In April 1961, Dylan played his first paying gig at Gerde’s Folk City, an early folk music venue in the Village and a launching pad for Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and other 1960s folkie legends.
A very enthusiastic review in the New York Times that September helped make him a household name:
“A bright new face in folk music is appearing at Gerde’s Folk City,” write reviewer (and eventual Dylan biographer) Robert Shelton. “Although only 20 years old, Bob Dylan is one of the most distinctive stylists to play in a Manhattan cabaret in months.
“Resembling a cross between a choir boy and a beatnik, Mr. Dylan has a cherubic look and a mop of tousled hair . . . . His clothes may need a bit of tailoring, but when he works his guitar, harmonica, and piano and composes new songs faster than he can remember them, there is no doubt that he is bursting at the seams with talent.”
A review of Gerde’s from The New Inside Guide to Greenwich Village, 1965
Gerde’s was at West Fourth Street, at Mercer. The club moved to West Third Street in the 1970s, closing up shop in the 1980s. The West Fourth Street building in the photo above was torn down, replaced by a structure housing Hebrew Union College.
Tags: "The New Inside Guide to Greenwich Village, 1960s folk music Greenwich Village, Bob Dylan, Gerde's Folk City, Greenwich Village folk music, Greenwich Village in the 1960s, Hebrew Union College, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Phil Ochs, Robert Shelton
August 27, 2009 at 9:00 am |
In the early 60s I wandered past the site countless times. Deserted streets, just like in the picture, and nothing like they are today. Bob Dylan was just a folkie hillbilly at the time. And just this morning heard about his Christmas album
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/bob-dylan/6095878/Bob-Dylans-Christmas-album-proceeds-to-go-to-charity.html
My how times change…
August 27, 2009 at 4:45 pm |
I love reading about the early 60s folk scene, this self-contained world of Village musicians centered around Bleecker Street. I guess rock pushed it aside in the late 60s.
August 27, 2009 at 5:41 pm |
[...] A look back at Gerde’s Folk City, the Village club where Bob Dylan launched his career. It was originally located at West Fourth and Mercer, but moved to West Third Street in the 70s. Now it no longer exists [Ephemeral NY] [...]
August 27, 2009 at 6:01 pm |
I was too late for the originl Gerde’s Folk City on 4th Street, but I did see a few acts at their location at 130 W 3rd Street, when they were known simply as Folk City. Today the place is the Fat Black Pussycat Lounge.
August 27, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
The Fat Black Pussycat used to be on Minetta Lane, and that’s where Dylan wrote Blowing in the Wind, according to the always informative nysonglines: http://www.nysonglines.com/minettast.htm
It all comes full circle….
August 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm |
I saw Dylan just twice, once at Madison Sq Garden in the 70s and once in Radio City in the 80s. But I did see him a few times walking the streets of the Village all by himself like he still does, witness the cops stopped him for questioning a week or so ago in NJ. The more things change the more Dylan is ahead of everybody, that’s for sure
August 27, 2009 at 6:57 pm |
If anybody didn’t hear of this, here’s Dylan stopped by the NJ cops when he was nothing but a rolling stone…
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b139600_no_direction_home_drifter_dylan_stopped.html
August 27, 2009 at 8:48 pm |
Very very cool. I wish the only New York was still around…these days everything feels so “artificial.”
July 3, 2010 at 5:50 am |
If you want to visit the real NYC, you’ll need a time machine.
October 17, 2010 at 12:51 am |
I have a poster in black white and red from 1960 documenting Bob Dylan at the Underground Cavern in 1960 . “A Portion of Fee to Be Donated to
The National Association For The Advancement of Colored People.”
January 1, 2011 at 3:43 pm |
I also have this poster, printed on cardboard. Is it authentic?
The date seems a few months too early…
October 25, 2010 at 9:12 pm |
Joan actually launched her career at Club 47 (now moved and known as Club Passim since the late 60s) in Harvard Square.
May 24, 2011 at 2:51 am |
I have a framed poster dated Sept.9. 1960 Bob Dylan benefit concert
for NAACP. Admission was $3.00
December 1, 2011 at 5:30 am |
[...] but hungry for success and experiences, his observations of the winter he arrived—”the cold was brutal and every [...]