New York Songlines: Washington Street

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874 (corner): Diane Von Furstenberg, styley store of the fashion designer

860 (corner): Atlas Meat. One of the dwindling number of wholesale shops that make this the Meatpacking District.

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Corner (432 W 14th): Was Mother, home to many fetish and drag events (Jackie 60, Meat, Clit Club etc.); later the Filter 14 dance club. Now Scoop, hip clothing store that takes up much of the block

869: Dernier Cri ("The Last Cry," i.e. the latest fashion), punky boutique opened 2002

863: Artsee Eyewear, designer glasses

859 (corner): 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.

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843 (corner): Ottomanelli, one of the last meat businesses

843A: R & W Pork Provisions--it doesn't get more Meatpacking District than this.

835 (corner): Highline, a stylish three-story bar and restaurant "with a theme of luxury travel." Was the site of The Mineshaft, a hardcore gay sex club that opened in 1976 and was shut down in 1985 in the name of the AIDS epidemic. In the 1960s, a gay disco called The Fawn was here.

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844: Hector's Cafe, a little diner under the Highline

826: Was West Washington Meats Co.

820: Was Maggio Beef Co.

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833 (corner): Royale Prime Meats. Also the address of the Motel Deluxe.

831: Emerald Meat. Not sure that green is what you want people to think of when they think of your meat.

829: Nyack Meat Co.

827: Iris, outlet for an Italian company that makes shoes for top brands; promises to carry the complete line of said brands.

821: An Earnest Cut & Sew, super-expensive custom-made jeans in a workroom-like showroom

819: Was Girlshop, brick-and-mortar outlet for an Internet fashion retailer

Corner (73 Gansevoort): Los Dados ("The Dice"), Mexican with the same chef as Suenos. The space, a former meat locker, was Meet, named when hip restaurants in the meatpacking district were a novelty. Carrie got stood up there by a blind date on Sex and the City.

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807-809 (corner): Banchet Flowers, amazing floral design

805: Auto, out-of-the-ordinary housewares and accessories--est. 1999

799 (corner): Urban Myth Media

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Washington Commons

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775 (block): Industria Superstudio, a 1998 cement-floored space that houses the restaurant Barbuto, formerly Braque.

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Highline Apartments. The High Line elevated train seems to have gone through this space.

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767 (corner): Tortilla Flats, rowdy Tex-Mex restaurant/bar. Carrie and Miranda go on a double date here on Sex and the City.

765: Was the I.C.U. Bar, which often featured live music; formerly Finally Fred's.

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Westbeth

Once the Bell Telephone/Western Electric Laboratories, this full-block complex created or help to develop some of the most important inventions of the 20th Century: the vacuum tube (1912), radar (1919), sound movies (1923) and the digital computer (1937). One of the first demonstrations of television transmission occurred here, April 27, 1927. Westbeth was also the original home of the NBC radio network.

The complex was converted to an artists' colony in 1969; photographer Diane Arbus committed suicide here, July 28, 1971. Actor Vin Diesel grew up here.

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753: Baby Buddha, tasty Chinese

733 (corner): Automatic Slims, one of the places I was told I should check out when I first came to New York City almost 20 years ago. It seemed pretty cool then.

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Corner: From 1954-69 Jack's Service Station, an Esso outlet, was here.

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685 (corner): Les Animaux

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680: Beasty Feast; pet supplies

Site of Newgate State Prison

At the foot of 10th Street (then Amos Street) was Newgate State Prison, opened in 1797 as New York's first prison and the second prison in the country. Despite some progressive policies--the co-ed convicts were taught trades, a physician and a pharmacist were hired, and the first warden lived in the prison along with his family--the institution was plagued by overcrowding, riots and smallpox epidemics. It was closed in 1829 when its inmates were sent "up the river" to the newly opened Sing Sing. In its day, the prison was apparently a tourist attraction; it's memorialized in a mosaic in the Christopher Street subway stop.

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681: Colette's Cakes

Corner (277 W 10th): Shephard House was built c. 1894 as the Shephard Warehouse, converted to apartments in 1978.

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657: St. Veronica's Rectory/Missionaries of Charity Convent

649 (corner): Malatesta Trattoria; the Voice raves about its ''raffish'' food.

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The Archives

666: Built in 1892-99 as the U.S. Appraiser's Store, a warehouse for goods awaiting customs inspection; later the U.S. Federal Archives Building. Converted to mixed use, 1988.

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626: This was the address of St. Veronica's parochial school from 1906-31; boxer Gene Tunney attended school here.

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W <===         CANAL ST

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451-453 (corner): The landmarked Fleming Smith warehouse, a fanciful 1892 building in a Flemish Revival style, was originally a shoe factory and a warehouse for wine; it's said to be the first Tribeca building converted to residential use. Houses the Capsouto Freres bistro, opened in 1980.

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