3.5 stars, rounded up. It was a treat to go back in time from the highly gentrified West Village we know today through the eyes of Donna Florio, who has seen and lived the evolution through the last six decades. I’m not sure how vast an audience this book will capture, for though those interested in exploring a microcosm of 20th century NYC history, this is a fun read. The opening pages provide immediate insight into what an eclectic and diverse neighborhood has been through its residents – just to name a very few, Alan Arkin, Auntie Mame, Langston Hughes, the Lennon/Onos, Edward Hopper, Harvey Weinstein, Bella Abzug, and Sid Vicious, the inspiration for one of the wittiest lines of the book, “Some neighbors are better on your T-shirt.”
Overall, “Growing Up Bank Street” is a charming look at a bygone era of a true neighborhood, while not romanticizing as idyllic – while the level of diversity and tolerance was clearly higher in the West Village than in other parts of the country during the 1950s and beyond, “Mine was a typical Village childhood… No matter what you were – rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, mixed-race, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, left-wing, right-wing – some other kids had it out for you.”
The chapters that focus solely on one household at a time are the most effective; the sections that interlude are a little less so, a jumpy and jumbled laundry list of non sequiturs, while at the same time a bit repetitive, seemingly in the interest of driving the eclectic nature of Bank Street home.
Florio’s brushes with the most prominent of her neighbors are interesting enough, though it’s the more everyday residents of the street who make for the most interesting of stories; poignant first-row seats to some of the most historic of 20th and early 21st century events, McCarthyism, the AIDS epidemic, and 9/11 through the author’s own eyes, just to name a few. Floris says it best herself, “This building of mine… holds the stories of America.”
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Growing Up Bank Street is an amazing book and memoir about life on Bank Street and all the amazing people who lived there.. Donna Florio grew up there knowing and singing opera, dumping water on John Lennon’s head, living by Sid Vicious and his drug overdose, living and knowing Auntie Mame, AIDS and it’s victims, and watching the World Trade centers crash and fall. This book makes you know you missed something extraordinary not being there. I look forward to reading more from Donna Florio.
Thank you NetGalley and New York University Press for a preview copy of this book.
@Netgalley @NewYorkUniversityPress @GrowingUpOnBankStreet

I was drawn to read this book for several reasons. The main one was the fact that when John Lennon and Yoko Ono first moved to New York City, they lived in an apartment at 105 Bank Street. Not only that, the author of this book, Donna Florio, saw them one day and had a humorous story to tell about it. Another thing is that when I was in the later years of high school, some friends of mine encouraged me to play hooky and take a bus and then a PATH Train to the village in NYC. This was scandalous behavior for me, a goody two shoes. But, these were the days when parents didn't get computerized phone calls about their children's absence from school. So, we met at the agreed meeting place, the main public library in town, and went off on our adventure. We purchased white capezio shoes in the village that were the rage at the time. Several decades later I now find NYC loud and chaotic and would endure it for a major concert, but can't wait for the car service to get me back home. One evening driving home from a concert my brother looked out the cab window at some NYC apartment and said, "the rooms are probably so small you have to go outside just to change your mind!" Although I feel very unsettled about being in NYC now, I am fascinated about people who live there and love reading about them.

Donna Florio has lived at 63 Bank Street in the village of NYC for decades. The book chronicles her life in that community which was chock full of various colorful artists and social activists. She delves deeply into some of their stories, which I connected to mostly when she became a part of them. As a child and as an adult, she interacted with this hodge podge of unique people, many of whom became like family. A big mention was the woman who was "Auntie Mame" who lived in an opulent but seriously neglected home on Bank Street. This woman had a big heart and a lot of offbeat hangers on she welcomed into her dilapidated brownstone. Her nephew Patrick Dennis based his wildly successful book on her which became a movie and Broadway musical.

