08/05/2026
BOB DYLAN AT THE BITTER END - STORY BY SIGMUND GOODE/MICHAEL OCHS
Bob Dylan at the Bitter End
Today, the Bitter End calls itself the oldest rock ’n’ roll club in New York City, and it was certainly an early staple of Greenwich Village’s music scene. Opened in 1961 by future Hollywood film producer Fred Weintraub, the unassuming Bleecker Street coffeehouse quickly gained a reputation for showcasing new talent. One of the earliest acts to play the Bitter End was a then-unknown trio called Peter, Paul, and Mary. In late 1961, the club placed ads in The New York Times urging people to catch the group before they outgrew the intimate room. By January 1962, Peter, Paul, and Mary had signed a record deal, and later that year, they used the club’s signature exposed brick walls as the backdrop for their debut album cover. When Dylan arrived in the Village from Minnesota in early 1961, he became one of the up-and-coming performers who graced the Bitter End’s stage in its early years. Though he began as one of many young folk singers on the scene, Dylan quickly emerged as the voice of a generation; his songwriting helped to define the 1960s folk revival and position Greenwich Village as the center of a cultural shift. Later, in the 1970s, Dylan returned to the Bitter End not just as a performer but as a fan, dropping by to watch others play or to shoot pool with peers such as Kris Kristofferson. The club briefly changed its name to the Other End under new owner Paul Colby in the 1970s and ’80s, but eventually returned to its original moniker. It remains the Bitter End to this day.
