Perry Street

Recently, the New York Public Library posted a searchable version of the 1940 New York phone book on line, with links to the census of 1940, which is also on line.  So I looked up my mother's family, and there they were, listed as living at 33 Perry Street in Greenwich village in 1940.   I knew anecdotally that they had moved around New York a lot.   And the census showed the four of them (including my mother's sister) living there. (And it turns out that the young Thomas Merton, the theologian, lived next door.)
So I went to see the house, and here it is:

All of this was a pretext for a long walk around Greenwich Village; the first thing I saw, was, a bit further down the street (66 Perry Street), a few people taking pictures.  I wondered what famous resident of the Village had lived in that house.   A quick check on Google revealed that it was the exterior location of the townhouse of the fictional character Carrie Bradshaw in the series "Sex and the City".  And I thought it would be some real person's house...

The West Village, is at this point, an incredibly chic and affluent neighborhood of historic low rise townhouses and small apartment buildings.  And many restaurants and bars, usually with signs out front reminding patrons to be quiet so as to not disturb the neighbors.   Doesn't sound good.

I saw this interesting old cobblestone alley near Charles Street and the river:

A few days later, I was at MOMA, and there was a picture of the same alley, taken by Bernice Abbott: