1933 Frank Hanley Pictorial Map of Prohibition Era Greenwich Village, New York City

A wonderfully amusing February 1933 Prohibition Era (1920 - 1933) pictorial speakeasy and nightclub map of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City by the legendary New Yorker / Judge cartoonist Frank Hanley.

Onn the Map

The map is oriented roughly to the east. Washington Square Park appears in the upper right - with its distinctive fountain and arch. Coverage extends from 5th Avenue to Bedford Street, and from Webster Hall (125 East 11th Street), to Bleeker and Houston Streets. The map names numerous speakeasies, theaters, and, nightclubs, dancehalls, and more. Both NYU and the New School are tangentially noted. The map is additionally full of humorous text blurbs, among them our favorite, 'I tell you The Village is a State of Mind.'

In Context

This is the lesser known of two maps associated with the short-lived New York nightlife weekly magazine, Manhattan: A Weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers. The other map, which appeared in issue 1, is the famous E. Simms Campbell, Night Club Map of Harlem, which sold at Swann Galleries for an unprecedented 27,500 USD (Swann Galleries, Sale #2534, May 7, 2020).

The Speakeasies

Among the speakeasies identified are the mob-controlled 'Hot Feet Club' on Houston Street, which attracted 'some of the best crowds'. The 'Hot Feet Club' closed in 1933. It also notes 'El Chico', a speakeasy nightclub featuring 'authentically Spanish' entertainment. The cowboy themed 'Village Barn' is noted in the basement at 52 West Eighth Street. And of course, Leland Stanford Chumley's former speakeasy at 86 Bedford Street between Grove and Barrow Streets. Social establishments, which doubled as exclusive bars, such as the Salamagundi Club and the Liberal Club are noted on 5th Avenue.

Manhattan: A Weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers

This was a short-lived weekly magazine geared towards the New York nightlife scene in the 1933, at the height of the Prohibition Era (January 17, 1920 - December 5, 1933). The publication was inaugurated in January of 1933 and went through six issues (into February), before it folded. The magazine was the project of George T. Delacorte Jr. (June 20, 1894 - May 4, 1991), founder of Dell Publishing. Manhattan was contemporaneously described as more adventurous version of the New Yorker for the speakeasy scene. It featured theater, music, film, nightclub, and restaurant notices, as well as a weekly section on 'Speaks' or speakeasies, which curiously have no addresses. The magazine was distinctly left-leaning, railing against the 'Technocrat' movement and suggesting speakeasies be tasked to create a 'School for Backward Politicians.' Significantly for our interests, the magazine featured two centerfold maps, the legendary Elmer Simms Campbell (1906 - 1971) Night-Club Map of Harlem (January 18, 1933, No. 1, Vol. 1) and Frank Hanley's Chart of Greenwich Village (February 1, 1933, No. 3, Vol. 1). Today, due to small runs, a short publication period, and the ephemeral nature of the production, examples the magazine have become astoundingly scarce - for example, despite the claim that 75,000 people bought copies of issue 2, few are known to have survived today. The New York Public Library, nonetheless, appears to have the full six volume run, but it has not been digitized. Nonetheless, we have done our small part here in digitizing the entire issue. Scholars of February 1 - 7, 1933 New York City nightlife will be, no doubt, forever in our debt.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Frank Hanley and published in the 3rd issue of Dell Publishing's New York society weekly, Manhattan: A weekly for Wakeful New Yorkers, February 1, 1933. Few examples are known, either of the complete issue (as here) or the separate map. Yale and Cornell hold examples of individual issues, but neither have this issue. The only known complete archive is at the New York Public Library, which holds all 6 issues. This is the only known example in private hands and is apparently considerably rarer that issue 1, which appears at auction from time to time.