The two story structure on this site until 2011 was built in 1938 for the Schrafft’s Restaurant chain, and had a distinctive, streamlined, curved design on both the interior and exterior.

James Brown performing, 1973 From 1976 to 1989 this was the home of the Lone Star Café, New York’s premiere country music venue. Performers there included George Strait, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Kinky Friedman, Delbert McClinton, Lonnie Mack, The Blues Brothers, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Toots & the Maytalls, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, who recorded a live album there in 1985. The club installed a giant 40 ft. Iguana sculpture on the roof. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

While largely housing offices throughout its over one hundred year history, 55 Fifth Avenue bears great significance in the history of American music and pop culture. Beginning in 1926 the Columbia Phonograph recording studios were located here, and some time not long after the OKeh Phonograph recording studios occupied the building as well. Some of the most significant recordings of 20th century American music were made in these studios, which remained at this address until mid-1934.

Columbia disc by Art Gillham from the mid-1920s The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887. Now known as Columbia Records, it is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and only the second major company to produce records. OKeh Records was founded in 1916 by Otto K.E. Heinemann. OKeh eventually merged with Columbia, but initially established a strong reputation for producing “race records:” recordings by and for African Americans, including some of the early greats of jazz and blues, such as Louis Armstrong.

Garland Wilson, c. 1938-1948 The renowned record-producer, civil rights activist, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inductee John Hammond made his very first recordings here. Hammond would go on to play a significant role in launching the careers of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Harry James, Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as in reviving the music of delta blues artist Robert Johnson. At 55 Fifth Avenue, Hammond accomplished several historic firsts. His first recordings here were with jazz pianist Garland Wilson, and big band and swing pianist, arranger and composer Fletcher Henderson. Henderson is considered, along with Duke Ellington, one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history, and one of the progenitors of what would come to be called “swing.” Henderson also recorded his “New King Porter Stomp” here.

Billie Holiday, 1947 Hammond discovered Billie Holiday singing at a Harlem speakeasy, and brought her down to the Columbia studios to cut her very first records here in 1933. He also established a close relationship with a young Benny Goodman, who recorded his first top ten hits, including “Ain’t Cha Glad?,” with Hammond at 55 Fifth Avenue in 1933.

Teddy Wilson at a Benny Goodman rehearsal, 1950 While Goodman is often credited with integrating American music by working with African American musicians and vocalists, Goodman himself would credit Hammond, who made it his personal mission to advance the integration of the music industry. Hammond suggested and indeed pushed Goodman to record music with African American musicians, and arranged many of the first integrated recording sessions. After initial resistance from Goodman, Hammond got him, Holiday, and the great African American swing pianist Teddy Wilson to record together in what became Hammond’s and Goodman’s first integrated recording session. While black and white musicians might at times play together at clubs, recording together was a taboo which Hammond participated in shattering.

Bessie Smith, 1936 At 55 Fifth Avenue Hammond also recorded with legendary jazz saxophonist Benny Carter, Blues singer Bessie Smith, and jazz vocalist Ethel Waters. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This apartment building was the home of Paul and Jamie Buckman, played by Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, in the sitcom ‘Mad About You.’

“Mad About You” title scene, 1996-1999

"13 Going on 30" film poster In the 2004 romantic comedy “13 Going On 30,” the building is the home of the main character Jenna, played by Jennifer Garner. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Academy Award-winning actor, producer, and director Robert De Niro, Jr.’s parents, artists Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral, lived here in 1943, the year Admiral gave birth to the actor. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

For decades before its conversion to residential use in 1979, this building houses the offices of Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).

