New York Songlines: 13th Street

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HUDSON RIVER



Pier 54: Semicircular metal structure on the riverfront marks the Cunard Piers, where the Titanic was supposed to dock in 1912; and where Lusitania sailed from in 1915.


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South:

The High Line

Bridging the street here is a disused elevated railroad that was used to transport freight along the Westside waterfront, replacing the street-level tracks at 10th and 11th avenues that earned those roads the nickname "Death Avenue." Built in 1929 at a cost of $150 million (more than $2 billion in today's dollars), it originally stretched from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal, now the Holland Tunnel rotary. Partially torn down in 1960 and abandoned in 1980, it now stretches from Gansevoort almost to 34th--mostly running mid-block, so built to avoid dominating an avenue with an elevated platform. In its abandonment, the High Line became something of a natural wonder, overgrown with weeds and even trees, accessible only to those who risk tresspassing on CSX Railroad property. Plans are underway to turn it into a park, open to the public; it will be a tricky balancing act to add safety and amenities without sacrificing the lost ruin quality that makes it so cool.

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Corner: This was the divey gay dance club Alex in Wonderland.















Corner (860 Washington St): Atlas Meat, one of the dwindling number of wholesale shops that make this the Meat District.


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Corner (859 Washington St): Hogs & Heifers, perhaps the most authentic expression of the kind of bar where drinks are poured down throats, the bar is danced upon and bras are hung from the ceiling.

421: Site of Delamater Iron Works, where the engine for the U.S.S. Monitor was made. In 1960s, this address was The Zoo, gay "members only" club.

419: APT, an ultralounge

415: Bumble & Bumble, where you can get your hair cut for free by a student stylist-- but you don't get to pick what hairstyle you get. This is also the address of the Bohen Foundation, whose private gallery turns shipping containers into exhibit spaces and offices.

409: Was The L.U.R.E., gay fetish club; name stood for Leather, Uniforms, Rubber Etc. Now Bagatelle, a French bistro.

403: Spice Market, exotic and trendy South Asian


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This triangular building, built as a factory c. 1849, houses Vento Trattoria, hip Italian. Downstairs is the restaurant's lounge, Level V, which used to be J's Hangout, an underground gay club, which was formerly gay leather club The Manhole, and before that the straight Hellfire Club. The building also contained Glenn Close's apartment in Fatal Attraction. (For real sexiness, try the Triangulo tango studios on the third floor.) Ed Harris jumps out of the north corner in The Hours.

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320: White Columns, non-profit art space

GANSEVOORT STREET





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345 (corner): Actress Julianne Moore used to live in this building.

327: St. Bernard's Parish School (K-8)
















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Jackson Square

This 1826 park was apparently named for President Andrew Jackson, a hero of New York Democrats at the time.



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South:

224: Critic Edmund Wilson moved here in 1929 from across the street.



LGBT Community Services Center

208: Was the Food and Maritime Trades Vocational High School, built 1869-1887. Now home to 300 lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgendered groups, including National Museum and Archive of Lesbian and Gay History. Noted for a sexy Keith Haring mural in the second floor men's room.




O’Toole Medical Services Building

Corner: Part of St. Vincent’s. Was National Maritime Union of America; note waves (or are they portholes?).

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253: This Art Deco electrical substation was built in 1930 for the city's IND subway.

Great Building Crackup

251: A 1971 architectural statement that serves as home to the First National Church of the Exquisite Panic, Inc. Was the Jackson Square Library, designed by Richard Morris Hunt in 1887.

229: Integral Yoga Institute, founded in the 1970s by Swami Satchidananda, a guru invited to the U.S. by artist Peter Max. It has ''one of the city's best vegan buffets,'' says the Vegan Guide. Edmund Wilson lived here from 1925 to 1929.

215: Writer Anais Nin lived on top floor in the 1940-60s.

201 (corner): Metropolitan Duane Methodist Church. The first support group for parents of gay children was held at this inclusive church in March 1973.


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South:

Corner (37 7th Ave): Galileo; housewares

160: Xena's Beauty Co.

154: Domicile, snug eclectic

152: Was offices of The Dial, the literary magazine that first published T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." Poet Marianne Moore edited it from 1925 until its demise in 1929.

150: Offices of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, which publishes The Psychoanalytic Review, the oldest continuously published psychoanalytic journal in the world--since 1913. Also here is the Theodore Reik Clinical Center for Psychotherapy, which offers sliding-scale psychoanalysis.

City and Country School

146: K-8 school founded in 1914 by Lucy Sprague Mitchell, who helped start The New School; actor Matthew Broderick is a graduate. Buildings date to 1842.

140: Gonzo; grilled pizza a speciality at this northern Italian. Formerly Antonio.

138: These were the offices of The Liberator, the magazine that Max Eastman edited after the government shut down The Masses during World War I. Much later, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke lived here.

128: Center for Unlimited Vision, eye doctors

126: Gradisca Vino e Cucina; Village Voice likes the lasagna. In 1951, the restaurant Little Venice was here.

112: E.B. White lived here in 1925 as a young unemployed writer. It's also an address of the title character in Sister Carrie.

104: Salam Cafe, cozy Mideastern

The John Adams

Corner (101 W 12th): Twenty-one-story grey brick monstrosity was built in 1963. As vice president in 1789, Adams lived in New York at Varick and Charlton--though the building is said to be named after the architect's children, John and Adam. Why you'd want to put your kids' names on something like this is beyond me.

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175 (corner): Cambridge Apartments. The artist Stuart Davis used to have a studio on this site.













Portico Place

141-145: Apartments resembling a Greek temple were built in 1847 as the 13th Street Presbyterian Church (1846). Later Village Community Church, shared with a synagogue; the two congregations had a falling out over the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and the synagogue moved to Gramercy Park. Converted to residence, the look of a church was retained; the address resembles hymn numbers.

135: Musician Joe Jackson has lived here.

Markle Evangeline Residence for Young Ladies

123-131: Art Deco Salvation Army home built in 1929.

117: Greenwich Court apartments, 1920s neo-Georgian

113: Site of Downtown Galleries, where Georgia O'Keefe's art was displayed. Since 1967 it's been the Spain Restaurant, something of a time capsule.

105: Cafe Loup ("Wolf Cafe"), French bistro launched in 1977; used to be the Bells of Hell, pagan hangout, and Turnover, early 1970s gay bar. The building is Greenwich Towers, c. 1960.

Corner (509 6th Ave): All Natural vitamin store


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South:

60: Village House apartments; at this address in 1897 the Boys' High School opened, the first New York public high school for boys. It later becomes De Witt Clinton High School.

54: La Dolce Vita, Italian; Taste of Tokyo, John Lennon/Yoko Ono hangout.

13th Street Repertory

50: Founded 1972, this theater features the longest running off-off-Broadway play: Israel Horowitz's Line, which started here in 1974.

40: From 1898-1999, this gothic archway marked the Rambusch studios. Originally specializing in stained glass for churches, this firm was also responsible for the interiors of some of the country's most opulent movie palaces, including New York's Roxy and Beacon.

36: International Tae Kwon Do Center

Quad Cinema

34: Manhattan's first multiplex shows art films, somewhere between Angelica and Film Forum in quirkiness.

30: Filaments; antique and custom lamps

8: Kate's Paperie; fancy stationery store, founded 1988

Parsons School of Design

2: A prominent art and design school founded 1896, now part of the New School; Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Donna Karan and Isaac Mizrahi are all alums. Muralists Diego Rivera and Thomas Hart Benton both lived at this address in the 1930s. Max Eastman lived here from the mid-1940s until his death in 1969.

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55: The New School's Knowledge Union/ Center for Education and Technology. This used to be part of Macy's, an expansion built c. 1896, before it moved to Herald Square.

47: An NYU dorm.

43A: Tenri Cultural Institute, promoting Japanese language and cultural exchange. A project of the Tenrikyo Church.