Another brush with fame was washed up punk rock musician Sid Vicious. He lived right across the hall from Donna, shortly after the mess of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen's murder by stabbing. Sid had been let out on bail after being arrested for Nancy's murder. Having struggled with heroin addiction, this is what finally finished Sid off when he died at 63 Bank Street on February 2, 1979. When Donna stepped outside into the cold that morning as a favor to get her friend some cold medicine, she had no idea of the media storm she would face. For news reporters flanked the stairway as she exited the apartment, asking her about the Sid Vicious death. This was the first time she was hearing about it, and she was in total shock. She encourages people to look up the video on YouTube where she exclaims, "Oh my gawd!!!" in her NY accent...and I did!

Another famous neighbor was Charles Kuralt, journalist for "On the Road" segments on CBS. Ironically enough, the personal interaction with John and Yoko- although super cute and special-was probably the most brief biographical one in the book, but my main reason for picking it up!

As for Donna Florio the author, her parents were involved with a local neighborhood theater, and Donna herself was a childhood opera singer, although did not opt for this as a lifelong career. She became a teacher and was working in a school quite close to the World Trade Center at the moment of its attack. This caused her to suffer from extreme post traumatic stress disorder for a time and she did not want to leave the house.

I was particularly intrigued at the beginning of the book when she described the layout of the apartment she was born into, and how it had evolved through renovations over the years. She had lived in various apartments in the building as had other family members. I wasn't prepared to take a deep dive into some of the extended stories about notable people on Bank Street, but skimmed a bit through those pages. Overall this was a delightful read, because she is a wonderful and gifted writer, and also seems like a very nice person.

Thank you to NYU Press for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

Growing Up Bank Street by Donna Florio is a brilliant and sparkling coming of age story about growing up in the historic, close knit but extremely diverse neighborhood of Greenwich Village in the middle of the last century. The author has tender and loving memories of the eccentric but caring, encouraging and supportive characters she encountered everyday. The neighborhood was made up of wealthy and affluent people who lived in elegant brownstones but right down the street were hard living, hard working blue collar families who were just as important in shaping Donna's childhood. This street was home to musicians, rock stars, beatniks, movie stars, artists and visionaries as well as the somewhat downtrodden neighbors futher down the same street. All of these people brought inspiration and color to Donna's everyday life as she learned about these people's eccentric lifestyles and rules for living life.
This eclectic environment gave Donna a most interesting and enjoyable life as she was told by Auntie Mame you are a "divine flame from the universe" and John Lennon laughed with her when she accidentally dropped water on his head as he walked by! And when Sid Vicious, who lived in the apartment next door overdoses and dies Donna must wake up and faces some of the dangerous choices she is making.
This enjoyable memoir has a colorful cast of characters who shaped this young, impressive,creative, ambitious and bright girl's daily life.

I have been in love with New York City since I was a child, so whenever I see stories that take place in this magical city I have to take the chance and read them.

This was a fascinating way to experience what New York City feels like or had felt like, from someone who actually walked the cobbled streets and spent her life there.

The entire story has a nostalgic feel to it, and I love that you get to experience New York City from back then. I know that the situation today is very different. This kind of picked me up and transported me into the past a bit, which I really like.

Who would like it? Everyone who loves New York, and once to hear about it from someone first hand.

One of my favourite memories of my trip to the US is a visit to the fabled Washington Square Park, with its reputation as hallowed ground for the counter culture and folk rock. It was as lovely as I imagined, as was Greenwich Village. I've always tended to romanticise Greenwich Village a bit because of its 60s reputation, and the wonderfully well written Mayor of Macdougal Street, so reading this was an absolute no brainier for me. This beautiful memoir written by Donna Florio, of her life in Greenwich Village, is her account from the perspective of a resident of The eponymous ( and famous) Bank Street, and attempts to, in a way, let daylight in on the magic! It's so well written she succeeds in further burnishing its reputation! What sets this apart is her lyrical account of a life that's sort of ancillary to the artistic world- her mother was an opera singer, her father a stage manager. The writer herself trained as a child to be an opera singer, and she writes very insightfully about how hard it is to succeed, and actually make a sustainable living from the arts. It's a completely de-romanticised view of the starving Bohemian, and actually makes quite a case for more public funding for the arts- someone who wants to make a career in the field should have access to affordable childcare, for instance. She gives you a historical overview of the neighbourhood, its founding, the environs, the immigrants who peopled it, the architectural styles favoured. She then takes you through her life, through a series of vignettes about her neighbours:some of them artists, some teachers, writers, some famous, all of them absolutely compelling to read about, and reveal a new facet to the neighbourhood. This could have been just another memoir of someone who lived among famous people and their idiosyncrasies, but Donna Florio is far too intelligent for that. Even her account of her hedonistic party days with Sid Vicious are tinged with melancholia rather than nostalgia. Hugely recommend this even if you're not interested at all in Greenwich Village- it's a fascinating read on the evolution of a neighbourhood and how the process of gentrification works.

