New York Songlines: Bleecker Street

West:

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Abingdon Square

Admiral Peter Warren, a wealthy Royal Navy officer who owned most of pre-Revolutionary Greenwich Village, gave his daughter Charlotte land in the vicinity of this square when she married Willoughby Bertie, the Earl of Abingdon. When New York City was replacing royalist placenames in 1794, Abingdon Square was spared because the Abingdons in England had defended the rights of the Colonials.

The square was made a city park in 1831, and given a redesign by Calvert Vaux in 1892. The statue in the square, a World War I doughboy by Philip Martiny, was dedicated in 1921 by Alfred E. Smith.

West:

Bleecker Playground

Statue of circus act is Chaim Gross' The Family (1979).

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Block (75 Bank): A 17-year-old Betty Bacall (soon to be renamed Lauren) moved to this red-brick apartment building, just before she became Miss Greenwich Village 1942. It wasn't long before Diana Vreeland was putting her on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, leading to her Hollywood career.

BANK ST     ===> N

415: Miracle Bar & Grill

413: Leo Design, "handsome gifts"

411: Was Paris Commune, classic Village restaurant

409: Treasures & Trifles antiques

405: Marc by Marc Jacobs

403 (corner): Marc Jacobs--"geek-cool" men's stuff

West:

400 (corner): Biography Bookshop, specializing in the life story; also Eve Salon, founded in 1983 as Dyanna Personal Care Salon.

394: Lulu Guiness, fancy handbags

392: Venfield antiques

390: Was Susan Parrish, American antiques (specializing in quilts)

388: Fresh, cosmetic boutique featured on Sex and the City.

386 (corner): Was Chatterbox Laundromat

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Magnolia Bakery

401 (corner): A neighbor- hood landmark even before its cupcakes were touted on Sex in the City. Also featured in the Saturday Night Live video "Lazy Sunday."

395: In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Mother Night, this was the address of The White Christian Minuteman, a newsletter published by a racist dentist.

393: Poet Mark Van Doren lived here in the late 1920s, when he and his neighbors cleared away fences and outbuildings in the middle of this block to make a common space still known as Bleecker Gardens.

387: Four Paws Club, fancy pet store

West:

384: Rafaella to Go

382: Old Japan Inc. antiques

380: Ralph Lauren was Basiques, linen boutique

378: Tupli, shoe store with roughly eight pairs of shoes

376: Cynthia Rowley, girly-girl frocks

372: Clery & Co. Antiques

370: Sanbrano Antiques appears as a flower shop in the first scene of The Hours--a scene that echoes the first line of Mrs. Dalloway, which inspired the film.

368 (corner): Hue, glossy Vietnamese/Japanese; was Cucina Della Fontana, baroque Italian.

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This block was the site of Peter Warren's house, Warren being a captain in the British Navy whose capture of enemy shipping--and subsequent share of the loot--made him one of the richest and most popular men in the colony of New York. About 1744, he bought roughly 300 acres in what is now Greenwich Village, with the seat of the estate here. His mansion was torn down in 1865.

383 (corner): L'Uomo clothing

381: Ralph Lauren; was Rafaella

375: Writer Marguerite Young lived here.

367 (corner): Les Pierre Antiques

West:

350 (corner): Was Kim's Video and Audio, the West Village incarnation of the city's--maybe the world's-- best video chain. This was also the home of Craig Rodwell, founder of the Oscar Wilde Bookshop, the U.S.'s first gay bookstore. He helped organize the Stonewall Uprising and the first Gay Pride Parade.

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365 (corner): Eastern Arts imports

361: Otter, women's boutique

359: August, called "most heartwarming meal" by Time Out; was Picasso cafe

357: Hudson Street Papers, stationery and gifts

353: Verve, tote bags; Gerry's, men's clothes. This was the address of Via Appia, described in 1959 as "possibly the most arty of the Village coffee mills."

