New York Songlines: Mott Street

West:

Corner (56 Hous- ton): Soho Bil- liards. Clearly this is in no way South of Houston. It's not even across the street from SoHo--that's Nolita down there.

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

306: Ramon's Tailor Shop has been in the neighborhood since 1969.

West:

285: MottSu sushi, Ciao Bella Gelato

281: Poppy, lingerie/accessories; was Hedra Prue, showcase for young designers

275: Coclico

273: Sakura Sushi

Old St. Patrick's Churchyard

Robert deNiro and Harvey Keitel have a heart-to-heart here in Mean Streets.

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral

Corner (260-264 Mulberry): New York's first Roman Catholic cathedral, with construction starting in 1809 to a design by Joseph Mangin (the architect of City Hall). It was built behind high walls to protect it from anti-Catholic rioters. A fire in 1868 gutted the building; it was restored by Henry Engelbert, but not before the dio- cese's seat had moved to Mid- town. John McCloskey became the first American cardinal here April 27, 1865. It's now a beautiful but under- utilized parish church.

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280: Calypso St. Barth, island-themed fashion

278: True Boutique

262: Christopher Totman, crunchy fashion. Downstairs is I Heart, a subterranean lair of cutting-edge labels. Other boutiques at this address include Veka, Li Li's Wink/The Shoe, Mixona and INA Men.

From 1996-2014, the penthouse here was owned by the musician Moby, who recorded his album Play here.

260: Rebecca Taylor, boutique

14th Ward Industrial School

256-258: This beautiful Victorian Gothic building was designed by Calvert Vaux, co-architect of Central Park, along with George Kent Radford, and completed in 1889. The school was a project of the Children's Aid Society, attempting to teach trades to homeless children to prevent them from falling into lives of vice.

252: Modo eyewear, Fanny K. Bijoux jewelry. Was Jamin Peuch, Parisian handbags and slippers; Calypso Beauty.

250: Dinosaur Designs, Agas & Tamar--jewelry designers. Was Helen Marien, expensive handbags.

248: Polux Fleuriste, French flower shop. Formerly at this address were Blue/Green, vegan juice joint, as well as Shop Noir, Jaalber jewelry.

246: Abstract, menswear; Lolita Jaca, boutique from St. Barts. Was Geraldine, funky shoes.

242: Sigerson Morrison, shoe store's handbag line; Euro-style Cafe Gitane

West:

Corner (32 Prince): Old St. Patrick's Convent and School; built 1825-26 as the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. Martin Scorsese went to school here.

231: Emporio, Roman-style trattoria

229: Kelima K boutique; SEW, custom suits by Scott Evan Wasserberger. Was Find Outlet, designer clothing marked down.

227: Daruma sushi; Pinche Ta- queria, Mexican whose name translates roughly as "Crummy Taco Stand."

225: Was Zero Maria Cornejo, designer that moved to Bleecker Street.

223: Lord Willy's, custom suits; Bellisimo Hair Spa

219: Min-K, South Korean designer MinJi Kim's boutique; Kathryn Amberleigh, designer shoes. Edmundo Castillo, another shoe designer, used to be here.

217: Resurrection vintage clothing, fashionably used

Corner (29-31 Spring): This 20-room former sanatorium was the home and studio of sculptor Louise Nevelson from 1959 until her death in 1988. More recently the ground floor was Nancy Kotles at Home, bedding and loungeware.

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East:

Corner (30 Prince): The Kitchen Club, modern Japanese; sake bar Chibi's is underneath.

238: Highway (formerly Hiponica), cutting-edge handbags; Gas Bijoux, French jewelry, was Minette Co. In the 1980s, this was Todd's Copy Shop, where Downtown bands would xerox their flyers; Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth worked here.

230: Only Hearts, lingerie that is meant to be worn inside or out.

228: SoHo on Mott, Etruscan jewelry boutique; Gimme! Coffee

Lira Apartments

Corner (21 Spring): is Just Shades--lampshades, that is-- is in the corner of this apartment building, built of dark-red brick in 1983 to a Pasanella + Klein design called "severe...sober and satisfying" by the AIA Guide.

