The 24^th of this month will mark the 100^th anniversary of the declaration of “The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village”. On the evening of January 24^th 1917 a group of Greenwich Villagers and the artist Marcel Duchamp ascended the stairs in the Washington arch to a room at the top where they partied before going to the roof. They decorated the edges of the roof with colored crepe paper, shot off cap guns and declared the Independent Republic of Greenwich Village.

Washington Square Arch