For over a century, Greenwich Village is where Americans came when they either could not or would not live the way they'd been told to. Socialism, community-based activism, feminism, gay liberation, pacifism, modernist theatre, abstract expressionism, beat poetry, bebop jazz, the sixties counterculture—all of it blossomed in these streets. It was a living organism that played by its own rules, a creative cauldron bursting with humans who dared to deviate from the social codes of the day in pursuit of something different. It was the world's greatest, and longest-standing, bohemian stage. 

The intention for these walks is to invite you into that story—to reanimate a rambunctious spirit that I think we could all use a little more of. What happens when people come together to live on their own terms, to live as artists, to see their lives as art? The Village today is expensive, cleaned up, full of fancy boutiques. We will learn to see through that to the layer underneath. The quirky map is the same quirky map. The streets are the same streets. And if you learn to look at them right, the ghosts are still there. We just have to slow down enough to see them.

We'll start at the Hudson River and spiral our way towards Washington Square. The route is deliberately not straight—getting a little lost is part of the magic. Each walk will take 3ish hours, but this is experimental and participatory by design, so maybe leave some wiggle room. No cost, no tips.