W <===
EAST 14TH STREET
===> E
The northern boundary of the East Village.
West:
237 (corner): Was 1st
Federal Savings & Loan; later one of the last Love Stores
in New York, a local drug store chain. The offices of City
Council member
Margarita Lopez were in this
building.
233: Big Arc Chicken, Middle Eastern barbecue,
popular with cabbies.
 231: Vinny Vincenz Pizza
229: Was Old Fashioned Donuts, driven
out of business by the oppressive corporate doughnut
chain. Now Petit Chou, great French bakery.
227: Was Blue Velvet, fancy Vietnamese
225: Crab du Jour was the designer discount shop
Gabay's from 1970 to 2014.
223: Mee Noodle Shop was Allen
Ginsberg's favorite Chinese (though it was down the block then). There use to be a bakery here variously known an Build a Green Bakery, Birdbath, Prince of Peace Bakery and Prince Bakery.
221: Was Senor Pollo ("Mister Chicken"),
Peruvian, before that Rancho El Girasol ("Sunflower Ranch"),
Mexican featuring mariachis. Was Prince Fruit & Vegetable.
219 (corner): Was Mee Noodle Shop until it closed in 2005 when the building started to collapse. The building is now an interesting vintage/ modern hybrid.
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East:
228: Taverna Kyclades, Greek. Was David's Bagels, where
I used to go for Sunday morning bagels.
226: Wine on 1st, shop with helpful labels; Kathe's Jewelry, where I got my ring resized once.
224: The Crossings apartments—I think it
includes all the addresses north to the corner. Building dates to 1911 but was modernized at some point.
222: Veeray da Dhaba,Indian, was Ikura, Japanese
220: H&W Hardware, founded 1924; seems to have gone out of business c. 2022.
218 (corner): Was Victor's Marketplace,
long-running meat market. After undergoing a
thorough uglification, the building housed Blank Street Coffee--but
not an actual coffeeshop, but rather a facsimile where they trained barristas?
The south wall used to have amazing street art from Ichibantei, a Japanese restaurant with a
reggae theme.
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West:
217 (corner): Hamptons Market Place, a deli formerly known as Olympic Deli & Grocery, was
DiBella Brothers, Italian grocery known for its stuffed artichoke
hearts.
211-213: Luzzo's was Zito's East,
a charming old place that claimed to
make one of the best 50 pizzas in the world.
207: Slavic Evangelical Christian Church
205: Tribeca Pediatrics (a satellite office) was Lugo's Mecca of Hair
203: Sao Mai, Vietnamese, was Tuba's Shish Kabob, Mideastern; before that Cyclo, Vietnamese with a
namesake bicycle rickshaw out front.
201: Naks, formerly Jeepney, Filipino; earlier Wai? Cafe
199 (corner): S'Mac, for Sarita's Mac And Cheese. Tasty,
used to have a community fridge out front. Was Fuji Apple Deli a
friendly neighborhood grocery.
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East:
214 (corner): Onion Tree Pizza Co. was Koko Sushi, earlier Kumo Sushi; Elvie's Turo-Turo, tasty Filipino fast food
214B: Was Tallgrass Burgers
210: Gena's Grill was National Cafe,
a notable Cuban hole in the wall; next door was Lazzat, halal.
208: Balade, Lebanese, was
Christine's, Polish diner from 1982-2008. Allen Ginsberg
mentioned it in his poem "Charnel Ground."
The building is dated 1911.
204: No Relation, formerly Treasure Trends
NYC, vintage and pseudo-vintage clothing
200: Brodo, broth to go
198 (corner): Hearth, fancy American;
used to be Tappo, another pricey place.
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West:
Asher Levy School
185 (block): P.S. 19 is named for an early
Jewish immigrant, a kosher butcher, who won an
important victory for religious tolerance when he successfully
appealed Peter Stuyvesant's ban on Jews in the New Amsterdam militia.
His name is also spelled "Asser Levy," but you
can see how grade school kids might find that too entertaining.
Art, dance and drama are integral parts of the curriculum here.
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East:
196 (corner): Manhattan Marketplace replaced 1st Avenue Gourmet Deli,
which closed during the pandemic.
