The signs they are a changin': Outcry as Bob Dylan's beatnik coffee bar sign is covered over with red paint

 A famous Sixties sign for a coffee bar where Bob Dylan is said to have written Blowin' In The Wind has been painted, over sparking an outcry.
Stars like Bill Cosby, Richie Havens and Tiny Tim performed at the Fat Black Pussycat theatre in New York's then beatnik Greenwich Village.
The sign had remained for decades at its original site on Minetta Street, a spot taken over by Panchito's restaurant in the 1970s.

Good times: The Sixties beatnik haven the Fat Black Pussycat in New York where Dylan used to hang out

Sign of the times: The Fat Black Pussycat after boarding had been put up

Last week, Panchito's covered the sign with red paint, prompting anger from New York City preservation enthusiasts.
The cover-up was branded 'a shame' by Andrew Berman, executive director for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

 

He said: 'It's a tangible link to this incredibly important era in the neighbourhood's history, when so many great musicians, poets and artists used the Village as a springboard to transform the world.'

History or nostalgia? Artists such as Bob Dylan and Tiny Tim made early appearances at the Fat Black Pussycat

In 2006, the society proposed that the city designate a large section of Greenwich Village as a historical landmark. But the Pussycat was not included.
Panchito's owner Bob Engelhardt was a regular at the Pussycat which he described as a 'cesspool'. It was situated in a quiet street behind the tourist mecca MacDougal Street.
He said the nostalgia was misplaced, and that the preservation group did not understand the spirit of Greenwich Village.
Engelhardt added:'There are buildings that are worth preserving. Ninety per cent of what's in the Village isn't.

'The Village was freedom. The Village was not rules and regulations set in concrete. It destroys everything the Village was always famous for.'