In The Shadow of the Commune: The French Quarter (1870's, 1880's) with Laurence Frommer

In honor of Bastille Day, join urban planner/ cultural historian Laurence Frommer on this first part of a two tour exploration of New York's once legendary French Quarters of old. After the fall of the Paris Commune (called by many "the Fourth French Revolution") in the early 1870s, the area stretching south from Washington Square to Grand Street between West Broadway and Broadway became home to 20,000 French refugees, transforming the area into a noted French Quarter for three decades. Cafes as Grand Vatel on Bleecker Street, Au Chat Noir on West Broadway, and the Taverne Alsacienne on Greene Street were very popular with students, intellectuals, and Bohemians. Even after the French colony was no more, the area was still known as the Latin Quarter, for this influence that helped pave the way for the "bohemian" ambiance of the Village of the 20th century. Cost: $30 / $20 Members.