New York Songlines: Canal Street

Washington St | Greenwich St | Hudson | Varick | 6th Ave
Thompson | West Broadway | Greene | Wooster | Mercer | Broadway
| Lafayette | Centre | Baxter | Mulberry | Mott | Elizabeth | Bowery
Chrystie | Forsyth | Eldridge | Allen | Orchard | Ludlow
Division | Essex | East Broadway

Canal Street actually was a canal at one point--or at least a ditch draining water from the hopelessly polluted Collect Pond into the Hudson; it's not clear to me how big a boat you could actually float in it. It was dug in 1805 and paved over as a stagnant health hazard in 1815, but an underground stream apparently still flows beneath the roadway.

Canal's a pretty remarkable street, between the shops that time forgot selling industrial products of the early-to-mid-20th Century and the Bladerunneresque bazaars selling counterfeit designer handbags. There's a strong feeling of impermanence about much of the street; I would be unsurprised if several of the businesses listed here have already changed into something else.





Hudson River

S <===     WEST ST     ===> N

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W <===         CANAL ST

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S <===             WASHINGTON STREET             ===> N

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506: Storefront dates to c. 1826.




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S <===             GREENWICH STREET             ===> N

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W <===         WATTS ST

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The Villager

487 (corner): The weekly newspaper, published since 1933, is based here. Covering the area from Tribeca to Chelsea on the West Side and from Chinatown to the East Village on the east, its local reporting is far superior to that of the New York Times--because you get a sense that the people who live in these neighborhoods are citizens and not just consumers.

RENWICK ST         N ===>




S <===       HUDSON STREET       ===> N
                        WATTS STREET       ===> E

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Corner (75 Varick): The Holland Plaza Building, a 1930 Art Deco structure designed by Ely Jacques Kahn for the printing industry, now houses the Manhattan Center of Adelphi University, founded in 1896 as New York's first co-ed college, as well as the Metropolitan College of New York, founded in 1964 by Audrey Cohen.


W <===     VESTRY STREET      
S <===           VARICK STREET           ===> N

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S <===     LAIGHT STREET          
S <===           6TH AVENUE           ===> N

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386 (corner): Canal Sound City

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THOMPSON ST   N ===>

393: Soho Photo Lab. This almost is the southwest corner of Soho.

391: Argo Electronics

387: Canal Alarms, established 1941


S <===                 W BROADWAY                 ===> N

South:

378: Soho Sound & Electronics. Since the south side of the street is BElow CAnal, this is Tribeca, not Soho.

374: Pro Sound

Canal Street Station

350 (corner): This terra-cotta post office dates to 1939.


S <===         CHURCH ST

342 (corner): Pro Audio









334: Uncle Steve, audio

332: Taj Mahal Car Stereo & Audio

326: Phoenix Clothing/Canal Shoes

324: Perfect Fit








Pearl Paint

308: Six floors of art supplies at the flagship of the local chain, opened in 1933.













Corner (415 Broadway): Formerly the First National City Bank of New York--the predecessor of Citibank. This triangular space was once the location of Brandreth House, a hotel run by one Doc Brandreth, a dope peddler who later did time in Sing Sing. On the hotel's steps on July 23, 1859, Virginia Stewart was shot and killed by her lover Robert C. MacDonald, who had pursued her from North Carolina. He killed himself with opium while awaiting trial in the Tombs.

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369: Manhattan Luggage

365: Was Great Wall City

357: Plastic Land, "For All Your Plastic Needs"


WOOSTER ST         N ===>

355: Canal Bargains

353: Canal Audio Video

345: Canal Plastics Center

343: Original Uncle Steve--apparently there is some dispute as to who the real Uncle Steve is.


GREENE ST         N ===>

329: Canal Rubber--"If It's in Rubber, We Have It!"--since 1954

321: Canal Electronics Warehouse

319: Canal Hi-Fi, established 1977

317: Canal Lighting & Electric Supplier

313: Electric Trading Co., "serving industry since 1903." Putting "electric" in your name in 1903 must have been like putting ".com" in your name in 1999.


MERCER ST         N ===>

Arnold Constable Building

307-311 (corner): This was home to one of New York's most prestigious stores, founded by Aaron Arnold near this site in 1825; son-in-law James Constable became a partner in 1837. This building dates to 1857. It offered "Everything From Cradle to Grave"; Mary Todd Lincoln was a frequent customer. Southern sympathizers urged a boycott because of its abolitionist sympathies. The store moved uptown to Ladies Mile in 1869.

Until recently, it housed Industrial Plastics, described as "a treasure chest of cool things, supplying all manner of useful and not-so-useful items like 20-inch mirror disco balls, giant plastic bananas, sparkly holographic paper and inflatable globes." At No. 307 is CK&L Hardware

305: Original Electronic Warehouse. One senses some tension with the Canal Electronic Warehouse up the street.


S <===           BROADWAY           ===> N

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Corner (416 Broadway): Was home to 416 B.C. (for "Below Canal"), New York's only Bulgarian bar, spawning ground for Gogol Bordello. Now moved to Ludlow Street as this corner has been taken over by Ramada Inn.


S <===   CORTLANDT AL

268 (corner): Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, opened in 1991 as the Chinatown Health Clinic. Moved here in 1999, the same year it changed its name to honor a major donor, Charles Wang of Computer Associates International.

266: Canal Fun Corp Restaurant

Corner (112 Lafayette): These landmarked, many-pillared cast-iron lofts are attributed to James Bogardus, a pioneer of cast-iron architecture, and may be his most important surviving work. Houses Bank of America and HSBC--the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Company.

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Corner (418 Broadway): Oltarsh Building houses the Mall of the Great Wall--Chinese import market, formerly the Pearl River Market. It was built as the Major Theatre, aka Cinema Giglio, which seated 599.

271: MM Dynasty Jewelry II-- the approximate beginning of Chinatown's Jewelry District

267: Gold City

265: Prestige Jewelry

263: Canal Golden Mall

263A: Home Boy Amigo Jewelry (!)

261: Alex Jewelry

257: Canal Business Association, established 1993







S <===           LAFAYETTE STREET           ===> N

South:

Corner (111 Lafayette): Comprises Excellent Dumpling House (which is!), New Wing Wong Restaurant and Lays Herbal Center.

246: New Sea Win Restaurant

244: Hon Wong Restaurant

242: KW Cafe Bakery

240 (corner): Cheung Hing Jewelry

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245: Chinese American Bank

243: Lucky Jewelry Center

239 (corner): This building with a red pagoda roof and a facade decorated with dragons and phoenixes, was the Golden Pacific National Bank, which opened here in 1983 and went under two years later, taking $17 million in local deposits with it.


S <===           CENTRE STREET           ===> N

The eastern portion of Canal Street, from roughly here to Division Street, used to be called Pump Street, after Teawater Pump, a spring feeding the Collect Pond that was a favorite source for filling teakettles. The name was changed in the 1840s.

South:

234-238: New Land Plaza






244: Fishcorner Corp., souvenirs

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235: Eastbank

233: Centre Canal Jewelry

225: East Canal Jewelry


Corner: Washington Mutual--with a sign in Chinese


S <===           BAXTER STREET           ===> N

South:

There's an information pagoda of some sort on this triangular slice of a block.

S <===   WALKER ST

220 (corner): Sun Say Kai Restaurant. This is actually the corner of Canal and Baxter.

218: Win Choy Food Market

216: Bac Ai Pharmacy

214: Fish & Meat Food Market; like an aquarium, except you can take the fish home and eat them.


210-212 (corner): Chinatrust Bank

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219 (corner): Tai Fook Jewelry

217B: New Line Jewelry

215: Golden Pearl Jewelry. During a fire at this address on February 14, 1909, Deputy Chief Charles W. "Big-Hearted Charley" Kruger fell through rotten boards in the cellar and drowned in eight feet of water.

213: Treasure Island Enterprises

211: Joyeria Pepin's

209: Empire Fine Jewelry

207: Great World Enterprises

205: Las Americas Corp; Fancy Jewelry

203 (corner): RCD Fine Jewelry. On the Mulberry Street side is Sambuca's Cafe, which seems to be the New York branch of an Italian chain.


S <===             MULBERRY STREET             ===> N

South:

202 (corner): Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong-based bank founded 1918

200: Kam Man Food Products, grocery with hard-to-find Chinese items and a wide selection of kitchenwares

194: Tai Pan Bakery has a huge selection of Chinese pastries

Chinese Merchants Association

Corner (83-85 Mott): This pagoda-like structure is the headquarters of the On Leong Tong, once one of Chinatown's most feared gangs, with Mott Street as its territory. As late as the 1990s, On Leong leaders were running protection rackets with the Ghost Shadows street gang. Today it seems to be more what it always pretended to be--an association of Chinatown businessmen. Fay Da Bakery on the ground floor.

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201A (corner): Shing Wong Jewelry

201: Orient Star Jewelry

199: Diamond National

195A: Diamond Angel Jewelry

195: Dragon Jewelry

193: American Legion Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial Post 1291. Kimlau, a DeWitt Clinton High School graduate, was a World War II bomber pilot who died in 1944 over Los Negros Island.

191: Good Luck Jewelry

189: Golden Jade Jewelry

185B: New Citiwide Jewelry

185: Diamond & Gold Jewelry


S <===           MOTT STREET           ===> N

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172 1/2: Chinatown Federal Savings Bank

170-172: Mink Tam Jewelry Center






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183: Abacus Federal Savings Bank

177: Canal Jewelry Center

175: Diamond Line Jewelry

173: Beauty Design Jewelry

171: La Princesa

165: Canal Diamond Jewelry

167A: Chun Xin Jewelry

167: BCC Jewelry


S <===           ELIZABETH STREET           ===> N

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162: Foo Sing Jewelry

160: Attraction of Beauty Inc.

