Exploring Greenwich Village Researching what makes the Village a village.

We are Macaulay Honors students at Hunter College, studying the Peopling of New York City with Professor Bernadette McCauley. This website is devoted to exploring select cultural and historical aspects of Greenwich Village, the focus of our course.

The map below shows significant sites that pertain to our research. Clicking on an icon will provide you with a brief description of the location, as well as a link to more detailed information about our projects.

View Greenwich Village in a larger map

Greenwich Village is one of the most cherished neighborhoods in New York City. It is a unique, eccentric, and vibrant community that has established itself as one of the intellectual and creative centers of the world. Since the late 19th century, the Village has been home to an eclectic mix of artists, writers, and scholars, who cultivated their own Bohemian world. Villagers have always made an effort to make their Village feel like a close-knit community, which is a rarity in the concrete jungle of New York City.

Tourists now flock to the Village to soak in the rich culture of this historical neighborhood. Its constant presence in pop culture has made it one of the most recognizable sights in America – the Central Perk coffeehouse in Friends, James Stewart’s apartment in Rear Window, the Washington Square Arch in When Harry Met Sally, the Village street on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Though our research has focused on many different aspects of the Village and has led us all to different conclusions, there is one underlying current that runs through all of our projects: our stories are uniquely Village stories. They could not have happened anywhere else.