“Women’s Wear” issue, 1910 (later “Women’s Wear Daily”) The publication has been called “the Bible of Fashion.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This ca. 1840 rowhouse was until the end of the last millennium the home of Adolph’s Asti Restaurant, a 75 year old beloved Greenwich Village institution world famous as the place where waiters would break into arias and many of the customers were stars of the theater and opera world. The walls of the restaurant were covered with autographed photos of legendary customers such as Babe Ruth, Noel Coward, Arturo Toscanini, and opera singers Joan Sutherland, Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti, Jussi Bjöerling and Lauritz Melchior. It closed its doors on New Year’s Day, 2000.

“Big” film poster, 1988 The restaurant began in 1925, when Adolph Mariani, an immigrant from the Italian village of San Terenzo al Mare, opened a speakeasy on 12th Street and Sixth Ave. It was originally called Adolph's, but during World War II, the name was changed, and it was rechristened Asti, for the Italian town known for its sparkling wine. Mariani had trained to be a singer, and as a way to build business, he sometimes sang with a guitar on the street outside. The restaurant was a success, even weathering the Depression, though it eventually moved from its original speakeasy location to 13 East 12th Street. Asti’s was immortalized in the 1988 movie ‘Big,’ in which the birthday party scene is filmed there featuring the restaurant’s singing waiters. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This building is the former residence of designers Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent.

Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, 2018 Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

RPM STUDIOS operated from 1976-2004 at 12 East 12th Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood just south of Union Square during a golden age of music and recording in NYC. RPM was one of the first boutique studios in the city, operating in a large tree-filled upper floor loft with industrial-sized windows open to the sky and overlooking across Union Square. Click here to learn more.

Robert Mason (2018) In his oral history, Robert Mason reflects on his growth as a musician and composer, shares stories of operating RPM Studios, and outlines new projects with younger generations of post-genre contemporary classical electronic composers. Listen to Robert Mason’s Oral History here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This was until 2015 the home of the original Bowlmor Lanes, the first bowling alley in what eventually became a chain of upscale bowling alleys that transformed the sport from a downscale pastime to a pricey entertainment experience. The original Bowlmor was opened here in 1938 by Nick Gianos, at the start of what is sometimes called the Golden Age of bowling, the 1940s through the 1960s, when the introduction of the automatic pinsetter raised bowling's popularity, accessibility, and profitability. Bowlmor Lanes was one of the most prominent bowling venues in America, hosting the prestigious Landgraf Tournament in 1942 and one of the first televised bowling tournaments, the East vs. West, broadcast on New York City radio station WOR in 1954. Vice President Richard Nixon bowled here in 1958. Even through the 1970s and 80s, Bowlmor continued to attract top bowlers in the sport. Nick Gaino’s son took over the business in the 1980s, and faced with rising rents came up with a new model to make bowling a upscale experience with chic retro designs and more expensive food and drink amenities, geared more towards those seeking an entertainment or social experience than traditional bowlers. The model was incredibly successful, and ended up being replicated throughout the country.

However it was not enough to prevent the building from being sold for development and demolished, replaced by the 21 story condo tower there today. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Grove Press, called “the era’s most explosive and influential publishing house” and “the most innovative publisher of the postwar era,” produced incredibly important pieces of 20th century literature while working aggressively and effectively to transform American culture in relation to issues of censorship, sexuality, race, and class. Founded in 1947, in 1964 Grove Press moved to 80 University Place.

"Valley of the Dolls" by Jacqueline Susann, 1966 Here it published Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls. The book, which spent 65 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list in 1966-1967, had sold 31 million copies as of 2016. Susann made 250 stops on her book tour, and is furthermore credited with inventing the modern book tour. The book was made into the smash hit film of the same name in 1967 starring Patti Duke as the pill-popping Neely O’Hara and Sharon Tate in one of her last roles before being killed by Charles Manson and his followers. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Published reports note that actor Alec Baldwin’s family owns multiple apartments in this building.

Alec Baldwin with Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman, 2019 An actor and activist, Baldwin’s many awards include multiple Golden Globes and a 2004 Oscar nomination. He also holds the record for hosting the most SNL episodes. The Good Wife actor Josh Charles also reportedly purchased an apartment here in 2017.

