New York Songlines: 21st Street

South:

550: Lot 61, gallery-scene restaurant; formerly The Glory Hole, raunchy gay club. Originally built in 1929 as the Seaman's Y, with terra cotta nautical decorations.

540: Eyebeam Atelier

534: Paula Cooper Gallery; spacious art space within a former garage

520: Was studios of Reliance-Majestic, silent film producers

The High Line

Bridging the street here is a disused elevated railroad that was used to transport freight along the Westside waterfront, replacing the street-level tracks at 10th and 11th avenues that earned those roads the nickname "Death Avenue." Built in 1929 at a cost of $150 million (more than $2 billion in today's dollars), it originally stretched from 35th Street to St. John's Park Terminal, now the Holland Tunnel rotary.

Partially torn down in 1960 and abandoned in 1980, it now stretches from Gansevoort almost to 34th--mostly running mid-block, so built to avoid dominating an avenue with an elevated platform. In its abandonment, the High Line became something of a natural wonder, overgrown with weeds and even trees, accessible only to those who risked trespassing on CSX Railroad property.

In 2009 it was opened to the public as New York City's newest park; it truly transforms its neighborhood and hence the city. This section of the park was opened to the public in 2011.

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North:

539: Aria; festive gay club used to be Opera.

High Line Park

Corner (193 10th Ave): Church of the Guardian Angel; a 1930 Italian Romanesque Catholic church.

South:

General Theological Seminary

The land for this institution was donated c. 1825 by Clement Clarke Moore, the landowner who developed much of Chelsea (and who reputedly wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas"). Moore was later a professor of Biblical studies at the seminary.

The main building, from 1960, is the entrance to the block-long campus, as well as housing St Marks Library, the nation's leading evangelical library, with the world's largest collection of Latin Bibles. It replaced the East Building, in 1827 one of the earliest Gothic Revival buildings.

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North:

473-465: Greek Revival houses built in 1853. 471 is the best preserved. Actor Anthony Perkins lived in and was landlord of 467.

463: Built in 1836, one of the oldest houses on the block.

461-459: William Cummings House, built 1854.

453: This 1857 house is on the National Register of Historic Places-- apparently for its "splendid entranceway" (Guide to the Metropolis).

445: A neo-Renaissance appartment building from 1898.

441: Poet Wallace Stevens lived here from 1909 until 1916, where he wrote "Sunday Morning."

419-423: The New Republic's first offices were here, starting in 1914, in three old houses that have since been torn down. H.G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Edmund Wilson and John Maynard Keynes were among the magazine's early contributors.

Corner (183 9th Ave): The second oldest house in the Chelsea historic district-- built in the Federal style in 1831-32. James N. Wells, a real estate developer who was instrumental in creating Chelsea, lived here in 1833-34 and had his offices on the second floor.

South:

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Corner (219 8th Ave): Was Bendix Diner; Thai-inflected neo-truck stop

South:

Rawhide

Corner (212 8th Ave): A landmark of the gay leather world.

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North:

Corner (218 8th Ave): Bright Food Shop; the name goes back to 1938, and the space was a restaurant as far back as 1907. But it's been updated as an Asian/Latin neo-diner.

South:

Corner (189 7th Ave): Meriken, longstanding Japanese, named for a waterfront park in Kobe.

164: Animal Hospital of Chelsea

136: Foto Care, a well-regarded photo equipment store

132-134: Ursus Art Books; specializes in art reference books and exhibition catalogs.

Third Spanish & Portuguese Cemetery

98-110: Jewish burial ground used from 1829-51. The first is in Chinatown, the second on 11th Street.

O'Neill Building

Corner (655 6th Ave): Men's Wearhouse is on ground floor of Elsevier Science Inc., price-gouging journal publishers. Was the store of Hugh O’Neill (1887), known as "The Fighting Irishman of 6th Avenue"--more working-class than its 6th Avenue neighbors. Hugh's name is still visible from across the street.

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North:

169 (corner): Kove Bros Hardware; with a mural by the East Village's Chico.

133: School of Visual Arts

131: The Makeup Shop

125: This address, now a parking lot, was the apartment of Bill Cannastra, beat character who would eat glass as a party trick and once raced Jack Kerouac around the block in the nude. Wild parties here would go on for days. He died sticking his head out of a subway car in 1950, an event memorialized in Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." Afterwards, his girlfriend Joan Haverty moved into the loft, where Kerouac fell in love with her and immediately asked her to marry him. He passed out at their wedding reception here.

Adams Dry Goods

Corner (675 6th Ave): Barnes & Noble; Mattel Toys is also based here. Was Adams Dry Goods (1900), upscale shop; note "ADG" on arch.

South:

54: Slate (formerly Chelsea Billiards); the Sex and the City gang play pool here in one episode.

48: Natural Gourmet Cookery School; the students offer a vegan feast to the public every Friday.

36: Bachue, tasty vegan

34: Chester A. Arthur lived at this address (1859-61) in his pre-presidential years.

30: NY Stone Manhattan, rock products, was Danceteria, prime 1980s dance club where folks like LL Cool J, Cyndi Lauper and Billy Idol hung out. Madonna first got her records played here, where she danced in the movie Desperately Seeking Susan. Keith Haring and Sade both worked here. The space was previously known as Interferon, later as the Melting Pot.

28: Site of the Society of Decorative Art.

16: Bloom; fancy florist

12: Cheetah dance club used to be the Sound Factory; in 1983, it opened as Private Eyes, a gay video bar where Madonna and Sean Penn went on their first date.

10: Broadway Billiards

Mohawk Building

Corner (160 5th Ave): Club Monaco clothing is on ground floor of this building that originally housed architects; Stanford White and his firm McKim, Mead and White occupied the 5th floor from 1895-1913.

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North:

Corner: Was The Tomato, pricey comfort food; before that Lox Around the Clock, where I spent some late hours.

59: Snitch, rock bar co-owned by Scott Weiland, formerly of Stone Temple Pilots. Formerly Thiasos, long-running Greek.

57: Ace Pump Co., founded 1936

55: Cal's, noted for wine and seafood

45: Duvet, a restaurant/lounge with 22 beds for dining and lounging. Was Centro-Fly, nightclub noted for famous DJs (Fat Boy Slim, Chemical Brothers). Before that Tramps.

31: Justin's, Sean Combs' restaurant

29: Turmeric, fancy Indian

21: AZ, spendy Asian restaurant/bar

19: Spero Building, 1908 art nouveau, houses Abracadabra, costume and magic store.

5: Shaffer City Oyster Bar

Corner (162 5th Ave): Moe Ginsburg suits is on the site of the Union Club, where New York Herald heir James Gordon Bennett Jr. was horsewhipped on the front steps by Frederick May, Bennett's fiancee's brother, after Bennett urinated in the Mays' fireplace during a New Year's Day celebration. The disreputable Bennett fled to Paris, where he founded the Paris Herald, which later became the International Herald-Tribune.

South:

Merchant's Bank

Corner (149 5th Ave): Built as the Mohawk Building, an 1891 Renaissance Revival design by R.H. Robertson. Note domed tower.

Corner (915 Broadway): Metronome; swanky jazz restaurant. Appears as "Balzac" in the TV show Sex and the City. Upstairs is the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine's clinic. On this site was the Park & Tilford grocery house.

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North:

Corner (149 5th Ave): Ann Taylor is on site of the Lotos Club, an organization for "journalists, artists, and members of the musical and dramatic professions, and representatives, amateurs and friends of literature, science and fine arts." The club threw dinners for Gilbert and Sullivan when they were in the city in 1879, and for Henry Morton Stanley in honor of his finding Dr. Livingstone.

Corner: Was Victor Kamkin, Russian bookstore.

South:

Corner (920 Broadway): Mayrose; faux diner

22: Home's Kitchen; Chinese

24: Site of the home of Samuel Ruggles, who developed Gramercy Park, and advocated for Union Square, Lexington and Madison avenues, and the Croton Reservoir. Now Compagna.

32: MetroCafe & Wine Bar was The One Club

46: Space Kiddets, quirky children's clothing--cute, but you gotta be kidding with the prices. This was the address of John Treat Irving Jr., Washington Irving's nephew, with whom the writer stayed when he was visiting from Tarrytown. These visits may have helped fuel the false rumor that Washington Irving once lived on Irving Place.

48: Taj, fancy Indian

Corner (260 Park Ave S): United Federation of Teachers

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North:

Corner (922 Broadway): Shine Deli; mansard-roofed building seems to be from a different Broadway era.

21: Built as Hotel 21 in 1878. Later the home of the American Institute of Phrenology. Designed by Bruce Price, more famous for being etiquette maven Emily Post's father. Unneccesary supporting column is "a marvelous example of late Victorian structural whimsy," according to the AIA Guide.

31: The Pump, "energy food"

35: Room Service, bar with little rooms, was Gramercy Comedy Club.

39: Ten's; upscale "gentlemen's club"

41: Site of Thomas Edison's Film Company, the country's first indoor movie studio. Interiors for The Great Train Robbery were shot here.

