New York Songlines: 9th Street

South:

Corner (418 6th Ave): Greenwich Brewing Co. pizza; Hasta La Pasta, Italian. This used to be Trude Heller's, a prominent rock club/disco where First Daughter Lynda Bird Johnson was photographed dancing with tanned actor George Hamilton in 1965; the Manhattan Transfer got their start here. Earlier this was Paul and Joe’s Bar, a main gay rendezvous in the early 1920s.

64: Humorist S.J. Perelman lived here (1929-30).

62: Village, new French-American noted for its Espressotinis, was The Lion, a gay bar where Barbra Streisand, Joan Rivers had early gigs. Earlier was the Golden Eagle, a French-Italian restaurant described by the WPA Guide as an "old Greenwich Village place."

46-50: Hampshire, a six-story apartment building from 1883. Novelist Dawn Powell lived here 1924-28. While living here her first novel, Whither, was published, and she wrote She Walks in Beauty and The Bride's House.

38-44: Portsmouth, a six-story double apartment building dating to 1882. Portsmouth is a city in the English county of Hampshire.

36: Poet Elinor Wylie lived here from 1926 until her death in 1928, along with her husband William Rose Benet.

26: The Prasada, a nine-story 1920s apartment building in neo-Georgian style, takes its name from the Sanskrit word for ''temple.''

12: Home of Henry Jarvis Raymond (1860-67), first editor of both New York Times and Harper's Magazine.

10: "Ashcan School" painter William Glackens lived in this building from the 1910s until his death in 1938.

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North:

69: Barbra Streisand had an apartment here when she was playing The Lion.

61: Windsor Arms, a nine-story ''vaguely Georgian'' building built in 1926.

35: Anais Nin lived here in the early 1950s. Later poet Marianne Moore lived here, in Apartment 7B, from 1966 until her death in 1972.

29: Author/artist Maurice Sendak created Where the Wild Things Are here.

21: Ocean's 21, Rat Pack-themed restaurant. Was Marylou's.

South:

Brevoort Apartments

Corner: Before the apartments were built, a house that Mark Twain lived in from 1904 to 1908 was on this corner. Next to Twain's house was the Brevoort Hotel, for which the apartment complex was named.

Musician Buddy Holly lived in the apartments in 1958-59, from his marriage until his death. He recorded what are known as The Apartment Tapes here. Carmine DeSapio, last boss of Tammany Hall, also lived here.

20: Brevoort East

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25: The Beaucaire is a block-long Spanish-flavored apartment building built c. 1927. The name comes from a 1925 film, based on a Booth Tarkington story, about a French duke posing as a barber. Actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have lived at this address; Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford used to live in the building as well.

South:

Lafayette Apartments

30: Built on the site of the Hotel Lafayette, a hangout for better-off bohemians; it appears as the "Cafe Julien" in Dawn Powell's The Wicked Pavilion. The owner of the Lafayette, Raymond Orteig (who also owned the Brevoort), put up the prize money for flying across the Atlantic that Charles Lindbergh won.

52: Site of building owned by Lillian Russell, which served as painter Franz Kline's studio from 1944 until 1953, when it was demolished.

60: Hamilton Apartments, built in 1954, are presumably named for Alexander Hamilton, who wrote Captain Randall's unbreakable will. (See No. 65, across the street.) In 1951, there was a vacant barbershop here that was the site of the "Ninth Street Show," an art show in 1951 that introduced abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollack, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline.

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North:

35: Novelist Dawn Powell lived at this address from 1942-58, where she wrote My Home Is Far Away, The Locusts Have No King, The Wicked Pavillion (based on the Hotel Lafayette, across the street) and A Cage for Lovers. Here she lived with her husband on the second floor and her lover, Coburn Gilman, on the first; each had his own entrance. Her parties here were noted for the aquarium full of gin.

49: O. Henry once lived at this now-defunct address.

Randall House

65: Apartments named for Capt. Robert Richard Randall, an old sea captain whose house was about where the Silver Spurs burger joint is now. Randall owned most of the land from 10th Street to Waverly Place between 5th and 4th avenues; in his will, written by Alexander Hamilton and said to be unbreakable, he left it to establish Sailor's Snug Harbor, old folks' home for sailors; trust still owns 21 acres of prime Manhattan real estate. From 1833 until 1875, Snug Harbor used to be in Staten Island (where for a time Herman Melville's brother was its governor); now it's in North Carolina.

South:

Wanamaker's

Former department store (1907-1954) designed by Daniel Burnham, Flatiron's architect; center of NY shopping in the early 20th Century. (It's one of the things a sailor wants to see in On the Town.) Now houses offices of VNU, Dutch-based publisher of media trade magazines.

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Stewart House

91: Apartments built on site (and named for) A.T. Stewart's Cast-Iron Palace (1862), the first large store on the Ladies' Mile shopping strip, of which it was the southern endpoint. Stewart, called "one of the meanest men that ever lived," died 1876, and his body was kidnapped from St Marks' graveyard in 1878 and held for ransom; they were returned by parties unknown in 1881 in exchange for $20,000. Store purchased by John Wanamaker 1896, closed 1954, burned down 1956 in an inferno that injured 208 firefighters.

South:

Cooper Union Engineering

Part of the tuition-free university founded by inventor/philanthropist Peter Cooper. This site used to be the American Bible Society, which distributed bibles by the tens of millions. Cooper Union is scheduled to replace the present less-than-inspiring structure with a high-rise, despite some community opposition.

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105: Was Eightball Records, music for deejays

107: Central Bar; used to be Pageant Books, one of the last remnants of Bookseller's Row; the store featured in the plot of Hannah and Her Sisters. Briefly the Pageant Bar & Grill, then No. 9.

115: The St Mark apartments were the home of punk rocker Joey Ramone.

South:

George Hecht Viewing Gardens

1999 gardens are supposed to allude to the vegetation of Peter Stuyvesant's farm, which this was the front entrance to. Compass refers to the true east/west orientation of Stuyvesant Street. The fence needs to be painted a different color.

Hecht was a electronics manufacturer and a supporter of Cooper Union. The garden is named after him because he paid for it--a terrible precedent.

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North:

Alumni Hall

Block (33 3rd Ave): NYU dorms built 1986, housing mostly sophomores. Note "aerodrome" on roof.

South:

206-208 (corner): Lovely red brick building

210: Hasaki sushi bar

212: Tsampa, outstanding Tibetan

214: La Paella, tapas

218: Japanese Steakhouse

230: Coal, dj bar

232: Solas, snazzy Irish bar; its name is Gaelic for ''light.''

236: Otafuko, Japanese hole-in-the-wall features octopus-based snacks

238: Cloisters Cafe has a beautiful garden, terrible service

240: Decibel, cool underground sake bar

Corner: This was the Orchidia, an Italian/Ukrainian restaurant that was a community hub until it closed in 1984. It was replaced by a Steve's Ice Cream franchise, which was boycotted as a symbol of gentrification.

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North:

Corner: NYU's Barney Building was the Hebrew Technical Institute, a Jewish vocational school from 1884-1939; it's named for Edgar S. Barney, the Institute's principal for more than 50 years. Now houses NYU's Department of Art and Art Professions.

229: Soba-Ya, Japanese

235: Whiskers Holistic Petcare

Corner (145 2nd Ave): Was In Padella (not to be confused with La Paella)-- pricey Spanish.

South:

Veselka

Corner (144 2nd Ave): Popular, long-running Ukrainian. In 1937 it was the Boulevard Restaurant, aka The Dutchman's, a cafe and gambling joint where a bungled hold-up resulted in the death of a plainclothes detective and the execution of four "East Side Boys" (as the press dubbed them).

306: Dinosaur Hill is my favorite toy store.

312: Meg, women's suit boutique; The Gown Company, bridal couture.

314: Eileen Fisher, women's styles

316: Cobblestones, vintage hats, gloves, scarves etc.

324: In the basement here was the Anarchist Switchboard, a "free space" from 1986-89 that produced the zine Black Out.

328: Mascot Studio, custom frames; Selia Yang, poofy wedding gowns.

332: Clayworks Pottery, hand-crafted stoneware

334: Archangel Antiques, specializing in buttons, cufflinks and eyewear

348: St. Marks Veterinary Hospital saved my cat's life once.

350: 9th Street Bakery has been around since the 1920s.

Corner (145 1st Ave): East Village Pizza & Kebabs has good slices. Nicholas Stuyvesant, a descendant of Peter, had a dwelling approximately here called Mansion House.

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North:

Corner: Village Farm, deli with many British items, good Indian music

305: Lord of the Fleas

MudSpot

307: Friendly cafe with the same raved-about coffee as Astor Place's Mud Truck; a hub of the East Village social scene. The space used to be No More Eggs.

309: Vui Vui Cho Viet Nam

313: Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla lived here in 1936, when he was 15.

315: February Eleventh

317: Jutta Neuman, handmade shoes and bags

319: Planet Health says "cooked food is poison"

321: In 1962, this basement was the first home of Cafe La Mama, pioneering off-off-broadway theater. Jimi Hendrix is said to have lived in this building.

331: The Source, eclectic copy center since 1982, has been a favorite of musicians like They Might Be Giants (who sang a song about putting up flyers).

333: Manhattan Portage, flagship store of backpack brand. I carry one of their messenger bags, though I took the label off.

335: H, lamps made from found objects and other unique housewares; Fabulous Fanny's, vintage eyeglasses.

337: 9th Street Market, hard-to-get-into restaurant

Enchantments

341: Magickal supplies for NYC's pagan community.

