New York Songlines: 51st Street

South:

Corner (711 11th Ave): Manhattan Jeep Chrysler Plymouth

W

5
1
S
T

North:

South:

525: Park West High School, built 1977 to a Max O. Urbahn design. The AIA Guide finds the north facade "disconcertingly placid."

Corner (747 10th Ave): Hudsonview Terrace, a 38-story tan-brick apartment tower from 1976; was built as a money-maker for Park West.

W

5
1
S
T

North:

South:

W

5
1
S
T

North:

457: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, a red-brick-and-terra-cotta Roman Catholic church from 1886 designed in a Victorian Romanesque style by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons. The rectory, from 1881, is by Arthur Crooks.

415 (corner): St. Clare Hospital opened c. 1934, closed in 2007 (after becoming part of St. Vincent's).

South:

332: Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, who sparked the flagpole sitting craze in 1924 and later set a 49-day record atop a pole in Atlantic City in 1930, died of a heart attack on the sidewalk here outside his apartment. (The five-story building, c. 1920, is still here.) Kelly supposedly got his nickname because he was a survivor of the Titanic disaster, but that may be part of the hype.

W

5
1
S
T

North:

365 (corner): Xai Xai (pronounced "Shy Shy"), hip South African wine bar

Howard Johnson Plaza

Corner (851 8th Ave): Political activist Angela Davis was arrested here on October 13, 1970, after fleeing charges of murder and kidnapping two months earlier. She was acquitted on all counts in 1972.

South:

Corner (834 8th Ave): Capital Apartments, built 1925

Paramount Plaza

Now houses the U.S. offices of Hachette Filipacchi, the world's largest magazine publisher; several of their American magazines are based here, such as Elle, Woman's Day and Premiere. Located in the sunken courtyard is Mars 2112, a touristy sci-fi-themed restaurant.

W
E
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

255: Invite Health; Vasili Shoe Repair

253: EC Professional Video

251: Siam Inn, hotel; includes Blue Chili, Thai

Times Square Church

237: This church was founded in 1986 by David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade, to minister to the "prostitutes and pimps, runaways, drug addicts and hustlers" of the old Times Square; it moved here in 1989. It was originally built in 1930 as the Hollywood Theatre, designed by Thomas W. Lamb in a French baroque style as the first cinema made specifically for talkies. (Casablanca bowed here in 1942.) As the Mark Hellinger Theatre, a legit Broadway house named for a columnist turned movie producer, it saw the premieres of My Fair Lady with Julie Andrews, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Jesus Christ Superstar. The auditorium is well preserved and has been called the last surviving movie palace in the Times Square area.

Corner: After leaving Lindy's restaurant on April 5, 1956, Victor Riesel, a reporter who had been covering labor racketeering, had acid thrown in his face at this corner by small-time thug Abraham Telvi. Riesel was blinded but kept writing; Telvi was rubbed out two weeks later.

South:

Corner (1650 Broadway): Ellen's Stardust Diner features 1950s nostalgia and a singing waitstaff. Below is the Iridium Jazz Club, opened 1994; Les Paul plays here regularly. In the film Pat and Mike, the Spencer Tracy character's office is on this corner--though out his window you can see the I. Miller Building, at 7th and 46th.

Corner: Was the Circle Gallery of Animation and Cartoon Art

W

5
1
S
T

S
T

North:

Sheraton Manhattan

Block (790 7th Ave): This was the Loews City Squire, built in 1962, bought by Sheraton in 1979 and given its current name in 1989. On the ground floor are An American Craftsman, Russo's Steak & Pasta.

South:

The Michelangelo

152 (corner): This Italian-run hotel occupies part of what used to be the Taft Hotel. Opening as The Manger with a religious theme, The Taft was once New York's third-largest hotel; Big Band leader Vincent Lopez used to play the Grill Room here. "Father of Country Music" Jimmie Rodgers died of TB here on May 26, 1933; Philip Loeb, an actor whose career was destroyed by the blacklist, committed suicide here on September 2, 1955. Here now is Limoncello, Italian.

140: Cafe Duke

Time & Life Building

Technically part of Rockefeller Center, but not really, this 48-floor tower, completed in 1959, was the first building to be added to the complex on the west side of 6th Avenue. Designed by Harrison & Abramowitz, before Harris was added to the name. Time and Life were the flagships of Henry Luce's magazine empire, now part of Time Warner; Time's offices are still here. CNN's American Morning had its studios on the ground floor from 2002-06; SportsNet New York is now based there. Ted's Montana Grill is also on the ground floor.

The blue metal sculpture in front is Cubed Curve, by William Crovello.