Very grateful I got the chance to review this ARC, #NetGalley #GrowingupBankStreet

Donna Florio was born and raised at 63 Bank Street in New York City, a now iconic street consisting of six blocks and a wide range of social classes and people.

Growing Up Bank Street describes Donna’s childhood in the 1960s growing up in a busy apartment building with an array of characters. Though her life would seem anything but normal to outsiders, for her, it was all the norm. Bank Street was well ahead of its time in terms of racial and sexual diversity and this exposed Donna to a beautiful and crazy life.

The novel tells many stories of the tenants at 63 Bank Street as well as some of the more reputable or famous residents who lived elsewhere on the street. I loved the connections the neighbors made with each other in a seemingly anonymous city. It was really special how they looked out for one another and how many of them became family.

I preferred the chapters that went into detail about specific people rather than the parts of the book that highlighted many different people and events. I also think I would have enjoyed this book more had I been more familiar with many of the people she discussed. Even most of the celebrities weren’t overly familiar to me as I don’t have much historical knowledge about famous actors and individuals. For someone knowledgeable about Broadway actors and iconic people living in NYC in the 1960s and 1970s, I’m sure they will adore this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, BookishFirst, and New York University Press for a copy of this novel.

This was a historically vibrant and enticing novel in everything that encased it. I loved and adored the infinite aspects that moved towards this and though it wasn’t exactly my typical pick, it was thoroughly enjoyable and endlessly spectacular.

This is a who's who of those people living on and around Bank Street. The author grew up in one of the apartment buildings and gives us the background of the residents, famous and not so famous.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Donna Florio mixes up a smooth cocktail of historical background, nostalgic simplicity, gritty accuracy, and a splash of sentiment in her recollections and stories in Growing Up Bank Street. For readers who love nonfiction, history, and biographies; GUBS does not disappoint. Even if you’ve never experienced family life in a crowded, densely populated urban neighborhood, you can close your eyes and see, hear and smell, Greenwich Village from Donna’s youth.

She captures the vibrant, colorful stokes of its artist population, while dutifully making note of the disparity between the have’s and have nots, the survivors, the mentally ill, the do-ers, and the takers; and she does all of this from her genuine perspective of a full fledged, born and raised Villager. Her narrative is clean and concise, and she successfully pulls the curtain back to give us a view of a world we never knew but from her prose, can certainly imagine.

This is a great read. It left me longing to know more about the people, the characters, the world that was her world.

This is a really colorful and interesting book that captures the spirit of NYC's Village very well. I was hoping for more of a cohesive story rather than vignettes that, at times, could seem a little long.

I turned this book in before finishing. I felt it was more of a documentary than a story ! I don't care for that time of book so I can't give a review! N

I loved this book! The authors life and the very interesting lives of her neighbors are very well told and makes you feel that you are along with her. Certainly different than my small town Oklahoma background! I am suggesting it to my brother a long time NYC resident

A very lovely memoir that felt like a short story collection.
Donna Florio talks lovingly about the neighbours she lived around on Bank Street (New York) and how they shaped her life. Some known names, such as Sid Vicious and John Lennon, others regular people that had interesting stories.
I naturally loved the stories surrounding Lennon and Vicious, being a big music fan. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how charmed I was listening to the stories of the regular folk. A brilliant reminder of the importance of the people around us, no matter how ordinary they are.
Only a small amount of name dropping so it didn't take away from the true essence of the memoir.

