New York Songlines: Christopher Street

South:

Corner (388 West): Badlands was a leather bar featured in the movie Cruising. Now a gay video store.

Bailey-Holt House

180: Built as the Great Eastern Hotel (1858). In 1969 it was Christopher's End, a coffee shop that became a go-go bar after Stonewall. In 1972 it was known as Gay Dogs, described as a "24-hour food & beer cruise cafe." Later in the 1970s it was The Cockring, a noted gay bar; upstairs was the short-stay Hotel Christopher. In 1982 it was an upscale hotel and restaurant: The River Hotel and the Grand Corniche. Since 1986 it's been Bailey-Holt House, the first group home for people with AIDS.

162: Was Neutral Zone, a social center for queer youth.

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Corner (390 West): Underground Erotic Emporium

Site of Newgate State Prison

Block: At the foot of Christopher Street, occupying the land up to about Washington Street, was Newgate State Prison, opened in 1797 as New York's first prison and the second prison in the country. Despite some progressive policies--the co-ed convicts were taught trades, a physician and a pharmacist were hired, and the first warden lived in the prison along with his family--the institution was plagued by overcrowding, riots and smallpox epidemics. It was closed in 1829 when its inmates were sent "up the river" to the newly opened Sing Sing. In its day, the prison was apparently a tourist attraction; it's memorialized in a mosaic in the Christopher Street subway stop.

WEEHAWKEN ST         ===> N

185: Dugout, New York's leading bear bar. A brick warehouse built in 1837 for former New York Mayor Stephen Allen and converted into a tenement in 1871, it's now part of the Weehawken Street Historic District.

181: Franklin 54 Contemporary Fine Art Gallery moved here from Tribeca. In 1970, Ben M. Hall, founder of the Theatre Historical Society of America, was murdered at his home here.

177: A four-story, neo-Grecian building built as a factory for marine coppersmiths H.C. & J.H. Calkin. (H.C. was a former congressmember; their firm was here from 1884-1905).

Corner (650 Washington):

South:

The Archives

No. 156 was the address of The Market Diner, featuring "ships pursers, nannies, waterfront celebrities, longshoremen, hiders."

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

North:

159 (corner): Malatesta Trattoria; the Voice raves about its ''raffish'' food. Formerly Caffe Passione, before that the Silver Dollar (numbered 163), eccentric coffee shop ("straight by day, gay bar at night"). Also Christopher's Golden Woks.

153: St. Veronica's Church. Built 1889-90 to serve Catholic longshoremen; now features 12-step programs.

143 (corner): Bar Nocetti was opened in 2004 by two guys who grew up in the neighborhood, so they knew to get their pizza dough from Zito's Bakery. Used to be Chances Are, a black-oriented cruise bar, and before that Two Potato, known for its drag queens and go-go boys. (One Potato is now the Blind Tiger Alehouse.)

South:

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

North:

141 (corner): Was Danny's Bar, popular boy-watching spot--later The Village Stix. Now Harmony Bookstore/Boothstore, popular porn purveyor.

Christopher Street PATH

137: An entrance to New York City's other subway system--the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, which connects the southwest portion of Manhattan to Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark. Opened in 1907 as the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, it was taken over by the Port Authority in 1962.

135: Chi Chiz, once a Chinese restaurant, now a gay bar catering mainly to men of color. "May be the friendliest bar on Christopher Street"--Queer NYC.

133: 1819 Federal-style building, widened in the 1850s.

South:

130 (corner): Was Christopher Street Books, longstanding gay erotica shop that dated back at least to 1972-- closed c. 2007.

S <=== BEDFORD ST

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

120: Li-Lac Chocolates was here from 1923 until c. 2004, when it moved to 8th Avenue.

118: The Candle Shop

112: Ty's, long-running gay bar (since 1972, when it was known as Asher's) whose clientele favor the lumberjack look.

106: Was Verney's, a 1950s restaurant.

104: Was The Factory Cafe.