35: India Pavilion restaurant




23: Montparnasse apartments, 1960s building named for Paris' Bohemian neighborhood--itself named for Mount Parnassus, the home of the Muses in Greek mythology.




1 (corner): The New School's Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, named for Robert J. Milano, a chemical tycoon, deputy mayor and New School trustee who helped make the university what it is today. Also houses a sandwich shop with the peculiar name of M & Subs. The offices of The Nation used to be here.


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South:

Corner (61 5th Ave): Cafeteria 61, cafe and deli. Was Lone Star Cafe, NYC's main country music venue; famous for the giant iguana on its roof.








18-20: Village Copier; includes Cyberfelds, Internet cafe.

22: Borgo Antico Ristorante

24: The Village branch of the New York City Health and Racquet Club

28: Souen, longstanding vegan

30: Was the sweet-potato joint Hero's; now DoSirak, offering "simple good Korean food."

32: Blinds & Beyond

Corner (116 University): The building with University Place Gourmet Deli on the ground floor has been used by such left groups as the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

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New School for Social Research

Corner: Graduate Faculty of the university founded by John Dewey, Thorstein Veblen et al. in 1919. Became a "University in Exile" for refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Once one of the most progressive academic institutions in the United States. Now has war criminal Bob Kerrey as president.

9: Izu/Lemongrass Grill, three-level Thai restaurant/sushi bar/karaoke club, plus Joe the Art of Coffee, are in Woolworth's long-vacant warehouse.

13: Arthur's Invitation and Prints, three-story "ultra-glam" print shop, is also in the old Woolworth's space.

17: Anais Nin moved her self-publishing operation here in 1944, where the Erskine Press was later located. Downstairs is now the tearoom The Adore (pronounced "Tay Adoray," "Adored Tea"). The courtyard next door is quite lovely.

21: Manhattan Kids Club, daycare

25: An annex of the Parsons School of Design.

27: The Van Buren apartments, a 1960s building named for a president who was governor of New York in 1829.

Corner (120 University): Giant Bagel Shop


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South:

Corner (113 University): Amalgamated Lithographers of America, printers union

48: Was Artisan Workshop, metalwork and tiles, both crafted here and imported from Morocco.

52: Crunch Fitness

56: A bold balcony



Corner: Washington Mutual Bank

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35 (corner): L'Annam, Vietnamese; upstairs is 13, mod dj bar.

39: Levenbach Lumber

Roosevelt Building

Corner (839-841 Broadway): This 1893 building with a Cosi branch on the ground floor is named for Cornelius Roosevelt, Teddy's grandfather, who lived up the block. The rooftop was the original site of Biograph Studios (1896-1908), which later made movie history on 14th Street.


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South:

Forbidden Planet

Corner: Part of an international chain of comics stores. Gives out free boards-and-bags--for comic collecting. Noted for its action figure selection. Used to have a great science-fiction section.

76: Was Plaid, a rock club inhabiting the space of Spa, the nightspot where Vince Vaughan met Puff Daddy in Made. Before that, it was The Cat Club. Courtney Love was arrested for allegedly assaulting a patron at Plaid, March 18, 2004. The club closed shortly thereafter.

Corner: Dental Arts; Peridance Center

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Corner (850 Broadway): Site of Wallack's Theater, which Newland Archer attended in Age of Innocence. Later at this site (as No. 842) were the offices of the Village Voice in the 1980s. The Union Square 14 multiplex is here now.







The southeast corner of this building has been vacant for years--since it was built, in fact. Hasn't anyone heard of lowering the rent?


S <===                 4TH AVENUE                 ===> N

South:

Corner (127 4th Ave): Brothers Deli

108: FDNY Hook & Ladder Co. No. 3; has been at this location since 1865. The building dates back to 1929; Mayor Jimmy Walker's name is on the plaque.

114: The American Felt Building, now apartments. Note the heads of rams-- providers of felt's raw material.

128-130: The barn-like space was the Kearney & Van Tassel Auction Stables, built in 1889 for horse-trading.