351: Was Condomania, the world's first condom store.

Corner: Nusraty Afghan Imports

West:

346 (corner): Village Apothecary

344: Niall Smith antiques

340: Manatus, gay-friendly restaurant with Manhattan's original Indian name. Was Clyde's, with a gay brunch scene; and before that Aldo's, another gay-oriented eatery. (Leonard Bernstein was a frequent diner there.) In the 1970s, the jazz club Boomers was here; Curtis Mayfield can be seen performing here in the 1972 movie Super Fly.

338: Bleecker Street Jewelry

Corner (95 Christopher): These 1931 Art Deco apartments were home to novelist Dawn Powell from 1963 until her death in 1965; also living here in the 1960s was science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison. More recently, actor Bob Balaban has lived here. Lentzo Cafe on ground floor.

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East:

347 (corner): Details, gifts.

343-345: The Village Cottage restaurant was Liberty House-- Abbie Hoffman's co-op.

341: Cool-Wave Inc. leather. An ambitious amateur genealogist has mapped the homes and workplaces of his ancestors-- one of whom, John Marshall, lived here and had a tailor shop next door at No. 339 in 1875.

337: Building with International Magazines & Newspapers was home to Lorraine Hansberry, who wrote A Raisin in the Sun.

335: Boss Cafe

Corner (329 Bleecker): Bleecker's Corner, takeout, formerly Bronca Pizza and Goodfellas Kitchen, is in one of Greenwich Village's oldest buildings, put up as early as 1802 (and severely truncated in 1828). Was for many years the Bleecker Street Grocery. There used to be a No. 327, which contained the offices of the committee that designed Manhattan's grid plan in 1807-09; it was knocked down when Bleecker was widened in 1828.

West:

324: Blue Nile, candles, fancy soap

322: Three Little Indians Cigar & Trading Co.

320: Andrade Shoe Repair

318: Davis & Gardner Home Furnishings (vintage)

316 (corner): Jamson's Adventures in Gifts

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East:

327 (corner): Bleecker Grocery (deli). This was the address of the committee that designed Manhattan's grid plan in 1807-09, but that was another building, on the other side of Bleecker.

325: Village Delight Cafe, Mediterranean

321: Enfleurage: Aromatherapy Blending Bar

319: York's African imports; Rebel Rebel Records, small, eclectic record store named for a Bowie song.

317: An American Craftsman shares a building with Club Raleigh at the Oaks, which was the Five Oaks piano bar, where legendary scat singer Marie Blake headlined in the 1970s and '80s. Since 1998, co-owned by piano player David Raleigh. Also here was Halo, a briefly "in" restaurant/bar that boasted of being the site of Britney Spears' 18th birthday party.

West:

314 (corner): AOC, French opened in 2003, stands for l'Aile Ou la Cuisse, the name of a 1976 French movie about an undercover restaurant reviewer. Was Grove, known for its garden (which is still there).

312: Matrioshka, Russian cooking

308: Vittorio, regional Italian cooking

302: Surya, Indian; was the Bleecker Street Cafe, noted in 1966 for its "marvelous array of inhuman beings."

298: Was Burritoville, local Mexican chain

296 (corner): Mitali West, Bengali; eastern version is on East 6th Street.

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East:

315 (corner): Used to be the Porto Rico coffee store, now at No. 201.

311: Was Strawberry Fields, popular supermarket

309: Revolutionary writer Thomas Paine lived at this address in 1808-09, the last year of his life; he had moved to Greenwich Village because of his declining health. In 1876 it was described as "a two-story wooden structure, now occupied as a beer and billiard saloon."

301 (corner): Zena, Clairvoyant is in an odd-shaped building created by the ramming of Seventh Avenue through the Village.

West:

Corner: Caliente Cab Co., schlocky Mexican

282: Isle Thai was Cafe Mona Lisa

280: Fish, a white-tablecloth restaurant that also sells fish retail.

John's Pizzeria

278: Contender for NYC's best pizza since 1929. But is it really pizza if you can't buy it by the slice? Named for founder John Sasso, who learned to make pizza from Gennaro Lombardi, who opened the U.S.'s first pizzeria on Spring Street. Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway ate here in Manhattan.

272: Cones: Ice Cream Artisans

272 (corner): In the basement of the building with Bleecker Farm was Studio Henry, where members of what came to be known as the Downtown Scene rehearsed and performed from 1976 to 1984--musicians like Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Anton Fier, Ned Rothenberg, Bob Ostertag, Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp, Anthony Coleman, Robin Holcomb and many more. Writes John Zorn: "At the time a pet store was above it called Exotic Aquatics, and crickets were always escaping into the basement. This gave all the shows and the live recordings in the space a unique quality.... Every silence was filled with the sound of crickets."

<===         MORTON ST

270 (corner): Risotteria, acclaimed rissoto. This building and the one next to it were probably built in 1833 as part of a strip of late federal-style rowhouses, with fourth stories added later.

268: Was Suriano Photo Studio.

266: Caravan imports and the two buildings to its south were part of the 1833 rowhouse strip, and are largely unaltered.

264: Aphrodisia, "an experience in herbs, spices and essential oils" since 1967.

262: Trattoria Pesce & Pasta

260: Faicco's Sausage Shop--since 1927

Murray's Cheese Shop

254: Opened in 1940 by Spanish Civil War vet Murray Greenberg, this has frequently been called the best cheese shop in New York-- or in the country.

252 (corner): Was Turquasino Fine Food Marketplace

<===         LEROY ST

240 (corner): Our Lady of Pompeii School, founded in 1926, has 240 students.

Our Lady of Pompeii

Corner: Catholic Church with mass in Italian, built 1929. It's named for a shrine in Pompeii, Italy, founded by a former Satanist. Mother Cabrini, the first American saint, confessed at an earlier version of this church every Sunday. It's now the center of the Village's remaining Italian neighborhood.

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East:

Corner (69 7th Ave S): Bleecker Street Pizza, Tuscan thin-crust. Was a Japanese restaurant.

289: Cucina Stagionale

285: Ottomanelli's Butcher Shop specializes in wild game.

283: Second Childhood, vintage wind-up toys; also an Indian restaurant.

281: Osteria Fiorentina

JONES ST         ===>

277 (corner): Escape Internet Cafe

275: A "metal detectorist" exploring a Nevada ghost town found a brass tag bearing this address and the name "M. J. Dixon's Ice Cream Saloon and Restaurant." Other atifacts from the town dated from 1846 to 1871.

273: Matt Umanov Guitars, since 1965--known worldwide for its new and vintage instruments.

271: Bleecker Street Cafe

269: Neighborhood Church in 1833 Federal-style building.

265: Greenwich Village Fish Company

259: Was Zito's Bakery, the pride of the neighborhood since 1924, closed in 2004--a victim of rising rents and the Atkins Diet.

257 (corner): Murray's Cheese Shop was located here for many years, before it moved across the street c. 2005.

CORNELIA ST         ===>

255 (corner): Was Leather Master, now a sushi joint.

253: The buildings from here to No. 239 went up around 1830, and were expanded from three-and-a-half stories to four in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

249: Oliviers & Co., olive oil store

247: L'Occitanea Provence

245: Pasticceria Bruno features the acclaimed cannolis of pastry chef Biagio Settepani.

243: Rocco's Pastry & Espresso

241: Green Village, a new green grocer on what was Greengrocer's Row

239: Bleecker Street Records

237: Beasty Feast pet store, originally a coach house from 1830, is one of Lower Manhattan's few remaining wood-frame buildings.

235: Built in 1860 as a brick expansion of No. 233.

