Greenwich Village has been long known as one of Lower Manhattan’s most historic neighborhoods, attracting musicians like Bob Dylan and members of the Beat Generation like Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassidy to the well-worn grounds of the hip and the literary-inclined. 8th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, is one of the many blocks in the Village that has continued to evolve in the last few decades. Businesses like the historic Eighth Street Bookshop founded in 1947, once situated at the corner of MacDougal and 8th Street, has now been turned into an outpost of well-known Portland coffee purveyor, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, opened this May.
The Village Alliance is a community-focused organization that pushes their efforts to enhance the affluent downtown district, along with the continued assurance of the safety of the neighborhood. Over the past twenty years, The Village Alliance has increased their attempts in assisting the district’s progress. In an interview with the *Free Press*, a Village Alliance representative said the organization plans to change 8th Street from a “forgotten shoe store street to a re-emerging hip neighborhood.”
According to Moshe Mansoor, owner of Da Vinci Shoes on 8th Street for the past 25 years, “the growth has not been positive [for business].” In a Real Deal article, “West 8th Street’s Retail Woes”, the author stated that since 9/11, “24 of 54 shoe stores have closed.”
Residents of the block have also lost faith over the years. “It has always been home to dozens of shoe stores…nothing else of interest, except of course Electric Lady,” said longtime resident of Greenwich Village Steve Weitzman. Electric Lady Studios is one of the remaining famed attractions of 8th Street that has been around since 1970. “Between 5th and 6th “there was never much happening,” said Weitzman in all of the thirty-six years he’s lived on 8th Street. Many who walk down the block oftentimes overlook the celebrated studio as they head to specialty cafes, wine bars and food chains.
“They [The Village Alliance] kill business,” Mansoor said. “They told the landlords to convert the store fronts into restaurants so they can double the rent.”
The most recent addition to the neighborhood is the Marlton Hotel, once a New School dorm called the Marlton Housing Residence Hall, which housed Beat writers like Jack Kerouac while he was enrolled at The New School between 1948 and 1949.
As West 8th faces yet another change to its facade, it is only a matter of time before we are able to tell if the change will successfully balance the fine line between commercialization and preservation.
Current photos by Niko Nelson
Archival photos courtesy of NYU Archive, The Greenwich Village Alliance, and Robert Otter