100: Bellardo, Ltd., fancy glass items; Vivid Video, sex shop

98: This 1856 building is regarded as the Village's first apartment house. Ground floor features Don't Panic--gay T-shirts.

96: Joe's CDs, a spin-off of the St. Marks record store, specializes in house and dance music.

94: Was David's Pot Belly Stove, long-running restaurant

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Lucille Lortel Theatre

121: Formerly the Theater de Lys. The building, which dates to 1868, was converted into a movie theater before it became a playhouse in the 1930s. Lucille Lortel, known as "the Queen of Off-Broadway," was the theater's owner beginning in 1955.

Three Penny Opera had its U.S. premier here, starring Kurt Weill's wife Lotte Lenya. Bernadette Peters had her first off-broadway role here in Dames at Sea; Richard Dryfuss debuted here in Line. Today Neil LaBute is the playwright in residence here. Joey was in a play here on the TV show Friends.

115: Hangar Bar, cruisey bar with an ethnically diverse crowd--good place to watch the passing parade. Was Green Hornet, a bar noted for its Dennis Hopper paintings and its "strange indifference... as the night a girl threatened to take her clothes off and bang her head on the floor if her boyfriend didn't pay attention. She did...and neither the boyfriend or the rest of the customers ever paid attention" --New York Unexpurgated. Closed in 1966.

113: Streetwise, gay-themed clothing; Millers Tea Room

111: The Leatherman, pillar of the leather community since 1965; Stick, Stone and Bone, Native American jewelry.

109: McNulty's Tea and Coffee Co., since 1895.

95 (corner): 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 also lived here. Lentzo Cafe on ground floor.

South:

Corner (327 Bleecker): 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.

86: Folk artist Vincent Canade lived here in the 1930s.

84: Actress Sally Kirkland lived here in the 1960s; Robert DeNiro, Rip Torn and others used to rehearse scenes here. London Fetish; sex shop.

82: Espresso Bar

76: Boots and Saddles, long-standing Western-themed gay bar; now known as B&S after a genericizing makeover. Formerly George Herdt's, "a hangout for Village down-and-out types and confirmed alcoholics"--Greenwich Village

Village Cigars

Corner (110 7th Ave S): A neighbor- hood landmark that closed in 2024; it's what the main character in Next Stop, Greenwich Village sees when he gets out of the subway for the first time. James Woods' character has his law office in this building in True Believer.

There's a plaque on the sidewalk here that says "Property of the Hess Estate Which Has Never Been Dedicated for Public Purpose." According to the website Forgotten NY, it is the last remnant of Christopher Street's Voorhis House, owned by one David Hess, who was able to keep just this tiny corner from being condemned by the city for the construction of 7th Avenue South. Actually, though, the phrasing seems to be a standard disclaimer for reserving the right to remove loiterers and the like; there's a similar plaque at 1st Avenue and 14th Street.

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

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.

85-91: Apartment buildings from 1872. No. 89 was Stewart's Cafeteria, 1920s gay scene; now the Loft, featuring gay cruise-wear. Yoko Ono lived at No. 87 in 1965, and did an artwork called Morning Piece on the roof; the conceptual IsReal Gallery was (not) located here. No. 85 is now London BTQ, a sex shop.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

81: Built in 1822 as the Eighth Presbyterian Church (1822-43), then became the Epicopalian St. Matthew's Church (until 1858). Site of the long-running interactive theater piece Tony n' Tina's Wedding.

77: Actress Rosemary Harris has lived here.

75: World Clothing; Fat Cat Billiards in basement, and behind that is the Fat Cat Jazz Club, which is supposed to be excellent.

Corner (220 W 4th): This low-rise commercial building, built 1931, is on the site of the Greenwich Village Theatre, built in 1917 by Marguerite Abbott Barker. It was home to the Greenwich Village Follies, a variety revue that featured songs like "I'm the Hostess of a Bum Cabaret!" and "Why Be an Industrial Slave When You Can be Crazy?" Martha Graham was a dancer and choreographer in the Follies. Tony Sarge, who later made the first giant balloons for the Macy's parade, put on a ballet with puppets. The show was so popular that it moved to Broadway in its first two seasons, and then for its third year started on Broadway, bypassing this theater. Another hit here was Sinclair Lewis' satire Hobohemia.

