New York Songlines: Canal Street

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W <===         CANAL ST

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508: Built in 1826 along with its neighbor to the west, but aparently not landmarked.

506: Federal-style rowhouse built in 1826 is part of a trio of landmarked survivors. Notable for its three-bay cast-iron storefront-- predating most cast-iron architecture by decades.

504: Landmarked Greek Revival rowhouse built c. 1841.

502 (corner): Landmarked Federal-style rowhouse was built in 1818-19 by John Y. Smith, a maker of hair powder and starch; his shop was on the ground floor, and it's been a commercial space ever since. Also known as 480 Greenwich Street.

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Zinc Building

500 (block): A striking seven-story condo that went up in 2005. AKA 475 Greenwich Street.

W <===         WATTS ST

480 (block): This five-sided, 12-story 1928 building (also known as 205 Hudson and 111 Watts) was designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Guard. It's home to SFK, aka Success for Kids--originally Spirituality for Kids--a Kaballah-inspired educational project backed by Madonna and Demi Moore.

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North:

The Villager

Corner (487 Greenwich St): The weekly newspaper, published since 1933, is based here. Covering the area from Tribeca to Chelsea on the West Side and from Chinatown to the East Village on the east, its local reporting is far superior to that of the New York Times--because you get a sense that the people who live in these neighborhoods are citizens and not just consumers.

511 (corner): Lites On West SoHo, lighting showroom that features a site-specific light installation by Yuiko Kobayashi.

RENWICK ST         N ===>

503 (corner): Canal Audio Ltd., car stereos and alarms

499: A cute four-story tenement, bought for $2.4 million in 2007 by Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli and his interior decorator wife Victoria.

497: Polo Electric, in a two-story building from 1899

South:

Corner (200 Hudson): 92Y Tribeca, the Downtown outpost of the 92nd Street Y. It used to be an independent Jewish arts center called Makor, which merged with its current parent in 2001. It's been at this location since 2008.

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431 (block): The Holland Plaza Building, a 1930 Art Deco structure designed by Ely Jacques Kahn for the printing industry, now houses the Metropolitan College of New York, founded in 1964 by Audrey Cohen, along with the Manhattan Center of Adelphi University, founded in 1896 as New York's first co-ed college.

South:

Capsouto Park

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423 (corner): A three- story bank building from 1922 -- demolished along with its larger neighbor.

417: A eight-story office building here from 1920 was demolished in 2007; temporarily at least there's a sculpture garden here called LentSpace--because it's on loan from landowner Trinity Church. Canal Bicycles used to be here.

Duarte Square

Corner: This small plaza is land left over from the extension of 6th Avenue through the South Village. It's named for Juan Pablo Duarte, the liberator of the Dominican Republic. The statue, by Italian sculptor Nicola Arrighini, was installed in 1978.

South:

386 (corner): Mega Photo & Electronics was Canal Sound City

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Grand Canal Court

A small park, established 1955, with basketball courts and game tables. Named for the streets to its north and south.

THOMPSON ST   N ===>

393: Canal Hardware Corp. This almost is the southwest corner of Soho--and roughly as far west as Canal Street's designer knock-off district goes.

391: Was Argo Electronics--now a vacant lot

387: Canal Alarms Devices, established 1941; specializes in video surveillance.

385: GZL Wholesale & Retail

Corner (300 West Broad- way): Scrap Yard, a store devoted to graffiti tools and culture

South:

378: Soho Sound & Electronics. Since the south side of the street is BElow CAnal, this is Tribeca, not SoHo.

376: 376 Video Store

374: Tribeca Bagels was Pro Sound

Sheraton Canal Street

370-372: Hotel built in 2009.

Canal Street Station

350 (corner): This Art Moderne post office dates to 1939.

