The Minotaur of Washington Square

About the Book

About the Author

Paris Flammonde lived in many quarters in Greenwich Village from the time depicted in The Minotaur of Washington Square, until it died “one sunny afternoon in the summer of 1971” and was a central figure in his own projects, and those of other key figures for twenty-five years, among which was the creation of the first “performance coffee house,” The Symposium, at Pandora’s Box on Sheridan Square in 1954, a phenomenon that soon spread to the west coast and across the country. He frequently wrote for Village publications, exhibited in the Washington Square Outdoor Art Show, wrote countless songs, some with composer Elmo Russ, and, by 1959, was the producer and perpetual panelist of the all night, every night talk program, The Long John Nebel Show on WOR. He has had published twelve books, and his work has appeared on three continents. He was one of the driving forces in the Committee to Investigate Assassinations, founded by Washington attorney Bernard J. Fensterwald. On the demise of Greenwich Village he retreated to the Pocono Mountains with his wife, the painter Marcia Flammonde, where he continues his work and studies.