W
E
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Equitable Center

Corner (787 7th Ave): A 54-story rose granite tower designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates and built 1986. Houses the life-insurance giant AXA, whose U.S. holdings include Equitable Life and Mutual of New York (whose MONY logo inspired the song "Mony Mony"). The building's atrium features a major mural by Roy Lichtenstein; there's also an elephant by Barry Flanagan. The arched window near the top is the Equitable boardroom.

Le Bernardin

155: One of New York's most acclaimed restaurants, serving French cuisine with a seafood specialty. Opened in 1986, it's the sibling of a Paris restaurant launched in 1972. Named for an order of monks who know how to eat.

UBS Building

Corner (1285 6th Ave): A 42-floor office tower from 1960, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Built for Equitable Life; the brockerage firm Paine Webber moved here in 1985, and merged with the Swiss bank UBS in 2000. Heartland Brewery, restaurant that makes its own beer, is on the ground floor.

South:

Rockefeller Center

The land that is now Rockefeller Center was once the Elgin Botanic Garden, 20 acres of mainly medicinal herbs established by Dr. David Hosack, the physician who attended Alexander Hamilton after his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. The Lewis and Clark expedition sent plants here for identification.

The garden was sold to the state in 1810, which granted it to Columbia University, which allowed the garden to be developed. In 1929, the land was leased to John D. Rockefeller, who built on it an Art Deco masterpiece that is one of New York City's crowning architectural achievements.

Radio City Music Hall

Corner (1260 6th Ave): When it opened in 1932, this auditorium's 6,200 seats made it the largest in the world. Impressario Sam "Roxy" Rothafel intended it to be a live venue, but it soon became a cinema featuring a live pre-show showcasing precision dancers--originally the Roxyettes, now the world-famous Rockettes.

The auditorium saw the premieres of such films as Singing in the Rain, An American in Paris and King Kong (shared with the Roxy). The Woody Allen character comes here in Radio Days; Daddy Warbucks buys out a whole show here in Annie. It also appears in The Godfather and Hitchcock's Saboteur.

Associated Press Building

Corner (50 Rockefeller): Headquarters of the U.S.'s most important wire service, co-owned by its member newspapers. Activist Allard Lowenstein was fatally shot here on March 14, 1980, by a deranged acquaintance.

S <===   ROCKEFELLER PLAZA

International Building

20 (block): Completed in 1935 as part of the original Rockefeller Center complex, this is a reduced-scale (41 stories) version of the RCA Building. Its north wing was originally going to be a German counterpart of the Italian, French and British buildings to the south, but with Nazism on the march the idea was dropped and the building was generically internationalized. It served as the secret U.S. headquarters of British intelligence during World War II; Allen Dulles also had his office here. Attilia Piccirilli's Youth Leading Industry adorns the entrance; symbols of the continents are atop the building.

10: In the International Building is Tuscan Square, Italian.

W
E
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Sperry-Rand Building

Corner (1290 6th Ave): A 43-story office tower designed by Emery Roth & Sons and built by the Uris brothers in 1961-62.

On Seinfeld, George Constanza claims that the 14th floor of this building has the best restroom in the vicinity of 54th and Sixth.

Site of Toots Shor's

51: This address, replaced by the Sperry-Rand Building, was the original address of Toots Shor's Restaurant, which opened here in 1940, a hangout for athletes, sportswriters and assorted famous people. (When Yogi Berra was introduced to Ernest Hemingway here as "an important writer," Berra reportedly replied, "What paper you with, Ernie?") Shor, a former speakeasy bouncer, left Jackie Gleason on the floor here after winning a drinking contest, ordered an impatient Charlie Chaplin to "be funny for the people for the next 20 minutes," and told Louis B. Mayer that his food was "better'n some of your crummy pictures I stood in line for." He counted both Joe DiMaggio and Chief Justice Earl Warren among his closest friends. He held out against the developers for years, but eventually sold his lease here for $1.5 million in 1959 and moved to 52nd Street.

31: Was the address of Golden Horn, described in a 1940 restaurant guide as "splendid Armenian-Turkish cooking."

27: Was Stockholm, which that guide called "right up among the tops for Swedish food." You could eat dinner at either restaurant for $1.25.

Rockefeller Center Hotel

25: New hotel includes Club Quarters and The Terrace Club; also here are Johnny Utah's, which boasts Manhattan's only mechanical bull, and Teresa's Deli.

Time Warner Building

(75 Rockefeller Plaza): A 32-story Art Deco tower built in 1947 as the Esso Building, part of Rockefeller Center. (Esso was Standard Oil of New Jersey, part of the Rockefellers' oil empire--later known as Exxon.) Includes the restaurant City 75.

5: Coco Gourmet Deli

3: The Women's National Republican Club was founded in 1910 as a suffrage organization. Today, it's more "Mrs. Nelson A. Rockefeller" rather than Ann Coulter.

