New York Songlines: Greenwich Avenue

West:

Jackson Square

This 1826 park was apparently named for President Andrew Jackson, a hero of New York Democrats at the time. He's a deeply ambiguous historical character--he certainly did make the United States more democratic, but he's also probably the country's leading ethnic cleanser.

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Corner (253 W 13th): This Art Deco electrical substation was built in 1930 for the city's IND subway line.

West:

123-125 (corner): Better known as 2 Horatio Street, a 17-story red-brick coop that was built in 1931. Its facade features two strips of white terra-cotta balconies. On the ground floor is Mxyplyzyk (pronounced "Mixy-Plizik"), kooky housewares store named for Superman's enemy Mr. Mxyzptlk, an imp-like creature who had to be tricked into saying his name backwards to return him to his own dimension.

115A: Time Pieces, watch repair and vintage clocks; Caravansary, a fascinating store full of mechanical toys and what not--heavy on the what not.

115 (corner): The Soy Luck Club, which serves lactose-free sandwiches and coffee. At this corner in the 1940s was Jane Street Chemists, a drugstore/luncheonette that was a hangout for folksingers like Richard Dyer-Bennet and Millard Lampell, a co-founder of the Almanac Singers who was blacklisted during the McCarthy Era.

W <===         JANE ST

113 (corner): Benny's Burritos, tasty local mini-chain

107: Abingdon Veterinary Clinic

103 (corner): Was Day-O, island-themed tavern-- empty for a while now.

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118: Cafe de Bruxelles, longstanding Belgian

112: The Bathroom, upscale soaps and the like, was Benny's Burritos takeout; A Salt & Battery, fish and chips mini-chain

110: Carry on Tea & Sympathy, a shop full of British sweets, tea etc. (The name references a series of popular English comedies.)

108: Tea & Sympathy, Anglophile cafe named for a play and film about an English public school boy who has an affair with the wife of his house master.

106: London Baby Bar, kid stuff

96: Flight 001, air travel paraphernalia

94: La Palette, French/Brazilian, was Barocco Hots, Italian chain.

90: Johnny's Bar

Corner (225 W 12th): The Village Den, diner here since the 1950s.

West:

97 (corner): Equinox Fitness Center is on the site of the Art Greenwich Twin cinema, here from 1936 until 2000. Joan Crawford went to the movies there in Daisy Kenyon, as do Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio in Happy Accidents and Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex in the City.

95: Jessie James clothing; also has a branch in Hoboken.

93: Was Tacqueria de Mexico

91: The address from 1913 until 1917 of The Masses, a radical magazine edited by Max Eastman that published John Reed, Carl Sandburg, Upton Sinclair, Sherwood Anderson, Dorothy Day, Helen Keller and Amy Lowell--along with art by the likes of John Sloan and Robert Henri. It was shut down by the government for its opposition to World War I.

89: good, New American food with a Latin accent

W <===         BANK ST

81 (corner): Artepasta, Italian

79: Bethel Gourmet Food

77: Was Chez Brigitte, a tiny restaurant that served very affordable French home-cooking since 1958, when it was founded by Marseilles-born Brigitte Catapano, until 2008, when its rent doubled.

75: Bone Lick Park, barbecue; Roasting Plant Coffee, which has another outlet on the Lower East Side. At this address was the 24-hour Greenwich Cafe.

Corner (201 W 11th): Two Boots To Go West, part of a great mini-chain of Cajun pizza parlors--the boots being Italy and Louisiana.

W <===         W 11TH ST

Corner (192 7th Ave): Fantasy World, mildly naughty sex shop

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86 (corner): Was the address of James & Susan Light's 17-room apartment, where many leading artists and intellectual stayed in the 1910s--including Djuna Barnes, Berenice Abbott and Malcolm Cowley. Dorothy Day was a downstairs neighbor. The building was known as Maison Clemanceau, because French statesman Georges Clemenceau had lived on the site from 1866-69, writing for the Paris Temps--he described this as the three happiest years of his life.