194: Red Beard Coffee & Bakery was Cafe Sandra
192: Juice Vitality; Pastasole, pasta to go, was Koko Wings,
Korean fried chicken. Earlier Neptun, seafood; before that KK, Polish
diner
190: Tree replaced Brunetta's,
an incredibly old little Italian, then quickly went out of business.
188: Uogashi, Japanese restaurant shut down by fire in 2018. Earlier was Mandarin Grill, Filipino.
186: Handsome Dan's, eclectic candy shop, was closed by the fire that wrecked Uogashi. Previously A-1 Music.
184: Atomic Wings, which painted
over its "Make Wings, Not War" slogan when the
war in Afghanistan started. At the same address
is Sahara East, Mideast restaurant noted for its
backyard and its hookahs.
182 (corner): Madina Masjid Islamic
Council of America, one of the few mosques in
Downtown Manhattan. It originally served the spiritual needs of the Bengali
restaurants that once lined Sixth Street.
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West:
177 (corner): Lhasa, Tibetan, was Schnitz, specializing in schnitzel. Before that it was Something Sweet, aka
Black Forest Bakery, when this was a mini pastry district.
173: Iggy's Pizza was
Five Roses Pizza, neighborhood pizzeria
from
1964 to
2008.
Handsome Dick Manitoba
of The Dictators lived upstairs here for 18 years.
Momofuko Noodle Bar
171: The flagship
of David Chang's chain of raved-about
Asian restaurants. Named—like the Elvis
Costello album of the same name—for
Momofuko Ando, the inventor of the instant noodle.
Used to be Krystal's Cafe, a Filipino
bakery—before that Ferucci's Gourmet Market.
In a cast-iron building atypical of the neighborhood.
167: Tatsu ramen was Sandobe Sushi, before that the retro Bendix Diner.
165: Commodities natural food store
163 (corner):
Momofuku Ko —"Child of Momofuku" — only takes
reservations online, and the 12 seats are booked within
seconds every day at Chang's hearty Japanese.
Used to be a wrap place.
Taralluci e Vino's name means
"cookies and wine," but sells sandwiches and
espresso—go figure. Formerly Sassy's Sliders,
tasty White Castle–like burgers. Upstairs used
to be Princess Pamela's, a secret apartment/restaurant
"where you could eat great homecooking, served by the
hostess often wearing scuffy slippers."
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East:
180 (corner): Was
Eleven Consignment Boutique, a high-end clothing resale shop that closed suddenly in 2020; before that it was Village Fabrics. The building dates
to 1872.
178: REVMPD, thrift store. This used to be the offices of Bella Tile, landlord to much of the immediate neighborhood.
176: Black Seed, bagels and coffee, was DeRobertis Pastry Shoppe, Italian pas- tries since 1904; was a
more authentic Old New York experience than
Veniero's.
Handsome Jack Giordano, a Gambino family member,
ran a bookmaking operation out of there in
the late 1980s; the FBI said they had "bugs
in everything but the cannolis and the
espresso machine." Tom
Cruise carries a box from DeRobertis in Eyes Wide Shut.
174: Xunta, Galician tapas, eaten on barrels.
Formerly Pete's Spice. Upstairs is First Flight Music.
172: Fourth World House, progressive daycare
170: This building has a faded ad for
corsets (!) on its southern wall.
168: Joe & Pat's is the East Village outpost of a Staten Island pizza institution, founded in 1960
by Giuseppe and Pasquale Pappalardo, two brothers from Naples. They took over the space of Lanza's, old-school Italian
since 1907, which was the favorite restaurant
of Gambino underboss Joe "Piney" Armone,
who died in prison in 1992.
166: Ferns, American, was
La Zarza, Spanish/Argentine. Earlier was a club called One66,
Izzy Bar.
 Corner (245 E. 10th): Beron Beron, Japanese, was
Sapporo East, one of the first Japanese restaurants in the neighborhood, from 1983-2013.
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McLaughlin's Bear Pit, where one could bet on fights between dogs and bears, was located at this intersection in the 1860s.
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West:
Corner (242 E 10th St): Was NW3, a cool
bar named for London's hip zip code.
Now called Company. Until the early 1980s,
Dee Dee Ramone lived
in apartment 21 upstairs.
