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Nick’s Tavern, the Jazz Joint That Went Down Swinging
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. When Dick Hyman — “a living, breathing encyclopedia of jazz,” per NPR – was a Columbia student,...
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‘A Strange Story': How 160 Bleecker Went From Slum House to Bohemian Bastion
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. Evening in one of the courts in the Mills House, no. 1.” The New York Public Library Digital...
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Drom, a World-Music Oasis in a Sea of Urban Renewal
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. New York Gyspy All Stars, playing their album release show at Drom. (Photo: Kat Thornton) Earlier...
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75 Years After It Pushed Out the Pushcarts, Essex Street Market Presses Forward
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Left: The Essex Street Market one month after opening (Courtesy of the New York Public Library). Right: The...
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Before the Spate of LES Towers, There Was Confucius Plaza
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. (Photo by Jesse Coburn) Shopkeepers across the Bowery tracked its progress: 42 stories, 43, and finally 44....
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From Warfare to Housewares: The History of the Ikea Red Hook Site
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Ikea, located on the Erie basin of Red Hook. (Camila Osorio) We’ve all been there: duking it out with a roommate...
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Where an Armory Once Stood, Met Pool Swims Against the Tide of Gentrification
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Metropolitan Pool and Recreation Center on the corner of Metropolitan and Bedford Avenues (Nicki Fleischner). It...
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The Orpheum Theater’s Problems Started Long Before Stomp Put Its Foot Down
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. The Stomp marquee masks the original facade of the two-story building at 126 Second Avenue. (Photo: Ilaria...
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Lights, Camera, Activism: How a Radical TV Studio Kept a Firehouse From Sinking
The DCTV building today (Photo by Mariam Elba) In 1978, Jon Alpert was out walking a colleague’s dog across from his loft at the intersection of Lafayette and White Streets. He stopped for the dog to...
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The Halls of Umbrella House: Suicides, Slayings and Squatters On Avenue C
Herewith, the final installment (for now!) of our A Lot About a Plot series, diving deep into the histories of storied addresses around town. (Photo: Gabriel Pintado) Sometimes he hears them whispering...
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For Over a Century, a Home For Women Who’ve ‘Sunk So Low’
This week, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. Exterior of 110 Second Avenue, when it was home to the Isaac Hopper Home, 1930 (Courtesy of Women’s Prison...
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How a Mosque Ended Up Next to a Pig-Roasting, Shot-Pounding Metal Bar
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. 30 Cliff Street today. The metal bar “Iron Horse” located in background. At dusk, bearded men...
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Basquiat’s Place: How a Site of Mob Beef Became a Boutique Butcher Shop
This week, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. Japan Premium Beef at 57 Great Jones Street. (Photo: Hanna Wallis) Below the sparkling glint of a crystal...
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The Hard-Fightin’, Hard-Tumblin’ German Gymnasts of 4th Street
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. “From the old to the new world—German emigrants for New York embarking on a Hamburg steamer.”...
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From Anarchist Hangout to Bathhouse to Arcade: The Steamy History of 6 St. Marks
This week, we continue with our series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. 6 St. Marks Place today (Photo by Prianka Srinivasan) It’s a little after seven on a Friday night,...
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Cracking the Case of the Mystery Safes in the Speakeasy Basement
This week, we continue with our series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. (Photo: Nigar Hacizade) If you walked into a building expecting to see a regular museum, but found...
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The Theater That Was a ‘Weapon in the Class Struggle’
This week, we continue with our series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. The Workers Laboratory Theatre, headquartered at 42 East 12th street in the 1930s. (University of...
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How Sex Sold Songs in New York’s Early Theater Days
This week, we continue with our series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. View of 444 Broadway as The Olympic Theatre, year unknown. Photo courtesy of The Miriam and Ira D....
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The Feud Between the Millionaire and the ‘King of the Hoboes’
This week, we continue with our series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. Jeff Davis, self-proclaimed King of Hoboes, pictured in the January 16, 1913 Tacoma Times. (Image...
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Greenpoint’s Astral Apartments, a Tumultuous Refuge for the Working Class
This week and next, we present a series of longer pieces unraveling the histories of storied buildings. The Astral’s Franklin Street exterior The Astral in Greenpoint has status in the National...
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