St. Vincent's Material Handling Center

Block (200-202 W 12th): This triangular block was the site of Loew's Sheridan, a 2,300-seat cinema that opened in 1921 as the Mark Strand Sheridan Square. Writer Ruth McKenney and her sister Eileen would leave their apartment and go here when they wanted privacy. It's the subject of Edward Hopper's 1937 painting The Sheridan Theatre--the artist was a regular filmgoer here. After the theater was torn down in 1969, there was briefly a garden here known as the Village Green.

West:

Mulry Square

Corner: This triangular parking lot was formerly the site of a wedge-shaped diner that is said to have been the inspiration for Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks. The diner's tiling can still be seen on the one remaining wall. The parking lot's fencing supports Tiles for America, a September 11 memorial consisting of some 6,000 tiles created across the country. There's a proposal to turn Mulry Square into a small park.

59: LaBella Pompeii Pizza; also Our Name Is Mud, paint-your-own pottery place that started the Tiles for America memorial.

57 (corner): Matador was Sapore Due, an expansion of the restaurant down the street; before that Dew Drop Inn, Southernish bar.

W <===         PERRY ST

55 (corner): Sapore, affordable Italian

45: Author William Styron lived here in 1951.

43: Fetch, designer pet accessories

41: Bouchon, little French bistro

39 (corner): Wogies Bar & Grill--pub food, specializing in Philly cheese steaks.

W <===         CHARLES ST

35: The address of William Dunlap, called the Father of the American Theater--the first American who tried (not very successfully) to make a living writing for the stage

23 (corner): Saint Germaine apartments, an unfortunate 15-story white-brick building put up in 1962

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St Vincent's Hospital

Corner: Founded in 1849 by the Sisters of Charity. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was given her middle name because her uncle's life was saved here. Poet Kahlil Gibran died here in 1931, as did Dylan Thomas on November 9, 1953, several days after his famous night at the White Horse. Survivors of the Titanic disaster taken here for treatment. This was the main hospital used for treating victims of the September 11 World Trade Center attack in 2001.

W 11TH ST ===> E

74 (corner): West Village Florist is on the apex of this pointy block.

70: Bagels and Much More; Dalton Coffee

68: Elephant & Castle, longstanding British pub, named for a London district. Before c. 1973, it was The Belly Button, noted for exotic condiments.

62: Zutto, sushi

60: Gusto Ristorante e Bar Americano

58A: The Original Sandwich Shoppe

54-58: Fiddlesticks, Irish-y pub; until the mid-1990s was the infamous Uncle Charlie's bar.

52: Gottino Enoteca E Salumeria, wine bar. (The name means "Small Glass Wine Cellar and Sausage Shop." Was Ezekiel's, run by the non-profit Covenant House to train at-risk youth for restaurant jobs.

46: Caffe dell'Artista; downstairs is Village Natural.

44: Partners & Crime Mystery Bookseller; James Gandolfini is said to be a fan.

28: Lassi was Thali Vegetarian, where everyone got the same meal.

26: Lafayette Bakery, specializing in French pastries. Formerly on Bleecker.

24: Funayama sushi was the Peacock Caffe.

22: The Village Voice was founded at this address.

20 (corner): This 1954 building housed Sutter's French Bakery, an esteemed pastry shop, until 1972. Later Village Paper and Party was here until it was burned out in a 2010 fire. Now it's Rosemary's, Italian that cooks with ingredients grown in a rooftop garden.

West:

21: Grano Trattoria, Italian noted for wild game on menu

19: Olde Good Things, an antique store linked to the cult-like Church of Bible Understanding. They were lampooned on Seinfeld as the ''Carpet-Cleaning Cult.''

15: Empire Szechuan Greenwich is at the address of William Dunlap, called the first American playwright.

9: Zachary's Smile, named "best vintage spot" by Time Out

W <===   CHRISTOPHER ST

3: Go Sushi, mini-chain

1: Luigi and Mario Balducci, who started out selling bananas from a cart in Greenpoint in 1915, moved their produce stand here in 1945, which grew into the high-end grocery store Balducci's.

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East:

Jefferson Market Greening

Garden on site of former Women's House of Detention. Inmates included black activist Angela Davis, Catholic radical Dorothy Day, labor organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, accused spy Ethel Rosenberg, East Side madame Bea Garfield, Warhol shooter Valerie Solanas and (in an earlier co-ed jail) Mae West. Demolished 1973. Miranda got married here on Sex in the City.

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