West:

Lombardi's

Corner (32 Spring): The reincarnation of the nation's first pizzeria, which opened at 53 Spring as a grocery store in 1897 by Gennaro Lombardi. It started selling pizza by 1905; John Sasso of John's, Patsy Lancieri of Patsy's and Anthony Pero of Totonno's all learned the pizza trade there. The rest- aurant closed in 1984 and re- opened here by Gennaro Lombardi's grandson after a 10-year hiatus in 1994. The pizza is very good -- a con- tender for the best pie in town.

205: Victor & Jose Tailors

203: Simple raw juice bar

201: Cute three-story pink house.

197-199: Built as a machine shop in 1946, converted to a supermarket in 1961, this two-story brick eyesore has sat vacant for years.

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East:

202 (cor- ner): Spring Mart, grocery store; tucked in next to it is the lounge Shebeen--Irish for speakeasy, but the term was adopted in South Africa, and that seems to be the reference here.

202A: Green Apple, gelato and sorbet. Was designer Claire Blaydon's boutique.

200: Epistrophy, romantic wine bar/ cafe named for a Thelonious Monk tune.

Parisi Bakery

198: Italian bakery found- ed 1903 and still owned by the Parisi family. The actual bakery moved from here to Elizabeth Street; this is now the family's delicatessen.

192 (cor- ner): L'asso ("The Ace"), brick- oven thin-crust pizza--certified authentic. They have a cool mural.

West:

179: Sunny Candy Store

Corner (372 Broome): Condo lofts in a converted factory.

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East:

186 (corner): Mott Hardware

180: Mott Street Senior Center

176 (corner): The 1929, boutique with "fugly" coats, replaced Funky Thai, formerly Funky Broome, mod Chinese. At the same address is Sun Suig herbal pharmacy.

West:

173 (corner): The Mott used to be underground, Asian-themed Double Happiness -- a bar ''made for trysts'' (Time Out). Palais Royale was the space upstairs.

169: Win Tropical Aquarium

167: Red Dragon Exterminating Co., Bear Glass

163: Jin Zheng, Inc.--massage, qigong

161: Chiu Hong Bakery

157: Mott Pho Bang, Vietnamese fast food (pho = beef broth)

151: Romantic Gift Shop Inc.

Corner (200 Grand): Di Palo's Fine Imported Italian Cheese. Also in this building was Pearl River Emporium--not the famous one.

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East:

166: Andreas Fish, He Zhen Snap Button Co.

156: Constructed 2009.

154: JJ Crystal Skin Care

Corner (206 Grand): Yue Fung Enter- prises; Yong Qiang Fashions

West:

Corner (203 Grand): Twins 99 Cents Plus; Manhattan Grand Optical

147: Golden Profit Trading Inc.

141: New AO Jang Market. The People's Bathing and Washing Establishment, the city's first public bath, was started here in 1849 by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. Few of the poor, however, could afford to pay 5 cents for a bath, and the project was closed in 1861.

135: S&R Sea- food

133: Kin Shing Trading

129: S&T Seafood

125: Chiang's Vegetable Co., Manna House Bakery

123: Run Feng Trading

121 (corner): Orange Tea House

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East:

Corner (205 Gra- nd): GV Trading

140: JC Fruit

138: Banh Mi Saigon Bakery is "home to some of the city's best Vietnamese sandwiches" ( New York). Was Seafood International.

128: The Mietz Building was Genco Olive Oil, the Corleone family front, in the movie The Godfather. Now Woo's Trading, Lian Feng Trading, Chinese produce.

124: Tung Lay Meat Market

120: Sa Sa Cosmetic--bigger than the one across the street.

118: All Health Pharmacy

116 (corner): Optical 88

West:

119 (cor- ner): Original Vincent's of Little Italy started out as a pushcart on this corner in 1894, and moved indoors in 1904. There's a photo of Frank Sinatra cooking his own pasta in the kitchen; other famous customers claimed by the restaurant include Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Robert DeNiro.

115: Yan Shou Tong Herbs. In the 1930s and '40s, Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker was based here.

113: Paris Sandwich, which is Vietnamese, despite the Eiffel Tower logo, was Joe's Ginger Restaurant.

111: New Chiu Chow Restaurant

109: Sa Sa Cosmetics; Sino-American Ginseng

107: Eyesmate Optical

103-105: Oriental Food Restaurant, banquet hall, was New Oriental Pearl Restaurant.

101: Canton Noodle Corp.

Corner (185 Canal): 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.

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East:

110: This address features in the film The Spanish Prisoner as the apartment of the Rebecca Pidgeon character, where she lives "above the Sunshine Bakery."

104: The Dining Room features shabu shabu.

102: Big Wing Wong Restaurant, noted for congee

100: Shanghai Cafe (dim sum et al) was 100 Seafood Restaurant.

98: Grand Harmony Palace, a big place for wedding banquets

Corner (183 Canal):
Abacus Federal Savings Bank

West:

Chinese Merchants Association

83-85 (corner): 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. Lai Heng Jewelry, Fay Da Bakery on the ground floor. Mou Cheong Vision Center used to be on the corner with cool neon glasses.

81: Gross- mann & Feld- man written on the cornice; Hoy Wong Restaurant in the basement.

79: Ten Ren's Tea Time

77: Peoples Pharmacy

75: Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co.

73: Conford Shoes & Beyond

71: L.S. Electronics

69: Singapore Cafe was 69 Mott Street, specializing in pork.

67: Big Wong has good, cheap food. The AIA Guide notes the ''regal cornice'' of this former tenement.

65: Chung Wah Pharmacy was Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, featuring flavors like red bean and lychee. This seven-story building, built c. 1824, was New York's first planned tenement. By the 1880s, the New York Times was complaining that it ''stands out like a wart growing on top of a festering sore,'' with ''filth... hanging out of the windows like icicles.''

63A: Bok Lei Po Trading, martial arts supplies

63: New Health World Chinese herbs was Shanghai Garden (aka Evergreen Shanghai) restaurant. In 1850, the synagogue Beth Abraham was founded in the tenement here.

61: Mandarin Court, longstanding dim sum house. Eight children under the age of five died here in 1882, victims of rampant diseases.

59 1/2: Golden Lake gifts. Eleven kids died here in 1882, while five of nine living here in 1888 were killed.

59: Health Town Chinese herbs

57: In early 1851, this was the address of Bridget McCarty, a madam who ''specialized in procuring young virgins for her clients.''

55 (corner): H.P.T. Gift Shop was the site of Sun Goon Sing, an import store and caterer from 1929-68 that was the first Chinese shop to open on the traditionally Italian side of Bayard Street. Owner Chun Kong Chow was a noted community activist.

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East:

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

76: Was Sweet- N- Tart, tasty Chinese snack bar; closed during Chinatown's long post-September 11 slump. Later Egg Custard King Cafe, closed c. 2008.

74: Good Field Trading and Lou Young Inc. sell books, magazines, herbs etc. Bowery Boy James E. Kerrigan was living here when he tried to form a pro-Confederate militia on the eve of the Civil War. He was subsequently elected to Congress, got an officer's commission in the Union army and was then court martialed. He later led an abortive invasion of Ireland.

72: Mao Chang Vision Center was Long Life Pharmacy, which closed in 2007. "This store had a great chinese red envelope display in their window all year-round," notes Journey Through Chinatown.

70: Hon Cafe was Tai Hong Lau Res- taurant, which closed in 2007.

68: House of Vegetarian specializes in faux meat; Mei Guang Gift Shop.

66: Amazing 66 Restaurant, seafood; formerly New Eastern Villa. In 1855, 17 German-speaking artisans boarded here, along with two German servant girls.

Eastern States Buddhist Temple

64: Founded in 1962, this was the first Chinese Buddhist temple in the Eastern United States. It's the same building as the CCBC next door.

Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Corporation

62: Until recently, this nonprofit group founded in 1883 served as an unofficial local government for Chinatown, with its president--alternately chosen by the Lin Sing and Hoy Sun Ning Yeung associations. Includes the New York Chinese School. Hong Fa clothing, DVD Music & Gift on the ground floor.

In the pre-Civil War era, a brothel at this address specialized in ''ropes and braces.''

60: Fu Hua Trading, souvenirs

58: Was Wah Kue toy store, which closed in 2006; then the gift shop New Serendipity, closed 2007.

56: Wonton Garden, dumplings, dim sum etc.

52 (cor- ner): Mott Street Optical

West:

53 (corner): Haagen Daaz; Mark's Wine and Spirits was Tai Pei Liquors, which until 1989 was owned by Peter Woo, On Leong Tong member and at one time the largest importer of heroin into the U.S.

51: Teariffic Cafe, bubble tea

47-49: The building of the Lin Sing Association, a mutual aid society founded in 1900; it purchased this building in 1925 for $70,000. Lin Sing means "United Formation," and represented those immigrants who did not come from Hoy Sun County in Kwangtung Province, which was initially the main source of Chinatown residents.

45: Green Tea Cafe

43: 43 Mott St. Plaza gift shop; 43 Mott karaoke downstairs

41: Golden Fung Wong Bakery (was New Lung Fong Bakery)

39: C. 1900, there was a joss house--a Taoist shrine--here, with an opium den in back. Now Chung Chou City, Chinese grocery.

37: Aji Ichiban ("Munchies Paradise"), outlet
of a Hong Kong candy chain. It's not every candy store that offers dried squid. Mei Dick Barber Shop is in the basement.

Mott Street bends slightly here, at the intersection with Pell Street.

33-35: Eye Solutions was Vegetarian Paradise 3, specializing in mock meat. This building is still called Sun Lau--''New Building''--even though it went up in 1923.

Transfiguration Church & School

25-29 (corner): Built in 1801 as the English Lutheran First Church of Zion, this church has since 1853 served successive waves of Catholic immigrants: First Irish, then Italian, now Chinese.

In the 1998 film The Legend of 1900, a female character's father is said to have a shop at 27 Mott Street.

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21 (corner): Hop Kee Restaurant; Pho 21 Asian Fusion was U-Choose Express.

19: St. Paula boutique; Touchstone Health replaced Sinotique, Chinese antique store opened in 1992.

Wo Hop Restaurant

17: A classic China- town eatery since 1938. I like to eat here when I'm in Chinatown.

On August 15, 1909, 16-year-old Bow Kum was murdered at this address by a Four Brothers gang assassin. The gang maintained that Bow was their property; her killing touched off a war between the Four Bothers and the On Leong Tong, to which her husband belonged. Earlier, in 1883, the Lung Ye Tong's Tom Lee was indicted for running a gambling establishment here.

15: More Wo Hop here.

13: A Chinese boardinghouse here in 1870 may have been the first Chinese presence in the neighborhood. In 1879, the police made their first Chinatown vice raid here, finding some opium smokers and fan tan players. All charges were eventually dropped.

11: New Hong Ying Restaurant, Chung Wah Gift Shop

9: Here was Port Arthur, an early Chinatown restaurant catering to a non-Chinese clientele, helping to establish the neighborhood as a tourist destination.

7: Was Kam Kuo Food Corporation, Chinese groceries and housewares; old enough to have been visited by Sun Yat Sen, it closed after September 11. In 1873, Nos. 5-7 were Mulberry Hall, aka the Old Baptist Church Tenement, a converted church that was dubbed ''the city's worst tenement'' by the Board of Health. Nearly 10 percent of its residents died that year.

5: Bud- dha Bodai Nature Kosher Vege- tarian Restaurant

3: When the Rutgers Fire Company moved out of the building here, they refused to lease it to Chinese immigrants, saying they would ''sooner pull down the building than allow a single Chinaman to live in it.''

1 (corner): A four-story trapezoidal building that occupies the pointy end of an irregular four-sided block.

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East:

50 (cor- ner: Mr. Tang of Mott Street, since 1982; Yunhong Chopsticks Shop

48: Fa Guo San Candy Shop USA. Upstairs is Knugenx tutoring center.

46: Fong Inn Too, puto (Filipino steamed rice cake) and hot taho (tofu custard)

42: Ah Wong Bakery, Ming Fay Book Store are in the Hok Shan Building. The Hok Shan Society is a mutual-aid group, part of the Lin Sing Association. The name means "Crane Mountain" and appears to refer to the city of Heshan in Guangdong Province, which was the hometown of many Chinese immigrants. It's associated with the Hok Shan style of lion dance.

40 (corner): Chinatown Optical was Liu's International Enterprise Corporation, gift shop--closed c. 2008.

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38 (corner): New Age Designer, custom-made cheung-sum -- traditional Chinese dresses. In 1903 was Quong Yee Wo & Co.

36: Pearl of the Orient Gallery, Chinese art. Tom ''Fatty'' Walsh, a political rival of Tammany Hall's Boss Tweed, lived at this address. Born here in 1873 was his daughter Blanche Walsh, who became a leading actress around the turn of the 20th Century.

34: In 1873, a merchant named Wo Kee opened a store at this address, with a benevolent society and a dormitory also on the premises. It's considered to be the start of the Chinatown business district.

32: Quong Yuen Shing & Co. general store was in business from 1891 until October 2003--a victim of the economic downturn that hit Chinatown after September 11, 2001. Now Good Fortune Gifts, Inc.

30: Silkroad Place, coffeehouse

28: Peking Duck House; the namesake dish is the best food on Mott Street, according to Zagat.

26: Wing On Wo & Co Oriental Gifts

24: Panda Ma clothing

22: Ping Seafood Restaurant, where your meal was swimming around just minutes ago. The building is labeled the Chinese Masonic Building near the cornice.

20: Was Sweet-N-Tart Restaurant, another branch of the Chinese snack-food cafe. The 1820 Federal-style townhouse has been dismantled and replaced with a modern building.

18: Mall on Mott (aka Elite Health Products) is at the original address of the On Leong Tong's New York branch, opened in 1883.

16: What is now the Hop Lee Restaurant was the original headquarters of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which by the late 1880s included China- town's main ''joss house,'' or Taoist shrine; the basement was a gambling den.

14: Ajisen Noodle, a Japanese-style ramen house. In 1879, the Methodist Five Points Mission opened a short-lived effort to convert Chinese immigrants here.

10 1/2: Bangkok Gift & Souvenir is at the address of the Hope Hose Company, a pre-Civil War volunteer fire brigade.

8: Was China- town Fair, a veri- table video- game museum. Formerly home to the Tic-Tac-Toe playing chicken, who had been retired to a farm before the place closed. By 1883, pioneering Chinese merchant Wo Kee had bought this address and moved his store here, one of the first properties in Chinatown to be owned by a Chinese immigrant.

4: Tom Lee, who ran a cigar store here, became a New York deputy sheriff and founded Chinatown's first tong, the Lung Ye.

2 (corner): Wing Ming Building, a mirror-surfaced 11-story office tower, built 1978 by a Hong Kong businessman. Houses medical professionals.

West:

Chatham Towers

Point (180 Park Row): A 1964 co-op designed by Kelly & Gruzen for the Association for Middle Income Housing, these 25-floor poured-concrete apartment buildings with a striking serrated profile have been hailed (and condemned) as striking examples of the Brutalist school of architecture.

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East:

Kimlau Square

Corner: An island in Chatham Square named for Benjamin Ralph Kimlau, a Chinese-American lieutenant in the Army Air Force who died on a bombing mission near New Guinea in World War II; he's the namesake of Chinatown's American Legion post, the largest in New York City.

The square has a memorial arch for Chinese-Americans who "lost their lives in defense of freedom and democracy," as well as a statue of Lin Ze Xu, a Chi- nese official who tried to sup- press the opium trade, leading to conflict with Britain's East India Company and the Opium War.