Corner (640 5th Ave): First National City Bank of New York; H & M. This was the address of William Henry Vanderbilt's own piece of the Triple Palace, three Vanderbilt mansions designed by John Butler Snook and built from 1879-82. (Actually, he got half of the bifurcated structure, which is only fair since he paid for it.) William, who headed the railroad empire after the death of his father, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, was at his death the wealthiest person in the world. Though noted for his quip "The public be damned!" he was reportedly much nicer than his father.

South:

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Begun in 1858 and dedicated in 1879, St. Pat's is seen as symbolizing the ascension of New York's Catholic community, as the archbishop's seat moved from the Lower East Side to the heart of New York's elite district (though the neighborhood wasn't all that elite back then). Designed by James Renwick, Jr.--the architect of Grace Church--who modeled it on the Cologne Cathedral. Here's an arial view.

Pope Paul VI said mass here on October 4, 1964, during the first papal visit to America. Funerals were held here for Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman (1891), Gov. Alfred E. Smith (1944), slugger Babe Ruth (1948), conductor Arturo Toscanini (1957) and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (1968). F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre were married here on April 3, 1920--but in the cardinal's residence, not in the cathedral itself, because it was a mixed marriage.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Olympic Tower

Corner (645 5th Ave): This 51-story mixed-use building, a smooth brown-glass slab completed in 1976 to a Skidmore Owings & Merrill design, was financed by Aristotle Onassis and was, when new, one of Manhattan's hottest addresses; Jackie Kennedy Onassis, widowed by Aristotle in 1975, was a resident. Arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi had a swimming pool installed in his condo here. The National Basketball Association has offices in the commercial section of the tower. The ground floor houses Gant and Armani Exchange clothing, H. Stern jewelry.

The land here was once the site of the Union Club was based at this corner (then No. 641) from 1903 to 1933. The club, founded in 1836, is the oldest men's club in New York City; the Union League, Knickerbocker, Brook and Metropolitan clubs are all spin-offs. It was torn down in 1945 for Best & Company, high-end children's store, which in turn was torn down for the present building. Olympic Tower (1977), which

5: Prime Burger Coffee Shop

7: Venezuelan Consulate

9: Banco Mercantil Venezeula

15: St. Patrick's Cathedral Gift Shop

23: Rosen's Deli

Look Building

Corner (488 Madison Ave): With its banded windows and rounded corners, this 23-story office building is "probably the most attractive white-brick building in the city"--City Review. A 1950 building designed by Emery Roth & Sons --perhaps their best post-war work, the WTC notwithstanding--it's named for Look magazine, Life's rival. Another magazine tenant, Esquire, sued unsuccessfully to keep the photo weekly's name off the building--they failed in big red letters, which came off long after Look folded in 1971. Institutional Investor is published here now. From 1951-57, industrial designer Raymond Loewy was here--he did the classic Greyhound bus.

South:

Villard Houses

Corner (451-457 Madison): These were originally six brownstone mansions sharing a central courtyard, designed to resemble an Italian palazzo; the design is by Joseph Wells, with some interior work by Stanford White. They were put up by Henry Villard, an abolitionist who served as a Civil War correspondent for the New York Tribune, later came to own both the New York Post and The Nation, made a fortune in railroads, helped finance Thomas Edison and founded General Electric. From 1946 until 1969, the offices of Random House were here; they were one of William Faulkner's favorite places to write. Saved from demolition by the Landmark Commission, the building now serves in part as the entrance to the 1980 New York Palace Hotel, erected by the Helmsleys and now owned by the Sultan of Brunei.

22: Railroad tycoon Edward Henry Harriman had a four-story brownstone here, where his son, William Averell Harriman, was born on November 15, 1891. The younger Harriman was governor of New York and an adviser to four presidents.

34: Tse Yang, Chinese; Banca di Roma

38: Sushiann, Japanese; Bistro New York; Just Salad

Corner (320 Park): Mutual of America Building, a 1950s Emery Roth building reclad in glass in the 1990s--the AIA Guide calls it a ''turgid wedding cake dressed for the Mardi Gras.''

There is (or was) a BMW Gallery--or what other companies would call a dealership--in the north corner of the building.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

350 (block): This boxy 30-story tower was built in 1954 as the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Building, designed by Lever House's Gordon Bunshaft. The flagship branch of the Park Avenue Bank is located here.

South:

St. Bartholomew's Church

Block (109 E 50th): An Episcopalian congregation founded in 1835, ''St. Bart's'' is considered one of the more fashionable churches in town. A 1919 work by Bertram Goodhue (who considered it his favorite), its entranceway was salvaged from an earlier St. Bartholomew's designed by Stanford White. The church tried to tear down Goodhue's Community House and sell the land to developers, but the city successfully defended its landmark law in court-- an important precedent for preservationists.

Saint Bartholomew was an apostle about whom little is known; tradition holds that he was martyred by being skinned alive. I suspect that churches are named after him largely because of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, an attack on Protestants in France.

