The arch of Washington Square Park has been the opening scene for many movies. It is after all, where Harry and Sally say good-bye, for the first of many good-byes and hellos in the move “When Harry Met Sally”. The first incarnation of the arch was a wooden memorial, commemorated the Centennial celebration of George Washington’s inauguration as President of the United States. This first arch was so admired that the sculptor Standford White was commissioned to create an arch in marble. During the summer of 1895 the work was unveiled.
Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, this arch has seen the times of not only a neighborhood of New York, but the artistic revolution that has been taking place for the last hundred years. At the entrance to Washington Square Park stand the Washington Arch, and in the middle is the Washington Square Fountain. Upon my first visit to the city, I made it a point to walk through the arch, which at the time was surrounded by wire fencing and scaffolding as it was being renovated…and headed straight for the fountain. I wanted to confirm for myself, that “yes”, I was a bohemian artist taking part in a scene and a tradition that is the definition of the bohemian artist.
I was there in the middle of the 1990′s and while the drug scene was still evident, I never felt unsafe, never felt as though this was a place where I did not belong. From the young drummers providing the beat on their overturned plastic gallon containers, to the mimes, to the street vendors to the people walking their dogs, the park is alive with all those living there today, and infused with all those whom have lived there before.
There is an artistic rebellion in the air, the people in Washington Square Park embrace artists such as Banksy, who while technically breaking the law, give their art to the people. My hotel room in which I stayed in the Village I found here, a website that offers information about the locations and the accommodations available, and every night I returned “home” to my room, I thought of the sidewalks I had walked, the Arch that I passed under and wished that I could have conversations late into the night with those who had walked there before.
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