233 (corner): A two-story wood-frame house built in 1822 houses Vegetable Garden, a relic of Greengrocer's Row, and Abitino's, a local pizza chain that replaced the beloved Joe's Pizza, where Peter Parker works in Spider-Man 2. (Joe still has a storefront on Carmine.)

West:

232 (corner): Trattoria Spaghetto

228: Citron was Bel Vellagio, before that Cafe Luca.

Winston Churchill Square

Corner: Named for its proximity to Downing Street. Churchill's mother, Jennie Jerome, was a New Yorker, and he is one of a handful of people given honorary citizenship by the U.S. Congress. A tiny, beautiful park.

Corner (10 Downing): The equivalent of the British prime minister's address is a dry cleaners with a Union Jack awning.

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East:

Father Demo Square

219: There used to be a Home for Italian Immigrants at this address--c. 1903.

South:

Corner: Little Red Square

210: This was the site of St. Benedict the Moor, a church for black Catholics founded in 1883. It moved to 53rd Street in the 1890s.

Little Red School House

196: Lefty private school founded by progressive education pioneer Elisabeth Irwin in 1932. Alumni include Angela Davis, Nation editor Victor Navasky, Weatherman Kathy Boudin, Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul and...) and Robert DeNiro-- as well as Woodie Guthrie and Bob Dylan's kids.

194: Artful Posters; Indian Bread Co.

192: Gus' Place was Arlecchino Ristorante

190: Havana NY (formerly Mona Lisa Gourmet Pizza) is on the site where poet Gregory Corso was born, March 26, 1930.

Caffe del Marre

Corner (89 Macdougal): Formerly Mac Dougal's Cafe, before that a funeral parlor.

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North:

Minetta Triangle

MINETTA ST         ===> N

Corner: An out-of-place corporate clothing store

203: Native Leather

201: Porto Rico Importing Co., fine coffee beans since 1907.

199: Greenwich Village Funeral Home (aka Perazzo Funeral Home) was built here in 1926. Beautiful stained-glass sign.

197: Village Music World; Tibet Arts & Crafts

195: Bleecker Deli

193: Abbondanza's was Turkish Grill

Butterfly Grill

189 (corner): It's easier to find the painted-over old name, Carpo's Cafe. But it's most notable as the former site of the San Remo, famous bohemian hangout of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Miles Davis, Jackson Pollock, W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, James Baldwin, William Styron, James Agee, Frank O'Hara, Village character Maxwell Bodenheim, photographer Weegee, etc. Gore Vidal once picked up Jack Kerouac here. Lost popularity because the bartenders beat up the customers once too often. The setting of beat novel Go, it also appears as The Masque in Kerouac's The Subterraneans. Dawn Powell in The Golden Spur cited it as one of the four bars that defined the boundaries of New York.

South:

Site of Le Figaro Cafe

184-186 (corner): A cafe that opened in 1957, providing a haunt for the likes of Kerouac, Lenny Bruce and Bob Dylan. Aside from the period between 1969-75, when a Blimpie's outlet was here (and The Hep Bagel), it lasted until 2008. Al Pacino reminisces with Penelope Ann Miller here in Carlito's Way.

All the buildings on this side of the block went up in 1866 as a strip of Greek revival rowhouses.

182: Was Village Star, tattoos and piercings

180: Modern Village, T-shirts and such

178: Magic Shoes

176 Pizza Box, with celebrated pizza and view of communal gardens.

174: Cascata Cafe Italiano

172: Above Cafe Espanol was home of writer James Agee (1941-51); he wrote the screenplay for The African Queen here.

170 (corner): Bamboleo was Paris Images, arty postcards and posters--part of my every visit to Bleecker Street when I was a tender and callow fellow.

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North:

Ciao! Vineria con Cucina

185 (corner): Replaced Cafe Borgia when its owners retired after 60 years. In a beaux arts tenement that went up in 1904.

183: 1849, an Old West-themed pub, is in the space that used to be The Black Rabbit, a club that in the 1890s offered live sex shows. Shut down in 1900, but the memory apparently lived on; the name was later used by the speakeasy that is now Minetta Tavern. 1849 has a sibling in Midtown called Gold Rush.

181: Indian Taj was Taste of India

177: The four five-story red-brick tenements from here to Sullivan Street were all built in 1887, and are largely unchanged; this one houses Sally & John Leather. In the Marvel Universe, 177A is the address of Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.

175: Jokers Tattoos was Noho Smoke

173: Village Tannery

171 (corner): Evergreen Bros. Deli

South:

Mills House No. 1

Block: This structure was built in 1896 by philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills as apartments for single homeless men; Ernest Flagg was the architect. Novelist Theodore Dreiser stayed here for 20 cents a night. Later The Greenwich, a seedy hotel where Allen Ginsberg lived in 1951. Converted in 1976 to the decidedly less downscale Atrium apartments.

162: Movie Poster Gallery. Also a bar of some sort.

160: Entrance to the Atrium apartments.

158: Village Theater space was Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate, legendary jazz showplace from 1957 to 1993; home of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. (Note sign on corner of building.) Later the club Life. Bob Dylan wrote ''A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall'' in a basement apartment of this building.

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North:

169 (corner): Was Wok 'n Roll, Chinese

167: Village Lantern, Italian restaurant/lounge. This used to be the club Mondo Perso ("Lost World"), where bands like Blues Traveller, the Spin Doctors and Joan Osborne played.

165: Pizza Booth

163: Suzie's Finest Chinese Cuisine

159: Was Circle in the Square theater, which started on Sheridan Square. Premieres of The Iceman Cometh, The Grass Harp, etc. held here. From 1951-59, it was the first permanent home of the Amato Opera Theater. More recently was the Actors Studio Drama School Theatre.

Kenny's Castaways

157: Rock club established in 1967. Legends ranging from Aerosmith to Patti Smith have played here. Bruce Springsteen and the New York Dolls both played early shows here; it was Phish's first New York City gig. The building housed The Slide, notorious gaslit gay scene; NY Herald reported "orgies beyond description," which seemed to involve men dressed as women offering to have sex for money. Closed by police in 1892.

Back Fence

155 (corner): Music bar founded in 1945--leans a little more countryish than other clubs along this stretch.

South:

Corner (184 Thompson): La Margarita, old-school Mexican, was on the site of the Genovese Trading Co., a junkyard owned by mob boss Vito Genovese.

154: Ginger Rose Hair. This used to be a cool toy store.

152: Was Cafe Au Go Go; Lenny Bruce was arrested here on obscenity charges in 1964. It was Bruce Springsteen's first NYC gig in 1966, and the Grateful Dead's first New York venue; Jimi Hendrix played here as well. Garrick Theater on 2nd floor. Downstairs was the Village Gaslight II, where bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Lee Hooker and Spencer Davis Group played.

150: In the 1960s, was Infinite Poster.

146: The Elbow Room. Formerly Bleecker Street Playhouse; originally Mori's, famous Italian restaurant. Facade designed by Raymond Hood (1920), architect of Chicago's Tribune Tower.

144: Kim's Underground, art/foreign/classic/cult videos. Was the Bleecker Street Cinema, where Woody Allen watches old movies in Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Aidan Quinn, playing Madonna's boyfriend, worked in Desperately Seeking Susan.

142 (corner): Senor Swanky's, cheesy restaurant

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North:

153 (corner): Was the address of The Black and Tan Club, "the bloodiest boudoir around," according to New York Unexpurgated. The basement bar was run by Frank Stephenson, "a corpselike figure with a personality to match.... Crazy Lou, a famous local harlot derived from Boston society, mingled here... even in retirement. For one month after her body was found in the East River, Frankie set up her customary glass of whiskey at her regular table...and absolutely nobody could sit there till 2:00 A.M." The club got its name from its mixed-race clientele.

