New York Songlines: Bedford Street

Christopher Street | Grove Street | Barrow Street | Commerce Street | Morton Street | Seventh Ave South | Leroy Street | Carmine Street | Downing Street | West Houston Street

Named for a street in London's Covent Garden. That street is the address of St. Paul's Church, which may have something to do with why the name was appropriated.






W <===           CHRISTOPHER STREET           ===> E

West:

107-115: Notable Federal-style houses.










Corner (490 Hudson): John Melser Charrette School (pre-K-6)/Greenwich Village Middle School (6-8).

When the Marquis de Lafayette, visiting the United States in 1824, asked to see "the best example of the public school system," he was taken here. Today the school has a special emphasis on creativity.

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106: This is the address of Lawrence Selman, a disabled neighborhood activist who has been called "the Mayor of Bedford Street." He was the subject of an Academy Award-nominated short film.

Twin Peaks

102: Remodeled in 1926 in a fantastical style as "an inspiring home for creative artists." It appeared as a discotheque in the 1969 movie The April Fools.

100: Built in 1822 as a workshop for William Hyde, a sashmaker (maker of windows). Author James Baldwin frequently stayed here.

Corner (17 Grove): House of William Hyde, built 1822. "The most complete wooden frame house in Greenwich Village"--Guide to the Metropolis.


W <===           GROVE STREET           ===> E

According to New York: The Movie Lover's Guide, the New York set on the Paramount backlot was supposed to be based on the part of Greenwich Village around Bedford from Grove to Commerce.

West:

Corner (17 Grove): Built 1822 for window-maker William Hyde. Author James Baldwin frequently stayed here.

95: The AIA Guide describes this building as being built as stables in 1894, later serving as a winery before becoming apartments in 1927. A neighbor describes this as "hogwash," however, saying that the building was actually built by J. Goebel & Company as a factory for crucibles--containers for holding molten glass. Apparently the basement is still full of them.

91: Poet Delmore Schwartz lived here in a cold-water flat without a telephone.


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90 (corner): This building serves as the exterior for the apartment on Friends; in real life, it houses the restaurants Little Owl (formerly Chez Michallet) and Moustache (tasty Mideastern).

Chumley's

86: This unmarked door is the entrance to Chumley’s, a former speakeasy that still has no outside sign. A literary hangout for Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, O’Neill, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Anais Nin, Orson Welles, Edna St. Vincent Millay, James Thurber etc. Now a popular, cozy bar and restaurant; it can be seen in such films as Reds, Bright Lights, Big City, Wolfen and Sweet and Lowdown--or you can see it online.


W <===           BARROW STREET           ===> E

West:

81: An apartment in 81 Bedford was used as a safe house by the CIA for LSD experiments from 1952-54-- sometimes administered by prostitutes on unwitting non-volunteers.





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W <===           COMMERCE STREET           ===> E

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Isaacs-Hendricks House

77 (corner): The oldest house in the Village--dating to 1799. The first owner, Harmon Hendricks, cornered the colonial copper market along with Paul Revere, according to Radical Walking Tours.

"Narrowest House in the Village"

75 1/2: Every guidebook points this out; it filled in a former alley for carriages. Originally a cobbler's shop and then a candy factory, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay lived here (1923-24), as did actors John Barrymore and Cary Grant (and his boyfriend).

69: Writer William Burroughs lived here in 1943-44.

63 (corner): Was Shopsin's General Store, longtime Village hangout said to be wary of strangers. Calvin Trillin wrote about it in The New Yorker, but declined to give its name or address out of fear of being barred. When it lost its lease, a film was made about owner/chef Kenny Shopsin called I Like Killing Flies. Now moved to 54 Carmine Street.

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East:

72 (corner): Casa, Brazilian restaurant

70: Built 1807 by John Roome, sailmaker and court crier.

























W <===           MORTON STREET           ===> E

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W <===           SEVENTH AVE S           ===> E

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46 (corner): Was Orbit, lesbian bar; now Alegrias








W <===           LEROY STREET           ===> E

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44 (corner): Daddy-O, cocktail lounge

42: Mary's, former speakeasy that became an Italian restaurant









W <===           CARMINE STREET           ===> E

West:





31 (corner): Jimi Hendrix used to crash in the building where the Blue Ribbon Bakery now is. The brick oven used by the bakery dates back to c. 1855.

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W <===           DOWNING STREET           ===> E

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29: Bar d'O, cool, polysexual lounge

27: Le Gamin Cafe, a local French chain. Anne Heche flirts with a waiter here in Walking and Talking.

21: 'ino, tiny wine and sandwich bar.

3: These midrise apartments were built in 1987 on land that had been cleared to extend Houston Street straight west to the Hudson--a plan thankfully dropped.

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East:

14: Boughelem "defines a Village bistro," according to Zagat's.












W <===           WEST HOUSTON STREET           ===> E


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

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