New York Songlines: 5th Street

South:

200 (corner): Evelyn & Louis Green Residence, a project of the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged.

206: The Howard Mission and Home for Little Wanderers was here, located "in the very heart of a region of squalor, wretchedness, vice and poverty"--King's Handbook.

210: New York Kunstalle was Beethoven Hall, German-American community center; American Bowling Congress was founded here in 1895, setting the maximum bowling score at 300 and the distance between pins at 12 inches. Now a luxury condo.

246: Was Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar, owned by the same couple that runs Jewel Bako. Now a barber shop.

248 (corner): Bareburger, local organic burger chain. Was Sin Sin/Leopard Lounge; "sin sin" is Irish for "that's that."

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The Standard

A 23-story high-end hotel with a futuristic glass-clad form that's been likened to a shark's fin. To my eye, this is a much more attractive building than the Sculpture for Living at Astor Place. Initially opened in 2009 as the Cooper Square Hotel, it was rebranded as The Standard (part of a schmancy chain) in 2011 after the original owners ran into difficulty.

209: The Scratcher, hidden, un-Disneyfied Irish pub. The name is Irish slang for "bed."

211: The Three Jewels, nonprofit Buddhist center

225: Japanese hair salons; was is-wine, affordable wine boutique.

239: Jewel Bako, tiny, fancy sushi

Corner (87 2nd Ave): Mosto, Italian; when this space was the Cooper Square Diner, writer Quentin Crisp used to eat here nearly every day. Earlier it was BiniBon, restaurant where in 1981 waiter Richard Adan was knifed to death by Jack Henry Abbott, a literary ex-convict whom Norman Mailer had helped to get out of jail.

South:

Corner: Mary Ann's, popular Mexican mini-chain

304: White Trash, retro housewares.

There's a little park here where a friend of mine used to smoke weed, across the street from the police station.

336: New York Songlines chronicler Jim Naureckas used to live here; his trapezoidal room was so small that if he closed the door, the fan in the window (looking out on an air shaft) would stop blowing. On the ground floor used to be 5th Dimension comics.

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Corner (88 2nd Ave): Cooper Diner used to be across the street, when this corner was the Sports Page sports bar.

309: Mojo, semi-fancy restaurant

9th Precinct

321: Police station used as exterior for NYPD Blue and Kojak (though the facade's been since redone). Photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid.

325: Gimme Records is only open on weekends.

333: Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman lived here in 1967, at the time he led a protest of the New York Stock Exchange by throwing 300 dollar bills onto the trading floor, causing a mad scramble.

Corner (83 1st Ave): Three of Cups, romantic Italian; Quentin Tarantino got into a brawl here, May 2, 1998. In the Tarot deck, the three of cups signifies emotional fulfillment. Used to be Dizzy Chicken.

South:

Corner (72 Ave A): East Village Prescription, homeopathy-oriented drug store.

512: Jazz great Charlie Mingus used to live here.

536: Le Gamin, cheap, tasty and Parisian

540: Bouche Bar, "quirky local favorite"--Shecky's

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Corner: Con Edison transmission station

507: Sophie's, good dive bar with matching jukebox

511: Le Tableau

513: Anil Gupka at Inkline Studios, world-famous tattoo artist

531: Ace Bar, notable for its lunchbox collection and holographic werewolf. This is the only bar I've ever been kicked out of.

535-539: Fifth Street Squats were demolished by city, 1997.

545: Lavagna

South:

624: Was a branch of the Aguilar Free Library

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629: Science-fiction writer Samuel R. Delany had his first East Village apartment here with his wife, poet Marilyn Hacker.

South:

704: Poet Allen Ginsberg lived here in 1964-65. Visitors inclued Kerouac, Warhol, Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary.

714: There was a small park here dedicated to local Vietnam vets Jose Mojica and William W. Kladek (who lived two doors down).

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