New York Songlines: 6th Avenue

West: Central Park An 853- acre expanse of green in the middle of Manhattan, its 25 million annual visitors make it the most visited public park in the world. Responding to calls from civic leaders like William Cullen Bryant, the city acquired the land in 1853 and held a design contest in 1857, choosing the Greensward Plan of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux (rhymes with "Walks"). After the moving of 3 million tons of earth and the planting of 270,000 trees and shrubs, the park--almost entirely landscaped, despite its naturalistic appearance--opened to visitors in 1859 (though not officially completed until 1873). Bolivar Plaza This entrance was dubbed the Artists' Gate by the Central Park commissioners in 1862, but like most of the other entrances wasn't marked until 1999. The plaza here--which is the top of the Avenue of the Americas--features statues of Latin American liberators. Jose Marti, a journalist and poet (he wrote the words to "Guantanamera"), was killed fighting for Cuban independence in 1895; he had spent the previous three years in exile in New York. He's a hero to both pro- and anti-Castro Cubans; this statue was given to the city by the Castro government in 1965, after having been donated for that purpose by the sculptor, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington. It depicts Marti being fatally wounded. Jose San Martin was a general who led the rebellion against Spain in Argentina, Chile and Peru. This sculpture is a gift from the city of Buenos Aires, a smaller-scale copy of the 1862 statue by Louis Joseph Daumas that presides over that city's Plaza de San Martin. It was installed here in 1951 after we sent Buenos Aires a statue of George Washington.

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East: A short ways into the park here is the Cop Cot, a rustic wooden shelter (of sorts--it lacks an actual roof). Not intended as a place for police to sleep, its name means "Hilltop Cottage" in Old English. Simon Bolivar, on the other side of the plaza, liberated Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia (which was named in his honor). The statue by Sally James Farnham was a gift from Venezuela installed in the park in 1921 and rededicated here in 1951 to celebrate the renaming of the Avenue.

West: The Trump Parc Block (100-106 CPS): When it was the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, it was home to writer Anais Nin in 1934-35; she called it the Hotel Chaotica. Frida Kahlo stayed here in 1931, and felt she was badly treated. Mobster Lucky Luciano lived here in the 1920s. Sylvia Plath stayed here when she was a guest editor of Mademoiselle; in The Bell Jar, it appears as The Amazon. Other guests/residents include Grace Kelly, Candice Bergen, Liza Minnelli and Edith Bouvier Beale (of Grey Gardens). Bought by Donald Trump in 1988 and redesigned down to the frame, it became home to such celebrities as O.J. Simpson, LaToya Jackson, Larry Hagman ("J.R. Ewing") and Morton Downey Jr. Recognizable by the gilded teeth on the tower on top.

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East: Ritz-Carlton Hotel Corner (50 CPS): This is the third incarnation of the luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan, and the second on Central Park South. It used to be the San-Moritz hotel, known as "the biggest little hotel in town." In 1935, it became home to Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, who were fleeing Nazi Germany. Later, in 1941, artist Marc Chagall came here after leaving Nazi-occupied France. It has also been home to columnist Walter Winchell and Yankee star Mickey Mantle. Winchell, who supposedly lived here rent free in return for plugging the hotel in his column, threatened to leave if management allowed gangster Lucky Luciano to live here; they didn't. The house restaurant is BLT Market, considered by TONY to be the jewel in the crown of Laurent Tourondel's culinary empire. Corner (57 W 58th): The Coronet is an 11-story red-brick apartment building from 1901, condoized in 1976. Time has not been particularly kind to it. Used to house the Manhattan Ocean Club, noted seafood restaurant.

West: 1381 (block): Carnegie House, 21-story grey-brick apartment building that went up in 1962--named for Carnegie Hall, a longish block away. Ballerina Alexandra Danilova lived here.

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East: 1380 (block): Hemisphere House, a 20-story white-brick apartment building put up in 1968. Author Jerzy Kosinski killed himself here on May 3, 1991. On the ground floor are Rue 57 Brasserie, Carnegie Luggage.

West: Burlington House Block (120 W 55th): A 50-story office tower completed 1969, named for Burlington Industries, a fabric maker that ceased operations in 2004. The building is now formally the Alliance Capital Building, after Alliance took over Mastercard's former space here in 1994. Noted for the Dandelion Fountain out front. Site of Old Zeigfeld Theatre 1341 (corner): Impressario Florenz Zeigfeld took his Follies here in 1927, to a sumptuous Art Deco house designed by Thomas W. Lamb and bankrolled by William Randolph Hearst. Later that year, the classic musical Show Boat premiered here. During the Depression, it was Loew's Zeigfeld, a movie palace. From 1955 to 1963, NBC used it as a TV studio. Briefly a live theater again, it was torn down in 1966.

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East: MGM Building 1350 (corner): Now known as the Men's Apparel Building, a 35-story glass office tower from 1966 designed by WTC architects Emery Roth & Sons. Served as New York headquarters for the classic film studio. It also appeared as the United Broadcasting System studios in Network. Warwick Hotel 1340 (corner): Built in 1926 by William Randolph Hearst with a specially designed floor for his mistress, Marion Davies. A favorite of show business sorts, the hotel boasts James Dean, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Russell as having been frequent guests. Cary Grant lived here for 12 years; The Beatles stayed here when they first came to the States.

West: New York Hilton 1335 (block): A 49-story slab emerging from a boxy base, completed 1963 to Harrison & Abramowitz' design. Philip Pavia's Ides of March, an abstract sculpture group, was in front here until 1988, when it moved to the Hippodrome. The climax of the film Michael Clayton was shot here.

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East: Financial Times Building 1330 (block): A 41-story completed in 1965 and designed by Emery Roth & Sons. Originally built for ABC, it became ITT's headquarters after the conglomerate bought the network. It's now the U.S. base of the British business paper.