"Mamma Mia!" film poster, 2008 Actress Amanda Seyfried, star in a number of movies including musical feature film Mamma Mia!, reportedly bought an apartment here in 2010. Furthermore, J\&T Optical at 51 University Place was featured in an episode of Seinfeld called “The Glasses.”

“Captain Flight Comics” cover The comic book series Captain Flight Comics was published by Four Star Publications, located at 28 East 10th Street. The series ran from March 1944 until February 1947, and eleven issues were released in total, during what is now known as the “Golden Age” of superhero comics. Several issues featured art by comic book illustrator L.B. Cole. The publisher, Robert Farrell, also wrote a Broadway gossip column from this address. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Randy Weston, 1984 The building was also the home for many years of jazz legend Randy Weston. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally was a resident of this building. McNally’s career spanned six decades, and crossed between Off-Broadway and Broadway. He received Tony Awards for his books for the musicals “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993) and “Ragtime” (1998), and for his plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” (1995) and “Master Class” (1996).

“Ragtime” cast recording cover McNally’s work included three dozen plays, books for ten musicals, librettos for four operas, and additional film and television screenplays. He was also the recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award.

Julian Casablancas with the Strokes, 2002 Julian Casablancas, lead singer of the New York indie-rock band the Strokes, owned an apartment here until 2013. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 6-story neo-classical style loft building constructed in 1899 by Schickel & Ditmars for Samuel Sachs. Originally intended to house producers of goods and wares, by the 1960s it was producing an entirely different product. It became the home of the highly sought-after Apostolic Recording Studios, the first 12-track recording studio in the country. The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and the Fugs, among others, made and recorded beautiful music there. The history of the studio was chronicled by its founder John Townley: “First, I picked a downtown location, in the Village, as that’s where all the musicians were. Be where you’re comfortable. After all, only the execs were uptown. It was a loft building on 10th St. near Broadway, with a hand-operated freight elevator its primary access, one where the elevator had no walls and worked by pulling a cable to make it start and stop. That was a golden opening opportunity — our artist/”elevator man” Nicky Osborn soon had the entire darkened six-story shaft detailed in black-light psychedelic murals, and his personal welcome in full Viking costume definitely made a serious start on the way up. Way up. We often wondered what the clients of the very-tolerant baseball cap sales company on the 6th floor thought of it….”

“We’re Only in It for the Money” album cover by The Mothers of Invention, 1968 Although Greenwich Village was a hotbed of creativity, the studio nevertheless faced some skepticism: When we opened in the spring of ’67, everyone in “the biz” said we were crazy: no one would come downtown, nobody needed twelve tracks, and our whole style was VERY un-businesslike…our name was Apostolic Studios, after our twelve tracks and unabashedly spiritual (though not particularly Christian) tilt, and clearly we were nuts. Fortunately, success did find them at their downtown location:

Frank Zappa Well, inside three months we were booked solid. The Critters, Spanky And Our Gang, the Serendipity Singers, the Fugs, Rhinocerous, The Silver Apples, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Alan Ginsberg, the Grateful Dead and most of all Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention found the qualities of user-friendly tech and musician-friendly ambiance to be just what the doctor ordered.

“The Belle of Avenue A” album cover by The Fugs, 1969 According to R Hoerer, Zappa’s album Uncle Meat was a project entirely produced at Apostolic Studios, a standout work of music that opened new horizons for Zappa: By late 1967, Apostolic Studios had installed a prototype Scully 12-track recorder, and the overdubbing opportunities it afforded, together with a variable-speed oscillator used to modify the machine’s 30 ips tape speed, allowed for the creation of a completely new sound palette. —Chris Michie, “We Are The Mothers . . . And This Is What We Sound Like!", Mix, January 1, 2003