S <===         CHURCH ST

342 (corner):
Pro Audio

336: Clark Building, An eight-story building from 1915

334: Uncle Steve, audio

332: Taj Mahal Car Stereo & Audio

326: Phoenix Clothing/Canal Shoes

324: Perfect Fit sneakers is in a building that squeezes six grand arches into a narrow lot

322: Vinh Thanh elec- tronics and perfumes; Original No. 1 Car & Home Stereo

320: Stereo Stereo

318: Sasha Fine Diamond & Jewelry was Golden Dragon

316: N D Jewelry

310: 310 Discount Mall

Pearl Paint

308: Six floors of art supplies at the flagship of the local chain, opened in 1933.

Corner (415 Broadway):
Formerly the First National City Bank of New York--the predecessor of Citibank. Built in 1927 to a Walker and Gillette design.

This triangular space was once the location of Brandreth House, a hotel run by one Doc Brandreth, a dope peddler who later did time in Sing Sing. On the hotel's steps on July 23, 1859, Virginia Stewart was shot and killed by her lover Robert C. Mac- Donald, who had pursued her from North Carolina. He killed himself with opium while awaiting trial in the Tombs.

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369: Was Manhattan Luggage

365: Amsterdam Boutique was Great Wall City; before that the Ramco components shop. Has a cast-iron storefront.

357 (corner): Plastic Land, "For All Your Plastic Needs"

WOOSTER ST         N ===>

355 (corner): Canal Bargains

353: Canal Audio Video

349: General Merchandise

345: Canal Plastics Center; "All Your Plastic Needs and More..."

343: Original Uncle Steve--apparently there is some dispute as to who the real Uncle Steve is.

GREENE ST         N ===>

329 (corner):
Canal Rub- ber -- "If It's in Rubber, We Have It!"--since 1954

327: Fay Da Bakery Cafe was David's Office Equipment

323: Manny Jewelry

321: Canal Electronics Warehouse

319: Canal Hi-Fi, established 1977

317: Canal Lighting & Electric Supplier. These Federal-style rowhouses (to 313) were built in 1821.

313-315: Canal Lighting & Parts was Electric Trading Co., "serving industry since 1903." Putting "electric" in your name in 1903 must have been like putting ".com" in your name in 1999.

MERCER ST         N ===>

Arnold Constable Building

307-311 (corner): This was home to one of New York's most prestigious stores, founded by Aaron Arnold near this site in 1825; son-in-law James Con- stable became a partner in 1837. This building dates to 1857. It offered "Everything From Cradle to Grave"; Mary Todd Lincoln was a frequent customer. Southern sympathizers urged a boycott because of its abolitionist sympathies. The store moved uptown to Ladies Mile in 1869.

Until recently, it housed Industrial Plastics, described as "a treasure chest of cool things, supplying all manner of useful and not-so-useful items like 20-inch mirror disco balls, giant plastic bananas, sparkly holographic paper and inflatable globes." At No. 307 is CK&L Hardware.

305: Madness boutique was Original Electronic Warehouse.

303: Jun Yi Services, Chinese backrub

295: Primo Jewelry

Corner (419 Broadway):
A one- story stall with a green awning labeled "Perfumes"

South:

Corner (416 Broadway): A nine-story 1899 loft building. Was home to 416 B.C. (for "Below Canal"), New York's only Bulgarian bar, spawning ground for Gogol Bordello. Now moved to Ludlow Street, as this corner was going to become a Ramada Inn-- not sure what happened to that plan.

274: An 1883 loft building designed by A.B. Ogden & Son. Spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis had an office at this address in 1859.

272 (corner): Presumably the Ogdens designed this building as well, identical to its neighbor. A souvenir stand named Never Forget is on the ground floor.

S <===   CORTLANDT AL

268 (corner): Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, opened in 1991 as the Chinatown Health Clinic. It changed its name in 1999 to honor a major donor, computer tycoon Charles Wang. Moved here in 2002 to an 1886 cast-iron building designed by Lansing C. Holden and manufactured by Atlantic Iron Works.

266: Canal Seafood Restaurant gets mixed reviews.

