Downtown New York Timeline

By
Soundcheck
Music | Jul 12, 2010
DATES EVENTS
1924 WNYC makes its first official broadcast
1941 WNYC is the first radio station in the US to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor
1947 Judith Malina and Julian Beck found The Living Theatre
1952 John Cage composes 4'33"
1954
Joseph Papp founds the Public Theater, then called the Shakespeare Workshop
1955
Ed Fancher, Dan Wolf, and Norman Mailer found The Village Voice
1956 Allen Ginsberg publishes Howl and Other Poems
1957 Jack Kerouac publishes On the Road
1959 William S. Burroughs publishes Naked Lunch
1961 Bob Dylan moves to New York and begins playing Greenwich Village clubs
1964 Terry Riley completes In C
1966
The Poetry Project founded at St. Mark's Church
1967 Andy Warhol moves the Factory studio to the Decker Building at 33 Union Square West
1967
The Velvet Underground releases The Velvet Underground and Nico
1968 The Fillmore East opens on Second Avenue
Meredith Monk founds The House Foundation
1971 The Fillmore East closes
The Kitchen founded in Greenwich Village
1972
Film Forum moves downtown under director Karen Cooper
1973
CBGB & OMFUG opens at 315 Bowery
John Cale releases Paris 1919
SoHo Weekly News founded
1974
The Ramones make their CBGB debut
Miguel Pinero's Short Eyes premieres at the Public Theater
Television begins a long-term weekly residency at CBGB
The Bottom Line opens at 15 West Fourth Street
Philip Glass completes Music in Twelve Parts
1975
Patti Smith releases Horses
John Holmstrom, Ged Dunn, and Legs McNeil found Punk Magazine
Anthology Film Archives opens, with Jonas Mekas as director
1976
Blondie releases Blondie
1977 Richard Hell and the Voidoids release Blank Generation
1978 The cable access show TV Party is launched by Glenn O'Brien and runs until 1982
The Mudd Club opens in Tribeca
1979 Julian Schnabel's first solo show opens at the Mary Boone Gallery
1980 CMJ Music Marathon founded
Jean-Michel Basquiat, at 17, leaves his family home in Brooklyn for the East Village
The Nuyorican Poets Café moves into its 236 East 3rd Street space
1981 Laurie Anderson releases the single "O Superman"
1982 New Sounds debuts
1983 Talking Heads release Speaking in Tongues
1984 Jim Jarmusch releases Stranger than Paradise
1985 The Leonard Lopate Show debuts
John Zorn releases The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone
1986 Nan Goldin publishes The Ballad of Sexual Dependency
1987 Bang on a Can founded
The Knitting Factory opens in its original Houston Street location
1988 Sonic Youth releases Daydream Nation
1989
The first Angelika Film Center opens at Houston and Mercer
The Brian Lehrer Show debuts as On the Line
1991
Blue Man Group's Tubes opens at the Astor Place Theatre
1992 Fez Under Time Cafe opens at 380 Lafayette Street
1994
Stomp opens at the Orpheum Theatre
1995 Larry Clark releases Kids
1996 Rent begins its off-Broadway run at the New York Theatre Workshop
1997 FringeNYC festival founded
The Museum of Jewish Heritage opens in Battery Park City
1998 Tonic opens
2001
September 11th
2002
River to River Festival founded
Tribeca Film Festival founded
Soundcheck debuts
Pianos opens at 158 Ludlow Street
2003 Howl Festival founded
East Village Radio opens its storefront studio at 21 First Avenue
The Living Room opens its 154 Ludlow Street location
2004 City officials select the Signature Theater Company, the Joyce Theater, the Freedom Center and the Drawing Center as cultural anchors for the World Trade Center site
The Bottom Line closes
2005 Studio 360 and On the Media win Peabody Awards, Radio Lab is officially launched
The IFC Center opens on the former site of the Waverly Theater
Cake Shop opens at 152 Ludlow Street
Fez closes
2006 CBGB closes
2007 Tonic closes
2008
WNYC moves from the New York Municipal Building to 160 Varick Street
Steve Reich wins the Pulitzer Prize for music
(le) poisson rouge opens at 158 Bleecker
2009 Michael Dorf opens City Winery at 155 Varick Street
WNYC opens the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space
Profile Image
Soundcheck

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

Why single domestic violence survivors can't get shelter in NYC despite empty beds

More than half the callers to the city’s domestic violence hotline are single people, but few are getting shelter.
Gothamist |

The History Wars and America at 250, with the Historian Jill Lepore

Three prominent historians discuss a national milestone arriving in the midst of a politically charged conflict over how Americans see the past. It’s a “goat rodeo,” Lepore says.
The New Yorker Radio Hour |

What Péter Magyar's Election in Hungary Says About 'Strongmen' Today

Andrew Marantz talks about the new prime minister of Hungary, and OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman.
The Brian Lehrer Show |

Mayor Mamdani says he's balanced NYC's budget

WNYC News |

How they handle crises in Brownsville, often without police

At least twice a year, nonprofit workers from the neighborhood spend a week calming disputes and responding to most 311 and 911 calls on certain blocks in the neighborhood.
WNYC News |
YOU ARE ONLINE