157: Stickett Inn, intimate cocktail bar
155: A progressive, experi- mental
playhouse founded in 1971, and named for a
remark by Mayor John Lindsay about building
a new city for all. Vin Diesel started his acting career
with a TNC play when he was 7 years old; Tim Robbins starred in the theater's production of The Little Prince. Sam Shepard won a Pulitzer for TNC's The Buried Child. It moved to this location in 1984, which used to be the First Avenue Retail Market, built by Mayor
LaGuardia as a way to get pushcarts
off the streets.
Serves as
a neighborhood polling place and used to house
anarchist May Day Books, which made
for an interesting combination. The city, which
controlled the air rights, forced the building
of a luxury condo above the theater, known as the
New Theatre Building; though very
21st Century-looking, it seems to have
made some effort to echo the surrounding
tenements.
153: Was Coyote Ugly, bar that the movie
was based on, sort of.
149: This small spot has had many tenants in recent years, including This Little Piggy roast beef, Birdies ("Grandma's chicken for the people") and Flor's Kitchen, Venezuelan. It's currently Rowdy Rooster, very tasty Indian fried chicken. A red-tailed hawk
once flew in here.
147 (corner): Was The Bean, local coffee chain; before that Angelica's Herbs. Upstairs is the East Village Hotel.
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East:
162 (corner): The deli here was where
Dee Dee Ramone used to get his morning coffee
after he got his morning heroin. Has been vacant for a while now.
160: Gizmo Sewing Supply; Sabor a Mexico Taqueria
158: Was Yu's on First, massage, which replaced
Mary's Dairy, ice cream parlor. Before that it was
Standard, a stylish and mellow bar that succeeded Downtown Beirut, a classic punk bar
featured in After Hours. I fell in love
with my wife there.
156: Hello Banana Vintage is also Amy Van Doran's Modern Love Club, a matchmaking service. Was
Diamonds & Oranges, a
gallery in a former bodega.
150 (corner): Public school turned performance
space in 1979 for the likes of Spalding Gray, Penny Arcade,
Karen Finley,
Quentin Crisp, etc. Booting out Children's Liberation,
a long-running daycare center, didn't endear them
to the neighborhood.
Ira Gershwin is said to have attended
here when it was still a school. The auditorium
was featured in the movie Fame.
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West:
145 (corner): East Village Pizza has a million followers on
Instagram. Baji Baji, Chinese, is also at this address.
Nicholas Stuyvesant, a descendant of Peter,
had a dwelling approximately here called
Mansion House.
143:
Paquitos, Mexican
141: Kikoo Shushi was Ramen Setagaya, first US branch
of a Japanese noodle chain. Before the noodle chain, it
was (briefly) Gourmet Market Place and 1 Ave Fish Market.
139: Stuffed Ice Cream was Caffe Emilia; Orchard Garden Spa. Has
an unusual blue paint job with red and yellow trim—
reminds me of Amsterdam.
137: Drunken Dumpling; Davey's Ice Cream. I miss Tara Thai here—friendly, tasty, affordable...with shadow puppets.
135: Dan & John's Wings was Shiki Kitchen, sushi restaurant
decorated with the chef's paper art.
Corner (83 St. Marks): Stromboli Pizza,
named for a Sicilian volcano. My wife and I were mistaken for employees here once because we were wearing matching T-shirts.
Subway shooting suspect Frank James
hung out here for half an hour shortly before his arrest.
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East:
Corner (400 E. 9th): Lime Tree Market, Japanese deli
140: The Hard Swallow was Cheap Shots, newish dive bar. Was
First Avenue Meat Products, one of several
butcher shops along this stretch of First Avenue.
138: East Village Wines, noted for annual palindrome contest.
"Dubya won? No way, bud" was one winner.
136: Village Craft Beer & Smoke. Subway shooting suspect Frank James was arrested here on April 13, 2022, after several members of the public alerted the NYPD that he was hanging out in the neighborhood.
134 (corner): Goodnight Sonny, cocktail bar that opened in 2015. The name is what the owner's grandmother used to say to him when he'd start the late shift at the family bar. The space used to be Simone Espresso and Wine Bar. The building dates to 1872.
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West:
131 (corner): Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, Automat-style restaurant opened 2021. Personally it worries me when a Manhattan business invites customers to fantasize that they're in Brooklyn.
