New York City Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - If the walls of 116 MacDougal Street could talk, they'd recite the poetry of Bob Dylan, says owner Thomas Sullivan.
"He lived upstairs and recorded an album here and pretty much hung out here and helped all his other friends of that time and era that performed here and some of the other places on this street," says Sullivan.
Dylan's birthday will be celebrated tonight with live acoustic performances and two-for-one drinks at the venue now known as 116. The Greenwich Village location was once the Gaslight Cafe and was where Dylan's "Live at the Gaslight" album was recorded.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond In The Village And SoHo
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"Of course we don't expect him to show up, but if he did that would be absolutely amazing. He should come back here sometime. If anybody's listening that knows Bob, please speak to him, please, please, please," Sullivan tells WCBS 880 reporter Marla Diamond.
The streets in the Village that Dylan walked when he arrived 50 years ago are remarkably unchanged -- MacDougal Street among them.
According to some, the whole spirit of that Village is gone.
"Look around now, everybody is like bourgeois, they got their nose stuck in the air. Back then, it wasn't like that. Everybody was a friend to everybody even though you didn't know the person," one man told 1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan.
1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan Speaks With New Yorkers On MacDougal Street
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Sheridan also met a tourist from Ireland outside the Cafe Wha on MacDougal Street. He had a list of sites associated with Dylan that he hoped to visit on his second trip to New York.
He said during his last trip he "didn't have time to check out any specific venues," but planned to see the sights this time around.
At 70, the rock legend is still performing, but Dylan has not been back to the place where it all began.
At the Morrison Hotel Gallery in SoHo, for a short time, fans can get a rare glimpse of never before seen Dylan photos backstage taken by longtime friend Ken Regan.
"This is the first time Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan ever met each other. So, I'm sure Bruce was just mesmerized by whatever Bob was saying," said gallery owner Peter Blatchley of one of the photos.
LINK: Morrison Hotel Gallery
He says young people are buying these photos of a timeless rock legend.
"You know, there's Keats, there's Shakespeare, there's Dylan. I mean, he's up there with all those people. He will be," says Blatchley.
The Morrison Hotel Gallery SoHo is located at 124 Prince Street.