264: New York Attitude Gift Shop

262: The corporate hamburger joint here instituted a controversial policy of requiring people to buy a $1 certificate before they are allowed to use the restroom.

Corner (112 Lafayette): These landmarked, many-pillared cast-iron lofts, known as the George Bruce Building, are attributed to James Bogardus, a pioneer of cast-iron architecture, and may be his most important surviving work. Houses Bank of America and HSBC--the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Company. Bruce, a Scottish immigrant who invented printing machinery, also has a library branch named after him in Harlem.

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277 (corner): Oltarsh Build- ing used to house the Pearl River Market, a Chinese import bazaar; when that moved, it became the Mall of the Great Wall and then the Canal Shopping Mall. It was built in 1927 as the 599-seat Major Theatre by David M. Oltarsh, a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was known as Cinema Giglio by 1963 and Canal Cinema in 1978.

273: Lucky Charms Fashion Jewelry -- the approximate beginning of Chinatown's Jewelry District

271: Star Jewelry & Diamonds (formerly MM Dynasty Jewelry II)

269: 269 Electronics, formerly Sylvan-Wellington Co., is an old-school repair shop, a remnant of Radio Row, advertises TV and radio tubes.

267: Gold City

265: Pashmina Shopping Center was Prestige Jewelry

263: Canal Golden Mall

263A: Home Boy Amigo Jewelry (!)

261: Alex Jewelry

259: Global Merchandise games and watches; Discount Jewelry Center

257: Canal Business Association, Vietnamese nonprofit established 1993. First Class Jewelry, Double Lucky Corp. on ground floor.

255: Arthuro Enterprises Jewelry; Popular Jewelry

South:

250 (corner): Cheap one-story retail building houses (on Lafayette Street side) Excellent Dumpling House (which is!), New Wing Wong Restaurant and Lays Herbal Center.

246: New Sea Win Restaurant

244: Was Hon Wong Restaurant

242: Canal Cafe Bakery, aka Kwong Wah Bakery -- noted for its bubble tea and low prices.

240 (cor- ner): Cheung Hing Jewelry

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245: Chinese American Bank is in a 1907 building.

243: Lucky Jewelry Center

239 (corner): This building with a red pagoda roof and a facade decorated with dragons and phoenixes, was the Golden Pacific National Bank, which opened here in 1983 and went under two years later, taking $17 million in local deposits with it.

South:

234-238: New Land Plaza, two-story retail building from 1977.

226: Four Season Gift Shop

224 (corner): Fishcorner Corp., souvenirs. This is roughly as far east as Canal Street's designer knock-off district goes.

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235 (corner): Horizontally banded five-story office building from 2008 has an HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Co.) branch on the ground floor; Eastbank used to be here.

233: Centre Canal Jewelry

227: S&N Jewel- ry

225: East Canal Jewelry

Corner: Washington Mutual--with a sign in Chinese

South:

W <===   WALKER ST

220 (corner): Sun Say Kai Restaurant. This is actually the corner of Canal and Baxter.

218: Win Choy Food Market, seafood

216: Bac Ai Pharmacy

214: Fish & Meat Food Market; like an aquarium, except you can take the fish home and eat them.

210-212: Canal Street Pharmacy

208 (corner): Chinatrust Bank

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North:

219 (corner): Tai Fook Jewelry

217B: New Line Jewelry

215: Golden Pearl Jewelry. During a fire at this address on February 14, 1908, Deputy Chief Charles W. "Big-Hearted Charley" Kruger fell through rotten boards in the cellar and drowned in eight feet of water.

213: Treasure Island Enterprises

211: Centre Jewelry was Joyeria Pepin's.

209: VGF Jewelry; Princess Diana Boutique, perfume. Was Empire Fine Jewelry.

207: Great World Enterprises; Charisma Jewelry

205: Las Americas Corp; Fancy Jewelry Inc.

203 (corner): RCD Fine Jewelry. On the Mulberry Street side is Sambuca's Cafe, which seems to be the New York branch of an Italian chain.

