Greenwich Village folk scene. She played with Dylan (wonder if I can get away with mentioning him in every newsletter), who apparently said she was, “his favorite singer from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s.” But she never reached Dylan’s commercial success. Yet an album of hers that was recorded in 1963 was released in 2008 (maybe that’s how I discovered her).
So maybe you’ve heard of her, maybe you haven’t, or maybe you have and never knew her part in the Village story. Whichever one, she’s worth the (re)listen.
Village Places answers
Cafe Wha? (which is directly next to and has deep-rooted connections with the Players Theatre. So. Full circle.)
Faicco’s Italian Specialties, 260 Bleecker St. Just go.
75 1/2 Bedford Street (the narrow middle building in the photo). At 9 feet 6 inches, it’s hard to crop a photo of what’s called “the narrowest house in Manhattan” into anything more narrow than it already is.