The Red Lion

151 (corner): Laid-back music pub, noted for its Sunday night jams.

149: Was Crazy Horse Cafe, popular drag bar; later Rock 'n' Roll Café and goth club Asylum; now Wicked Willy's and Terra Blues. Building dates to 1832.

The Bitter End

147: New York’s longest-running rock club opened in 1961. Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, Joan Baez, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon and Tori Amos have all played here, as well as Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen and George Carlin.

145: Peculier Pub boasts the largest beer selection in NYC; its building, which went up in 1832, was home to novelist James Fenimore Cooper from 1833-35.

143 (corner): At this corner was the office of "The Repairer of Reputations" in the uncanny Robert W. Chambers story of the same name.

South:

Corner: Associated Supermarkets/Morton Williams. Note Bohemorama, mural by Vicki Khuzami (2001) capturing 200 years of Village counter-culture.

100-110: University Village, designed by modernist architect I.M. Pei, 1966. Two are owned by NYU, the other a co-op. Check out Bust of Sylvette in the center of the complex, a monumental cubist Picasso sculpture (1970). Most cities would make a bigger deal out of having a colossal Picasso.

Coles Sports Center

Corner: An NYU athletic facility, where the school's basketball, volleyball, swimming, wrestling and fencing teams compete.

This corner was reportedly the site of the African Grove Theater, the first African-American theater; it moved here (or hereabouts) in 1821 with a production of Richard III. It's said that the theater had the first production of Othello with a black actor, James Hewlett, playing the lead. The theater folded around 1830, after having been repeatedly shut down by the night watch at the behest of white competitors.

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North:

Washington Square Village

Block: NYU housing. Construction of these behemoths (1956-58) helped inspire preservation movement. Near No. 4 was the site of the home of John Lloyd Stephens, amateur archaeologist who rediscovered Mayan ruins in 1839.

South:

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81 (corner): In the early 1970s, this was the offices of the counter-cultural Grove Press. The company's real estate investment here nearly bankrupted the press. The publishers claimed that this was the actual site of the African Grove Theater.

This address was also home to poet Kenneth Patchen in 1940-41, who was friends at the time with Henry Miller and Anais Nin.

77: Bleecker Court, new/old development that salvaged burnt-out tenements.

Corner (643 Broadway): VG Restaurant, on site of Mathew Brady's daguerreotype studio, where he took his famous photograph of Abraham Lincoln. The image, taken February 27, 1860, the day of Lincoln's Cooper Union address, was credited with changing the candidate's image and helping him win the election.

South:

Corner (640 Broadway): Underneath the Swatch outlet is a secret store called Nom de Guerre. Behind a door marked with a sign for a copy shop is a black staircase that leads to two subterranean stories of really expensive streetwear.

74: Two Boots a Go-Go, Cajun pizza named for Italy and Louisiana.

58 (corner): Bleecker Corner Grocery

S <===     CROSBY ST

58 (corner): Bleecker Street Bar. Note that the address is the same as the grocery across Crosby. The building was once owned by Franklin Roosevelt's great-great-grandfather.

54 (corner): Was Noho Star, eclectic restaurant that helped popularize the term "Noho" for the area north of Houston. A hangout for the Harper's staff.

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North:

Corner: The wonderful Manhattan Savings Institution Building (1890). Atrium clothing complex on ground floor; was the Blue Willow restaurant, opened in 1983. An earlier MSI building was the site of the 19th Century's biggest bank robbery. Carried out by the King of the Bank Robbers, George Leonidas Leslie, on October 27, 1878, with a gang that included such notables as Jimmy Hope, Shang Draper, Red Leary, Johnny Dobbs, Worcester Sam Perris, Banjo Pete Emerson and Eddie Goodie Gearing. They made off with over $2.7 million; unfortunately for them, all but $12,000 was in non-negotiable bonds.

Bayard-Condict Building

65: NYC's only Louis Sullivan building (1899). An important building in the development of the skyscraper. Carl Condit, architectural historian, said of it, "Who would expect an aesthetic experience on Bleecker Street?" Angels were placed on the cornice over Sullivan's objections at the insistence of client Silas Alden Condict.

59: The address of Bal Mobile, one of Bleecker's 19th Century "concert saloons" --"cheap dives that featured lewd theatrical performances and scantily clad waitresses who doubled as prostitutes"--Infamous Manhattan. Closed in a 1887 morality crusade.

57: Site of the home of Albert Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison's treasury secretary and founder of NYU.

53 (corner): The British publisher Macmillan & Co. opened a bookshop at this address in 1869.

South:

Corner: Pointy snack bar is called Bite, where they "work like monkeys on speed to bring you pleasure in bread."

S <===     MULBERRY ST

Corner (300 Mulberry): Site of New York's first Police Headquarters, which draft rioters tried to take over in 1863 and where Theodore Roosevelt served as police commissioner (1895-97). In 1909, the headquarters were moved to 240 Centre Street, about four blocks to the south.

50: The address of The Burnt Rag, another concert saloon closed in 1887.

46: A baby with the voice of Tony Danza lived here in the 1991-92 TV show Baby Talk.

38: Site of St. Barnabas Library

36: Globe Moving & Storage

S <===     MOTT ST

26 (corner): Since 1991, Planned Parenthood of New York City's administrative center.

18 (corner): Loretto Auditorium. This is part of Our Lady of Loretto Church-- I'm not sure whether it's active or not. Loretto, meaning "Hill of Laurels," is an Italian shrine that contains a house, relocated from Palestine during the Middle Ages, that is held to be the house in Nazareth where the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary.

S <===   ELIZABETH ST

10 (corner): This beautiful little building, originally an 1893 factory, was Studio 10, a Yippie music club from 1979-81, featuring bands like Bad Brains, DOA and the dBs (and free pot).

2 (corner): Triple Crown, bar/restaurant, used to be Mannahatta, named for a Walt Whitman poem that begins, "I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city." Before that it was Astor Lounge.

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North:

War Resisters League Building

51 (corner): Also known as the Peace Pentagon, the War Resisters moved here in 1969 when their landlord at 6 Beekman Place asked them to leave after a police raid. Houses other radical groups like Nicaragua Network and Paper Tiger TV.

On the ground floor are KD and Spooly D's--the latter a sewing supply store whose name seems to be a pun on Schooly D, the guy who invented gangsta rap.

45: Culture Project Theater

33: Zero Maria Carnejo, designer boutique that moved here from Mott Street. This is the site of Herman Melville's boyhood home; his novel Pierre is largely based on his own childhood here.

21: Site of The Florence Night Mission for Fallen Women

17-19: A neo-classical building from 1909. Houses Q Hair; and 17 Bleecker coffeehouse (formerly Theeee Coffee Chamber) was David Davis Artist Materials & Services.

15: Ina, designer consignment store. This building and the two to its east were built by 1825; this one was given an Art Deco redesign in 1928.

11: Quartino Bottega Organica, organic restaurant.

9: An 1884 Renaissance Revival building by Frederick C. Withers, who co-designed the Jefferson Market Courthouse. Since 1973, this has been the headquarters of the Youth International Party, aka the Yippies. Note faded Yipster Times logo above door. Window has info on ibogaine, psychedelic heroin cure.

7: Built c. 1816, this building's first owner was James Roosevelt, Franklin's great-grandfather. By 1855, it had been redesigned from Federal to Italianate style. It's long been a studio for photographer Robert Frank.

5: Bianca, rustic Italian, was Acquario. The buildings from here to the Bowery were originally Italianate rowhouses built in 1869 (David and John Jardine, architects; John Murtha, builder).

3: Von, cozy beer-and-wine bar; best site for first dates, says Time Out NY

1 (corner): Agozar, Cuban restaurant and lounge