GREENWICH VILLAGE
Greenwich Village - also known as the West Village or the Village - is
more upscale than the East Village and is the original corner of cool,
the closest any American neighborhood comes to a corner of Paris. This
part of town has been home to artists and writers, nonconformists, entertainers,
intellectuals, and bohemians since the turn of the 20th century. Downtown
charm is personified in lots of low-rise townhouses, thumbnail size gardens,
secret courtyards, and a wacky serpentine layout of streets. Washington
Square Park and the rows of townhouses around it with charming alleys behind
them are all frozen in time. The park,
with its arch famous
from much movie exposure, is the heart of the Village. This 9 ½ -acre
park at the foot of Fifth Avenue is an oasis and circus combined, where
skate boarders, jugglers, stand-up comics, sitters, strollers, sweethearts,
chess players, fortune tellers, and daydreamers converge and commune. Washington Mews and Mac Dougal Alley are quiet cobblestone lanes right
off the square. Legendary streets such as McDougal, Astor Place, and
Bleecker (famous Beat and hippie hangouts) are lined with super-hip boutiques,
delis displaying esoteric beers from around the globe, and cafes and
restaurants of all stripes. It makes sense that New York University is in the Village, an area that
has been home to some of the world's most famous writers and artists
including Henry James, Edith Wharton, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Walt
Whitman, Eugene O'Neill, Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko,
Willem de Kooning, and Beat writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. At night, Greenwich Village comes alive with sounds
from late-night coffeehouses, cafés, experimental theaters, and music clubs. Bars
and restaurants ad infinitum serve everything from cranberry martinis
and celestial sushi to pita-wrapped shwarma. Searching for the soul of
the Beat generation? At fabled coffeehouses like Caffe Reggio and Café Figaro,
you can order a double espresso or cappuccino and pretend for a few minutes
that you're Allen Ginsberg, Jack Keruouac, or William Burroughs. The Village is home to a large community of gays and lesbians. Across
7th Avenue is Christopher Street, site of a historic clash (in front
of the Stonewall bar) in 1969 between city police and gay men, marking
the beginning of the gay rights movement.
Enjoy a weekend in Greenwich Village with Next Stop New York (800-434-7554).
The package includes 2 or 3 nights hotel accommodations in Greenwich
Village, 3 hour food tasting, walking and historical tour, $30 pre-theatre
dinner certificate at one of many wonderful Greenwich Village restaurants,
tickets to a play, and continental breakfast daily. Advance reservations
required.