Corner: Angelica's Herbs

South:

400: Lime Tree Market, Japanese deli

406: Flower Power Herbs & Roots has less attitude than Angelica's. Plain Canvas, a multicultural restaurant that showcased local art, was replaced by Share, a bistro designed by the Queer Eye guys.

412: Leather Rose

414: Ebisu

420: Bolivar Arellano Gallery; this photojournalist's gallery had a long-running exhibit on September 11.

422: eNe Salon, a friendly space that used to be a VFW lodge. My daughter got her first haircut here.

428: Hair p, creative hairstyling. The parlor is decorated with burlesque-themed paintings.

430: Atomic Passion

432: I Coppi

434: Mark Montano

436: No. 436, an "incubator for soon-to-be It labels" (Time Out). Was Rock Paper Scissors.

438: Itzocan Cafe, formerly Mexico Magico, charming hole in wall.

440: Stond

Corner: Doc Holliday's is said to have the best Country jukebox in the city.

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North:

P.S. 122

Corner (150 1st Ave): Former public school is now a performance space that has featured Spalding Gray, Penny Arcade, Karen Finley, Quentin Crisp, etc. Also home to Children's Liberation daycare, which is being kicked out, leading some to call for a boycott of P.S. 122.

417: Cafe Gigi, filled with unmatched, comfy chairs

437: Soma, sells glass pipes and graffiti art; The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, designer clothes described as "Norma Kamali meets Victorian."

441: The Exchange, a buy/sell/trade boutique, was Mayhem; Shrine Music Center is closing. Poet Frank O'Hara lived at this address from the summer of 1959 until spring 1963.

443: A. Cheng, Asian-inflected boutique

445: Bridal Veil Falls, custom-made bridal veils

447: In the Pink; boutique that lets you design and sew your own clothes

Corner: Cafe Pick Me Up, good place to watch the Avenue A scene

South:

Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish

Corner: The traces its history back to 1839, when German immigrants began what became the the Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. Growing along with Kleine Deutschland (as the neighborhood was known in the late 1800s), the parish moved into a former Methodist church on this site in 1863 (though Methodists who barricaded themselves in the church delayed their entry). With the German community greatly declining after the General Slocum disaster of 1904, the church's membership declined from 1,750 to 15 in 1975, when the old church was demolished. The current structure, which includes a church, community center and parsonage, was built in 1996 and serves a congregation of about 120.

618: The Phatory, tiny, eclectic gallery.

La Plaza Cultural/Armando Perez

632-636 (corner): Community garden/park; notable for dramatic productions and a fence decorated with flowers made out of aluminum cans. Tito Puente has played here; there used to be a geodesic dome here built by Buckminster Fuller.

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North:

Christadora House

Corner: Built in 1928 as a settlement house; young George Gershwin gave first piano recital here. Center of anti-gentrification protests. Iggy Pop wrote Avenue B here.

Former P.S. 64

605: Designed by the noted school architect C.B.J. Snyder, ground was broken for this school on June 12, 1904--just three days before the General Slocum disaster killed hundreds of its potential students. Lyricist Yip Harburg and director Joseph Mankiewicz went to school here; education reformer Elizabeth Irwin taught here. After the school closed in 1976, it was reborn as the El Bohio Cultural & Community Center, which housed the community group CHARAS and played a major role in the Loisaida cultural renaissance.

The auditorium at P.S. 64 has its own storied history, serving as a platform for politicians like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Gov. Alfred E. Smith and Mayor Jimmy Walker. Actors from Sydney Greenstreet and Warner "Charlie Chan" Oland to John Leguizamo and Luis Guzman have performed on the stage. Spike Lee's first student film had its debut screening here.

El Bohio was shut down in 2001 by landlord Gregg Singer despite much community protest; Singer has attempted to build a 19-story "dorm" on top of the building, and has threatened to strip off the structure's decoration to prevent landmarking. See Stop the Dorm for more info.

641: The courtyard west of this building was North Star, a soup kitchen/tent city.

647: Address of Limbo Lounge, part of the 1980s East Village scene; camp theater like Vampires Lesbians of Sodom and Psycho Beach Party was put on here.

649: Louis, discreet wine bar.

Corner (145 Ave C): Esperanto; Brazilian that was instrumental in the discovery of the Mojito.

South:

700 (corner): Home to Monika Beerle, who was murdered by cannibal Daniel Rakowitz in 1990. Building includes Higher Grounds espresso bar, and the gallery of daub painter Theresa Byrnes

710: Henry Street Settlement Day Care #3; building dates to 1876.

The family in the novel Call It Sleep moves to an apartment at the corner of Avenue D and 9th Street.

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North:

Ninth Street Community Garden & Park

717: An 1898 building by architect George Pelham was demolished here in the 1970s.

733: A punk rock squat between two gentrified neighbors; got title to the building in 2002.

743-749 (corner): Housing Works Day Treatment and Residential Program, declared a "special project of national significance" by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The building is new, and has really nice brickwork.