The Way We Were: Blowin in the Wind
OCTOBER 13, 2008
Positively Bleecker Street: The Village Folk Scene of the 1960s
From its rise to popularity in the 1930s and ‘40s, American folk music hit the popular culture radar in the 1960s. The epicenter of this revival was in Greenwich Village around Bleecker and Macdougal streets. Standard bearers like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger lent their influence to icons like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk (nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street") and Peter, Paul and Mary in a few notable holes-in-the-wall.
At Café Wha at 115 Macdougal, a young Dylan first tried out his harmonica onstage. The Monday night hootennanny at Gerde’s Folk City at 71 West Fourth Street was the spot of the September 26th, 1961 performance that allegedly launched Dylan’s career when it was reviewed by the New York Times.
At the heart of the scene was Izzy Young’s Folklore Center at McDougal Street and Minetta Lane, where Young himself penned a column for <i>Sing Out</i> magazine and arranged concerts with folk musicians and songwriters.
While most of the old joints are long gone, you can retrace the footsteps of the 1960s Village folk scene on walking tours like Freewheelin’ Greenwich Village and Positively 4th Street Revisited. And if you’re still a folkie, the Folk Music Society of New York can keep you up-to-date.
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