“Uncle Meat” album cover by The Mothers of Invention, 1969 Shortly after that, Electric Lady Studio was built for Jimi Hendrix, on nearby 8th Street. According to Light in the Attic Record’s Matt Sullivan, although many artists recorded at Apostolic, the studio’s greatest product was the sprawling double LP The Family of Apostolic. He called it “a utopian album inspired by global cultures ranging from Pakistani folk songs to Scottish traditional music and Chinese opera, it was made by a cast of 19, bonded by a desire to create “primitive performance art” from surrealist happenings. The idea of Apostolic was that the whole operation was a family,” says Townley. “Anybody could do anything if they participated.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Italian restaurant Il Cantorini at 32 East 10th Street opened its doors in 1983.

Sex and the City title It is featured in the Season 4 premiere of Sex and the City, in which Carrie celebrates her 35th birthday but none of her friends show up. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Author Candace Bushnell, who lived at this address, is best known for her book Sex and the City, published in 1997.

"Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell, 1997 The book was turned into the famed HBO television series and movies. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

As of 2017, actor Chris Noth reportedly owned an apartment in this building since 1994.

Chris Noth, 2008 Noth is well known for his role as Mr. Big on the TV show Sex and the City, Mike Logan on Law and Order, and Peter Florrick on The Good Wife, among other credits. He has received two Golden Globe nominations and multiple Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 1866 loft building was the home of a dazzling array of artists over the years. Artists Larry and Paula Poons moved in in 1974. During the Poons’ long residence at 831, they continued the tradition of using the space as a gathering place for artists, especially during the ’70s and ’80s.

Rolling Thunder Revue poster, 1975 Their long-time friend and Bob Dylan’s former road manager, Bob Neuwirth, held tryouts in their loft for the Dylan 1975-76 Rolling Thunder Review tour in the loft.

Patti Smith performing, 1978 In attendance, that night was Patti Smith and T-Bone Burnett.

Paula Poons, 2017 According to Poons, pop star Cyndi Lauper was also a one-time resident of the building. Listen to Paula Poons’ Oral History here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

By 1910 this two-story galvanized iron commercial building housed a branch of Childs Restaurant, one of the first restaurant chains in America, whose later Coney Island building is a New York City landmark.

Childs’ Restaurant logo, 1907 Founded in Lower Manhattan in 1889, by its peak around 1930 the chain had about one hundred twenty five locations across America, serving over 50,000,000 meals a year. Childs was a pioneer in terms of design, service, sanitation, and labor relations, credited with introducing the "tray line" cafeteria self-service format. It was a contemporary of chains such as Horn & Hardart, and a predecessor of McDonald's. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The St. Denis Hotel, located at 799 Broadway until 2019, was once one of the most elegant and desirable hotels in the country.

Poster for Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, c. 1900 Famed 19th century showmen Buffalo Bill Cody and P.T. Barnum are known to have stayed here.

In late 2018, after plans were announced to demolish the historic building to make way for another tech-related development, Village Preservation staged a protest outside the building attended by hundreds of local residents. Nevertheless the city refused to act, and in 2019 the building was demolished, with the new office tower replacing it. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This building gained notoriety with the publication of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist.

"The Alienist" by Caleb Carr, 1994 In the story, the building serves as the headquarters for the team of investigators looking into the murders at the heart of the book’s story. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

What is now Grace Church School’s playground at the northeast corner of Broadway and 10th Street in the late 19th century housed the immensely popular Fleischmann’s Model Vienna Bakery, from which the term “breadline” originates. It was built by Charles Louis Fleischmann, who, following the success of his company’s Vienna bread display at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, was looking to expand business into the New York market. Fleischmann’s company had pioneered the commercial production and distribution of yeast for baking, and even today Fleischmann’s yeast can be found in supermarkets across the country.

Fleishmann’s Model Vienna Bakery menu, 1906 The company built the baking operation here to showcase their yeast products and high quality baked goods. A prime location even in the 1870s and 1880s, this stretch of Broadway was ideally located, with high foot traffic, and could later capitalize on shoppers visiting the massive Wanamaker’s department store just across 10th Street to the south. Notable as a bakery and restaurant, the site was also notable in that it generated a new term for the American lexicon — the breadline. Fleischmann’s charitable inclinations led him to institute a practice at the bakery of distributing unsold loaves to those in need beginning at midnight. As the process was regularized, lines would begin to form before the appointed distribution time, and the popular term was born. By 1905, Grace Church acquired the land upon which the bakery and restaurant were located, and the area was razed to create a new churchyard space. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

On the sitcom ‘Seinfeld’ the character of Newman, a mail carrier, is supposed to work at the Cooper Station Post Office.

“Seinfeld” logo, 1989-1998 Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Originally known as the Academy of Music and later The Palladium, this structure was demolished in 1998 by NYU for the construction of dormitories now on the site. During its lifetime it served as a movie theater, concert hall, and nightclub. Designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb in 1927, it was built across the street from the original Academy of Music built in 1852. Originally a deluxe movie palace opened by movie mogul William Fox, the Academy operated as a cinema through the early 1970s. Starting in the 1960s it was also utilized as a rock concert venue, particularly following the closure in 1971 of the Fillmore East, It was rechristened the Palladium on September 18, 1976, with a live radio broadcast performance by The Band. Performers here included the Rolling Stones on their first American tour in 1965, the Allman Brothers Band, Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Iggy Pop, Blondie, Genesis, Bo Didley, Bruce Sprinsteen, Frank Zappa, Patti Smith, John Cale, Television, the Grateful Dead, the Bay City Rollers, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, the jam, U2, Duran Duran, Roxy Music, The Cramps, and Church Berry. Lou Reed, Frank Zappa, and the Ramones all recorded live performances there, while ‘Club MTV,’ a popular daily show on the music video TV network was broadcast live from there.

"London Calling" by The Clash album cover, 1979 It was perhaps most memorably immortalized with a series of concerts by the Clash on its American tour in late 1979, during which bassist Paul Simonon smashed his guitar on stage, which was captured on film and became the iconic cover on the band’s album then in production, London Calling.

The space served as a concert hall until 1985, when it was converted into a nightclub by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, after their success with Studio 54. Peter Gatien owned and operated the club from 1992 until 1997. Musical performances did continue there under both owners.

The Palladium closed in August 1997 following its purchase by New York University and in August 1998, the building was demolished in order to build a twelve-story residence hall located there today known as Palladium Hall. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Huyler’s Luncheonettes, Inc. moved to 110-112 East 13th Street in 1928. The arrival of Huyler’s at this location represents a key transitional moment in the history of the company, once the nation’s largest and most prominent chocolate maker. Founded by John Seys Huyler and incorporated in 1881, Huyler’s operated a chain of stores throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When Huyler passed away in 1911, the company included 54 stores, 14 factories, and 2,000 workers, making it one of the — if not the — largest candy and confectionery manufacturer in the United States. Amazingly, Milton S. Hershey worked at Huyler’s from 1883-85 before building his famed chocolate business.

Huyler’s advertisement, 1909 In the 1920s, Huyler’s broke new ground with its development of “luncheonettes,” which were open to the street and uniquely allowed passers-by to look directly into the stores. By 1927, D.A. Schulte Retail Stores Corporation had purchased Huyler’s, and sought to further modernize and rebrand the company by combining the luncheonettes with tobacco counters. Owner David Arthur Schulte established Huyler’s Luncheonettes, Inc. to operate these establishments, and moved the company out of its longtime home on Irving Place to 110-112 East 13th Street. According to a 1928 New York Times article, the new space was intended to be used for “offices, a showroom and the manufacture of ice-cream, candy and bakery products.” The Huyler Building at 374 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, New York is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Abbie Hoffman (November 30, 1936 — April 12, 1989) was a political activist and 1960s counterculture icon. Hoffman is well known for founding the Youth International Party, called the “Yippies,” a political group without official membership or leadership. He was also part of the “Chicago 7,” a group of activists who coordinated anti-Vietnam war protests at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and were indicted by a grand jury the following year. The defendants used the trial as a way to draw attention to their cause over six months, coordinating demonstrations and appearances by celebrity activists.