South:

Christopher Park

S <=== GROVE ST

Northern Dispensary

This landmark was built as a clinic for the poor in 1831, with a third floor added in 1854. It's one of those Village paradoxes: It's a triangular building with two streets (Grove and Christopher) on one side, and one street (Waverly) on the other two sides. The dispensary's best-known patient was Edgar Allen Poe, treated for a head cold in 1837--don't laugh; they could be fatal in those days. In 1960 it became a dental clinic, which in 1986 refused to treat a patient who was HIV-positive. He sued and bankrupted the clinic. The building is now, since 1997, the Hostel for the Disabled.

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

61 (corner): Was the Village Voice offices, which moved here in 1960. Now The Duplex, long-running cabaret where Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen used to perform.

Site of The Lion's Head

59: Was The Lion's Head, bar for drinkers with a writing problem: Norman Mailer, Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hammill, Frank McCourt, etc. Actress Jessica Lange was a waitress here. Later The Monkey's Paw. Now the space is home to the Kettle of Fish, another bar with an illustrious past.

The Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group, used to have offices upstairs post-Stonewall.

The building at 59-61, despite appearances, was built in 1987, and was co-designed by the co-author of the AIA Guide, Norval White.

55: 55 Bar; serious jazz club. Was Bradley's 55, described in 1966 as being home to "irresponsible but lovable Villagers, uptown misfits and maladjustables from Boston."

Stonewall Inn

53: Present site of Stonewall--this seems to be half of the original bar.

51: Original address of the Stonewall Inn, where a raid by the NYPD on June 27, 1969, resulted in a riot led by drag queens that sparked the gay liberation movement.

45: Laina Jane, tiny lingerie boutique; Greetings!, gay-themed card store. Philosopher Theodor Adorno lived at this address.

35: Savon, many exotic bath products

South:

18-20: Federal-style building from 1827. No. 20 is the address of Rumbul's Pastry Shop, which has a view of Ruth McKinney's garden (the author of My Sister Eileen).

14 (corner): 1903 lofts; on ground floor is Lucien Pellat-Finet, super-expensive cashmere sweaters for hipsters.

S <===         GAY ST

10 (corner): Gepetto's Toy Box, funky toy store. Was Abracadabra, costume shop that's now in Chelsea.

8: Was Uncle Paul's, notorious 1970s hustler bar. Now Pieces, gay bar with a campy disco feel.

4: Was the address of Frank Shay's Bookshop, an intellectual hub of Greenwich Village in the early 1920s. Village literati took to signing the door to the shop's office, including Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis and Vachel Lindsay, among many others; when the store closed in 1925, the door was preserved, and is now found at the University of Texas.

C
H
R
I
S
T
O
P
H
E
R

North:

23-25: Built 1827 by assemblyman and textile manufacturer Samuel Whittemore.

19-21: E-lix-er sells crystals, amber, Native American jewelry and the like.

19: Basiques stocks Euro-chic linens, towels, pottery.

13-17: Built 1827 by Whittemore. No. 15 was the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, the oldest gay bookstore in the country--opened in 1967, located here from 1973-2009. No. 13 is another storefront for Amalgamated Home; for a few years starting in 1968, the basement here housed Hernando's Custom Leather and Suede, where legendary designer Hernando Reinoso outfitted folks like Miles Davis and Andy Warhol.

11: Poet e.e. cummings lived at this address in 1918 with his friend William Slater Brown, with whom he had been in military prison in France.

9: Aedes de Venustas, obscure and expensive beauty products. In the 1970s was Hernando's Clothier, a later incarnation of Hernando Reinoso's leather shop. Around 1920 novelist Floyd Dell lived here in an apartment whose doors included one that later became the famous door in Frank Shay's Bookshop across the street.

1 (corner): In Butterfield 8, Elizabeth Taylor visits her mother in this building.