West: Credit Lyonnais Building 1301 (block): A 1964 office tower, 45 stories designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates; originally known as the J. C. Penney Building. Serves as headquarters for the Pricewaterhouse Coopers accounting firm. Noted for Jim Dine's gargantuan green pastiches of the Venus de Milo in its plaza. The film Michael Clayton used the offices of the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf here for some of the interior shots.

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East: Black Rock Block (51 W 52nd): The 38-story headquarters of the CBS network, built in 1965 as the only skyscraper designed by Finnish-born Eero Saarinen. The nickname comes from the imposing, triangular black granite pillars that run the length of the building. It was the first New York highrise to have a reinforced concrete (rather than steel) frame.

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

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East: 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. 1270: The RKO Building (now officially the Amax Building) was completed in 1932. Radio City Music Hall 1260 (corner): 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.

West: Exxon Bulding 1251 (block): Another western addition to Rockefeller Center, this was built in 1971 to a Harrison, Abramowitz & Harris design; Wallace Harrison used to refer to this and its two similar-looking neighbors to the south as the XYZ Buildings. Exxon used to be Esso, which was Standard Oil of New Jersey ("S.O."), part of the breakup of the Rockefellers' Standard Oil Company. Exxon is now merged with Mobil, formerly Socony--Standard Oil Co. of New York.

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East: RCA Building 30 Rockefeller Plaza (block): The crown jewel of Rockefeller Center, completed in 1933, this 70-story limestone masterpiece is attributed mainly to Raymond Hood. Diego Rivera's mural, Man at Crossroads Looking With Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future, was painted over by Nelson Rockefeller when Rivera refused to take Lenin out of the artwork. The murals visible today are Jose Maria Sert's American Progress and Time. Above the main entrance is Lee Lawrie's relief sculpture Genius. The famous Rainbow Room is on the 65th floor, which opened in 1934 as a nightspot for Rockefellers, Astors and Morgans. Entertainment was provided by the likes of Mary Martin, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Comden and Green, and Judy Holliday. It's touted as the "most perfect room in New York." The "Top of the Rock," the recently reopened rooftop observatory, is a great alternative to the Empire State Building-- the sailors go there in the movie On the Town. RCA was the Radio Corporation of America, formed in 1919 as a joint subsidiary of General Electric and AT&T; both NBC and ABC were initially launched by RCA. When GE reacquired RCA in 1986, GE CEO Jack Welch insisted on renaming the RCA Building the GE Building. Jack Welch is a poor role model for America's children. NBC's main New York studios are located in this building, where shows like NBC Nightly News, Saturday Night Live and Late Night With Conan O'Brien are taped; The Tonight Show used to broadcast from here in the Jack Paar/early Johnny Carson days. Arturo Toscanini used to broadcast from the same studio that today houses SNL.

West: 1237: There used to be a branch of the women-focused tearoom chain Schrafft's here. McGraw Hill Bulding 1221 (block): Con- sidered the best of the Harrison, Abromowitz & Harris additions to Rockefeller Center, it went up in 1972 to house the publishing company. McGraw Publishing, founded in 1899, merged with Hill Publishing in 1909. The company also owns Standard & Poor's.

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East: Simon and Schuster Bulding 1230 (block): Built in 1940 as the U.S. Rubber Building, this marks the southern end of the original Rockefeller Center project. Simon & Schuster, founded in 1924 and perhaps most notable as the parent company of Pocket Books, is now part of CBS.

West: Celanese Building 1211 (block): This 1973 Harrison, Abramowitz & Harris building in the southernmost of the Rockefeller addition skyscrapers. It's named for a chemical company, but it's best known as the U.S. headquarters of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation; it's where Fox News, the New York Post and Murdoch himself have their main offices.

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East: Diamond District 1200 (corner): Diamond City marks the start of a block-long row of diamond businesses along 47th Street, mostly owned by Orthodox Jews. Marathon Man has a famous scene set here.

West: International Center for Photography A school and museum founded in 1974 in honor of Robert Capa. This site was an expansion begun in 1989 and became the main headquarters in 1999.

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East: Hippodrome Block: "I wanna see the Hippodrome," insists the sailor in On the Town, referring to the namesake predecessor on this site, an enormous auditorium (5,697 seats) designed for spectaculars by the team that developed Coney Island's Luna Park. Open from 1905 until 1939, it saw the American debut of Cary Grant on August 8, 1920. It's said that the Algonquin Roundtable formed when Robert Sherwood, who worked at Vanity Fair, was intimidated by the midgets at the Hippodrome, and so insisted that his coworkers Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley eat lunch with him every day.

West: Corner: Was Hanover House, a seedy hotel where Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" on February 23, 1940. Bank of America Tower Corner: The crystalline skyscraper going up here makes a claim to being the second-tallest building in New York City--but if you don't count the spire (which you shouldn't), the Chrysler Building is still the second tallest. Designed by Cook+Fox Architects to be eco-friendly. Also known as the Bank of America Tower.

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East: Grace Plaza An entrance plaza to the Grace Building (the building with the curved facade facing Bryant Park). The pavilion in the plaza is the entrance to the School of the International Center of Photography. 1100 (corner): Bryant Park Building, built c. 1912, houses the offices of HBO.

West: Verizon Building 1095 (block): This tower, designed by Kahn & Jacobs, was built in 1974 by AT&T as the New York Telephone Company Building; a break-up, a merger and a name-change later, it's now Verizon's. It got a complete facelift in 2008, replacing its vertically striped white marble/black glass facade with a more generic green glass curtain. W <===         W 41ST ST 1079 (corner): Training Camp Footwear, a mini-chain for sneaker mavens. 1071: Original Penguin, retro-chic label

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East: Bryant Park This area was set aside as early as 1686 for public use; from 1823 to 1840, like many of Manhattan's parks, it was used as a pauper's graveyard. In 1842, the Croton Reservoir was built on the east side of the space, where the New York Public Library is now, and the remaining land became known as Reservoir Square. The Crystal Palace was built on the site in 1853, a marvelous seven-story exhibition space made of glass and cast iron that housed America's first world's fair before burning down spectacularly on October 5, 1858. After serving as a parade ground for Union troops during the Civil War, Reservoir Square was designated a park in 1871, and was renamed in 1884 for William Cullen Bryant, poet, lawyer, New York Post editor, abolitionist and park advocate. It was not much of a park, though, until it was landscaped in French garden style in the 1930s, the object of a contest for unemployed architects. By the 1970s, the park had become chiefly known as a drug market (dubbed "Needle Park"), but since a re-landscaping in 1992 occasioned by the creation of underground stacks for the library, it's become a highly valued urban space, with 2,000 chairs for urbanites to relax on. It's the venue for popular outdoor movies in the summer. A plan to use trained falcons to control the pigeons was scuttled in 2003 when one attacked a dachshund. Sculptures in the park include an imposing Bryant, Goethe, Gertrude Stein, copper maganate and YMCA founder William Dodge (by John Quincy Adams Ward; originally in Herald Square), Mexican President Benito Juarez and Brazilian liberator Jose de Andrada --not to mention Big Crinkly by Alexander Calder.

West: 1025: Millinery Center Synagogue, serving the spiritual needs of the Garment District since 1948.

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East: 1036: Penguini Men's Fashion 1026: New York Beads 1020 (corner): Elle Beads

West: Herald Square As in, "Remember me at..." Named for the New York Herald, the newspaper founded by James Gordon Bennett whose offices were directly to the north of this triangle. Noted for its racist and anti-Semitic politics, the paper introduced such features as the gossip column and Wall Street coverage. Later merged with the New York Tribune; the International Herald-Tribune is the surviving relic. The clock and statuary, crafted in 1895 by Jean-Antonie Carles, are from the old Herald building; the goddess is Minerva, complete with owls, and the bellringers, which swing their hammers on the hour, are nicknamed Stuff and Guff.

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East: Corner: La Villa Pizza 950: U.S. headquarters of the Paris-based advertising conglomerate Publicis, which owns Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi. Corner (1328 Broadway): The Victoria's Secret on this corner is the lingerie giant's new flagship store. In the same building is Swedish fasion discounter H&M.

West: Herald Center Built for Saks & Company in 1901-02, as shopping moved to this neighborhood to take advantage of the new rail hubs. In 1966, after the area's appeal had faded, it became Korvette's. Rebuilt in 1982-85 as a mall with a glass elevator on the corner. Features a Fleet Bank, a Modell's Sports and a Daffy's clothing store on the Broadway side.

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East: Herald Towers AKA McAlpin House; built as the Hotel McAlpin in 1913, which was noted for its "silent floor" for the nocturnal. Converted to apartments in 1979; the murals of New York Harbor from the hotel's Marine Grill were removed and installed in the Fulton Street subway station. Claims the dubious distinction of housing the highest-grossing Gap outlet in the country.

West: Manhattan Mall Block (1275 Broad- way): Used to be Gimbel's department store, Macy's chief rival ("Does Macy's tell Gimbel's?") which claimed to have invented the bargain basement. Building designed by Daniel Burnham, of Flatiron fame, and built 1908-12; it was purposely utilitarian and undecorated. The first ballpoint pens were sold here in 1945-- selling 10,000 on the first day at $12.50 each. Converted to a glassed-in post-modern mall in 1987-89. This block was formerly the site of a theater that was variously called the Manhattan, Eagle or Standard; in 1879, the official New York premiere of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore was held here. A skyway connects this building to Weber's, a discount store on 32nd Street, which used to be a Gimbels annex; built in 1925, it was designed by Shreve & Lamb, the same company that did the Empire State Building.

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East: Greeley Square This triangular square is named for Horace Greeley, the founder of the New York Tribune. Though chiefly remembered as the guy who said "Go west, young man" (which was not actually his line), Greeley was actually one of the most influential journalists in American history. An advocate of social reform (Karl Marx was a European correspondent), Greeley supported abolition, worker's rights and (yes) Western settlement. As a reporter covering Congress in 1855, he was given a concussion by the cane of pro-slavery House Speaker Albert Rust. He helped found the Republican Party and was instrumental in making Abraham Lincoln the 1860 candidate. Surprisingly, he was the 1872 Democratic candidate for president; he was trounced by U.S. Grant and died a month later. The statue of Greeley in a chair is an 1890 work by Alexander Doyle. The square was dedicated in 1894.

West: 831 (corner): America Gourmet Food, deli 829: X Tensions Wholesale Wigs 823: Goodland Martial Arts Supply. Sign in window: "All Knives and Swords 20 Percent Off." 821: From 1954 to 1965, this building housed the Jazz Loft, an after-hours hangout for musicians like Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. 817 (corner): The lot that used to hold City Plants & Gardens was to be the site of Remy, a futuristic residential high-rise designed by Costas Kondylis--which would have been the only out-of-the-ordinary project to come out of the Sixth Avenue condo tower boom. It looks, though, like it's never going to be built.

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East: Corner: This was (apparently) the site of The Haymarket, the Tenderloin's most famous dance hall. A venue for "respectable vice," the dancers here would give private exhibitions of the cancan in curtained booths. O. Henry and Eugene O'Neill both hung out here. 828: Superior Florists is the northernmost outpost of the Flower District. 822: Here was the saloon of Tom "Shang" Draper, described as "the king of New York's underworld," and part of the gang that robbed a record amount from the Manhattan Savings Institution in 1878. On October 16, 1833, bank robber Johnnie "the Mick" Walsh was shot and wounded here by fellow burglar John Irving, whom Walsh in turn killed-- only to be finished off by Irving's colleague, safecracker Billy Porter. 816 (corner): Bill's Flower Market

West: Corner: Note seahorse trim on the fast-food outlet; used to be a branch of Childs, a widespread New York restaurant chain. "Came to New York, repertoire ready/Chekhovs and Shakespeares and Wildes/Now they watch her flipping flapjacks at Childs."-- "What a Waste," Wonderful Town 807: International Garden, part of the Garden District 805: U.S. Evergreen 803: George Rallis Inc. Wholesale Florist 795 (corner): Sheng Po Enterprises, wholesaler

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East: The Aston 800: A whole row of 19th-Century buildings was torn down on this block to build this a luxury high-rise. Above a blocky base, the tower is comparatively stylish, with windows layered like fish scales. Also known as the Archstone Chelsea after being bought by one of the nation's largest apartment management companies.

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West: 793 (corner): Great H&B Trading Co.; Coffee Bean Roast was Ho-Ho Chinese Restaurant. 777: 777 6th Avenue, another big new highrise apartment building. There is an apartment-suite hotel here called the Oakwood Chelsea. 775 (corner): FAS: Fifth Avenue Style, bargain clothing. The preservation of the human-scaled buildings on either end of this block do a lot for the highrise they bookend.

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East: The Capitol at Chelsea Built in 2001 on the site of The Racquet Club, the first sports club in NYC, built 1876. Later the University Athletic Club, finally the Coogan Building. The most interesting structure on this stretch of 6th Avenue, it was slated to be landmarked, but money spoke louder than architecture. Now an unfortunate orangey high-rise with 39 floors. Houses the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing.

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West: Corner (100 W 26th): Chelsea Tower, new, slightly sinister 34-story highrise. 765: Chris King of Foliage was the southern end of the Flower District; it went through several manifestations as a foliage-themed jazz bar, including Mama Cassies Coffee House, Greenroom and finally Wish 26. Now vacant. 761 Sixth Avenue Deli & Pizza 757: Rogue, restaurant/bar/lounge opened in 2004. 755 (corner): Serendib Video, porn store. The name is Arabic for Sri Lanka. Also in the building was the Antique Cafe, catering to the flea market crowd. Upstairs was busted as a brothel in the 1990s, proving that the Tenderloin tradition is not dead.

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East: Chelsea Landmark Block: This 35-story apartment building in 2007 replaced a parking lot with big weekend flea market--featured in the children's book My New York. "Kristen," the professional escort whose assignation with Gov. Elliot Spitzer led to his resignation, lived here at the time the scandal broke.

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West: 753 (corner): Olympia Deli, where for a time I used to eat almost every day, was torn down for the... Chelsea Stratus Block: This 2007 high rise boasts of being "Chelsea's tallest condominium" at 40 stories. Replaced a parking lot that used to have a weekend antique mart.

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East: Chelsea Vanguard This 31-story apartment building, put up in 2000, started the high-rise boom along this stretch of 6th Avenue.

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West: The Corner 729: Empire City Bagels was Koster & Bial's Concert Hall beer garden annex--known as "The Corner" (written on the corner of building; full name in front at peak). From 1970-2001, it was Billy's Topless, neighborhood institution shut down by Giuliani. 727: 727 Hardware Co. is in a building with attractive brick arches. 725: The building with the Video Video porn store isn't bad either. Corner: Citibank branch was site of Koster & Bial's Concert Hall (1879-1924), popular vaudeville house featuring Victor Herbert's orchestra. In 1890, Italian sailor Giovanni Succi set a world record by fasting here for 45 days. Earlier was Bryant's Opera House (1870). SUBWAY: F train to 14th Street This is the station where the protagonist unwittingly boards the Midnight Meat Train in the Clive Barker short story of the same name.

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East: Masonic Hall Corner (71 W. 23rd): Chase bank is on the ground floor of Masonic Hall, built in 1913 on site of 1875 Masonic Hall. NYC Masons include John Jacob Astor, Theodore Roosevelt, Fiorello LaGuardia and Harry Houdini. Vanguard Studios were located here, where KISS recorded part of their album Chelsea.

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West: Corner (100 W 23rd): Originally built as a jeweler's, this small, ornate building was a branch of Riker's Drug Store that resisted a buy-out from Ehrich's, which wanted the whole end of block. Now Your Taste, fancy deli. 699- 709: Was Ehrich Brothers (1889-1911), bargain store. Now Burlington Coat Factory, Staples. If the buildings along this stretch look a bit stretched, it's because they were designed to be viewed from the 6th Avenue elevated train (1878-1938).

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East: The Caroline Corner: Shopping and apartments built in 2002 on site of Edwin Booth Theater (1869-1883). This was run by and featured New York's most prominent Shakespearean actor--brother of John Wilkes Booth. Sarah Bernhardt made her New York debut here in 1980. Later James W. McCreery (1895-1907), "Dean of the Retail Trade." Demolished 1975. A portrait of Shakespeare from the old theater can be seen on the new building's west side.

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West: Adams Dry Goods 675 (block): Was Adams Dry Goods, upscale shop built in 1900; note "ADG" above arches. Mattel Toys is based here; Barnes & Noble (which has good taste in architecture) was on the ground floor from 1994-2008, driven out by housing bubble-era rent increases.

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East: 688: Maffei Pizza; this Sicilian lunch counter is ''culinary nirvana,'' says the the Voice. 682: The eight-story Hall Building is the tallest on the block. 680: Wolf Paper & Twine Co. 678: New York Burger Co., deluxe mini-chain 676 (corner): Markt Belgian seafood was The Tomato, pricey comfort food; formerly Lox Around the Clock, late-night hangout.

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West: Hugh O'Neill Building 655 (block): O'Neill, known as "The Fighting Irishman of 6th Avenue," opened his store here in 1887, which was more working-class than its retail neighbors. His name is still visible on the pedi- ment. Was home to Elsevier Science Inc., price-gouging journal publishers. Also Scuba Network, Men's Wearhouse. Gold-domed turrets were restored as part of a 2007 conversion to luxury condos.

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East: 668: Cafe 21's building says "M. Roman." 666: Deli was built in 1929 for Charles R. Ruegger's Bazar Francais, selling French kitchenware. The names and date appear on the facade and cornice. 664: Ridgeway Diner was the Lemon-Lime Coffee Shop, post-rave hangout Limelight 660 (corner): Pricey dance club in a gothic building, opened in 1990 as The Limelight, which was repeatedly closed down over accusations of drug sales, as well as general opposition to nightlife. It later reopened under the name Avalon. Lately it's trying to operate as a store called Lounge. Was Church of the Holy Communion (1846), designed by Richard Upjohn, who designed the new Trinity Church about the same time. This church was apparently quite influential, inspiring similar asymmetrical gothic churches across the country. Its first pastor was William Augustus Muhlenberg, whose donated books became the core of the Muhlenberg branch of the NY Public Library on 23rd Street.

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West: Simpson-Crawford Building 641: Was Simpson-Crawford store, built 1900 to replace an 1879 version. No price tags here; if you had to ask, you couldn't afford it. Bankrupted 1915. The architecture is more restrained because Simpson-Crawford didn't want the business of elevated train passengers. Houses Apex Technical School, founded in the 1960s.

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East: 650 (corner): This landmarked Beaux Arts building, with beautiful brick pillars and arches, was built as Cammeyer's (1893-1917), a giant shoe store. Later the Audits & Surveys Building; now White Space, luxury condos. 636 (corner): Greek revival building houses Sports Authority.

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West: B. Altman Building 621 (block): Was the "Palace of Trade" from 1876 to 1906, when it moved to 5th Avenue and 34th Street, beginning the exodus from Ladies Mile. The Container Store is the current ground-floor occupant.

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East: Siegel-Cooper's "Big Store" 616-632 (block): Was Siegel-Cooper, "The Big Store--a City in Itself" (1896-1914). In its day, this glorious retail temple was the center of NYC shopping; "meet me at the fountain" was a catch phrase, referring to the store's centerpiece, which featured Daniel Chester French's statue of The Republic (today in California's Forest Lawn Cemetery). Henry Siegal is credited with introducing the free sample. In the 1980s, a youth center called The Door was based here. Now Bed Bath & Beyond, a superstore featured on Sex and the City, as well as Filene's Basement and TJ Max.

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West: Corner (100 W. 18th): 100 West 18th is a 2007 luxury condo with an interestingly angled facade. 611: Parade of Shoes and Jam Paper & Envelope were torn down for the condo. 601: New York City Bagel was Pick-a-Bagel 595-597 (corner): It's been a while since they built three-story buildings like this on Sixth Avenue. Features Tic Tac Toe II, sex shop formerly known as Red Light District and Six Collection, and World Famous Pizza, which dropped the "Ray's" from its name.

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East: 610 (corner): The Price Building houses one of Old Navy's flagship stores. Corner (63 W 17th): Lyla, condos built 2003.

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West: 583: LeAn, spinoff of the East Village restaurant Wai? Cafe. 581: Dave's New York, jeans store in a fancy old building 579: Rush, gay dance club formerly known as Heaven and King, is in an old three-story rowhouse. 575 (corner): Terry's Gourmet Foods

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East: New York Foundling Hospital 590 (corner): Orphanage founded 1869 on Upper East Side; moved here 1988 to take advantage of lower real estate costs. (Today they mostly support special-needs children-- there not being as many foundlings as there used to be.) 576: Wine Gallery has an regrettable wood-shingle facade. 574 (corner): Hollywood Diner is in a fanciful building that was originally the Knickerbocker Jewelry Co. (1904).

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West: 555 (block): Ugly newish apartments

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East: 570 (corner): Blue Valley Deli & Grocery 568: Was New York Photo & Game House 552 (corner): The Left Bank apartments

W <===             WEST 15TH STREET             ===> E

West: 547 (corner): Village Yogurt is in a Greekish building with strong arches--a highly likable structure. 545: The modestly named OK Family Market 539: Cheesesteak Factory was Mondello Pizza 531 (corner): This bank -- now an HSBC -- was built as a Greenwich Savings Bank branch in 1952, designed by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer in a late Art Deco style. It features a 1954 mural by Julien Binford, A Memory of 14th Street and Sixth Avenue, that can be seen from the street. (HSBC stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Company--that seems very 21st Century to me.)

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East: 546 (corner): Sixth Avenue Bicycles 538: Knossos custom furniture; I priced a bookshelf here once and it seemed really expensive. 534: When the Gay Liberation Front was formed in July 1969, its weekly meetings were held here, in what was the Alternate U. The GLF represented the radical response to the Stonewall raid, identifying gay power with other struggles like the Black Panther movement and Vietnamese liberation. It's the same building as... 530 (corner): Was The Living Theatre (1956-63), experimental theater co. producing plays by T.S. Eliot, Auden and Gertrude Stein; Martin Sheen's first acting job was here. Now houses 69 W 14th St. Dance Studios, Capoeira Angola.

W <===             WEST 14TH STREET             ===> E The boundary between the Village and Chelsea. This intersection was the site of street battles during the Draft Riots of 1863.

West: 527 (corner): A fortress- like 1896 building, commissioned by Albert Wyckoff and designed by Theo Thomson in a Romanesque Revival style. It's actually three separate buildings with a continuous facade. Houses Brick Oven Pizza 33, local chain whose original branch was on 33rd Street. 525: Hanami; the Voice's Robert Sietsema recommends the bento box. 523: GustOrganics, green restaurant, was Century Market; before that it was a corporate burger outlet, a welcome reversal of the usual direction of history. 517: Cute old three-story building 515: Xcellent DVD, porn store 513: Fresh Tortillas 509 (corner): Undistinguished 16-story brick apartments

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East: Maria's Kebab Wagon, a fixture at this corner, is said by the New York Post to have the best street kebab in the city. 14th Street Store 526 (block): This handsome building with arched entrances was built by Henry Siegel, co-creator of the Siegel-Cooper store five blocks north. He sold his interest in the "Big Store" in 1904 to make an even bigger department store in the area vacated by Macy's--but the new store went bust and Siegel went to jail in 1914 for defrauding creditors. Now it's a branch of Urban Outfitters, a chain owned by one of the chief financial backers of homophobic Sen. Rick Santorum, which tells you all you need to know about faux hipsterism. 522-524: Site of Capt. Rowland Hussey Macy's original lace and ribbon store. A former whaling captain, Macy had a red star tattoo that is still the store's symbol (and a whale is still used in sale ads). This store grew around the corner before moving uptown; one section of it is still standing on 14th Street.

W <===             WEST 13TH STREET             ===> E

West: The John Adams Block (101 W 12th): Twenty-one-story grey brick monstrosity was built in 1963. As vice president in 1789, Adams lived in New York at Varick and Charlton--though the building is said to be named after the architect's children, John and Adam. Why you'd want to put your kids' names on something like this is beyond me. 487 (corner): Sculptor Ibram Lassaw had a loft studio here in a now-demolished four-story red-brick 19th Century industrial building. The Club, an influential society of abstract expressionists like Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, was founded here in 1949 after the Waldorf Cafeteria, where the artists had previously hung out, raised the price of coffee to a dime.

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East: 502 (corner): Bar Six, hip French-Moroccan 500: Murray's Bagels, considered one of the city's top bagelries--one of the few places in town that still gives you a baker's dozen. 496: Notable 1889 terra cotta tenement houses Groom-o-Rama, pet store that always has some great puppies in the window. 486 (corner): Sixteen-story building from 1960.

W <===             WEST 12TH STREET             ===> E

West: Corner (100 W 12th): The Mark Twain, a low-rise apartment building c. 1960. Twain lived a few blocks from here when he was a New Yorker. 471: H & H Fruits and Grocery 469: 612 Cafe 467: Barney's Hardware, since 1929 Famous Ray's Pizza 465 (corner): Not the original, but arguably it is the famous one--at least, it's identified as the real one in the movie Elf. Classic slices.

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East: 482 (corner): Joe Junior's, old-school local burger chain 474: Was Game Show, board game store 470: BLT Burger, part of the Bistro Laurent Tourondel family 468: Ricky's, funky local cosmetics chain 464: Charlie Mom, above-average Chinese Nikos Smoke Shop 462 (corner): Used to be one of the city's greatest newsstands.

W <===             WEST 11TH STREET             ===> E

West: 453: Sammy's Noodle Shop, affordable Chinese Milligan Place Like Patchin Place around the corner, built (in 1848) as housing for workers at 5th Avenue's Brevoort Hotel. Named for 19th Century landowner Samuel Milligan--father-in-law of Aaron Patchin. Eugene O'Neill was a resident, as was George Cram Crook, founder of the Provincetown Players.

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East: 458 (corner): French Roast, 24-hour bistro in a 1915 apartment building. There used to be a roadhouse here called The Old Grapevine that dated back to 1830; it was a center of neighborhood gossip and was supposedly the origin of the phrase "I heard it through the grapevine." This etymology seems unlikely to me. 450: Jefferson Market, gourmet food; building dated 1891

W <===             WEST 10TH STREET             ===> E

West: Jefferson Market Library 425: Built 1877 to a Calvert Vaux design. Originally a courthouse and fire tower-- a market and prison, originally connected, now demolished. The courtroom held the 1907 trial of millionaire Henry K. Thaw, who shot architect Stanford White, his wife's former lover; his insanity plea was successful. Journalist Nellie Bly was arraigned here when she had herself arrested to expose the abuse of female prisoners. Preservationists including e.e. cummings succeeded in turning the abandoned courthouse, slated for demolition, into a branch library in 1967. Sherlock Holmes did his research here in the film They Might Be Giants. Jefferson Market Greening Garden on site of former Women's House of Detention. Inmates included black activist Angela Davis, Catholic radical Dorothy Day, labor organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, accused spy Ethel Rosenberg, East Side madame Bea Garfield, Warhol shooter Valerie Solanas, anti-porn feminist Andrea Dworkin and (in an earlier co-ed jail) Mae West. Demolished 1973.

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East: 434: Joffrey Ballet School, founded in 1953 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. 432: EJ's Luncheonette, retro diner mini-chain Citarella 424 (corner): Formerly Balducci's gourmet market; started in 1916 as a Brooklyn pushcart, it moved in 1972 to this location. In 1999 family squabbles forced the sale of the business to a D.C.-based chain, which went under when its "Balducci.com" scheme fell victim to the dot.com bust. Now in the space is another local gourmet grocery chain owned by Joe Guerra, who got his start wrapping flounder at the Fulton Fish Market; he has a reputation as a union-buster. The 13-story building is from 1956-- one of the first of the hideous white-brick apartment buildings that went up in that era. Barbra Streisand had an apartment here when she was playing The Lion on 9th Street. 9th Street PATH Station Underneath the corner building is the entrance to New York City's other subway system--the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, which connects the southwest portion of Manhattan to Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark. Opened in 1907 as the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, it was taken over by the Port Authority in 1962.

W <===             GREENWICH AVE / WEST 9TH ST             ===> E

West: 405: SS International, newsstand in business since 1948. 401: Gobo, stylish and tasty vegetarian. The name means "burdock" (a root vegetable) in Japanese. 385 (corner): Waverly Restaurant, classic diner

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East: 418 (corner): Lenny's, local sandwich chain, was Greenwich Brewing Co., pizza; Hasta La Pasta, Italian. This used to be Trude Heller's, a prominent rock club/disco where First Daughter Lynda Bird Johnson was photographed dancing with tanned actor George Hamilton in 1965; the Manhattan Transfer got their start here. Earlier this was Paul and Joe's Bar, a main gay rendezvous in the early 1920s. C.O. Bigelow's 414: Said to be the nation's oldest pharmacy. The business, now employee-owned, dates from 1838; the building (the Bigelow Building) dates from 1902; the sign is from the 1930s. Mark Twain was a customer; Joseph Cornell used to buy items for his famous collage boxes here. 410: LifeThyme Complete Natural Market. In 1987, when this was the Black Rock Cafe, Pietro Alfano, a defendent in the "Pizza Connection" heroin case, was shot and paralyzed here after shopping at Balducci's. 406: Fat Beats, underground hip-hop mecca since 1994. Gray's Papaya 402: NYC's finest hot dogs, some say. Tasty and super cheap. WEST 8TH ST ===> E Corner: The Barnes & Noble here used to be a B. Dalton's. 390: Where the office supply store is now was the Waldorf Cafeteria, described as "a famous hangout for unemployed intellectuals, radicals and bohemians; for bums, jazz musicians, poets, pushers and orgone-box Reichians." Abstract expressionists like William de Kooning, Franz Kline and Philip Pavia used to hang out regularly. Edgar Allen Poe supposedly wrote "The Fall of the House of Usher" while living on this block.

