Bedford Street at Commerce Street, ca. 1910.

The clapboard house at the corner (no. 76) has long since disappeared, but there’s a historic under-the-radar building just visible further up Bedford Street. At far left (zoom in!), past Barrow Street is no. 86 Bedford, a Federal style house with twin dormer windows on its third floor. From 1922-2007, it was the home of Chumley’s, a legendary Prohibition-era speakeasy established by the leftist activist Leland Stanford Chumley.

The bar was accessed by a secret entrance off Barrow Street, along with an alleyway called Pamela Court. As legend has it, the restaurant industry term “86” (meaning something has run out or should be thrown out) originated here, either in reference to ejecting unruly customers via the door at 86 Bedford Street, or to Prohibition cops tipping Chumley off to impending raids, so patrons could exit through the side door — while police used the courtyard entrance.

The bar was also known as a meeting place for writers — the walls were lined with the dust jackets of books by regular visitors — both for the modernist generation (Edna St. Vincent Millay lived down the street) and the Beats who followed.

Sadly, a chimney collapse in 2007 spelled the end for Chumley’s. The building has been restored, but the restaurant that opened in October 2016 is, despite the dust-jackets, a successor in name only.