Fellow record collectors Al Trommers and Robert Plotnik opened Village Oldies in 1967 at 149 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. It was at the record shop that Trommers, known as Broadway Al, gave Plotnik the nickname Bleecker Bob. The partners moved to MacDougal Street in the 1970s.

“Spanish Harlem” was Ben E. King’s first hit after leaving the Drifters. Written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector, the song was a №15 hit on the R&B chart in 1960. The song’s arrangement by Stan Applebaum features Spanish guitar and marimba to suggest the neighborhood’s Latino population and cultural heritage.