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Village Vanguard

Village Vanguard

178 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014


Future CBGB owner Hilly Kristal was the manager of the famed jazz club the Village Vanguard in the 1950s before opening Hilly’s on East Thirteenth Street, where he booked folk and blues acts throughout the 1960s.

Stories

From the Village Vanguard to Hilly’s on the Bowery to CBGB

People

CBGB had been around since 1969 in an earlier incarnation, Hilly’s on the Bowery, which was named after owner Hilly Kristal. He began his nightlife career in 1959 as the manager of the jazz club the Village Vanguard, and went on to open Hilly’s on East Thirteenth Street, where he booked folk and blues acts throughout the 1960s. Like many in the downtown’s bohemian circles, Kristal put down roots on the east side. “One of the drinking places we went to when I was doing shows at the Old Reliable was a place called Hilly’s on the Bowery,” recalled playwright Michael McGrinder. “It was a big, big, place. One day there was a new sign outside and it said, CBGB & OMFUG. I said to Hilly, ‘What’s going on? What do those letters mean?’ He said, ‘CBGB—Country, BlueGrass, Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gourmandizers.’ I don’t know if it was a whim or what the hell was going on, but Hilly couldn’t put his name to anything because he had no credit left in the world. Everything was in his wife Karen’s name.”

From Chapter 30 of The Downtown Pop Underground — order online, or from a local independent bookstore