{{Short description|Greenwich Village coffeehouse (1958–1971)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox venue | name = The Gaslight Cafe | image = Site of the former Gaslight Cafe.jpg | image_size = 275px | image_caption = The former site of the Gaslight Cafe as seen in November 2021. | location = 116 MacDougal Street<br> New York City, New York<br> United States | type = Coffeehouse | event = Folk music, et al. | opened = 1958 |closed = 1971 | seating_capacity = | coordinates = {{coord|40|43|47.01|N|74|0|1.93|W|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}} | owner = {{Plainlist| * John Mitchell * John Moyant * Sam Hood * Ed Simon }} | promotions = | website = }}
'''The Gaslight Cafe''' was a coffeehouse in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Also called The Village Gaslight, it opened in 1958 and became a venue for folk music and other musical acts.<ref name="bobdylanroots">Al Aronowitz. {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120728140700/http://www.bobdylanroots.com/al1.html The Gaslight, memoir]}}. Retrieved June 25, 2010</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bobdylanroots.de/gaslight.html|title=VENUES: The Gaslight Café, New York, NY|first=Manfred|last=Helfert|website=Bobdylanroots.de|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref> It closed in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gvshp.org/blog/2014/01/22/upstairsdownstairs-a-night-out-on-macdougal-street/|first=Sheryl|last=Woodruff|title=Upstairs/Downstairs: A Night Out on MacDougal Street|date=January 22, 2014|work=Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation}}</ref>
==History== The Gaslight was originally a "basket house" where unpaid performers would pass around a basket at the end of each set and hope to be paid. Opened in 1958 by John Mitchell, the Gaslight showcased beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso but later became a folk-music club. John Moyant bought the club in 1961. Moyant's father-in-law, Clarence Hood, and his son, Sam, managed the club through the late 1960s. Ed Simon, the owner of The Four Winds, reopened the Gaslight in 1968. The club was run by Betty Smyth, mother of Scandal lead singer Patty Smyth, and blues guitarist/performer Susan Martin until it closed in 1971.<ref name="bobdylanroots" /><ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=GASLIGHT CAFE (116 MacDougal Street) |url=http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/tag/gaslight-cafe/ |website=New York Rocker |access-date=2 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126092753/http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/tag/gaslight-cafe/ |archive-date=26 November 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Folk musician and actor Gil Robbins worked as the club's manager in the late 1960s.<ref name=latimes>{{cite news |first=Keith |last=Thursby |title=Gil Robbins dies at 80; member of the 1960s folk group the Highwaymen |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gil-robbins-20110410-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413162554/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/11/local/la-me-gil-robbins-20110410 |url-status=live |archive-date=April 13, 2011 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-04-11 |access-date=2011-04-14}}</ref><ref name=cbc>{{cite news |title=Folk singer Gil Robbins dies at 80 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/folk-singer-gil-robbins-dies-at-80-1.1074399 |publisher=CBC News |date=2011-04-11 |access-date= 2011-04-14}}</ref>
The club was next door and down the stairs from the street-level bar, the Kettle of Fish, where many performers hung out between sets,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rightherenyc.com/MUSIC_SCENE_FOLK.html|title=Greenwich Village Folk Clubs|website=Rightherenyc.com|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gvshp.org/blog/2014/01/22/upstairsdownstairs-a-night-out-on-macdougal-street/|title=Upstairs/Downstairs: A Night Out on MacDougal Street|website=Gvshp.org|date=January 22, 2014|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gvshp.org/blog/2015/01/06/folk-music-in-greenwich-village-1961-1970s/|title=Folk Music in Greenwich Village: 1961-1970 - Village Preservation|website=Gvshp.org|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref> including Bob Dylan.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20020818160135/http://bobdylanroots.com/kettle.html The Kettle of Fish]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gaslight Cafe and Kettle of Fish |url=http://www.new-pony.com/tour/gaslightkettle.html |website=New Pony |access-date=2 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010425020046/http://www.new-pony.com/tour/gaslightkettle.html |archive-date=25 April 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Also nearby was the Folklore Center, a bookstore/record store owned by Izzy Young and notable for being a musicians' gathering place and center of the New York folk-music scene.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/the-first-stop-for-aspiring-1960s-folkies-izzy-youngs-folklore-center|title=The first stop for aspiring 1960s folkies, Izzy Young’s Folklore Center | Folklife Today|first=Nicole|last=Saylor|date=March 8, 2016|website=The Library of Congress|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20020415092515/http://www.bobdylanroots.com/fcenter.html The Folklore Center]}}</ref> ''Live at The Gaslight 1962'' (2005), a single CD release including ten songs from early Dylan performances at the club, was released by Columbia Records.<ref>{{cite web |title=Still On The RoaD 1962 CONCERTS and RECORDING SESSIONS |url=http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00150%201962.htm |website=bjorner.com |access-date=2 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030105142635/http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00150%201962.htm#DSN00265 |archive-date=5 January 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bobdylan.com/date/1962-10-15-gaslight-caf%C3%A9/|title=Gaslight Café | The Official Bob Dylan Site|website=Bobdylan.com|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref>
In the ''Folk Music Encyclopedia'', Kristin Baggelaar and Donald Milton wrote "The Gaslight was weird then because there were air shafts up to the apartments and the windows of the Gaslight would open into the air shafts, so when people would applaud, the neighbors would get disturbed and call the police. So then the audience couldn't applaud; they had to snap their fingers instead."
Brian Fallon, the lead singer and guitarist of The Gaslight Anthem, has said that the band's name came from The Gaslight Cafe as he had heard it was one of the first places that Bob Dylan had played and liked the sound of the word and the imagery it brought about.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fallon|first1=Brian|url=http://thebrianfallon.tumblr.com/post/138741699074/when-you-came-up-for-the-name-for-gaslight-did|website=Thebrainfallon.tumblr.com|title=When you came up for the name for gaslight....}}</ref>
==Performers== Among those who performed at the Gaslight were Bill Cosby;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dinnerpartydownload.org/bill-cosby/index.html|title=The Complicated Comedy Career of Bill Cosby|first=Rico|last=Gagliano|date=September 18, 2014|website=Dinnerpartydownload.org|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref> Bob Dylan;<ref name="RSDylan"/> Joni Mitchell (her first ever appearance in NYC, in 1966, with Chuck Mitchell); Luke Faust, a five-string banjo player and singer who sang Appalachian ballads; Len Chandler; Paul Clayton; Luke Askew; Wavy Gravy; Joan Rivers; Bruce Springsteen. 1964–1966 saw many early performances by Richie Havens, Jose Feliciano, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Eddie Mottau, Eric Andersen, John Herald,<ref name="RSDylan"/> Ralph Rinzler,<ref name="RSDylan"/> The Greenbriar Boys, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Carolyn Hester, Elizabeth Cotten and Dave Van Ronk. The first public "electric" appearance of The Blues Project (with Danny Kalb) took place at the club. Mississippi John Hurt and Jesse Fuller ("Lone Cat") played there. Jimi Hendrix<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bestclassicbands.com/jimi-hendrix-greenwich-village-9-15-155/|title=Remembering Jimi Hendrix in Greenwich Village|first=Noe|last=Gold|date=November 27, 2023|website=Bestclassicbands.com|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref> and Eric Clapton sat in together<ref>Forman, Bill (January 28, 2010). "Tangled up in blues: John Hammond recalls his meetings with Clapton, Hendrix, Dylan and Waits". Colorado Springs Independent</ref> for a week at the Gaslight with John Hammond Jr.<ref>[http://www.bostream.nu/johanb/spirit/blfl.htm Interview] with Randy California {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20030312193139/http://www.bostream.nu/johanb/spirit/blfl.htm |date=2003-03-12 }}. Retrieved June 25, 2010</ref> An array of musicians also performed at the club in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Odetta, Son House,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYE4pkvjBlwC&dq=son+house+at+the+gaslight+cafe&pg=PT28|title=Preachin' the Blues: The Life and Times of Son House|first=Daniel|last=Beaumont|date=July 1, 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=July 26, 2025|via=Google Books}}</ref> Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bonnie Raitt, Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Big Mama Thornton, Link Wray, Mimi Fariña, jazz musician Charles Mingus, Happy Traum and Artie Traum, Doug Kershaw, Bob Neuwirth, David Bromberg, David Buskin, Janis Siegel (who later joined The Manhattan Transfer), and others.<ref>Add: Buffy Saint-Marie who headlined with Dave van Ronk, summer of 1964. [http://www.beachamjournal.com/journal/2012/04/friends-of-mike-porco-bring-folk-music-back-to-greenwich-village.html Friends of Mike Porco bring Folk Music back to the village]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/12/the-story-of-the-gaslight-cafe-where-dylan-premiered-a-hard-rains-a-gonna-fall/|title=The Story of the Gaslight Café, Where Dylan Premiered 'A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall'|first=Kasper van|last=Laarhoven|date=December 28, 2016|website=Bedfordandbowery.com|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com/2011/11/1967-ads-revisited-gaslight-cafe.html|title=IT'S ALL THE STREETS YOU CROSSED NOT SO LONG AGO: 1967 Ads Revisited: The Gaslight Cafe|website=Streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com|date=November 18, 2011|access-date=July 26, 2025}}</ref>
==In popular culture== * Bobbie Ann Mason in her 1999 memoir ''Clear Springs'' writes of hearing "beatnik poetry" at the Gaslight in the early 1960s.<ref>Mason, Bobbie Ann, ''Clear Springs: A Memoir'', Random House, 1999, page 116</ref> * ''Mad Men'': "Babylon" (6th episode of the first season), created by Matthew Weiner (2007) * ''Inside Llewyn Davis'' (2013) * ''Live at The Gaslight 1962'': live album by Bob Dylan * Documentary on the musicians and history made at the Gaslight during its prime: ''Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation''<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Laura Archibald (director) |date=2012 |title=Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation |language=en |url=http://greenwichmusicdoc.com |location=New York, NY |publisher=Kino Lorber |oclc=842426241 }}</ref> *''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'': The Gaslight is Midge Maisel's main venue for stand-up comedy acts. * Dave Van Ronk's song "Gaslight Rag" * David Bowie's song "(You Will) Set the World on Fire" on ''The Next Day'' album. * ''A Complete Unknown'' (2024)
==See also== *Cafe Wha? *Cafe Au Go Go *Gerde's Folk City *The Bitter End
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="RSDylan">{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/18092/105668 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100803152048/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/18092/105668| archive-date=2010-08-03|title=Early Bob Dylan: Classic Photographs from the 1960s| access-date=2014-04-28| magazine= Rolling Stone| url-status=dead | quote=Bob Dylan stands between Ralph Rinzler and John Herald of the folk and bluegrass group the Greenbriar Boys at the Gaslight nightclub in New York City, 1959.}}</ref> }}
==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VMWACzDI0o Bob Neuwirth at the Gaslight ''Rock Salt and Nails'' 1967] from YouTube *[http://www.google.com/search?q=The+Gaslight+Cafe&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=8ro&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=lLyyS9a6BoX7lweiw-CIBQ&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CCsQ5wIwCg Google Timeline for the Gaslight Cafe]
{{Greenwich Village}} {{New York City performance spaces}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaslight Cafe, The}} Category:1958 establishments in New York City Category:1971 disestablishments in New York City Category:Beat Generation Category:Defunct coffeehouses and cafés in Manhattan Category:Cultural history of New York City Category:Drinking establishments in Greenwich Village Category:Folk music venues in the United States Category:Former music venues in New York City Category:Music venues in Manhattan Category:Nightclubs in Manhattan Category:Restaurants established in 1958 Category:Restaurants disestablished in 1971 Category:Defunct restaurants in Manhattan