![]() ![]() Bikes are not officially allowed inside the square, but there are Citibike stations around it, so it's easy to park and walk around.Ī block north of the park, on West 8th Street, is a historic 107-room property once known as Marlton House and home to many writers and poets, who were attracted by relatively cheap rates and the bohemian neighbourhood. When I visited on a sunny but cold December day, there was only one musician, a saxophonist, playing under Washington Square's stone arch, but at weekends the park fills with rap and jazz musicians playing to tourists and students. The hero of the Coens' film is not Van Ronk, according to Wald, but he does sing some Van Ronk songs and shares his working-class background. According to folk singer and historian Elijah Wald, the ballad and blues singers who sat around the fountain in the park created sounds that would influence artists from Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez to folk-rock groups the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas. The real centre of the folk scene back then, however, was Washington Square, where musicians would gather on Sundays to swap ideas, learn new material and play. It is still a popular music venue, with a house band playing five nights a week. ![]() A notice on the door catalogues a few of the famous names who played here: Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Havens, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and the Velvet Underground. Cafe Wha? continued to attract artists and musicians long after the Village folk scene gave way to rock'n'roll. It was here that Bob Dylan made his New York debut, and Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac performed. In the bitter winter of 1961, when the Coen brothers movie is set, cash-strapped artists similar to Davis would take their chances at the open mic. The original Cafe Wha? remains at 115 MacDougal Street, on the corner of Minetta Lane. It was here, myth has it, that the writer had been drinking in November 1953, before he was rushed to hospital from his room at the Chelsea Hotel, and died a few days later.įolk singer Dave Van Ronk, the inspiration for the Llewyn Davis character. It was used by New York's literary community in the 1950s – most notably Welsh bard Dylan Thomas. The White Horse Tavern, built in 1880, still stands on the corner of Hudson Street and 11th. It is the hub of New York University's campus and many of the bars, falafel joints and pizza houses are priced for students, with $2 beers thrown in.īut several older venues still exist, including the Bitter End, which staged folk "hootenannies" every Tuesday and now calls itself New York's oldest rock club". On MacDougal Street, a jumble of comedy cellars, theatres and cheap eateries have mostly replaced the old, liquorless cafes and basement bars of the folk scene. From there, it's a short cycle along Christopher Street, up Hudson and along West 10th, to Bleecker Street, where designer boutiques such as Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Lulu Guinness mark the area's steep gentrification. Cycle or walk to the end of the boardwalk that juts out into the Hudson, facing Hoboken, New Jersey, and look to your left and you can see the Statue of Liberty. Looking south you can see One World Trade Center: at 541m, it's now the tallest building in the western hemisphere. I picked up a bike outside Franklin Street subway station, south of the Village in Tribeca, and headed out to the river, at Pier 45. The Gaslight Cafe was an American coffee house located in the basement of 116 MacDougal Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.CitiBikers in Greenwich Village. There is currently (September - June, 2012) a revival of the Village Gaslight with Sheriff Bob's Gaslight Revival presenting concerts the 2nd and 4th Tuesday and Bob Porco presenting a concert series on Saturdays nights, dubbing them a "Friends of Mike Porco Production" The Gaslight (alternatively known as "The Village Gaslight" opened in 1958 and was a well known venue for folk music and other musical acts, until it closed in 1971. The Gaslight was originally a "basket house" where unpaid performers would pass around a basket at the end of each set and hope to be paid. Opened in 1958 by John Mitchell, the dark, steamy, subterranean Gaslight had showcased beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso but later became a folk-music club. ![]() Clarence Hood bought the club in 1961, and he and his son Sam managed the club through the late 1960s. Ed Simon, the owner of another popular Village coffeehouse, The Four Winds, reopened the Gaslight in 1968. The club was run by Betty Smyth (who is the mother of Scandal lead singer Patty Smyth), and blues guitarist/performer Susan Martin until its closing in 1971. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |