Attend the October Launch Party for a Trendy Greenwich Village Coloring Book

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Roll up a joint, sit on a dusty stoop and whip out your coloring crayons. A kitschy adult coloring book of scenes from Greenwich Village's legendary hippie past is having its official launch party Oct. 15. It's held by City BLOCKS Culture Collective (CBCC), the Toronto-based organization that created it from scratch in partnership with the Greenwich Village Alliance.

Rafi Ghanaghounian, founder of BLOCKS, told Patch that he had the idea to dedicate the coloring book, called BLOCKS NYC Greenwich Village Coloring Book, to the old Village of the 1960s and '70s. His first visit to the Village when he was a child was magical, he said, because he'd always been obsessed with bands who lived there, like Bob Dylan, the Ramones and Led Zeppelin.

"Of course, as a kid, everybody wants to go to the Village 'cause it's music history, like '60s, '70s kind of stuff." Ghanaghounian told Patch. "That was our intention with the coloring book, to recognize the history of the Village. There's coloring involved, it's art-related, but the exciting thing is you can take it and actually learn from the locations."

He had created a similar coloring book project for the Kensington Market neighborhood of Toronto a year earlier, and he sold hundreds more books than he had originally expected to sell, so he decided to do the same with the Village.

Ghanaghounian said local organizations and community members of the Village have been extremely supportive and excited about the book's release. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, as well as local Business Improvement Districts, are looking forward to the launch.

The Toronto native said he chose a coloring book because it's more interactive than just a photo collection.

"It's therapeutic. For me it's the idea that you can change things," Ghanaghounian said. "When you get to the building and Caffe Reggio is all green, but you can color it in spots, you can make it pink, you can make it whatever you want. You're playing your own creator. That goes with the spirit of the Village, which is a very sort of bohemian lifestyle."

The book features 25 drawings by artist David Setrakian of coffee houses and music venues across the Village, and album covers shot around town.

Each book comes wrapped in a "replica record sleeve" and boasts a map that shows the exact spot of each location in the book.

A video about the book features Ghanaghounian's high-school-aged son, whom the BLOCKS founder said he's bonded with through the coloring book.

"My kid is a high school guy, but he's in a band and loves most of the bands that came out in New York in the '60s and '70s," he said. "This was a way to bridge the generation gap with my kid as well."

Ghanaghounian said the coloring book is extremely important for motivating people to want to preserve the old Village. He said the changes that have happened to the community in the past few decades have been heartbreaking.

"Stores come stores go, but it's tragic the way it's going," he said. "The crazy increase in rent, that there's no appreciation for any of the history of it, other than a plaque that goes up here and there, it's tragic."

It's more important than ever, he said, to remember the rebellious spirit of the old Village.

"It's super punk to color outside the lines," he said. "I'm not a grownup anymore, I don't have to listen to anybody."

The free book launch — with drinks, light snacks and a chance to meet its creators — is being held Saturday, Oct. 15 at Lomography Gallery Store at 41 W. 8th St. from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., the organization is holding an hour-and-a-half walking tour through the Village of some of the sites featured in the book. The tour guide will be Bob Egan who runs Pop Spots, a website dedicated to finding the locations that appear on classic album covers.

Photo credit: BLOCKSNYC Coloring Book