The great jazz musician Randy Weston lived at 204 East 13th Street in the 1960s, during the peak of his jazz career. At this time this section of the East Village was a hub of jazz and blues music in the United States, when Charlie “Bird” Parker and Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter both called the neighborhood home. Throughout his career, Weston incorporated African musical elements in his work, and played an important role in advancing the argument, now widely accepted, that the roots of jazz trace back to African music. Some of his most popular compositions include “Hi-Fly,” “Little Niles,” and “Blue Moses.”

Randy Weston, 1984 Weston was also a key political figure in global civil rights activism. As African countries fought for freedom from colonial exploitation in the mid-20th century, Weston saluted their struggles in his music. His album “Uhuru Afrika” (Swahili for “Freedom Africa”), which was released in 1960 and included lyrics written by Langston Hughes, was banned in South Africa by the country’s apartheid regime.

“Uhuru Afrika” by Randy Weston album cover, 1961 In 1959, Weston became a leading member of the United Nations Jazz Society, a group seeking to spread the love of jazz throughout the world. Two years later, in 1961, Weston made his first visit to Africa, traveling to Nigeria as part of the American Society for African Culture. After a second trip, Weston decided to make his stay more permanent, and moved to Morocco in 1968. He remained here for five years, traveling throughout the country and running the African Rhythms Cultural Center, a performance venue that supported artists from various traditions.

“Tanjah” by Randy Weston album cover, 1974 Weston’s musical accolades earned him Grammy nominations in 1973 for his album “Tanjah” and in 1995 for “The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco.” In 2001, the National Endowment for the Arts gave Weston its Jazz Masters award, the highest accolade available to a jazz artist in the United States. He was voted into DownBeat magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2016. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The International Workers Order (IWO) was located at 80 Fifth Avenue for its entire lifetime, from 1930 until 1954.

This progressive mutual-benefit fraternal organization was a pioneering force in the U.S. labor movement. For a quarter of a century, the IWO fought relentlessly for racial equality, interracial solidarity, industrial unions, and social security programs that would protect working-class people.

International Workers Order emblem, 1930-1939 As part of its overarching mission, the IWO also organized theatrical, musical, artistic, and other entertainment programs.

Vito Marcantonio, 1949 Congressman Vito Marcantonio of East Harlem served as the IWO’s vice president and the leader of its Garibaldi Society. A protégé of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Marcantonio served as a critical link between the IWO and the federal government. He also participated in developing festivals celebrating ethnic heritage, as well as dance troupes, singing groups, orchestras, and theaters. Marcantonio was a frequent guest at IWO-sponsored musical galas organized by and for Italian and Puerto Rican members.

Paul Robeson, 1942 Actor, musician, and activist Paul Robeson was another IWO member, and frequently performed at the Order’s rallies and concerts. Notably, the IWO play “Let’s Get Together” featured Pete Seeger singing “Banks of Marble.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

By 1940, 68 Fifth Avenue housed The Music Box Canteen, a celebrated World War II entertainment venue for GIs described at the time as “one of the most famous metropolitan service centers, and…‘a home away from home’ to thousands of servicemen.” The Canteen was known not just to American GIs but was popular among allied military men from across the world.

The caption for an April 1943 photo of servicemen singing boisterously around a piano at The Music Box Canteen described the scene thus: “'Music hath no boundaries" is an adage that still holds good at the Music Box Canteen, on New York's Fifth Avenue, where long, lanky Australian RAAF aces, grinning American tars, and rosy-cheeked French sailors of the Tricolour's ships, the Richelieu and Le Terrible, all make merry around a Piano, singing "Le Marseillaise." It's coffee the boys are drinking out of paper cups, not champagne." The Canteen’s administrator was Minna Regina Falk, who would later become the first female historian to become a full professor at NYU in 1963. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

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. 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 here in what was Goodman and Hammond’s first integrated musical 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.

Lenox Mansion (now demolished), 1910 It should also be noted that 55 Fifth Avenue was built upon the site of James Lenox’s mansion, which is credited with turning Fifth Avenue into the premiere residential address in New York. Lenox’s mansion also eventually came to house his extraordinary library, the Lenox Library, which became one of the foundations of the New York Public Library. After Lenox’s death, the mansion was transformed into the first home of the Institute of Musical Art, now the Juilliard School. Of the Juilliard School, Frank Rich said: “born when a young country was first discovering that it might have a serious appetite for the arts, Juilliard grew up with both the country and its burgeoning cultural capital of New York to become an internationally recognized synonym for the pinnacle of artistic achievement.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Composer, lyricist, and librettist Marc Blitzstein lived at 4 East 12th Street in the 1950s.

Marc Blitzstein performing “The Cradle Will Rock,” January 3, 1938 Blitzstein is best known for his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles and shut down by the Works Progress Administration. He is furthermore remembered for his English translation/adaptation of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill; Regina, an opera for Broadway; and his orchestral work, The Airborne Symphony, which premiered under Leonard Bernstein in 1946.

Milton Hinton, 1930 Film producers and directors David Berger and Holly Maxson also lived at 4 East 12th Street and maintained a photo archive here dedicated to jazz musician and photographer Milton J. Hinton. 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. . . .

From 1969 to 1996, 70 University Place was home of the noted jazz club Bradley’s. For three decades, this intimate space, holding only 15 tables and 20 barstools, filled a multitude of roles for the Village and surrounding music community. It was a watering hole, a school, and an exhibition space for the most venerated jazz musicians of the time.

“With the Tenors of Our Time” by the Roy Hargrove Quintet album cover, 1994 Bradley’s was originally owned and opened by Bradley Cunningham in 1969, and was taken over by his wife Wendy Cummingham when he died in 1988. A number of jazz greats made their reputations here, among them Roy Hargrove, Jackie Terrasson, Stephen Scott, Cyrus Chestnut, Leon Parker, and Bruce Barth.

"Live at Bradley's" by The Kenny Barron Trio album cover, 1996 Other jazz musicians who played at Bradley’s over the course of its lifetime included Harold Maburn, Tommy Flanagan, John Hicks, Hank Jones, Jimmy Rowles, Larry Willis, Chris Anderson, George Cables, Kirk Lightsey, Kenny Barron, Russell Malone, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley, Cecil Taylor, Tommy Flanagan, Art Blakey, Stephen Scott, Joe Locke, Ed Howard, and Victor Lewis. Bradley’s closed in 1996. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Over the years, the four buildings that comprised the Albert Hotel hosted many of the most prominent names in American arts, literature, music, and radical politics. The Spanish composer Silvestre Revueltas stayed here in the 1930s.

“Goodbye and Hello” by Tim Buckley album cover, 1967 One of the most significant periods in the hotel’s history was the 1960s, when many emerging rock luminaries spent time here, jammed together, and wrote their now-famous hits. Music journalist Lillian Roxon, known as the “Mother of Rock,” wrote that “the basement became a shrine…no musician feels he’s a musician unless he’s stayed at the Albert and rehearsed among the pools of water and cockroaches.”

Advertisement for The Lovin’ Spoonful single “Do You Believe in Magic,” 1965 Among the musicians who passed through the Hotel Albert were Jim Morrison, Frank Zappa, the Mothers of Invention, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jonathan Richman, Jerry Edmonton, Barry Goldberg, Mike Bloomfield, Gary Higgins and his band Random Concept, Tiny Tim, Howlin’ Wolf, the Cockettes, Otis Smith, Don Stevenson, Moby Grape, John Sebastian, Spanky and Our Gang, Salvation, Kaleidoscope, the Clear Light, the Byrds, the Blues Magoos, the Sopwith Camel, Muddy Waters, Steve Gillette, Baby Huey and the Baby Sitters, Lothar and the Hand People, Canned Heat, the Cream, the Hand People, and the Gurus. While here, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band got together, Steve Gillette wrote “Back on the Street Again,” the Mamas and the Papas wrote “California Dreamin,’” and the Lovin’ Spoonful developed “Do You Believe in Magic.” Tim Buckley also completed “Bussin’ Fly,” along with half the album of “Good-bye and Hello.” Jonathan Richman worked on “Roadrunner” and “Pablo Picasso.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Around the early 1930s, 49 East 10th Street was home to Lawrence Gellert, a prominent collector and promoter of field-recorded African-American blues and spirituals and protest songs from the American South.

"The Masses" issue, June 2014 Born in Budapest, Hungary on September 14, 1898, Gellert arrived in the United States at seven years old and grew up in New York City. In his early 20s, he lived in Tryon, North Carolina, where he edited a newspaper and developed an interest in African-American music. Later, in the early 1930s, Gellert lived at 49 East 10th Street. Then, from 1933 until 1937, Gellert went on to travel through the American South, recording and collecting Black American folk songs which he would compile into two anthologies in the 1950s. Gellert was also a regular contributor to The Masses, a Greenwich Village-based leftist publication, from 1930 until 1947. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

53 East 10th Street is a 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 spring of 1967 it had become the home of the Apostolic Recording Studios, the first 12-track recording studio in the country.

“We’re Only in It for the Money” by The Mothers of Invention album cover, 1968 Used by many of the forefront musicians of the period, the business was known for its easy-to-use technology and its musician-centered atmosphere.

Frank Zappa According to Barry Miles’ book Zappa, Apostolic also had an in-house astrologer and was known to cancel sessions if the signs indicated ominous possibilities.

“The Belle of Avenue A” by The Fugs album cover, 1969 Apostolic’s founder, John Townley, remembered that within three months of opening, the studio was thoroughly booked. The Mothers of Invention’s albums Uncle Meat and We’re Only in It for the Money, as well as The Fugs’ album The Belle of Avenue A, were recorded here.

“Uncle Meat” by The Mothers of Invention album cover, 1969 The Grateful Dead, The Critters, Spanky and Our Gang, the Serendipity Singers, Rhinocerous, The Silver Apples, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, and Allen Ginsberg all made and recorded music here also. 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. . . .

The St. Denis Hotel, located at 799 Broadway until 2019, was once one of the most elegant and desirable hotels in the country. In the twentieth century, the hotel was converted into a modern store and office building. In the 1920s a number of labor unions and leftist organizations moved in, including the Workers’ Music School.

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. . . .

One of the most celebrated DJs and remixers of his time, house music innovator Junior Vasquez had a recording and mixing studio in this building. Vasquez (b. Donald Gregory Mattern, August 24, 1949 in Lancaster, PA) was also the co-founder of the legendary Sound Factory dance club. Vasquez first entered a career in fashion illustration and design, but later decided upon life as a DJ. While working as a clerk at a New York record store, he made the acquaintance of music producer Shep Pettibone and slowly began to build a reputation on the strength of his appearances at small clubs and house parties. In the latter half of the 1980s, Vasquez became one of the hottest figures on the club circuit, honing a trademark fusion of bass-heavy house beats with obscure samples, and utilizing innovative mixing techniques such as spinning records backwards or at the incorrect speed.

“If Madonna Calls” by Junior Vasquez, 1996 In 1989 he co-founded the Sound Factory Club in Chelsea. During its six years of its existence, the Sound Factory was among New York's hottest night spots and highly influential in the nightlife and music world. Catering to an ethnically diverse, primarily gay crowd, the Sound Factory became the place for new dance records to be debuted by Vasquez during his marathon Saturday night sessions. After its closure in 1995, Vasquez DJ'ed at the Tunnel, the Palladium, and Twilo, where he hosted a Saturday party called "Juniorverse." Vasquez has produced albums of original remixes under his own name, as well as produced and remixed recordings for Madonna, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Cher, David Bowie, Donna Summer, and Justin Timberlake, among many others. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Thomas J. Gerald, once an orchestra leader for vaudeville and silent film palaces, opened Friendly Books and Music in 1931. Part of the Fourth Avenue "Book Row," the store was listed at a building formerly at 83 Fourth Avenue in 1936-37. It specialized in sheet music and books on musical subjects. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant 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. . . .

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. . . .

113 East 12th Street formerly housed the record shop Footlight Records. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Webster Hall was designed in 1886, in its early years serving as a center for leftist, anarchist, and union political activity. By the 1910s and 1920s, it became famous for its masquerade balls, which attracted a bohemian crowd throughout the Prohibition period.

Costume Ball in the Grand Ballroom at Webster Hall Then, by the end of the 1950s, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) converted the building into their East Coast recording studio and called it the “Webster Hall Studios.” Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, and Julie Andrews all sang at the studios, and several musicals, including Hello, Dolly! and Fiddler on the Roof, were also recorded here.

Webster Hall was reinvented once again on May 1, 1980 as The Ritz nightclub. For six years, until its relocation in 1986, The Ritz was a leading venue for punk and rock shows in New York City. It featured Madonna, Iggy Pop, Danzig, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Prince, Sting, Guns N’ Roses, and KISS, and many others performers. MTV made its debut at the Ritz and would go on to present Live at the Ritz on a seasonal basis. In 1990, the building was purchased by the Ballinger Family from Toronto, which returned the Webster Hall name to the reborn dance club and concert venue that remains today. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

By 1899, 100 Third Avenue was converted into lofts and a concert hall on the ground floor. Starting in this era, a saloon and concert hall called Blank’s Winter Garden showcased vaudeville performers and attracted Tin Pan Alley songwriters as a venue to present their works. 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. . . .

Crawdaddy! Magazine, located here in the late 1970s, described itself as “the first magazine to take rock and roll seriously." Paul Williams started Crawdaddy! in 1966 at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. He quickly dropped out of school and moved the magazine to a small office on Canal Street in New York City. The magazine was the first publication to apply serious critique to rock n’ roll music, and it operated on a shoestring budget. In 1967, the much better funded Rolling Stone magazine came along and overshadowed Crawdaddy!’s 20,000 copy circulation, brining serious rock criticism to the masses. In 1968, Paul Williams left the magazine to pursue other writing endeavors, but writers who wrote for Crawdaddy! during this period included Sandy Pearlman, Peter Guralnick, Jon Landau, and Richard Meltzer, all of whom started their writing careers here.

In the mid 1970s Crawdaddy!, under the leadership of Peter Knoble, moved to 72 Fifth Avenue. Knoble said that Williams’ magazine, which combined a critical look at rock with upfront reporting on the brewing social movement of the counterculture, changed music writing forever. Williams was referred to as "rock journalism’s founding father" by the NYTimes. After leaving Crawdaddy! he helped lift the works of the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick from obscurity to worldwide renown. Crawdaddy! stayed at 72 Fifth Avenue under the leadership of Peter Knoble until it closed in 1979. Paul William's Obituary, NYTimes 2013 Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

"The Lancaster," an 1887 Queen Anne style James Renwick building, is an innovative example of the French Flat, or a middle-class apartment building. Charles Mingus, an iconic jazz musician and composer, lived here with his fiancée in 1972.

Mingus was an accomplished pianist, as well as a master bass player. Unusually for Jazz, he led the band as a bass player. Mingus worked with such famous musicians as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. National Endowment for the Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He also received an honorary degree from Brandeis and an award from Yale University. Mingus credited his bass skills to hard work and his composition skills as a gift from God. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Born in Dennison, Texas, on October 31, 1930, Booker T. Ervin Jr. was a tenor saxophonist who resided at 204 East 13th Street. Ervin had a storied career in jazz, working with musical greats such as Charles Mingus, Sonny Stitt, Roy Haynes, Dexter Gordon, and Randy Weston.

Randy Weston once said of Ervin: "for me, \[he] was on the same level as John Coltrane. He was a completely original saxophonist....a master.... 'African Cookbook', which I composed back in the early '60s, was partly named after Booker because we (musicians) used to call him 'Book,' and we would say, 'Cook, Book.' Sometimes when he was playing we'd shout, 'Cook, Book, cook.' And the melody of 'African Cookbook' was based upon Booker Ervin's sound, a sound like the north of Africa. He would kind of take those notes and make them weave hypnotically. So, actually the African Cookbook was influenced by Booker Ervin." Ervin enrolled in the Berklee School of Music following his military service. Moving to New York City in May of 1958, he befriended Charles Mingus and joined the well-respected Mingus Jazz Workshop. In 1959, Ervin contributed to the monumental Mingus Ah Um album.

Throughout his career, Ervin held a distinctive style of performance that would get him signed to Prestige Records in 1963. Despite the breadth of his compositions, Ervin remained under appreciated in the world of jazz. As a result, he packed up with his wife Jane and two children for Europe. Here, Ervin would initially perform at Copenhagen’s Montmartre Club, followed by acts at the Blue Note Club in Paris and the Jamboree Club in Barcelona. By 1966, Ervin returned to the United States and moved into 204 East 13th Street by 1968. It was here that he spent the remaining years of his life with his wife and children before passing away from kidney failure at the age of 39 on August 31, 1970. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .