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Greenwich Village, known to New Yorkers simply as “The Village,” is located in the lower west side of Manhattan—slightly east of the North River and south of the Flatiron District. Centered around Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village is where the Beat and ’60s counter-culture movement began over half a century ago and lingers still with a bohemian, artsy vibe. The progressive, 0.289-square-mile neighborhood is home to over 47,000 people as well as the renowned New York University (NYU).
Students and urban sophisticates dominate this trendy neighborhood. More than 57,000 students attend NYU alone, with over 11,000 living in campus housing. Otherwise, Greenwich Village residents are quite educated, with over 82 percent of adults having a four-year bachelor’s degree. About 61 percent of Greenwich Village adults are single, while 4.6 percent of the neighborhood’s households are same-sex couples. The top industries for Greenwich Village residents are education, health and social services.
While the neighborhood is now far too expensive for most starving artists, it still retains that creative energy with everything from record stores and book shops to museums and theatres scattered throughout Greenwich Village, bordered by nearby East Village, Gramercy Park, Union Square and SoHo. You’ll want for nothing in this eccentric neighborhood, including a car. Most residents walk to their destinations or use public transport—there are 16 subway trains operating from the neighborhood’s seven subway stations. That means that on average, you can get to Columbia Circle (at the foot of Central Park in Midtown) in an average of 14 minutes, while Fulton Street (Downtown in the Financial District) is accessible in about 12 minutes.
Washington Square Park is a sunny haven for folks wanting to play chess, read a book, or ride a skateboard. For performing arts, there are Off Broadway and Off-off Broadway theatres throughout the village, while music buffs will love exploring the historical spots, like The Blue Note and Cafe Wha?, the latter of which is a former hangout of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.