W <===             WAVERLY PLACE             ===> E

West: St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village 371 (corner): The second-oldest Catholic church building in Manhattan, built in Greek Revival style in 1834; rebuilt after a fire in 1885. Dorothy Day used to come here to pray after late nights out in the Village. 367: Stern Brothers opened its first store at this former address, selling fabric and lace.

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East: 360-374 (block): "A brilliantly conceived, designed, detailed and executed Post Modern apartment house" (AIA Guide) built 1986.

W <===             WASHINGTON PLACE             ===> E The first Gay Pride march started here June 28, 1970, commemorating Stonewall's 1st anniversary. It ended with a "gay-in" at Central Park's Sheep Meadow.

West: 361: Baluchi's, local Indian chain 359: Comollo's Restaurant was McBell's bar; in 1922 it was the Red Head speakeasy, which eventually moved uptown and became the 21 Club. Federal-style building dates to 1832. 357: Soto, creatively traditional Japanese; was ONY, "Original Noodle for You." 349: Was Jericho, noted in 1966 for "spectacular" barmaids. 345: North Fork Bank branch was O'Henry's, long-time village eatery; later a Gap. Building from 1825.

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East: Corner (88 Washington Pl): A 14-unit condo was built on this site in 2005, at an address where "ashcan" painter John French Sloan once lived. This was also the location of the Fronton, a speakeasy from 1923-26 that was popular with New York Mayor Jimmy Walker and poet Edna St. Vincent. The proprietors, Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns, moved uptown and founded the "21" Club. Corner: Washington Mutual Bank branch

W <===             WEST 4TH STREET             ===> E

West: 333 (corner): Le Petit Dejeuner-- "The Little Lunch," which is what the French call breakfast-- occupies the tip of this triangular block. Also Fantasy Party sex shop; Crazy Fantasy Video, porn. Waverly Theatre 325: A theater since the 1930s, the building was originally an 1831 Universalist church. After a couple of denominational changes, it became a stained-glass factory, J. & R. Lamb Studios, in 1893. It became a cinema in 1937. Closed in 2001, it reopened as the Independent Film Channel's IFC Center. It's a landmark in Hair: "I met a boy named Frank Mills...right here in front of the Waverly." Will Smith was arrested here in Six Degrees of Separation. Audience-participation midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show started here April 1, 1976 and soon spread across the country. 321: Village Shuwarma serves the best shwarma, according to the Village Voice-- no matter how it's spelled. 319: This was the original address of Crawdaddy, the first U.S. rock magazine. 315: In 1879, a children's store called the Lilliputian Bazaar opened here, which eventually grew into the department store Best & Co. 313: Was the English Pub, described in 1966 as having the "usual mixture of renegades, disguised suburban housewives and disguised suburban husbands." 301-303: Sammy's Noodle Shop, the southern expansion W <===         CARMINE ST Father Demo Square Named for the pastor (1900-35) of Our Lady of Pompeii. Noted for his outreach to immigrants and his rallying to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims.

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East: Golden Swan Gardens Built on site of the Golden Swan bar, AKA the Hell Hole or the Bucket of Blood; portrayed in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, and in John Sloan's etchings. Demolished 1928. West 4th Street Courts Corner: AKA The Cage--famous for its top-quality street ball. Julius Erving is one of several NBA stars who have played here. Note that the courts are named after the 4th Street subway stop--they're not actually on 4th Street. WEST 3RD ST ===> E John Sloan painted the el train turning here. Corner: Minetta Playground belonged to the city's Department of Transportation as a result of the 6th Avenue subway construction. DoT allowed the Parks Department to develop a playground here in 1935, and in 1953 it was assigned permanently to Parks. The current playground equipment dates to 1997 and was supplied by the corporate hamburger franchise. MINETTA LANE ===> E Corner: Minetta Green, a 0.05 acre park. 290: A six-story building from 1941, designed by H.I. Feldman. Minetta Triangle A very nice, very little (0.075 acres) park--worth stopping in. A scrap left over from the expansion of 6th Avenue in 1925, it was given to the Parks Department in 1945. Refurbished in 1998, the images of trout recall Minetta Brook, now underground, which is the ultimate source of the park's name.

W <===             BLEECKER STREET             ===> E

West: Corner: Named for its proximity to Downing Street. Churchill's mother, Jennie Jerome, was a New Yorker, and he is one of a handful of people given honorary citizenship by the U.S. Congress. A tiny, beautiful park. E <=== DOWNING ST Corner (10 Downing): The equivalent of the British prime minister's address is a dry cleaners with a Union Jack awning.

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East: 268: Bar Pitti; Italian with big sidewalk cafe 260: Da Silvano, trendy Tuscan. It was here that Princess Michael of Kent slurred a party of black media figures. William F. Passannante Playground Named for a speaker pro tem of the New York State Assembly, a lifelong Villager and a booster of the neighborhood.

