Gerde's Folk City

Gerde's Folk City at 11 West 4th Street was where Bob Dylan played his first professional New York City gig on April 11, 1961, opening for John Lee Hooker. He performed to a small but attentive crowd. The venue returned Dylan to the stage on September 29, 1961, when New York Times critic Robert Shelton reviewed the performance and described the 20-year-old as a 'distinctive stylist' -- the review that effectively launched Dylan's national reputation and led directly to his signing with Columbia Records.

Folk City opened officially on January 26, 1960, as the beating heart of the New York folk revival. It was here that Dylan was heard by producer John Hammond, who signed him shortly after Shelton's review. The venue also hosted the first documented public performance of 'Blowin' in the Wind' and is cited as the location where Dylan and Joan Baez first met. Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, and virtually every important folk musician of the early 1960s played here. The club moved to 130 West 3rd Street in 1970 and closed permanently in 1987.

The original building at 11 West 4th Street no longer exists -- it was demolished during urban renewal. The later 130 West 3rd Street premises also no longer operate as a music venue. No plaque or marker commemorates the site's role in music history. A revival of the Gerde's Folk City name has been discussed at various points, but the original site remains unmarked -- a gap in the Greenwich Village streetscape where arguably the most important single venue of the 1960s folk revival once stood.