Likely with short stories, there were parts I was really interested in and ones less so. I felt that some weren't as strong as others and could have actually been left out.

If you have any interest in short stories, New York and the power of community and finding a family amongst neighbours, this could be the book for you.

This memoir was very rich in details of the famous and infamous, sane and insane people that lived on and near Bank Street. So many little snippets though I wish it was in a more chronological manner because sometimes on one page the author is a little girl and then the next she is a teenager and then fully grown. That was a bit jarring and confusing. I liked the bits with the theater and working it, that was slightly more chronological. I would say this book reads a bit like the ramblings of an older relative relating little tidbits of fascination as they travel in time in their head. Though the stories are very well researched to make sure that they are true. I found that pretty interesting all the effort that the author put into making sure it was right. That was also written about in the book. The pictures in the middle were cool too and helped me to picture certain moments that had been mentioned.

I think the only thing that would make this better would have been to have all the residents have their own sections and more chronological instead of paragraphs here and there making it hard for me to remember who was which story. Definitely an interesting book though and made me think how interesting my neighbors might be if I really got to know them.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fascinating and entertaining look at a most unconventional childhood and neighbourhood. As someone who grew up in the "family homestead" in a small farm town, Florio's childhood could not be more foreign to me. Yet she makes the Village sound like a small town. The dangers are there, never whitewashed, but one forgets them when the next unique character is described. This reads like a love letter to the place and past, as well as memoir.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This read like a love letter to the past and in that it was beautiful.

I have to say I expected something a bit different when I read the synopsis and after reading the book, I feel like I was not the target audience for it. At times I found myself reading about people who I didn't know but felt like I had to.

The writing felt a bit chaotic sometimes, some chapters were simply more interesting than others. Overall was a pleasant reading experience, I think I have a piece of Bank Street with me now.

Growing Up Bank Street by Donna Florio
Pub date: March 9, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

If you love NYC, especially Greenwich Village, then this is the memoir for you. Florio is so passionate about where she grew up, she writes so tenderly about a place she loves. Florio describes, in detail, the many people she has encountered through her time at Bank Street. She talks about the famous and non famous neighbors through the years.

The only issue I had was that some of the thoughts seemed random or did not flow. There were a several parts where I thought, “Awesome, I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about that...” then there was no detail or there was a small amount of detail later in the book. Overall, if you enjoy memoirs, I would recommend this book.

A special thanks to @netgalley and @nyupress for the early approval to this e-ARC!

#netgalley #netgalleyreview #nyupress #booksbooksbooks #readmorebooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #readersofig #bookish #bookishlove #bookishlife #ereader

If you want to learn about the good, the bad and the ugly of Greenwich Village….read this book! Donna Florio’s chronicle of Bank Street and surrounding streets provides, a detailed account of a host of characters that not only shaped New York City, but also the world. On Bank Street you would find, scientists, novelists, socialites, poets, vaudeville actors, members of the American Communist Party, Sid Vicious, Bella Abzug and John and Yoko to name a few.

Bank Street, a 6-foot long strip south of W14th Street, starting at Greenwich and ending at the Hudson River, was and still provides a lifeline of memories for the author. “As I walked and played from one end of Bank Street to the other, I passed through every social, cultural and economic layer of American life.”

She starts the book by giving a history of some of the buildings, starting with the Alexander Hamilton bank mansion and then goes on to describe her family and close friends. Her childhood seemed to be like one giant Broadway play filled with distinct and interesting characters coming in and out of her life. Reading her descriptive tales, one would never be at a loss for understanding these people and their life stories. The book is her therapeutic account of life in one of the most flamboyant parts of NYC.

It is apparent that the author spent a lot of time researching and compiling all the facts related to the characters she introduced from time periods starting in the 1920’s and almost every decade after that.

It’s really a fascinating account that truly portrays what makes up the greatest city in the world, people of every color, gender and religion. However, with all of the characters and time periods introduced into this book, it might have been better to have focused on only several characters and develop their stories deeper.

Many interesting, some famous people live on Bank Street through the years, While their stories held my interest the book jumped from people and years frequently and it was hard to keep track.