New York Songlines: Bedford Street

Christopher Street | Grove Street | Barrow Street | Commerce Street | Morton Street | Seventh Ave South | Leroy Street | Carmine Street | Downing Street | West Houston Street

Named for a street in London's Covent Garden. That street is the address of St. Paul's Church, which may have something to do with why the name was appropriated.






W <===     CHRISTOPHER STREET     ===> E

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107-115: Notable Federal-style houses.








PS 3

PS 3 by edenpictures, on Flickr

Corner (490 Hudson): John Melser Charrette School (pre-K-6)/Greenwich Village Middle School (6-8).

When the Marquis de Lafayette, visiting the United States in 1824, asked to see "the best example of the public school system," he was taken here. Today the school--sometimes called "the hippie school"-- has a special emphasis on creativity. John Melser led the school until 1991.

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Corner (122 Christopher): Was The Masque, late-night 1960s coffeehouse; also Pharoah Five, tasty 1960s macrobiotic.

106: This was the address of Lawrence Selman, a disabled neighborhood activist who has been called "the Mayor of Bedford Street." He was the subject of an Academy Award-nominated short film.

Twin Peaks

102: Remodeled in 1926 in a fantastical style as "an inspiring home for creative artists." Walt Disney and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are said to have lived here. It appeared as a discotheque in the 1969 movie The April Fools. Grove and Bedford Streets by Andrea [bah! la realtą!], on Flickr

100 (corner): House of William Hyde, window-maker, built 1822. Author James Baldwin frequently stayed here. "The most complete wooden frame house in Greenwich Village"-- Guide to the Metropolis.


W <===     GROVE STREET     ===> E

According to New York: The Movie Lover's Guide, the New York set on the Paramount backlot was supposed to be based on the part of Greenwich Village around Bedford from Grove to Commerce.

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95: The AIA Guide describes this building as being built as stables in 1894, later serving as a winery before becoming apartments in 1927. A neighbor describes this as "hogwash," however, saying that the building was actually built by J. Goebel & Company as a factory for crucibles--containers for holding molten glass. Apparently the basement is still full of them.

91: Poet Delmore Schwartz lived here in a cold-water flat without a telephone.







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NYC - West Village: 90 Bedford Street (Friends House) by wallyg, on Flickr

90 (corner): This building serves as the exterior for the apartment on Friends; in real life, it houses the restaurants Little Owl (formerly Chez Michallet) and Moustache (tasty Mideastern).

Chumley's

NYC - West Village: Chumley's by wallyg, on Flickr

86: This unmarked door was the entrance to Chumley's, a former speakeasy that never had an outside sign. A literary hangout for Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, O'Neill, Dos Passos, Faulkner, Willa Cather, Ring Lardner, EE Cummings, Anais Nin, Orson Welles, Edna St. Vincent Millay, James Thurber etc. It evolved into a popular, cozy bar and restaurant; it can be seen in such films as Reds, Bright Lights, Big City, Wolfen and Sweet and Lowdown. A wall collapse shuttered Chumley's in 2007; It reopened from 2016 to 2020, but did not survive the Covid shutdown.


S <===     BARROW STREET     ===> N

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81 Bedford Street by edenpictures, on Flickr

81 (block): An apartment in 81 Bedford was used as a safe house by the CIA for LSD experiments from 1952-54-- sometimes administered by prostitutes on unwitting non-volunteers.



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W <===     COMMERCE STREET     ===> E

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Isaacs-Hendricks House

NYC - West Village: Isaacs-Hendricks House by wallyg, on Flickr

77 (corner): The oldest in the Village, dating to 1799--though the Greek Revival brick facade is newer, dating to 1836. The first owner, Harmon Hendricks, cornered the colonial copper market along with Paul Revere, according to Radical Walking Tours.

"Narrowest House in the Village"

NYC - West Village: 75½ Bedford Street by wallyg, on Flickr

75 1/2: Every guidebook points this out; it filled in a former alley for carriages. Originally a cobbler's shop and then a candy factory, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay lived here (1923-24), as did actors John Barrymore and Cary Grant (and his boyfriend).

71: Epiphany, literary journal

69: Writer William Burroughs lived here in 1943-44. 63 Bedford Street

63 (corner): Snack Taverna was Shopsin's General Store, longtime Village hangout said to be wary of strangers. Calvin Trillin wrote about it in The New Yorker, but initially declined to give its name or address out of fear of being barred. When it lost its lease, a film was made about owner/chef Kenny Shopsin called I Like Killing Flies. The restaurant moved down the street from here to the corner of Carmine, and eventually to Essex Market.

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72 (corner): Casa, charming Brazilian














70: Built 1807 by John Roome, sailmaker and court crier.



















27 1/2 Morton Street, by edenpictures on Flickr

60 (corner): AKA 27 1/2 Morton Street. An odd-shaped six-story building from the 1910s. On the ground floor is Breakfast at Salt's Cure, a great pancake joint. It replaced Doma na Rohu ("Home on the Corner"), a Czech restaurant with Old World charm. From 1997 to 2011, this was Hercules Fancy Grocery, which stocked 400 kinds of beer.


S <===     MORTON STREET     ===> N

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32 Morton Street

Block (32 Morton): An eight-story building from 1920. Robert DeNiro bought an apartment here in 2014 for $2.8 million.









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A little traffic island landscaped by Greenstreets.














N <===     SEVENTH AVE S     ===> S

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Another little traffic island.












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Corner (29 7th Ave S): Was La Loteria, Mexican


Leroy Street by edenpictures, on Flickr

46 (corner): Village Tavern was Orbit, lesbian bar, then Alegrias.


W <===     LEROY STREET     ===> E

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39: This was the home of composer Frank Wigglesworth, who wrote an opera based on the police log of Ipswich, Mass., as well as sacred music for St. Luke's Chapel.







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44 (corner): Bandits Diner + Dive, burger bar, was Daddy-O, cocktail lounge

42: Was Mary's, former speakeasy that became an Italian restaurant







Corner (49 Carmine): The Grey Dog, coffeehouse


W <===     CARMINE STREET     ===> E

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Corner (54 Carmine): This was the second home of Shopsin's General Store, a Village hangout with over 1,000 items on its menu. Now relocated to the Essex Street Market.



37A: Ubani, Georgian

31 (corner): Blue Ribbon Bakery, a spinoff of Blue Ribbon on Sullivan Street. The brick oven used by the bakery dates back to c. 1855. Jimi Hendrix used to crash in this building.

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Corner (54 Carmine): Market Table, American; was Cho's Grocery












W <===     DOWNING STREET     ===> E

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29 (corner): Daily Provisions, restaurant, was Ditch Plains, Hamptons-style clam shack named for a Montauk surf spot. Before that it was was Bar d'O, cool, polysexual lounge.

27: Quique Crudo, Mexican, was Crepe Soul; before that Le Gamin Cafe, a local French chain. Anne Heche flirts with a waiter at Le Gamin in Walking and Talking.

21: Cotenna, Italian, was 'ino, tiny wine and sandwich bar.

3: These midrise apartments were built in 1987 on land that had been cleared to extend Houston Street straight west to the Hudson--a plan thankfully dropped.

The vest-pocket park here is called Bedford Triangle Park; the walkway through it is Gilda Radner Way.

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14: Aria Wine Bar, Italian, was Boughelem, which "define[d] a Village bistro," according to Zagat's.















W <===     WEST HOUSTON STREET     ===> E






Is your favorite Bedford Street spot missing? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

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