Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Greene Street between West 4th and East 8th

Let's start with some geography fun. 

Greene Street runs north-south, including in Greenwich Village along these 3 blocks. After being interrupted by some NYU buildings, it continues in SoHo down to Canal Street. 

You may have noticed that I said it lasts 3 blocks in Greenwich Village, even though it goes from 4th to 8th Street. That's because in this area there is no 5th, 6th, or 7th Street. They exist in the East Village but end a few blocks east of here where the street grid gets a bit funky. 

This is an NYU-heavy area, including Greene Street's intersection at West 4th Street. Here it is in a panorama shot, including a plaza and the NYU Stern School of Business to the left, and an NYU theater across the street from that.

Here is a look down Greene Street from the plaza, and then some closer shots of the theater building. 

On the other corner, across from the theater, is a place called Brod Kitchen. 

Its website says that brod is Swedish for 'bread.' I don't know how to pronounce it. There are two dots over the 'o,' which doesn't help me at all. 

There is some nice architecture at one of the corners of Greene and the next block up, Washington Place. I admittedly know nothing about architecture, but I thought the building looked nice:

 

Why does traditional building text etiquette have to make it "Vniversity" and "Bvilding"? It's only one more straight line to make it form a U. And in fact curves are clearly possible, just look at the S and R. The O is completely curved. So why not the U? If there's a story behind this practice I would be interested to hear it. Actually I'm not that interested... I guess it depends how good the story is.

Another corner of Greene and Washington Place has historical significance, being the site of the fire on March 25, 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which was on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of this building:

"Shirtwaist" was a term for women's blouses, which is what the factory made. The fire killed 146 employees, mostly young women who were Italian and Jewish immigrants. Overall, 123 women and 23 men died, and 71 more were injured.

Here is a photo from that day:

When the fire occurred, the workers could not leave because the doors had been locked to prevent unapproved breaks and stealing. This locking of the doors was common practice at the time. Because they were trapped, many people jumped out the windows. 

This tragedy led to significant new laws for improved safety and conditions in factories in New York State. 

At the time the building was called the Asch Building but is now the Brown Building and part of NYU.

The ILGWU mentioned in the plaque is the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. There are two other plaques on the corner:

Facing west from that corner you can see some of the eastern edge of Washington Square Park:

And this is looking up Greene Street from that corner, facing uptown:

There are several unmarked buildings on this next block, which is between Washington Place and Waverly Place. I believe they're the sides of more NYU buildings. For example, there's an NYU sign at the Waverly Place corner, across from the White Oak Tavern, which is in another nice building:

On the other side of this corner is more evidence of NYU, with a building marked 'Anthropology':

The two blocks of Greene Street that run from West 4th to Waverly are cobblestone streets, except at the intersections:

It's always nice when a street still has its old cobblestones exposed. Unless you're driving on it. 

Back at the White Oak Tavern, along its Greene Street side is a small stand sticking out:

I guess Barneys doesn't just sell suits anymore. 

Between the broth and the copy center is an unmarked hair salon.

That doesn't seem like a good business model but I admit it is pretty cool to not even have a sign for your store. 

Continuing down the block:

A lone orange brick... what does it mean?

Here's one of the corners at 8th Street, including yellow flowers over the art place and an Indian restaurant:

The other corner features Ricky's, which has beauty supplies:

I'm not too familiar with Ricky's but I've always enjoyed their colorful signs. 

Looking east down 8th Street towards the East Village:

And west down 8th Street towards the... wait for it... West Village:

And back down Greene Street, with our starting point at West 4th Street in the distance:

This section of Greene Street is worth visiting for its historical significance, and because it's a nice quiet area to explore if you need a break from all the competing music in Washington Square Park to the west, or from the traffic on Broadway to the east.