49: Was Paisley; Asian art/antiques/cafe

Corner (270 Park Ave S): As a teenager, producer David Selznick lived in a luxury apartment here--until his father went bankrupt in 1926.

South:

Corner (257 Park Ave S): Gramercy Park Building has fancy entrances.

Corner (1 Gramercy Park West): Home to Dr. Valentine Mott, surgeon who founded Bellevue Hospital and NYU's medical school.

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Gramercy Park

Each owner of the lots surrounding Gramercy Park has a share in the park--and a key to get through the gate. Disputes between key-holders over how best to maintain the park have caused bitter splits in the neighborhood.

Compared to similar parks that are open to the public like Tompkins, Washington and Union squares, Gramercy suffers from a marked lack of energy and life. The neighborhood would benefit greatly from a less restrictive access policy, but it's hard to imagine the residents who own the place giving up the thrill of exclusion.

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38: John Steinbeck was a starving writer (1925-26) on the seventh floor of the building with Stardust Antiques.

Corner (258 3rd Ave): Cleo II Spa-Zone is in a building built c. 1832--the oldest building in the neighborhood and the oldest surviving building put up by Samuel Ruggles, who developed Gramercy Park.

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North:

Calvary Church

Corner (273 Park Ave S): Designed by James Renwick in 1846, this was the Roosevelt family's church (including Teddy and Eleanor). Rector Edward Washburn (1865-81) was the model for Dr. Ashmore in Wharton's Age of Innocence. Bill W., founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got many of the ideas behind the 12 Steps from Samuel Shoemaker, rector here in the 1930s. Gramercy Park North:

61: Calvary House

60: This was the address of George Templeton Strong, whose diaries are an important chronicle of New York City life in the mid-1800s.

Gramercy Park Hotel

52: Guests since 1925 have included Joseph Kennedy (and 11-year-old Jack), Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy. Humphrey Bogart's first wedding took place here, 1926. Humorist S.J. Perelman died here in 1979. Charmingly seedy, it's a favorite of rock bands, as depicted in the film Almost Famous. Architect Stanford White's home (1901-06) was formerly on the corner; some fireplaces in the hotel are from White's house.

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50 (corner): The former building on this corner (1852-1909) was the home of Cyrus Field, who financed the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable in 1858.

44: A Neo-Gothic apartment building from 1929-30, designed by Schwartz & Gross. The building has two levels--one 15 stories, the other nine--reflecting the greater height allowed under zoning laws for buildings when they face a park. An earlier building at this address was writer Hart Crane's house in 1917.

39A: Socialist Norman Thomas moved here shortly after his sixth and final run for president in 1948.

260 (corner): Gramercy Park Flower Shop, established 1904 in the old Academy of Music building on 14th Street and moved to this location that same year. Now owned by the grandson of the founder. Oz's Margaret Hamilton was a regular customer; PR maven Benjamin Sonnenberg bought white anemones here for Greta Garbo.

South:

214: School of Visual Arts

230: 13th Precinct, NYPD. There were four murders in this district in 2003.

Corner: Itzamna; not sure what this place is, but it's named for a Mayan god.

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North:

201 (corner): Quaker Ridge apartments

211: Junior's Police Equipment

215: Columbus Convent

239: Rectory of the Epiphany (1936)

245 (corner): Gramercy Court apartments

South:

Peter's Field

A playground named for Peter Stuyvesant's estate, which reached up here from the East Village. Art on the 2nd Avenue side suggests various other Peters it could be named for, including Cooper, Pan, Parker, Piper, Pumpkin-Eater and Rabbit--not to mention "and the Wolf." On site of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital.

330: Simon Baruch Intermediate School —named for a doctor, the father of financier Bernard Baruch, who was an advocate of public baths. Actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Cryer were classmates here together.

346: Grill 21, Filipino

Corner (357 1st Ave): Tal Bagels was Ess a Bagel (Yiddish for "Eat a Bagel"); opened in 1976, it was a contender for best bagels on the island.

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North:

301 (corner): The Petersfield apartments; named for the Peter Stuyvesant estate. Mary Cantwell, author of Manhattan When I Was Young, lived in this building when she was first married.

Corner (361 1st Ave): Was the First Avenue Pub.

Peter Cooper Village

420-440: Built in the late 1940s by Met Life Insurance Co. as affordable housing for World War II vets; ; now being converted to luxury condos. Slightly more pricey than the similar Stuyvesant Town. Built on the site of the notorious Gashouse District, where fumes from chemical plants kept out all but the poorest immigrants. Terrorized by the Gashouse Gang.