129: Was Lulu's, bar noted for skeeball
127: Was Prana Foods, organic, pro-animal rights,
anti-genetic manipulation grocery
125: Nudibranch, foodie restaurant. The name means "sea slug."
123: Was Organic Grill, which moved to West 3rd Street.
121: Sticky Fingers Bakery
119: Dok Suni ("Strong Woman"),
Korean
115 (cor- ner): Real name is WCOU Radio, but best
known as Tile Bar. My first date with my
wife was here.
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East:
132 (corner): The Wild Son cafe, formerly Tribe, before that St. Marks Bar.
In the video for "Waiting on a Friend," Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards meet the rest of The Rolling Stones here.
130: Rainbow Records was a hoarder-like trove of music; Homemade Pierogi & Deli Co. made dumplings like my Lithuanian grandmother's.
128: Noreetuh, Hawaiian, was Kebab Garden, Mideastern with a "flaming"
sign. Until 2004 this was
La Focacceria, Sicilian that first opened up the avenue in 1914.
126: The Grafton, modernist Irish bar named for a Dublin street famous for its cafes and buskers. Opened in 2003 under the name Lunasa, referring to the Celtic holiday of
Lughnasa; the name was changed in 2015 because patrons couldn't pronounce the old one. Previously was Galapagos, Ecuadoran restaurant.
124: East Village Organic, grocery, was
Kurowycky & Son Meat Products,
sausage-makers opened in 1955 and closed in 2007.
122: MaLa Project, spicy Chinese
120 1/2: Bubbleology, bubble tea, was International Bar, super-skinny bar that moved down the street.
120: Raiz, vegan, was Wechsler's Currywurst & Bratwurst, German
sausage place, and before that La Casalinga, compact Italian—two restaurants I miss.
118 (corner): E7 Deli & Cafe
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West:
Corner: Yubu, Korean
111: Suki, Japanese, was B & M Meat Market.
109: SenYa, Japanese, was Ginger, neo-sushi
107: Huertas, Basque
105: Mister Paradise, cocktail bar, was Counter, stylish Cajun vegetarian.
103: Sidney's Five, American, was Solex, French wine bar; before that Teresa's, charming, affordable Polish diner.
99 (corner): The Headless Widow, cocktail bar, was Mancora, Peruvian; before that Spice House,
grocery serving "Little India."
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East:
116 (corner): Saifee Hardware, where we've bought paint for our apartment and plants for our community garden plot, among much else. The manager here was one of the folks who alerted the NYPD to the presence of subway shooting suspect Frank James. This used to be Pauline's Bar and
Restaurant. It was also Tunnel Bar,
which pioneered the East Village gay scene
in the early 1980s. Before that it was Red Bar,
a hangout for artists like Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.
112: Hunan Slurp was Imagine Bar & Grill, but before that was Miracle Grill,
Southwestern restaurant where celebrity chef Bobby Flay
achieved fame. Building dates to 1885.
110: Sushi Dojo was
Polonia, cozy diner; even cheaper
and more Polish than Teresa's was.
102: I don't usually note fast-food chains on the Songlines, but this corporate burger joint is notable as the place subway shooter Frank James was spotted hanging out on the day of his arrest.
102: Has the same address as the building next door, although an entirely separate structure. Houses the
Coal Yard Bar, skinny dive that opened 2014; formerly Lilly Coogan's, and before that the Old Homestead Inn
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West:
97: Kindred, Italian, was Banjara, spiffy Indian named for Indian relatives of the Romani (aka "Gypsies").
Next door i
93: Bengali rest- aurants with
so many Christmas lights they're psychedelic.
Milon is on the left and Panna II is on the right;
Royal (which used to be light-free) is down below.
Warning: Make up your mind which Christmas-light
restaurant you want to eat in before you go
up the stairs--or the decision will be made for you.
91: Sigiri, Sri Lankan; E & C Trading had Indian movies, music, instruments;
Dual (formerly Dowel Quality Products) has Indian groceries.
87: Was First, restaurant/bar noted for fancy martinis.
Now Blue Door Video.
85: The Chippery was Mod World, Little Ricky-style kitsch
83 (corner): Emmy Squared, Detroit-style pizza. Was Three of Cups, romantic Italian where
Quentin Tarantino got into a brawl in 1998.
Previously Dizzy Chicken.
