Exploring the Original West Village (History & Guide)

A literary and pictorial stroll through the charming and history-filled streets of New York's West Village reveals the history and little known tales of this fascinating and picturesque neighborhood.

Greenwich Village is a tourist's dream and a favorite weekend destination for New Yorkers. A part of Manhattan Island that holds its own amid the noise and confusion of the twenty-first century, it still retains much of the character of the old farming community that was part of the original settlement of Manhattan. The West Village, the northwest section of the neighborhood, is bounded by the Hudson River on the west and Greenwich Avenue on the east and is where it all began. Famous people such as Sinclair Lewis, Fiorello LaGuardia, William ""Bill the Butcher"" Poole, Frank Serpico, James Baldwin and Jackson Pollock, among dozens of others, called this neighborhood home. Stroll down the back streets and along the waterfront and peer behind the facades of these historic structures to discover its fascinating history, hidden secrets and little-known tales.

Alfred Pommer of New York City is a self employed licensed New York City guide. He has been giving private and publicly scheduled neighborhood walking tours for groups or individuals in Manhattan's many diverse neighborhoods for over twenty years. During that time, Alfred has been constantly researching and improving each tour. He retired in 1991 after twenty-five years' service with the New York City Parks Department. During that time, he attended college part time, eventually graduating with a degree in labor studies. Alfred has had several articles about the history of various locations, streets and neighborhoods in Manhattan published by 10003 Magazine.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Eleanor Winters has been exploring New York City on foot for several decades. A commercial and fine artist specializing in calligraphy, she has written five books for calligraphers, all of which are currently in print: Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy (3rd ed., Dover Publications, 2001), Calligraphy in Ten Easy Lessons with Laurie Lico (2nd ed., Dover Publications, 2003), Calligraphy for Kids (Sterling Publishing, 2004), 1-2-3 Calligraphy (Sterling Publishing, 2006) and Italic and Copperplate Calligraphy: The Basics and Beyond (Dover Publications, 2011). She also served as editor of The Calligrapher's Engagement Calendar from 1979 to 2005. Eleanor lives half the year in Brooklyn and half in Paris and teaches calligraphy to beginners as well as professionals in Europe and the United States. She exhibits her artwork widely and is represented by the Franklin 54 Gallery + Projects in Manhattan. Eleanor has a master's of art from New York University.