South:

202 (corner): Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong-based bank founded 1918. The blocky building dates to 1991.

200: Kam Man Food Pro- ducts, gro- cery with hard-to-find Chinese items and a wide selection of kitchenwares, founded 1972.

194: Tai Pan Bakery has a huge selection of Chinese pastries

Chinese Merchants Association

Corner (83-85 Mott): This pagoda-like structure, built 1950, is the headquarters of the On Leong Tong, once one of Chinatown's most feared gangs, with Mott Street as its territory. As late as the 1990s, On Leong leaders were running protection rackets with the Ghost Shadows street gang. Today it seems to be more what it always pretended to be--an association of Chinatown businessmen. Fay Da Bakery on the ground floor; the NY United Lion & Dragon Dance Troupe is based here.

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201A (corner): Shing Wong Jewelry

201: Orient Star Jewelry

199: Diamond National

197: Luxury Shoes Corp.

195A: Diamond Angel Jewelry

195: Dragon Jewelry. Upstairs are Raymond Miu Productions, representing Asian musical acts, Fei Yang Travel and the law offices of Kai Yin Liu.

193: Amer- ican Le- gion Lt. B.R. Kim- lau Chinese Memorial Post 1291. Kimlau, a DeWitt Clinton High School graduate, was a World War II bomber pilot who died in 1944 over Los Negros Island.

191: Good Luck Jewelry

189: Golden Jade Jewelry

185B: Vladdy's Diamonds, New Citiwide Jewelry

185 (corner): United Orient Bank is in a six-story building that got a glossy recladding in 2009. On the ground floor is Lukfook Jewellery, an international chain that has 30 stores in Hong Kong and Macau.

South:

180 (corner): A Chase branch is in this three-story glass-and-metal corner building.

172 1/2: Chinatown Federal Savings Bank; the glass facade dates to 2009.

170-172: Mink Tam Jewelry Center

164 (corner): A handsome brick building from 1915; a Citibank branch has been here since 1975.

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183: Abacus Federal Savings Bank

177: Canal Jewelry Center

175: Diamond Line Jewelry

173: DC Jewelry was Beauty Design Jewelry

171A: Royal Star Jewelry

171: New La Princesa Jewelry & Watches

165: Canal Diamond Jewelry

167A: Chun Xin Jewelry

167 (corner): BCC Jewelry

South:

162 (corner): Foo Sing Jewelry

160: Magnolia Fine Jewelry was Attraction of Beauty Inc.

158: Canal Street Optical

156: Canal Jewelry Center

150: HSBC annex

Corner (58 Bowery): HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Company), most recently Republic National Bank, was built in 1924 as the Citizen's Savings Bank. The huge bronze dome is a Chinatown landmark.

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165 (corner): Cathay Jewelry

163: Dragons Jewelry

163A: Treasure Kingdom

161: New Golden Gift Jewelry; Kings Sky Jewelry

159A: Lucky Diamond

155 (corner): CP Imaging, radiology; E*Trade Financial; TD Bank (formerly a Commerce Bank branch). The building is supposed to date to 1920, but it must have been recently modernized.

South:

Confucius Plaza Apartments

This arcing, 44-story highrise was built in 1976 to provide Chinatown with much needed housing. Discrimination in construction hiring here sparked the formation of Asian Americans for Equality.

The complex also includes P.S. 124, Yung Wing Public School, named for the first Chinese graduate of an American university (Yale, class of 1854) and the organizer of the Chinese Educational Mission to bring students from China to study in the U.S.

Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonade

De- signed by Car- rere & Has- tings (best known for the New York Public Library), this horseshoe-shaped arcade was built in 1910-15 to provide an impressive entrance to Manhattan.

132: In 1903, this was the address of the Daily Jewish Herald.

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151: New York Music & Gifts, Asian videos and CDs

149: Simpsons Loans, pawnshop est. 1889. Also Jumbo Hot Dogs.

145-147: New Khai Tri Deli, Vietnamese sandwiches; Manhattan Bridge Orthodontics

139: Fung Wah Bus, ultra-cheap bus line to Boston. Name means "magnificent wind" in Cantonese.

133: Mahayana Buddhist Temple was, until 1996, the Rosemary Theatre. Here's an interview with Dr. Nelson Ying, the temple's lay preacher (who's a nuclear physicist by profession).

125 (corner): Grand Sichuan Chinese Restaurant. Upstairs at this address is Professional Business College.

CHRYSTIE ST         N ===>

Sara D. Roosevelt Park

This end of the park serves as a track and field for Sun Yat Sen Middle School and Pace University High School.

South:

104 (corner): Tak Yick Food/Hung Kau Noodle

102: Wing Kei Noodle Co.

100: Sure Printing Inc.

98: Was Merchant's Refining Co. ("We Buy Gold & Silver"), demolished 2007

88: Poet/editor William Cullen Bryant lived at a boardinghouse at this address in the late 1820s, at about the time he became editor of the New York Post. More recently was 88 Graphics--in a building torn down in 2007.

86-84 (corner): Canal Street Apartments, a 17-story residential project with a four-story commercial base designed by Peter Poon Architects-- under construction in 2009. At No. 86 used to be Beny's Fine Jewelry, torn down in 2007.

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Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School

Corner (100 Hester): IS 131, a New York City junior high serving the Chinatown neighborhood, is in a curvilinear Modernist building from 1983. Also houses Pace University High School, a collaboration launched in 2004 between the college and the city Board of Ed.

105: Crawford Fine Gold Jewelry. This building is sort of the corner.

103: Yoko Boutique

99: Ace Acupuncture. Next door is a temple.

97: Hers clothing

95: Sunisa Renu Inc., jewelry/precious metal; S.A. Clothing. There used to be a jewelry store at this address that served as a fence for a ring of middle-aged burglars, busted in 1998, that police dubbed the "Over the Hill Gang."

93: This was a branch of the Merchants Bank of New York. Now a Valley National Bank.

91: Ten Ten Sewing USA

89 (corner): Cup and Saucer, old-school luncheonette

South:

84 (corner): Storm Image Fashion; Kings Associates Construction & Supplies

80-82: Yen Ping Association

80: Liu's Jade Jewelry; Millennium of Gold & Diamonds. (80-84 are the same building.)

78: New Maple Fashion

74: Fong's Trading

72B: Mr. Tea Cafe, bubble tea

72A: Joy-Ride Networking

70 (corner): Wei Rui Ying, video game rental

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85 (corner): Gourmet Deli & Grocery

83: Wong Wah Bakery is supposed to have great cheesecake.

81: New Laundromat

Chinatown Dragonfighters

77: The FDNY's Engine 9, quartered here since 1969, is said to be New York's oldest firefighting unit, tracing its history back to the Chatham Engine volunteer company, which was organized in 1731 (!). It was disbanded in 1845 for fighting with a rival volunteer company and reorganized as Excelsior Engine 2, which became Engine 9 when the fire department was professionalized in 1865. Ladder 6, which used to be the volunteer Phoenix Hose Company, has been based here since 1877--first in a building that served as a hospital and armory during the Civil War, and since 1969 in a modern firehouse.

South:

60 (corner): A five-story building from 1900

Jarmulowsky's Bank Building

54-58 (corner): The bank, opened by Sender Jarmulowsky in 1873 on this site, built this Beaux-Arts building in 1911 (designed by Rouse and Goldstone); three years later, a panic caused by the outbreak of World War I caused the bank to fail, leading to a loss of $10 million in deposits, a riot and six suicides. The building was landmarked in 2009.

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North:

63 (corner): Top Green Farm Vegetable Co. is on the ground floor of the temple.

61: Yuan Tong Buddhist is in the upper floors of a three-story corner building with a tiled Chinese-style roof with upturned eaves.

