Bohemia Leaves Greenwich Village early 1900s to 1920
Why did Bohemia flee Greenwich Village by 1920? Several reasons led to their departure to Paris.
Greenwich Village in New York City is a haven for developing artists and free-thinkers. The progressive attitudes of the residents went on the launch several social movements.
But the original bohemians of the 1910s that popularized the neighborhood were priced-out of the neighborhood after a new subway line drove up rent prices, and the police commissioner made a concentrated effort to get rid of them.
From 1914 to 1918 newspapers began to pick up on the rich culture of Greenwich Village.
Greenwich Village is a neighborhood in New York City on the lower west side of Manhattan.
Artists, poets, writers, and other who scoffed at traditional society flocked to the area. Locals often gathered to share their art, talk about societal issues, and indulge in vices.
However, by 1919 New York City's subway lines were expanding - bringing neighborhoods closer than ever.
The Seventh Avenue subway line was extended, making the distance from Greenwich Village to Wall Street only ten minutes. This was dramatically closer than it had been.
Rent prices around Wall Street were dramatically more expensive, since those working in the area made a much higher income than the "starving artists" of bohemia. The new proximity due to the subway expansion caused rent prices in Greenwich Village to increase.
In addition to the rising rent prices, the police commissioner of the time, Commissioner Enright, believed the bohemians didn't belong in the area. He made a concentrated effort to drive them out.
The mounting pressure to move, paired with the dramatic rent increase, pushed most bohemians out of the city.
A large percentage of these bohemians moved on from New York City to Paris. This contributed to the rise of the bohemian scene in Paris during the 1920s.
Bohemians in Paris, France.
