Greenwich
Village had been a fashionable residential district in the 19th century.
As New York expanded northward, the wealthy
house-owners in Greenwich moved out and by the 20th century it a decayed
into a slum. As rents were cheap, Greenwich Village became increasingly
the home of artists and writers.
(1)
Floyd Dell wrote about
Greenwich Village in his autobiography, Homecoming (1933)
The rents were cheap because the rush of traffic could not make
its way through the little twisted streets that crossed and recrossed
each other and never seemed to get anywhere else. Seventh Avenue was
now being slowly cut through, and the West Side subway was being extended
southward; but Greenwich Avenue still, like a barrier flung athwart
the Village, protected it from the roaring town all about.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
