Village Voice

I used to love to visit the Village Voice Building in Cooper Square. The Village Voice was an American news and counter-culture paper. The country's first alternative newsweekly was first published in 1955. Sadly it stopped publication in 2017. BUT its archives are still accessible online. I love to go to the current website and read as much as I can. Check it out if you loved the paper. I'm such a fan that for me reading the archives is fun. My guess is if you're a fan you won't be disappointed.

I'm fortunate that I remember when I could pick up a paper copy on the street. It was always free. I looked forward to getting it weekly. If I wanted to know what was happening in entertainment, apartment rental, and just plain fun ads to read I grabbed a copy. Losing this paper makes me realize you don't know what you have until it's gone!

Living in Middle America and the West Coast grabbing a copy of the Village Voice was not an easy thing to do. If you could manage to get a subscription that would really only guarantee consistent issues of the New York free rag newspaper that came out once a week. Oh, I have encountered it and grabbed a copy of it when I was in New York years ago because even in the section of the country I'm in most people have at least heard of the Village Voice... and the free rags that were local were just diminished imitations of it in many cases. Those that were even somewhat in the know also knew that Village Voice was not so much an American newspaper magazine but a New York one.
The Village Voice started in 1955 and has been around for 63 years until it's parent company, Voice Media Group announced that on August 22, 2017 that would cease. The final issue of Village Voice was distributed on September 21, 2017.
Village Voice is somewhat a product of it's time before the internet took over our lives and was probably at it's best in the 60's to the 80's along with many other free weekly rags that were distributed throughout the country.
While the final issue of the Village Voice wasn't any easier to get out on the West Coast I did manage to score a copy of one on Ebay where it certainly wasn't free and showed a picture of Bob Dylan in 1965 as the cover photo. Most of the copies weren't that expensive but some collectors were already asking $50 on some listings. Like all of the free rags the articles with some sense of activism it involves situations, developments and issues that involve the local community, concert listings and film reviews. The final issue had a great commemorative section of the long time contributing staff that worked on the newspaper which was very informative and interesting in the publication's history.
I no longer have my very first issue of The Village Voice that I snatched up. Something in the back of my mind told me that it was something that would never really end or go away but now that the newspaper is now defunct I will look at the final issue with appreciation and perhaps a tiny bit of awe.

On my off-day the Power of One strolled Cooper Square, Bowery, and Spring Street enduring the stifling heat of a May Tuesday which little did I know the corporate office of New York's local news medium sits on Cooper Square.

Occassionally I browse through their classified advertisments of employment, apartment rentals, etc. However, despite of being fancied by many men... it were all an illusion, a phantom as the Village Voice cannot find me a man who is sincerely interested in me as a wholesome person for long-term serious commitment. This Chigga always endure the heart breaking standard rejection: "you're a great girl, but not for me" as I'm strung along to be lingered. It takes a great man of strength to admit his true intentions ("you're a great girl, but not for me") from the beginning and not be blind by fatal attraction of femme fatale. Lust blind men from the beginning, thus the true intention linger for an eternity. Ayia men!

This is a great free publication. I enjoy reading this almost every week. Sometimes I admit I forget to get the paper or barely browse though it.
I am mostly a fan of the cover story itself, I find it mostly interesting and I also love the movie section here in the Village Voice. The clubs section is decent and the dining section is pretty good as well.

-There is also an adult section in the back, that offers all kinds of "services", you know massage and so on. You have to really love that the paper is free for NY'ers and readily available at many places throughout the city. I usually pick it up early Wednesday morning to get that fresh to death new edition..

No, no, no.

The Voice is a mere shadow of its former self. They were the paper that, at its founding, refused to "sell out;" flash forward to the present day, and it's a slick, commercial, and oddly inept weekly rag. It's lost its focus and fired all its staff; I think the only reason I still might pick it up is some mention on the cover of Michael Musto.

It wasn't even a free publication and people were more than willing to pay money for it in the 60s and 70s--even the 80s. I was one of the people who would line up at the newsstand on Tuesday nights when the print edition hit the stands; they had the best apartment listings, best job listings.

Gone, all gone. Rest in peace, Village Voice.

Yelp reviewer Fallopia T. has pretty much nailed it. Everything she states in her review is absolutely correct.

When I was a teenager, I remember paying a dollar for the Voice. I think that was the price. People used to line up at the Astor Place newsstand just to get this paper. Whether it was for apartment listings, help wanted ads, or concert postings. Hell, if you wanted to get your freak on, all you had to do was to pick up a copy of the Voice. All the sex ads would be listed in the back.

That's all in the past.

Okay, so it's a free paper now. Whoop-dee-do. Gone are the controversial articles. The ones that made you think, and questioned the status quo. Even Micheal Musto's column has seen better days. Well, at least some neat illustrations make the cover from time to time.

The only thing that hasn't changed are the sex ads. So if you wanna get your freak on, there's that. But hurry up before that dries up too.

The original is clearly the best. Before AMNY, before the Metro, there was The Voice. And it will survive well beyond all the other subway reading newsies that are just not the same. The Voice gives you everything NYC, with fantastic writers and coverage of everything cultural and fun, and of course the sex ads in the back. I really dislike the feel of newspaper in my hands (don't ask, just a personal quirk), so I'm always glad when I can check it out online. However, this was one of the few newspapers I would even deign to put in my hands as a teenager, you know, back before everyone had the interwebs in the palm of their hand.

Kudos, and keep up the good work! Shoot, maybe you'd like to feature a Yelper some time as a guest writer...just a thought!

I want to place my event in village voice and for past two weeks I left message with phone and no one has returned my call. Unbelievable!!

Before Time Out...it was always you. I go to your website. I grab you when I can. The sex ads are always funny. Do escorts REALLY look like that? You always have your thumb on the pulse of NYC and I love you. Your restaurant guides always kept me happy. I live 2 hours from you and I pay $2 a week in Barnes & Noble to have you in my hands. Ahhhhh.....can we slow dance?

It's like every other free paper of it's kind. There's at least one in every city. Inexplicably large. I recommend the adult personals. Read them out loud to a friend in a public place. As far as the articles, they're pretty mediocre. It would get 2 stars if I had to pay for it. The writers are complete music snob, another staple of such publications. I like MIA too but her Stans are insufferable.