Israel Goodman Young was born on March 26, 1928, at the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, to
Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Philip and Pola Young. His father was a baker. Izzy Young grew up in
the Bronx where he finished high school. He attended
Brooklyn College. From 1948 to 1952 he worked in his father's bakery in Brooklyn. He later went into the book business. He served on the "editorial advisory board" for the magazine until his departure for Sweden a few years later. Young arranged concerts with folk musicians and songwriters, who often made contacts with other musicians at the Folklore Center.
Bob Dylan relates in his memoirs,
Chronicles, how he spent time at the Center, where Young allowed him to sit in the backroom of the store, listening to folk music records and reading books. Dylan met
Dave Van Ronk in the store, and Young produced Dylan's first concert at
Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City on Saturday, November 4, 1961. Bob Dylan wrote a song about the store and Young entitled "Talking Folklore Center". Young gave interviews about their relationship for the documentary
No Direction Home. Other notable figures that played concerts early in their career at the Folklore Center include
Peter Paul and Mary, John Sebastian from
the Lovin' Spoonful (Young managed one of Sebastian’s early bands),
Joni Mitchell,
Emmylou Harris and
Tim Buckley. A live album by Buckley recorded at the Folklore Centre in 1967 was released in 2009.
Patti Smith used to read poetry there and also became friends with Young. Young was also a keen political activist. He famously led a march in 1961, which became known as “the beatnik riot” in protest at a ban on the public performance of music in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park. Young pursued the case through the courts, eventually winning the removal of the ban. He would later champion the plight of Cambodians affected by the US war in Vietnam as well as Palestinians. == Move to Sweden ==