Washington Square Memories

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:57 PM

And the Jefferson Market with the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables, and the ornate Court House itself now transformed into a library.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 10:15 PM

Jean,

How did you and George meet? That was New York, right? Washington Square must've been a big part of those times and memories for you both. So far from Viper, KY... But your real influence on N.Y. then made waves that still crash on those shores----and here at Mudcat as well. And Oscar Brand ! Two voices (yours and his) that I'd not've imagined would've worked so well together. But they did.

Art

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: michaelr
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:39 PM

Wow -- them musta bin high times! Thanks for all the info and memories. Once again I feel I was born too late... but I'd be older now if I hadn't, so that's OK too.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:38 PM

Washington Square Memoirs is actually a beautiful book, or hardcover booklet, with color photos throughout, and the three CDs are inserts. It retails for about fifty dollars. Worth it!

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:15 PM

Big round navel oranges under glass for a quarter, and shiny nickel plated machinery to make it come out, and the mystery of the men behind the little windows who woudl fill them up from behind, whose lives you could never know!

There were other strange gustatory adventures in the Village then, too -- Italian restaurants with redchecked table cloths and wax-coated Chianti bottles which really were Italian, the tablecloths hand-sewn by the mama who took the orders or stirred the pasta; and then, a legend in its own time, was the Chock Full O'Nuts cofeeshops with their unusual doughnuts, and little mom and pop lunchrooms where 85 cents would get you a Spanish omelette that could keep you walking for a week.

There were as many strange souls as there were strange foods, too. Strange disoriented musicians, blithe wrecks who would spout poetry or chalk art on the fly along some sidewalk, and the downtrodden survivors of the FOrties -- desperate shards of life wasted by tumults and contortions we could never really know. We were the rising youth, after all, and anything prior to 1944 or so was incomprehensible and suspect, while the future was irresistible -- a happy edge to be balanced on, as long as we could maintain the necessary innocence.

I went from there to North Beach, but that's another thread altogether!

A

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: BH
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 06:49 PM

And what a Hamlet it was!!! His Equus was no slouch either. Great memories of wonderful times---from the Village to the Theater---and let us not even talk of the pricing then.   

I could do a whole dissertation on the downhill slide of Bway. into just tourist attractions. Where, now, Off Bway offers the meat and potatoes (and the pricing).

Ah---the Horn and Hardart. Another fond memory. In fact there is now a book out about the enterprise by the grandaughter of Hardart. Fascinating---she and her co-author will a guest of mine on my TABLETALK program in Feb. (I will post a note later) to talk about the chain and its history. Oh to taste those baked beans and creamed spinach again---and then get coffee from those beautiful urns.

Before I wallow more in nostalgia I close thinking of which slot I should my nickel in for desert at the Automat.

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:52 AM

Good memories---

1964---Hit New York intending to be the next Van Ronk. Hung in Washington Square every Sunday I was there. Rode Statten Island Ferry for .05 --- left my guitar with Jose who sold hot dogs there on the boat. (We were trusting souls back then 'cause those were much cooler times.) Went to Central Park during the day & pretended to sunbathe but actually slept for 5 or 6 hours. Went back to the ferry, got my guitar, cleaned up in the john going over and back. Did a gig at Cafe Wha and passed the hat until closing time. Went to Horn and Hardardt automat with change I'd made that night for a meal. Walked the streets until sun-up. Got a standing-room-only ticket to see Richard Burton do Hamlet on Broadway---Lunt Fontayne Theater. The day of that show I traded that ticket for a just-returned third-row-center seat. Sat with the tuxedos and evening gowns after sleeping in the park for two weeks. Hung in Washington Square and soaked my feet in the fountain. Swapped music. Then back to sleep in Cen. Pk.-----back to the ferry----back to Cafe Wha. (Gaslight wouldn't even let me audition.) Repeat over and over for 3 weeks or so. Then a Grayhound Bus through the Blue Ridge to the Grand Ol' Opry and followed Hank Snow (my vocal hero then) from Nashville to his gig at the Illinois State Fair. Finally to Chicago and got a gig as assistant mgr. of the Old Town Folklore Center. That lasted from summer '64 through early '67---when Carol and I were married.

Just had our thirty-sixth anniversary on 1/3/2003. Carol gave me a DVD of Richard Burton doing a rehersal of that Hamlet. R.B. had ordered all the copies of that less than perfect film destroyed-----but one copy survived the purge. That is now available. I'd waited, patiently, for almost forty years for someone to find a copy, litigate it, and make it available.

This thread brought it all back. Thanks.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Jan 03 - 12:18 AM

Washington Square - one of the first and only pure BlueGrass tunes I learned on the banjo before tossing it back to my brother.

Yes, sweet memories.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 10:20 PM

There was The Cafe Wha, The Cafe Bizarre, the Fat Black Pussycat, the Wha? and the best of the places, as far as I was concerened, The Gaslight Cafe. I have a few shots of McDougal Street, the Gaslight Folk Lore Center, and the Kettle of Fish that I came across recently. I'd e-mail them to someone to post here on Mudcat, if people would tell me who to send them to.

Tom Paxton's first record was on the Gaslight label, and Dave Van Ronk ran a Monday night Hootenanny (as much as possible, from the Kettle of Fish.) Certainly, there are books with the names of all the coffee houses somewhere..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 09:04 PM

Michael,

I think it is just a tour put together by a promoter with good taste. It is a small tour featuring the gentleman you mentioned above. No connection with the Rhino CD that I am aware of, except I think each artist happens to be on it.   Yes, they are indeed referring to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Most of these artists have connections with the NYC folk scene of the early 60's, even Loudon. The tour is being billed as Washington Square Folk Festival. Sounds like fun.

Ron

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 08:42 PM

Click here for the press release from Rhino on the 3-CD set, Washington Square Memoirs. I have it, and really like it.
I'm guessing what Michael refers to is a concert tour connected to the CD set.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories
From: Amos
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 08:31 PM

Well, WS in the Village was definitely one of the epicenters of the Great Folk Scare. It was a grand place to hang out on a sunny Sunday, because if you coudl strum a few chords you might end up playing along with just anyone, and there was a fine sense of free and easy affinity among strangers who showed up there.

I want to know who remembers the names of the leading instrument stores and playing sites in the neighborhood. I vaguely remember Folk City but there are many others I have forgotten.

A

Subject: Washington Square Memories
From: michaelr
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 08:07 PM

Today I heard a radio ad for an upcoming concert featuring Loudon Wainwright III, John Hammond, Tom Paxton and Mike Seeger, called "Washington Square Memories".

While there must be a bazillion Washington Squares in the US, somehow I got the feeling this refers to the one in Greenwich Village, New York. Is this some sort of Great Folk Scare of the 1950s/60s nostalgia tour, do you think?

Ron Olesko, have you heard about this show?

Cheers,
Michael