158: Canal Street Optical

156: Canal Jewelry Center

Corner (58 Bowery): HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Company) was built in 1924 as the Citizen's Savings Bank. The huge bronze dome is a Chinatown landmark.

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165: Cathay Jewelry

163: Dragons Jewelry

163A: Treasure Kingdom

161: New Golden Gift Jewelry; Kings Sky Jewelry

159A: Lucky Diamond

Corner (70 Bowery): New York Jewelers Exchange


S <===           THE BOWERY           ===> N

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Confucius Plaza Apartments

This arcing, 44-story highrise was built in 1976 to provide Chinatown with much needed housing. Discrimination in construction hiring here sparked the formation of Asian Americans for Equality.

The complex also includes P.S. 124, Yung Wing Public School, named for the first Chinese graduate of an American university (Yale, class of 1854) and the organizer of the Chinese Educational Mission to bring students from China to study in the U.S.





Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonade

Designed by Carrere & Hastings (best known for the New York Public Library), this horseshoe-shaped arcade was built in 1910-15 to provide an impressive entrance to Manhattan.

132: In 1903, this was the address of the Daily Jewish Herald.

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151: New York Music & Gifts

149: Simpsons Loans, pawnshop est. 1889

139: Fung Wah Bus, ultra-cheap bus line to Boston. Name means "magnificent wind" in Cantonese.

133: Mahayana Buddhist Temple was, until 1996, the Rosemary Theatre.


CHRYSTIE ST         N ===>

Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Named for FDR's mother, a formidable woman who took credit for her son's political success, and who was something of a terror to her daughter-in-law Eleanor. The park is the result of massive slum clearance in 1929; it was supposed to be replaced with public housing, but corrupt city land deals made the price prohibitive.

S <===               FORSYTH STREET               ===> N

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88: William Cullen Bryant lived at a boardinghouse at this address in the late 1820s, at about the time he became editor of the New York Post.

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S <===               ELDRIDGE STREET               ===> N

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S <===               ALLEN STREET               ===> N

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Jarmulovsky's Bank Building

54-58 (corner): The bank, opened by Sender Jarmulovsky in 1873 on this site, built this Beaux-Arts building in 1911--and three years later, a panic caused by the outbreak of World War I caused the bank to fail, leading to a loss of $10 million in deposits, a riot and six suicides.

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S <===               ORCHARD STREET               ===> N

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Corner (14 Orchard): Sweet Paradise Lounge used to be a candy store and still has a confectionary theme

45: A 20-year-old Emma Goldman stayed briefly with her aunt and uncle at this address when she first came to New York in 1889.




S <===               LUDLOW STREET               ===> N

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W <===         DIVISION ST

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37 (corner): Les Enfants Terribles, hip French-African cafe

35: Clandestino, bar for secret rendezvous




31: Once Loew's Canal Street Theatre, designed by Thomas Lamb in Spanish Baroque style and opened in 1927. It originally seated 2,279. Now home to ABC United Trading Corp, an electronics store, and Royal Music Cinema, home theater service.






S <===         ESSEX STREET         ===> N

This intersection is the site of an annual Succoth market, selling palm, myrtle and willow branches for the Jewish holiday.

South:

Straus Square

Named for Nathan Straus, a co-owner of Macy's who gave much of his wealth to philanthropic projects, including lodging houses, a tuberculosis sanitarium for children, World War I relief and health centers in Palestine. Straus was a primary proponent of the pasteurization of milk, cutting the infant death rate in half in neighborhoods served by his milk stations.

Formerly Rutgers Square, named for Henry Rutgers, scion of a brewing family that owned land here; Rutgers was a Revolutionary oficer who donated money to revive Queen's College in New Jersey, now renamed after him.

Rutgers Square was the frequent site of labor rallies and radical speeches by the likes of Emma Goldman and Eugene V. Debs.

Includes the Supreme Sacrifice memorial, for troops killed in the world wars and Korea.




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Seward Park

This park was established in 1899 by the Outdoor Recreation League, replacing crumbling tenements that were torn down in 1897. It's named for William Seward (1801-72); an early abolitionist who became NY governor (1838-42) and a U.S. senator (1848-61), he served as secretary of state under Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He's most remembered for paying Russia $7 million for Alaska in 1867. But it's his pro-immigration policies that made him the namesake of this park serving an immigrant neighborhood.

The northern part of the park was made into a playground in 1903--the first munipal playground in the U.S. A public bath--the first in a New York park-- was built here in 1904 and demolished in 1936, replaced by a recreation building in 1941. The Schiff Fountain, paid for by financier Jacob H. Schiff and designed by Arnold Brunner, was built in 1895 in Rutgers Square and moved here in 1936.

Numerous Tai Chi practitioners can be found in the park every morning.


W <===         EAST BROADWAY         ===> E







What am I missing on Canal Street? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

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