Classic Stage Company

136: Leading off-Broadway theater has an expansive definition of "classics." Actors like Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Frances McDormand, Uma Thurman and Mira Sorvino have performed here.

Corner (106 3rd Ave): Gothic Cabinet Craft, handmade furniture--we have a bunch of shelves from here. Cool dinosaur mural on north wall.

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Back entrance to NYU's University Hall--replaced the building that was Luchow's, classic New York restaurant.

113: The Genesis/Robert F. Kennedy Apartments (1995). Provides permanent housing for the homeless.



Back entrance to NYU's Palladium Hall--replaced The Palladium, classic New York nightclub.




141: Apt 141, housewares

143: Dullsville, eclectic antiques; The Flower Stall


Corner (106 3rd Ave): Was Oahu Deli, with the curious slogan ''The Gathering Place.'' In the late 1970s/early 1980s, this was the site of the UK Club, a live music venue.


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South:

Corner (103 3rd Ave): Cafe Deville is a Parisian-style bistro featuring Sunday jazz brunches. Le Bar Bleu is in the basement.

204: Robert DeNiro meets Harvey Keitel here in Taxi Driver.

210: Emma Goldman lived herefrom 1903 to 1913. From 1906 until 1913, it was also the offices of Goldman's Mother Earth magazine. Margarita Maza de Juarez, the wife of President Benito Juarez of Mexico lived in this same house when her country was invaded by France in the 1860s.

222: An abandoned brownstone--you don't see too many of these anymore.

226: Jody Foster worked here in Taxi Driver--the site of the bloody climax.

238: Upland Trading Co.

240: SEI-Tomoko; Japanese hair salon

242: Savacou Gallery, African-American art gallery, opened 1985; named for a Carib Indian warrior bird.

244: Mo'Hair, black-oriented salon-- "for a mo' better you." Boasts of many celebrity clients, including Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige. At the same address is Chaa-Chaa, a cafe.

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Kiehl's

107-109: "Since 1851" is part of the official name of this old-time apothecary, with its own line of beauty products and historical displays. It's expanding to the corner, taking over the spot that used to be Cafe Centosette--but where Kiehl's long ago used to be.

This corner was the reported site of the Stuyvesant Pear Tree, which New Amsterdam Governor Peter Stuyvesant planted in 1647, having brought it back from a return visit to the Netherlands. It lived for more than two centuries, until 1867, when it was killed by a wagon accident.

The vacant lot in the middle of the block was the site of the Jefferson Theater, a vaudeville venue that opened in 1913 and featured acts like the Marx Brothers, Mae West, Jack Benny and Fred Allen. George Burns called it "the toughest house in New York." A cinema from the 1930s to the '60s; demolished 1999.

249 1/2: Was the studio of Karl Bitter, who did sculpture for the Met's entrance and the Pulitzer fountain-- note "BITTER & MORETTI SCULPTORS" on facade.

Corner (213 2nd Ave): Nightingale’s, formerly a gritty dive bar...now kind of loungey. Was once Tell's Tea Room, a local coffee shop.


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On April 4, 1824, when this spot was a rural field, it was the site of the hanging of John Johnson, a landlord who murdered a sailor for his money. It's said that 50,000 people--a third of New York's population at the time--turned out to witness the execution.

On October 5, 1912, Big Jack Zelig, the leading gangster of his day, was shot to death on a streetcar here by a small-time pimp.

South:

Corner: Art Deco AT&T Bldg (now Verizon)

320: At a tenement since torn down for the phone company building (similar to No. 324 still standing), Dr. Henry Meyer had his wife pretend to be married to their friend Gustave Brandt, on whom she took out two large insurance policies. Meyer then gave progressively larger doses of arsenic to Brandt--with his knowledge--so that a doctor could see his deteriorating condition. Brandt had been told that a look-alike corpse would be found so that the policy could be collected, but in the end an extra-large dose of arsenic allowed Brandt to play the role of corpse himself. The scam was discovered and Meyer did time at Sing Sing and the Matteawan hospital for the criminally insane.

354: In 1921, this was the home of five-year-old Giuseppe Varotta, who was kidnapped and later killed by members of the Black Hand gang. The gangsters mistakenly believed that his father had collected $10,000 in an accident settlement. After the perpetrators in this sensational case were convicted, the parents continued to receive death threats and had to be given new identities, in what may have been the first witness protection program.

Corner (217 1st Ave): Olympic Deli & Grocery. This was DiBella Brothers, an Italian grocery known for its stuffed artichoke hearts.

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Corner: New York Eye & Ear Infirmary building constructed 1890; the institution is the oldest specialized hospital in the Western Hemisphere. The hospital scenes in The Godfather were shot here.












349: Antonio Marino, the ringleader in the Varotta kidnapping, lived here, across the street from his victim. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because his confession was beaten out of him. The address is now Detour, a noted no-cover jazz bar.

351: Spanish-American Food

Corner (219 1st Ave): Mee Noodle Shop was Allen Ginsberg’s favorite Chinese--and mine, too, I guess. It closed in 2005 after the building started to collapse.


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South:

400: Johnny Air Cargo Phillipine Parcel Service

420: A glassblower named Al Fristachi had a shop here in the 1960s, featuring glass ships, swans, horses etc.

428: In April 26, 1895, in a saloon here, teenager Maria Barbella used a straight razor to slit the throat of her lover, Domenico Cataldo, for reneging on a promise of marriage. He stumbled to the corner of Avenue A before dying. Barberi would have been the first woman to go to the electric chair, but national sympathy brought her a new trial and an acquital by virtue of insanity.

432: Keybar, a really nice, well-designed but unpretentious bar. The owners originally intended to give out keys to regular customers; fortunately, common sense prevailed. Also at this address is Divertimento, Italian; formerly Lima's Taste, Peruvian. St. Rosalie, an Italian social club, used to be here; it held an annual Feast of St. Rosalie block party.

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Corner (218 1st Ave): Was Victor's Marketplace, long-running meat market. The building has recently been thoroughly uglified.

419: Immaculate Conception High School; this seems like the back of the school, but it's actually the front.

421: Eastside Lumber Inc.

Back of Stuyvesant Post Office

447: The Phoenix, straight-friendly gay bar. I had described it as "semi-gay," to which a reader remarked: "If you see this as a semi-gay bar, please take me to a 'gay' bar immediately. Can't be any gayer than the Phoenix; if it is, I can't wait!"

Corner (211 Ave A): On October 10, 1928 , Salvatore D'Aquila, then head of the Gambino crime family, was gunned down here outside a doctor's office. More recently Oggi, a pricey Italian; now Fuzion on A, an Asian fusion restaurant.


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The western boundary of Alphabet City

South:

Roberto Clemente-Gouvernour Hospital




Dias y Flores Garden



544: A long-standing squat that got legal title in 2002; Rosario Dawson of Men in Black II grew up here.

548: Bible Crusade Assemblies of God

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Corner (210 Ave A): Was Covo dell'Este, pricey Italian

531: Filthmart, vintage clothes

541: Squatters here were evicted with the aid of a police tank in 1995.

543: Sunnyside Garden, noted for its chicken population.

545: Another squat that received military-style eviction in 1995.


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South:

Corner (193 Ave B): This used to be the Charles Theater, center of the underground film movement from 1961-63, under the management of Jonas Mekas. Earlier the Bijou.

620: Tanya Towers, a 1974 building designed for deaf residents. Tanya Nash led the New York Society for the deaf for 35 years.

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South:

St Emeric School

A Catholic school named after a pious Hungarian prince, killed in 1031 by a wild boar.



Corner: This was originally on the shore of the East River, a promontory known as Burnt Mill Point.

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Con Edison

This power plant has been blamed for high rates of asthma in the neighborhood.






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Jacob Riis Houses

A large public housing complex built in 1949. Named for a Danish-born photojournalist whose work documenting New York tenement life, especially his book How the Other Half Lives, helped inspire slum-clearing.



Is your favorite Thirteenth Street spot missing? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

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