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<=== E 5TH ST
75: This eight-story metal-and-glass building from 2017 doesn't look like anything else around it—whether that's good or bad I suppose is a matter of taste. Critics got it reduced in scale from 14 stories. It does make the drugstore squatting on the corner look like less of an eyesore.
71: The Sabieng Thai, formerly known as Pukk.
69: Downtown Bakery II is an
unassuming hole in the wall that serves good
Mexican food. Noted for breakfast burritos.
67:
Batsu!, Japanese-inspired interactive game show.
Corner (133 E 4th): Jennifer Cafe, snack bar
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East:
Village View Apartments
Mitchell- Lama co-op whose seven towers
were built in 1964.
There is a pleasant shortcut through these
highrises to the rest of 5th Street.
In the universe of Marvel Comics, Empire State University (where Peter Parker goes to college) is located here.
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West:
61 (corner): Houston Village Farm, deli
59: Cho-Ko, Japanese, was New Rage, another kitschy gift shop.
57B: Mitumi Sushi
55: Brickman's Ace Hardware
51: From 1999-2020 this was
Karma, hookah bar.
49 1/2 (corner): Was The Bean, local coffee outpost that a
cab drove into in 2010. It replaced
Kudo Beans, a coffee shop of New Jersey origins.
Earlier it was Bulgin' Waffles, breakfast joint; and before that was
Little Ricky's, kitsch mecca of the Lower East Side.
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West:
45: Aziza Cafe & Lounge, hookah joint
41: d.b.a., bar with great beer, scotch selection.
Stands for "Doing Business As," a standard
acronym in small business documents.
Norman Mailer wrote most of The Deer Park upstairs
in this building.
39: Former home of Edwin Fancher, who founded
the Village Voice along with Norman Mailer.
37: New Double Dragon, Chinese takeout
33 (corner): 1st Ave Laundry Center
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West:
27 (corner): The Ezra Pound apartments.
Ground floor is Gringer's, appliances since 1918.
25: Divya's Kitchen, Ayurvedic vegetarian;
associated with the Bhakti Center, yoga-connected spirituality. Previously was the restaurant Sanctuary and the
Interfaith League Guest House, respectively.
21: Fineline Tattoo was
East Village Radio, an alternative station
that played on 88.1 FM. You could literally step
in the front door and be on the air.
19: Lil' Frankie's Pizza,
spin-off of the popular Frank, is
"the East Village's best pizza parlor"—
Village Voice.
17: Speedy Lock & Door Co., since 1982. Was Harlyn Stationers, where the bad guy in the 1979 movie The Warriors uses a pay phone.
15: La Linea, lounge
13 (corner): Superbueno, fun cocktail bar/taqueria. The retro bar Boilermaker was here from 2014 to 2022; Boca Chica, festive South American, had the space from 1989-2013.
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East:
26 (corner): The ground floor of this 1920s building has been Spiegel Cafe, Rama Cafe,
Animal Crackers pet supplies, Arka Co. Ukrainian gifts. Little Gio's Pizza is tucked into the downtown side of the building.
24: This was the original home of
Lucky Cheng's, Asian food served by attractive cross- dressing or trans
waitresses (one of whom was Laverne Cox). Opened in 1993, by 1995 it was a
celebrity hot spot, turning away the likes of Barbra Streisand and Robert De Niro for lack of tables. The first episode of Sex and the City, in 1998, had a scene shot here.
Over time, it became more of a drag show, moving to Times Square in 2012; it's had a few spots since then, and can currently be found in Chelsea.
In a previous incarnation, this building was
Club Baths, a plush gay sex club; later a restaurant,
Cave Canem, whose basement featured lesbian orgies.
22: Ortiz Funeral Home. Child abuse victim
Nixmary Brown's wake was held here in 2006.
20: V-Nam Cafe, Vietnamese
18: Chris Stein, later of Blondie, lived here while attending the School of Visual Arts. He then sublet the place to Tommy and Dee Dee Ramone.
16: The Grayson, sports bar. Previous bars here include Sutra Lounge, The Flat, xvi; Artists Rec. Ctr.
14: Lucien, French bar/restaurant
12 (corner): One and One, Irish-y pub
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One of only two places in Manhattan where a numbered street meets an avenue with the same number.
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W <===
EAST HOUSTON STREET
===> E
The southern boundary of the East Village.
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