Abbie Hoffman, 1989 According to FBI files on Hoffman, he was residing at 114-116 East 13th Street as of December, 1970. The book Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement by James Kirkpatrick Davis and Edwin Hoyt states that Hoffman and his wife Anita lived in a rooftop apartment in this building.

“American Psycho” by Bret Easton Ellis, 1991 Author Bret Easton Ellis (b. March 7, 1964), who wrote the 1991 bestseller American Psycho, also owned an apartment at 114-118 East 13th Street as of 2016. According to Ellis’ statement in a 6sqft article, he lived here during the 1980s, and wrote American Psycho while at this address.

“American Psycho” film poster, 2000 American Psycho was adapted into a film in 2000, and features the once-trendy Cajun restaurant Texarkana in Greenwich Village, which opened in 1982 at 64 West 10th Street.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, 2009 Actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are also among the prominent residents of the building at 114-118 East 13th Street. According to Curbed New York, Cruise purchased a unit on the 10th floor of the building in 1984, and moved out in 2013. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

According to Joseph S. Page’s book Nonpareil Jack Dempsey: Boxing's First World Middleweight Champion, the prominent prizefighter John Edward Kelly (better known as Nonpareil Jack Dempsey) opened a sporting club at 120 East 13th Street in 1885. This had formerly been the home of Billy Madden’s Athletic Hall. Dempsey was a nearly undefeated middleweight champion for the duration of his career, and one of the most popular athletes in the United States in the late nineteenth century. He used his prize money to invest in the club on East 13th Street, and planned its grand opening for January 12th, 1885. Page writes: “A large crowd paid the one-dollar admission and came out to drink, see the bouts and help christen the newly re-launched establishment.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Spin Doctor’s drummer Aaron Comess lived at 124 East 13th Street, where he created the recording studio His House Studio.

Spin Doctors performing, 2017 In addition to the Spin Doctors, artists and producers who made music at this studio include Phil Ramone, Joan Osborne, Bilal, New York Electric Piano, Ivan Neville, James Maddock, Leslie Mendelson, The Holmes Brothers, Jane Siberry, Mark Kostabi, Ornette Coleman, Steve Gadd, Isaac Hayes, Texas Slim, Saul Zonana, Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkastrata, Tony Levin, True Nature, and Paula Valstein. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Warhol Superstar, actor, and poet Jackie Curtis died of a heroin overdose on May 15, 1985. The funeral mass is held at St. Ann’s Church, around the corner from where Curtis grew up and lived throughout adulthood.

Jackie Curtis As an actress Curtis debuted at the age of 17 in Tom Eyen’s play Miss Neferititi Regrets, produced in 1965 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. This inspired Curtis to begin writing plays. Works by Curtis, who frequently appeared in drag, often included transgender people, such as Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn (the three were jointly immortalized in Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side — “Jackie is just speeding away/thought she was James Dean for a day…”).

"Women in Revolt!" film poster, 1971 Curtis’ Glamour, Glory and Gold starred Darling, Melba LaRose, Jr., and Robert De Niro in his first appearance on stage, playing several roles. Another Curtis work, Femme Fatale, starred a young Patti Smith and Penny Arcade. Warhol said of Curtis, "Jackie Curtis is not a drag queen. Jackie is an artist. A pioneer without a frontier." Curtis appeared in Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s films Flesh and Women in Revolt. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Webster Hall and Annex an individual landmark on March 18, 2008. As per the designation report: One of New York City’s most historically and culturally significant large nineteenth-century assembly halls, Webster Hall was constructed for Charles Goldstein in 1886-87, with an eastern Annex in 1892, to the designs of architect Charles Rentz, Jr.