RCA Victor Building

Corner (570 Lexington): A 1931 Art Deco landmark by Cross & Cross, that successfully tries to complement St. Bartholomew's to its west. Later renamed the General Electric Building. Includes Mr. K's, Chinese.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Block (345 Park): This 44-story office tower was built in 1969 to an Emery Roth & Sons design.

South:

Doubletree Metropolitan

Corner (569 Lexington): Built in 1961 as The Summit, designed by Morris Lapidus with a curving facade in sea green brick. Later Loews New York Hotel. Restored in 2004, when it became part of the Doubletree train. Includes the Met Grill.

Corner (830 3rd Ave): Girl Scouts Building; on the ground floor is Azure, fancy deli.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T

North:

Corner (575 Lexington): The Grolier Building, a 33-floor office tower built in 1958, is now marketed as the Skygrid Building. It was originally clad in gold-tinted glass, and was reclad in the 1980s. It was the headquarters of Grolier, publishers of the Encyclopedia Americana and the Book of Knowledge. Camera Land on the ground floor.

FDNY Engine 8/Ladder 2

165: This firehouse lost 10 firefighters on September 11, 2001.

NYPD 17th Precinct

167: This precinct covers Turtle Bay, Kips Bay, Murray Hill and Rose Hill--an area that had one murder in 2007.

South:

Corner (833 3rd Ave): Pax Wholesome Foods was Kyung's Garden

The Pod Hotel

230: Built in 1931 as the Pickwick Arms Hotel. Novelist John O'Hara was living here when he began Appointment in Samarra. A recent redesign makes a virtue out of its tiny rooms by turning them into modern, hi-tech "pods."

E

5
1
S
T

S
T

North:

Greenacre Park

217-221: A lush midblock oasis funded by Abby Rockefeller Mauze, daughter of John D. Rockefeller Jr., and owned by a private foundation.

South:

300 (corner): Football star Joe Namath has been a famous resident at this 19-story apartment building from 1959. The building was damaged in the 2008 crane collapse across the street.

330: This three-story brick house, built 1899, was home to novelist John Steinbeck in 1943.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Corner (964 2nd Ave): Nessa, a pub

303: A construction crane collapsed at this address on March 15, 2008, killing seven people and damaging several neighboring buildings. The planned building had improperly been given permission to build to 43 stories; the construction site had been cited for numerous violations.

313: In this rowhouse on October 24, 1943, heiress Patricia Burton Lonergan was brutally murdered by her estranged husband Wayne Lonergan. Lonergan, a Canadian RAF enlistee who had been back in the city on a weekend pass, vainly tried to establish an alibi by claiming that he had been having sex with a man at the time. He spent 22 years in jail before being deported to Canada, and was still trying to claim his wife's fortune at the time of his death in 1986.

351 (corner): The Beekman Regent's five-story base was originally built as P.S. 135 in 1892 (George W. Debevoise, architect), expanded in 1904. It later served as the United Nations School, educating the children of diplomats. A tower was added to bring it up to 20 stories in a 2000 condo conversion.

This was the site of Mount Pleasant, James Beekman's mansion. During the Revolutionary War, it was headquarters of the British military force. Nathan Hale was tried and sentenced to death here.

South:

The Grand Beekman

400 (corner): A 32-story apartment tower designed by Costas Kondylis and completed in 2002. With a Post-Modern crown and distinctive corner bay windows, it's a fairly interesting and attractive building--much better than the average generic new apartment building.

Corner (34 Beekman): Artist Marcel Duchamp lived at this address in October 1915. The current building, an extended-stay hotel, seems to have been built in 1930.

S <===   BEEKMAN PL

440 (corner): This 1910 townhouse, known as Hale House after Nathan Hale, was leased in 1941 by surrealist painter Max Ernst and art collector Peggy Guggenheim, after the two had fled Nazi-occupied Europe. They were married in December 1941, but separated in 1943.

E
A
S
T

5
1
S
T

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

425: Beekman Hill House, red-brick neo-Georgian co-op built 1930. The co-op was ordered to pay $640,000 in 1997 for denying a sublet to a mixed-race couple.

Southgate

433: This cluster of apartment buildings, built from 1928-31 by Bing & Bing and designed by Emery Roth, has been called "Manhattan's most distinctive residential Art Deco ensemble." Most of the buildings are on 52nd Street; this one, completed in 1930, has been the home of actor Richard Chamberlain.

439: Built 1925

Beekman Terrace

455 (corner): This imposing six-story apartment house was built in 1925 by Joseph B. Thomas, developer of the Block Beautiful on 19th Street. Architects Treanor & Fatio used a Venetian style for this site overlooking the East River; the building features terra cotta tiles with Venice's lion and maritime symbols.