Greenwich Village

In "The Ballad of Greenwich Village," the documentary filmmaker Karen Kramer gives a brief, serviceable history of New York City's bohemian hub. She rounds up interviews with such Village people as Edward Albee, Norman Mailer, Tim Robbins, Roy Haynes, Maya Angelou, Richie Havens, Woody Allen, and Judy Collins. We spend a few minutes with current residents, like James the drag queen and Judah the Israeli artist, and narrator Lili Taylor offers a laconic overview of the neighborhood. We get a sense of Greenwich Village as a groundbreaking place for racial integration, beat poetry, bebop,...

Director David Cromer, the man who made Thornton Wilder a hip, downtown playwright with an acclaimed off-Broadway revival of "Our Town" that ran for 18 months, is bringing his intimate vision of Grover's Corners to the Huntington Theatre Company this December. As he did in Greenwich Village, and before that in his native Chicago, Cromer will play the Stage Manager — a role Helen Hunt took over in New York and is playing now in Cromer's Los Angeles production. A 2010 MacArthur Fellow, Cromer won his second Obie Award in 2009 for "Our Town," a stripped-down, contemporary staging that leaves the lights on...

Director David Cromer, the man who made Thornton Wilder a hip, downtown playwright with an acclaimed off-Broadway revival of "Our Town" that ran for 18 months, is bringing his intimate vision of Grover's Corners to the Huntington Theatre Company this December. As he did in Greenwich Village, and before that in his native Chicago, Cromer will play the Stage Manager — a role Helen Hunt took over in New York and is playing now in Cromer's Los Angeles production. A 2010 MacArthur Fellow, Cromer won his second Obie Award in 2009 for "Our Town," a stripped-down, contemporary staging that leaves the lights on...

NEW YORK — In the countryside, in the suburbs, or even in the leafier districts of New York’s outer boroughs, a treehouse would hardly raise an eyebrow. But in a historic Manhattan neighborhood whose residents have included Mark Twain and Eleanor Roosevelt, it raised hackles. Shortly after Melinda Hackett put up a round, cedar treehouse for her girls in a broad-trunked London Plane tree in her tiny Greenwich Village backyard, a neighbor called about “a structure in rear which is nailed to a tree’’ and “looks unsafe,’’ with no construction permit posted, according...

In his last book, “This Land,’’ urban planning expert and former Globe reporter Anthony Flint examined the battles over suburban sprawl and offered an array of possible solutions. Now working at the Cambridge-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Flint looks at a seminal struggle of 20th century city planning, one that involved two giants with utterly differing views of how cities should look and develop. While Jane Jacobs, a Greenwich Village mother without any formal training in architecture or urban planning, would harness the power of grass-roots community activism to turn back the...

NEW YORK -- Carmine G. De Sapio, whose political muscle stretched from City Hall to the White House after he orchestrated the post-World War II revival of the powerful Tammany Hall machine, died Tuesday. He was 95. Mr. De Sapio, a lifelong resident of Greenwich Village, passed away at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, said his daughter, Geraldine A. De Sapio. Tammany Hall, as the Manhattan Democratic Party was once known, had declined precipitously in the 1930s after dominating New York politics for nearly a century -- a stretch that included the 19th-century era of corrupt...

NEW YORK — In the countryside, in the suburbs, or even in the leafier districts of New York’s outer boroughs, a treehouse would hardly raise an eyebrow. But in a historic Manhattan neighborhood whose residents have included Mark Twain and Eleanor Roosevelt, it raised hackles. Shortly after Melinda Hackett put up a round, cedar treehouse for her girls in a broad-trunked London Plane tree in her tiny Greenwich Village backyard, a neighbor called about “a structure in rear which is nailed to a tree’’ and “looks unsafe,’’ with no construction permit...

NEW YORK - A serious cook needs serious tools. And even those who just dabble in the kitchen know that stocking the room with useful appliances and utensils makes the work easier, quicker, or simply more fun. For the lowest prices and hugely abundant selections, hop in your car (first make sure the cargo area is cleared out to make room for your purchases) and drive here, where the best kitchenware stores make their home. In the once-industrial Chelsea area, now an art gallery mecca, you can find the popular New York Cake & Baking Distributor and,...

The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir By Dave Van Ronk with Elijah Wald Da Capo, 246 pp., $26 When folksinger Dave Van Ronk was growing up in Queens during the 1940s, his seventh-grade teacher, Sister Altila Marie, eyed him with suspicion. Unlike her prize students, Van Ronk was sloppy and daydreamy, enveloped with a terminal case of nostalgie de la boue (a fascination with misery and despair). One afternoon, for example, the good sister asked her students to deliver a brief talk on "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up. " In proud succession, students confessed...

Long celebrated as an enclave for the avant-garde and radical political movements, Greenwich Village is reinventing itself once again, perhaps more radically than ever before. This former nexus of bohemian culture, where Bob Dylan transformed folk music and artist Marcel Duchamp proclaimed the founding of "The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village ," is going upscale. "The Village" is morphing block by block and store by store into something new and quite different: an enclave for the wealthy.

