5 Photos From Greenwich Village in the 1960s
In the 1960s, New York City’s Greenwich Village — the Manhattan neighborhood located roughly between Houston and 14th streets, from the Hudson River to Broadway — was a hub of American counterculture. Once an upscale residential area in the 1800s, the neighborhood had changed by the early 20th century as low-income tenement houses drove its wealthy residents to other parts of the city.
At the same time, the Village’s central location and low rents started attracting artists, writers, and bohemians from across the country. A community of creativity and political activism flourished in the local coffeehouses, and the neighborhood became a hub of the folk music, protests, and free-spirited style that came to define the 1960s counterculture. These photos are but a small glimpse into the people, places, and moments that made the Greenwich Village scene so iconic.
The Gaslight
MacDougal Street may well be the place that best captures the essence of 1960s Greenwich Village. Though just a few blocks long, the strip was home to a dense collection of coffeehouses and clubs that launched some of the best-known artists of the decade and beyond. Among its most revered venues was the Gaslight Cafe. Opened as the Village Gaslight in 1958, the low-ceilinged former coal cellar originally hosted readings by influential Beat poets including Allen Ginsberg and Diane di Prima before evolving into a cornerstone of the folk scene.
Getting a regular slot at the Gaslight meant earning the approval of insiders such as musician Dave Van Ronk, known as the “Mayor of MacDougal Street.” It also meant getting paid weekly. Though the space was far from glamorous, it was a launching pad for major talent, including Van Ronk, Len Chandler, and of course Bob Dylan, who, upon arriving in New York, said the Gaslight was the club he “wanted to play, needed to.” In 1966, the famed club even hosted Joni Mitchell’s first New York City performance.
Just steps away, Cafe Wha? built its own legacy as one of the first stages for artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen (and yes, Dylan, who performed there on his first day in NYC). Meanwhile, down the block, Gerde’s Folk City and the Cafe Au Go Go cemented the Village’s reputation as a hotbed of talent with regular performances from Pete Seeger, Emmylou Harris, Tim Buckley, Judy Collins, and many more.
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Bob Dylan at the Bitter End
Today, the Bitter End calls itself the oldest rock ’n’ roll club in New York City, and it was certainly an early staple of Greenwich Village’s music scene. Opened in 1961 by future Hollywood film producer Fred Weintraub, the unassuming Bleecker Street coffeehouse quickly gained a reputation for showcasing new talent. One of the earliest acts to play the Bitter End was a then-unknown trio called Peter, Paul, and Mary. In late 1961, the club placed ads in The New York Times urging people to catch the group before they outgrew the intimate room. By January 1962, Peter, Paul, and Mary had signed a record deal, and later that year, they used the club’s signature exposed brick walls as the backdrop for their debut album cover.
When Dylan arrived in the Village from Minnesota in early 1961, he became one of the up-and-coming performers who graced the Bitter End’s stage in its early years. Though he began as one of many young folk singers on the scene, Dylan quickly emerged as the voice of a generation; his songwriting helped to define the 1960s folk revival and position Greenwich Village as the center of a cultural shift. Later, in the 1970s, Dylan returned to the Bitter End not just as a performer but as a fan, dropping by to watch others play or to shoot pool with peers such as Kris Kristofferson. The club briefly changed its name to the Other End under new owner Paul Colby in the 1970s and ’80s, but eventually returned to its original moniker. It remains the Bitter End to this day.
Allen Ginsberg Protests Vietnam
Greenwich Village was a breeding ground for the countercultural energy of the 1960s. Though the neighborhood had been home to artists and freethinkers for much of the 20th century, by the mid-1960s, the folk revival was in full swing, and musicians such as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Phil Ochs were increasingly vocal in the anti-war movement. In March 1966, Vietnam War protests swelled across the country; tens of thousands of people marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City in what was then the largest anti-war demonstration to date.
More than 20,000 protesters were joined by some of Greenwich Village’s leading counterculture figureheads. In this photo, legendary Beat poet and vocal Vietnam War critic Allen Ginsberg is pictured in an Uncle Sam hat. He’s joined by members of the underground psychedelic folk rock group the Fugs. Formed by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, the Fugs and their irreverent critiques of mainstream American culture made them a cult favorite in the 1960s Village scene where they frequented live clubs such as Cafe Wha?.
Washington Square Park
Even before the folk revival hit full swing, Washington Square Park was already a sanctuary for musicians and music lovers alike. Throughout the 1950s, people armed with guitars, banjos, bongos, and mandolins gathered every Sunday to sing and share folk, blues, and more music.
But in the spring of 1961, NYC Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris began enforcing a city law requiring permits for musical performances in the park. While the crackdown was said to be supported by nearby residents concerned about crowds, many suspected that authorities wanted to silence the voices of a growing youth movement.
On Sunday, April 9, 1961, musicians gathered in the park even though permits had been denied. The protest was led by Izzy Young, a pillar in the music scene as the owner of Greenwich Village’s iconic Folklore Center. Police responded with force and arrests in a clash that became known as the Beatnik Riot. That Sunday marked a cultural turning point: a new generation pushing back against authority. The city eventually relented, and throughout the rest of the decade, Washington Square Park remained a hub for protest, performance, and political expression.
Bohemian Style
Bohemianism took hold in New York long before the Beat Generation or hippie countercultures. In the mid-19th century, Greenwich Village was home to writers such as Henry Clapp Jr., known as the “King of Bohemia” and credited with introducing the Parisian ideal of bohemianism — an artistic and non-materialistic lifestyle — to the American literary scene. A century later, the Village attracted a new wave of dreamers. Through the 1950s, the literary rebels known as the Beats inspired a subsequent beatnik subculture, and in the 1960s, hippies adapted similar ideals into a movement centered on personal freedom and social justice. Their shared bohemian sensibilities helped keep the Village a haven for free spirits and artistic freedom.
The fashion seen around the Village in the 1960s was both eclectic and deliberate, as well as comfortable and carefree. This 1967 snapshot captures the vibe: A young woman in a gingham dress and beads has her face painted by a fellow hippie in a bold-patterned headband and shirt, as both of them audition as extras for the Sidney Poitier film For Love of Ivy. By the end of the 1960s, the bohemian spirit that shaped Greenwich Village had spread far beyond it, reaching its peak just 100 miles upstate at the Woodstock Music Festival, where upwards of 500,000 people gathered in the name of peace, love, and music.
