Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village or The Village is a residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan. In the past it was a real village, but over the years it was contained by the expansion of New York. Greenwich is very famous in the world as an artistic and cultural district, in the same way that Montmartre in Paris. Nowadays, because of the explosion of the prices of the apartments in Greenwich, the artists and the bohemians settled down in Brooklyn, Long Island and in the New Jersey. But we can really feel a marginal atmosphere, especially because of the architecture of buildings and also the markets of street.
At the end of the month, on October 31st, there will be the celebration of Halloween in Greenwich village. The party will take place on more than one kilometer, it will entice two million spectators! Indeed, a big parade will gather disguised people, drag queens, exhibitionists, puppets, animals, drunkards… an enormous heterogeneous crowd ! The event is eagerly awaited, certain persons prepared their disguise for one year.
In Greenwich Village there is also a very important place of New York : The Washington Square. It’s not really big, but it’s really quietly. There are lots of musicians and drawers in the park. The squirrels are domesticated, if you imitate their small shout they will come to eat in your hand!
Lets see some pictures of the Washington Square :
The door of the Square
The jazz musicians
The fountain
A Squirrel
And at the crossing of Grove street and Bedford Street…
...you can see…:
THE VERY FAMOUS BUILDING OF THE TV SHOW « FRIENDS » !!!
It is here that the cast of « Friends » supposedly spent hours laughing and talking. In reality, much of the New York based sitcom was actually filmed on a set in California, but many of the apartment building scenes and the Washington Square Park sequences were filmed live in New York. The famous balcony, however, doesn’t really exist and was part of the California set. There’s also no « Central Perk Coffee », it wasn’t a real coffee in the TV show. Instead of it there is a small romantic restaurant : « Chez Michallet ».