59: Tiger Travel; Ho Lucky Electronic Company

55 (corner): Kin O Plumbing Supply (formerly Kinco)

South:

52 (corner): Newstand-Grocery

50: Sumdup Norbu Ling, named for a Tibetan Buddhist temple; Flower Expression

46: Everyday Bus Tour

42: Ling Kee Beef Jerky

40: Bondy Export—cameras and appliances

38 (corner): The four-story brick building at the end of this wedge-shaped block houses a computer store. In the 1970s this was one of the residences of the Lyman Family, a communal group described in the New Yorker article "My Childhood in a Cult."

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North:

53 (corner): Cabbeen clothing

51: Vivian Beauty Salon; One Star Fashion

49: Oversea Asian Restaurant

47: Hi-Tech Electronics Service Center

45: Is (was?) Maccarone, an art gallery; the awning still advertises Kunst Sales Co. Electrical Appliances, and the building near the roofline reads "E&G Model Shop." A 20-year-old Emma Goldman stayed briefly with her aunt and uncle at this address when she first came to New York in 1889.

43: XPress Photo. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund had its first office at this address in 1976.

41: Boe Fook Funeral Services is in an L-shaped building that also has the address 5 Ludlow Street. It was originally built by the Independent Kletzker Brotherly Aid Association, a "landsmanschaften," or mutual aid society, founded in 1892 for Jewish immigrants from Kletsk, a town now in Belarus. The building was later sold to Max Kobre, a local banker who remodeled the exterior. It later became a Jewish funeral parlor, then an Italian funeral parlor, before becoming a Chinese funeral parlor.

39 (corner): Twin Market

South:

W <===         DIVISION ST

34: Great Wall Bus

28: Ming's Cafee, formerly Yummy Station Cafe

26 (corner): ABA Super Gift

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North:

37 (corner): Les Enfants Terribles, hip French-African cafe--nicknamed the Bad Babies Cafe.

35: Clandestino,
bar for secret rendez- vous

33: Singh Brothers elec- tronics and appliances

31: Once Loew's Canal Street Theatre, designed by Thomas Lamb in Spanish Baroque style and opened in 1927. It originally seated 2,279. Now home to ABC United Trading Corp, an electronics store, and Royal Music Cinema, home theater service.

29: Sarah Luna, Alice Roi -- designer boutiques

27: Optimum Appliances

South:

Straus Square

Named for Nathan Straus, a co-owner of Macy's who gave much of his wealth to philanthropic projects, including lodging houses, a tuberculosis sanitarium for children, World War I relief and health centers in Palestine. Straus was a primary proponent of the pasteurization of milk, cutting the infant death rate in half in neighborhoods served by his milk stations.

Formerly Rutgers Square, named for Henry Rutgers, scion of a brewing family that owned land here; Rutgers was a Revolutionary oficer who donated money to revive Queen's College in New Jersey, now renamed after him.

Rutgers Square was the frequent site of labor rallies and radical speeches by the likes of Emma Goldman and Eugene V. Debs.

Includes the Supreme Sacrifice memorial, for troops killed in the world wars and Korea.

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Seward Park

This park was estab- lished in 1899 by the Outdoor Recre- ation League, replacing crumbling tenements that were torn down in 1897. It's named for William Seward (1801-72); an early abolitionist who became NY governor (1838-42) and a U.S. senator (1848-61), he served as secretary of state under Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He's most remembered for paying Russia $7 million for Alaska in 1867. But it's his pro-immigration policies that made him the namesake of this park serving an immigrant neighborhood.

The northern part of the park was made into a playground in 1903--the first munipal playground in the U.S. A public bath--the first in a New York park-- was built here in 1904 and demolished in 1936, replaced by a recreation building in 1941.

The Schiff Fountain, paid for by financier Jacob H. Schiff and designed by Arnold Brunner, was built in 1895 in Rutgers Square and moved here in 1936.

Numerous Tai Chi practitioners can be found in the park every morning.