Greenwich Village is considered the center of a bohemian culture that has influenced not only New York City, but America as a whole. Once lush farmland far north of the Dutch and colonial city, the 1700s went from country estates and tobacco fields to an exclusive enclave of wealthy New Yorkers who escaped the crowds and diseases of a crowded seaport.

As the wealthy grew and moved north, elegant Renaissance townhouses have evolved into artist lofts, writers' studios and small, smoky, atmospheric bars and restaurants, filled with the creative, pulsing spirit of Greenwich Village.

We will walk with you from the earliest days of the Dutch colonists, the turbulent years of British rule, revolution, the formation of a new state and the Civil War, through the elegant years of the golden age, economic crisis and war years, through the era of the beatniks and hippies to the present day.

Greenwich Village has been and remains home to countless artists, writers, musicians, politicians and activists who have created a unique American culture. A number of today's most famous media and Hollywood personalities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts and Anderson Cooper and many others live here.

We begin our tour at the Washington Arch, located at the foot of golden Fifth Avenue, lined with 20th century residential buildings and 19th century churches. See the area's most eclectic building, the Jefferson Market Library.

Visit the last Victorian gas lamp still standing in New York. Stop at the cafe where celebrities such as Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Dylan started out. Explore the history and secrets of some of the area's most charming secluded courtyards and alleys. We will see the houses where Brodsky, Mark Twain, Edgar Poe lived. The house where the heroes of the series "Friends" lived. Let's go to the pharmacy, where Mark Twain and FD Roosevelt got drugs and much, much more.