"The Masses" issue, June 1914 Throughout its history as one of Greenwich Village/East Village’s leading public rental halls and social centers, Webster Hall has been the venue for countless balls, dances, receptions, lectures, meetings, conventions, political and union rallies, military functions, concerts, performances, festivities, and sporting and fundraising events, particularly for the working-class and immigrant populations of the Lower East Side. In the 1910s and 20s, it became famous for its masquerade balls, following the success of a 1913 fundraiser for the socialist magazine The Masses, first attracting the Village’s bohemian population, which nicknamed it the “Devil’s Playhouse.”

Costume Ball in the Grand Ballroom at Webster Hall, undated The hall was significant as a gathering place for the city’s early twentieth-century lesbian and gay community, who felt welcome to attend the balls in drag, and then sponsored their own events by the 1920s. Among the many notables who attended events here at this time were artists Charles Demuth, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, as well as writers Djuna Barnes and Scott Fitzgerald.

“Peter Pan” cast recording, 1954 From 1953 to 1968, RCA Victor Records operated a notable sound recording studio here, which was famed for its acoustics. Pop vocal, jazz, Latin, folk, and gospel phonograph albums were recorded here by such disparate musical icons as Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Perry Como, Coleman Hawkins, Lena Horne, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Stan Getz, Sergio Franchi, and Joe Williams. The hall was noted as a venue for Broadway cast recordings, which included Julie Andrews in The Boy Friend, Mary Martin in Peter Pan, Barbara Cook in Show Boat, Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun, Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!, and Liza Minnelli in Flora, the Red Menace, as well as those of classical artists such as Artur Rubinstein, Marian Anderson, and Beverly Sills in Giulio Cesare. In the 1970s the building housed Casa Galicia, a meeting and event space. It was also the location for a number of movie scenes, such as “Raging Bull” (1980).

Webster Hall reopened as a public gathering space on May 1, 1980 as The Ritz, one of the first clubs to use video in conjunction with music, utilizing a 30 x 30 foot screen (something other clubs around the country would copy). Over the course of its near decade-long tenancy on East 11th Street, the Ritz hosted legends such as U2, Iggy Pop, Tina Turner, Guns N’ Roses, Depeche Mode, Prince, The Talking Heads, and Sting, just to name a few. MTV made its debut at the Ritz and would go onto present Live at the Ritz on a seasonal basis. This series featured performers including Run DMC, The Smithereens, the Cult, Iggy Pop, Great White, and the infamous Guns N’ Roses show from February 1988 which Rolling Stone said: “captured the band at its most primal.” During the playing of ‘Paradise City,’ Axl Rose dove into the sea of fans and it took three stagehands to extract the lead vocalist who emerged shirtless, without jewelry and scratched up. Slash meanwhile played an intensely feverish solo sprawled on his back. In 1989 the Ritz moved to 254 West 54th Street, former home of Studio 54, leaving the East Village. Webster Hall was reopened as a club in 1992 and reassumed the historic name, ‘Webster Hall.’ The name Webster Hall was returned in 1990 with the current club. The building was landmarked in 2008. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In 1985, the ground floor of this building hosed the Pageant Bookshop, which was used by Woody Allen to film a pivotal scene in his movie “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

Pageant Book Store In it, Michael Caine's character “accidentally“ runs into Barbara Hershey’s character here, where they they browse for copies of E.E. Cummings’ poetry. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Variety Theater, 1960. Photo © Estate of Fred W. McDarrah Though its earliest history is somewhat sketchy, it was altered into a two story theater in 1914. As the moving picture craze swept the city in the early twentieth century, nickelodeon theaters sprung up all around the city to cash in and bring the new medium to the masses. While the Union Square area had served as home to the center of legitimate theater in New York in the late 19th century, as the twentieth century progressed that center moved north, and the neighboring East Village area became a center of ethnic theater and popular theater, movie houses, nickelodeons, and dance halls.