NEW YORK -- They are the neighborhoods Jane Jacobs saved: Greenwich Village, Washington Square, Little Italy, and SoHo. And they are, not coincidentally, some of the most valuable urban real estate parcels anywhere, and some of the places most cherished by New Yorkers and visitors alike for their cozy charm and architectural splendor. Nearly a half century ago, New York’s master builder, Robert Moses - the man who built Jones Beach, Shea Stadium, the Triborough Bridge, and the Central Park Zoo, to name just a few of his grand public works - was ready to transform the landscape south of 14th Street in...

In his last book, “This Land,’’ urban planning expert and former Globe reporter Anthony Flint examined the battles over suburban sprawl and offered an array of possible solutions. Now working at the Cambridge-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Flint looks at a seminal struggle of 20th century city planning, one that involved two giants with utterly differing views of how cities should look and develop. While Jane Jacobs, a Greenwich Village mother without any formal training in architecture or urban planning, would harness the power of grass-roots...

NEW YORK - A serious cook needs serious tools. And even those who just dabble in the kitchen know that stocking the room with useful appliances and utensils makes the work easier, quicker, or simply more fun. For the lowest prices and hugely abundant selections, hop in your car (first make sure the cargo area is cleared out to make room for your purchases) and drive here, where the best kitchenware stores make their home. In the once-industrial Chelsea area, now an art gallery mecca, you can find the popular New York Cake & Baking Distributor and, nearby, Bowery Kitchen...

How to get there The Village is located between Houston and 14th streets, from the Hudson River to Broadway. Subway stops: 1 to Christopher Street-Sheridan Square, A, B, C, D, E, F, V to West 4th Street-Washington Square , or N, R, W to 8th Street-NYU. What to do Greenwich Village Food and Culture Walking Tour Foods of New York Tours 212-209-3370 www.foodsofny.com Discover the history and culture of the West Village while tasting culinary delights from local establishments.

Long celebrated as an enclave for the avant-garde and radical political movements, Greenwich Village is reinventing itself once again, perhaps more radically than ever before. This former nexus of bohemian culture, where Bob Dylan transformed folk music and artist Marcel Duchamp proclaimed the founding of "The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village ," is going upscale. "The Village" is morphing block by block and store by store into something new and quite different: an enclave for the wealthy.

In "The Ballad of Greenwich Village," the documentary filmmaker Karen Kramer gives a brief, serviceable history of New York City's bohemian hub. She rounds up interviews with such Village people as Edward Albee, Norman Mailer, Tim Robbins, Roy Haynes, Maya Angelou, Richie Havens, Woody Allen, and Judy Collins. We spend a few minutes with current residents, like James the drag queen and Judah the Israeli artist, and narrator Lili Taylor offers a laconic overview of the neighborhood. We get a sense of Greenwich Village as a groundbreaking place for racial...

How to get there The Village is located between Houston and 14th streets, from the Hudson River to Broadway. Subway stops: 1 to Christopher Street-Sheridan Square, A, B, C, D, E, F, V to West 4th Street-Washington Square , or N, R, W to 8th Street-NYU. What to do Greenwich Village Food and Culture Walking Tour Foods of New York Tours 212-209-3370 www.foodsofny.com Discover the history and culture of the West Village while tasting culinary delights from local establishments.

NEW YORK -- They are the neighborhoods Jane Jacobs saved: Greenwich Village, Washington Square, Little Italy, and SoHo. And they are, not coincidentally, some of the most valuable urban real estate parcels anywhere, and some of the places most cherished by New Yorkers and visitors alike for their cozy charm and architectural splendor. Nearly a half century ago, New York’s master builder, Robert Moses - the man who built Jones Beach, Shea Stadium, the Triborough Bridge, and the Central Park Zoo, to name just a few of his grand public works - was ready to transform the...

The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir By Dave Van Ronk with Elijah Wald Da Capo, 246 pp., $26 When folksinger Dave Van Ronk was growing up in Queens during the 1940s, his seventh-grade teacher, Sister Altila Marie, eyed him with suspicion. Unlike her prize students, Van Ronk was sloppy and daydreamy, enveloped with a terminal case of nostalgie de la boue (a fascination with misery and despair). One afternoon, for example, the good sister asked her students to deliver a brief talk on "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up. " In proud succession, students confessed aspirations to be doctors and nurses...

NEW YORK -- Carmine G. De Sapio, whose political muscle stretched from City Hall to the White House after he orchestrated the post-World War II revival of the powerful Tammany Hall machine, died Tuesday. He was 95. Mr. De Sapio, a lifelong resident of Greenwich Village, passed away at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, said his daughter, Geraldine A. De Sapio. Tammany Hall, as the Manhattan Democratic Party was once known, had declined precipitously in the 1930s after dominating New York politics for nearly a century -- a stretch that included the 19th-century era of corrupt politician...