Greenwich Village in the 1930s Part II

The Village, like much of the country, became more conservative in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression. Women's hair went from being "bobbed" to styles that, though still short, were slightly longer and often curled around the face. The slinky dresses of the 20s disappeared except for evening, and woman turned to suits or dressed with white collars. 

The Village, according to Caroline F. Ware, became more socially divided. Educated professionals or college students moved in but failed to mix with the locals, who looked upon the newcomers as interlopers and were often envious of them. As for the "Villagers," as Ware called the professionals, they lived in the expensive new apartments that had private bathrooms, hot and cold running water, and many other amenities that the older apartments didn't have. The Villagers, in addition to not mixing with the locals, also didn't use many of the local shops except for last minute purchases such as we might  make at the Golden Pantry.  So even though they had money, they didn't spend very much of it in the Village. 

One interesting difference between the Villagers and the locals was their view of children. The local children played ball in the streets, viewing side streets almost as playgrounds since they had nowhere else to go and few cars drove on those small, winding streets anyway. The new residents, resenting the noise the children made and the damage they sometimes caused, called the police. Though the officers sympathized with the children and their families--who were often Irish like the officers themselves--they felt they had to chase the children off the street to keep the landlords happy. (The new Villagers would never think of letting their children play in the streets.)

Many of the Villagers supported the arts, while the locals were generally Italian, German or Irish immigrants who made little money and preferred the old neighborhood where people sat on the front stoops and chatted, instead of staying inside and listening to the radio or going to the cabarets, places of notoriety to local parents. 

More on the cabarets next time . . .