The Variety seated 450 and as the Times notes, “first presented groups of two-reelers, collections of individual features, each 15 or 20 minutes long. This was at a period when the feature-length film was still uncommon and films in general were generally considered low-culture — ”photo plays” or not.” In 1930 a balcony, new lobby, and art deco renovations to the original 1923 marquee sign were made by architects Boak and Paris. Because of its limited size, the Variety never attracted the best first-run films, and by the late 1960s, the Variety — like many other struggling theaters in New York — turned to blue movies to help keep it afloat. By the 1970s and 1980s, the theater screened a somewhat unpredictable mélange of B and/or C-grade films as well as soft and hardcore pornography. The theater space also became a meeting place for gay men.

"Taxi Driver" film poster, 1976 As the cinematic quality of the films shown at the Variety declined during the 1970s and 80s, so did the reputation of the surrounding East Village neighborhood. The Variety Theater was even featured in the film Taxi Driver. The Variety ended its run as a movie theater in 1989 when it was closed by the city’s health department, but later reopened in 1991 as a live off-Broadway theater.

It ran for more than a decade as the Variety Arts Theater until 2004 when it was closed and demolished in 2005 to make room for a 21-story condominium tower. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

As a young child in 1877, James T. Lee, the grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and his parents lived in this building. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Pat Rooney Sr., his son Pat. Rooney Jr., and his grandson Pat Rooney III, were all well-known vaudeville performers. According to some sources, Rooney Sr. moved to New York from Ireland at nineteen years old in 1867. He made his debut performance at Miner’s Bowery Theater, and later entered into a partnership with the proprietor of the theater, Harry Miner. Pat Rooney Jr. (July 4, 1880 — September 9, 1962) was born when the Rooney family was living at 60 Third Avenue. He appeared in his first Broadway show, In Atlantic City, at the age of 16. Rooney Jr. was married to Marion Bent, who was also a performer. According to Larry J. Hoefling in his biography of entertainer Nils T. Granlund, the couple had a routine in which Rooney Jr. would dance with “his hands jammed deep into his pickets to hike up his trousers legs, showing off his clogging footwork.” “The style was widely imitated by other showmen of the time,” Hoefling writes. Rooney Jr. went on to dance in musicals A Million Dollars, Nell Go In, The Giddy Throng (all 1900), The Rogers Brothers in Washington (1901); The Rogers Brothers in Harvard (1902), The Darling of the Gallery Gods (1903) and Mother Goose (1903). In one of his final roles, he played Arvide Abernathy in the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls (1950-53). Rooney Jr. is further recognized for introducing entertainer George M. Cohan to producer Sam Harris. The Rooney dynasty continued with Pat Rooney III, who participated in his parents’ acts at a young age, and developed his own performing career. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Sig Klein’s Fat Men’s Shop was opened by Sig Klein the late 1800s, and remained at 50-52 Third Avenue at least through the 1960s. A May 2, 1931 article in The New Yorker described Klein and the business: “when he started, bartenders and beergarden owners from the bad old Bowery made a good part of his customers … Now over six thousand fat men trade regularly here … from as far away as Germany, Ireland and Cuba.” Prominent artists, including photographers Berenice Abbott, Ben Shahn, and Tony Marciante captured images of the shop, which had become a cultural landmark by the 1930s. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In 1976, 204 East 13th Street made an indelible mark on pop cultural history.

"Taxi Driver" film poster, 1976 If the doorway of the building looks familiar, it may because it’s where Harvey Keitel’s pimp character in the film Taxi Driver stood for a series of increasingly tense stand-offs with Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle, ultimately ending with his being shot in cold blood.