During my Village walk, I rarely make any reference to “celebrities,” aka cinema and television actors. Founding fathers such as Hamilton and Paine. My favorite celebrities are artists such as Franz Kline, the sculptor Isomu Naguci, and even the polka dot painter Kusoma. Also, Woody Guthrie, Richie Havens, and writers such as Poe, Edith Wharton, and Louisa May Alcott. Alcott lived with her uncle on Macdougal St. in a townhouse that still stands.

In the 20th century, other famous people were Eugene O’Neill, Ezra Pound, and Norman Mailer. I worked for Norman Mailer’s campaign, collating papers during the week he was running for mayor.  I knew people like Allen Ginsberg, the poet, who visited my mother when I was a child and would eat the food off my plate. All these and many more made the Village a sanctuary for free thinkers and those brave enough to speak truth to power.

Halloween Party at MacDougal Alley in the 1920’s.