W <===             WEST HOUSTON STREET             ===> E

West:

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East:

W <===     KING STREET     ===> E

West: Corner (18 King): Mekong, Vietnamese, was Le Pescadou, French seafood Corner (9 Charlton): Last of a line of Federal-style (and some Greek Revival) rowhouses, dating from the 1820s-1840s. The rest of the block was torn down when 6th Avenue was pushed through the South Village. Composer Aaron Copeland lived at this address in 1951--in the rear part, which was once a free-standing carriage house. Actor Fred Gwynne, best known for his Herman Munster character, lived here in the 1980s.

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East: Corner (2 King): Seven-story white-brick building from 1963.

W <===     CHARLTON ST / PRINCE ST     ===> E

West: Block (2 Charlton): Charlton House, a 17-story red-brick building from 1966. 185: After the Draft Riots of 1863, conscription resumed here on August 19, at the office of the 6th District provost marshall. W <===         VANDAM ST 169 (corner): A six-story tenement building. 161 (corner): The Butterick Building is a 16-story office building built in 1903 (Horgan & Slattery, architects). It was built for and still houses the Butterick Co., the company that pioneered the graded sewing pattern. When opened, this building had the nation's second-largest printing plant, after the government printing office in D.C. SUBWAY: C/E trains to Canal Street

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East: Father Fagan Park A vest-pocket park created during the extension of 6th Avenue. One of the buildings torn down here was 4 Charlton, where in 1881 28-year-old printer William Sindram shot his landlady for trying to evict him over his failure to pay his $1 weekly rent. 194: This mid-rise apartment building used to be the 10th Precinct Station House, built 1893; later the NYPD's quartermaster storehouse. Turned into housing in 1987. (Before the extension of 6th Avenue, this address was 24 MacDougal.) God's Love We Deliver Corner (207 Spring): This two-story building, dating to 1951, houses a nonprofit that brings food to people with HIV. It's called the David Geffen Building because the record executive gave the group $1.5 million to help renovate it. God's Love bought the place in 1995; it was originally a machine shop for the MTA, and later a library for the blind. SUBWAY: C/E train to West 4th Street This is the station that Griffin Dunne tries to use to get out of SoHo, only to find that the fare has been hiked from 90 cents to $1.50.

W <===     SPRING STREET     ===> E This intersection is the approximate location of the front gate of Richmond Hill, a colonial estate that was used as a military headquarters by George Washington, and was later a residence for both John Adams and Aaron Burr.

West: Soho Square This block and the next one to the south are not really on Sixth Avenue--they're on an old demapped street called Clark Street, which is separated from Sixth Avenue by a two-block long sliver of a park called Soho Square. (Why do they always call triangular parks in New York City "Such-and-Such Square"? What's wrong with "Such-and-Such Triangle"?) It contains a statue of General Jose Artigas, the hero of Uruguayan independence--one of six statues of Latin American liberators installed along the Avenue of the Americas, from Central Park to Canal Street. Because the buildings on these blocks have Sixth Avenue addresses, though, I'm going to put them on this Songline--punctuated by Dominick Street, which actually deadends at Soho Square and does not join up with Sixth Avenue proper. 145 (corner): The off- Broadway theater HERE is located, well, here, in what The New York Times called "one of the most unusual arts spaces in New York and possibly the model for the cutting-edge arts spaces of tomorrow." The Vagina Monologues were first performed here in October 1996. There's also a restaurant off the lobby--formerly called 1 Dominick, now the Herb-n-Peach Eatery. No. 145 was the last address of Murray Hall, born Mary Anderson, a Tammany Hall pol who lived as a man, twice married to women, played poker and smoked cigars with the prominent politicians of New York. Hall's biological identity was only revealed when Hall died in 1901. But this was address used to be considerably further uptown before the 6th Avenue extension. W <===     DOMINICK ST Chelsea Career and Technical High School 131 (block): Formerly a vocational school, now geared toward college prep--it seems like New York City's school system doesn't really do vocational anymore. Also here--in this building that dates to 1848--is the NYCiSchool, a selective high school that tries to get Regents test prep out of the way so students can concentrate on more creative work.

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East: Corner (210 Spring): Aquagrill, popular oyster house 140: As of 2011, there was a largish vacant lot here going through to Sullivan Street, the former site of a gas station. It's vaguely slated to become (what else) a luxury hotel.

W <===     BROOME STREET     ===> E

West:

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East: Traffic island SULLIVAN ST         ===> N 110: Lupe's East L.A. Kitchen, Mexican restaurant where Jeff Daniels met Melanie Griffith in Something Wild.

W <===     WATTS STREET     ===> E

West: 101 (block): This 1992 25-story tower is the headquarters of the Building Services Employees International Union.

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East: 100 (corner): The Green 6th Avenue Building is a 1928 Art Deco structure designed by Ely Jacques Kahn; note the bas relief workers on the 2nd floor.

W <===     GRAND STREET     ===> E

West: Duarte Square This small plaza is land left over from the extension of 6th Avenue through the South Village. It's named for Juan Pablo Duarte, considered the liberator of the Dominican Republic. The statue, by Italian sculptor Nicola Arrighini, was installed in 1978.

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East: Corner (80 6th Ave): This was the site of the Moondance Diner, a famous pre-fab restaurant installed in the 1930s, when it was known as the Holland Tunnel Diner. (The rotating moon sign went up in the 1980s.) Mary-Jane Watson worked here in the movie Spider-Man, as did Monica on the show Friends. In real life, Rent author Jonathan Larson waited tables here for 10 years. In 2007, the diner fell victim to rising rents and was sold to La Barge, Wyoming, where it has not fared well. Grand Canal Court A small park, established 1955, with basketball courts and game tables. Named for the streets to its north and south.

W <===     CANAL STREET     ===> E West: W <===         LAIGHT ST Block (1 York St): In 2008, two pre-Civil War brick warehouses were turned into a base for a Modernist glass condo by Enrique Norten and TEN Arquitectos. W <===         YORK ST 6 T H A V E N U E East: S <===     WEST BROADWAY     ===> N West: Tribeca Park Once part of the Lispenard Meadows, this area was made a park in 1810, when the city purchased it for $3,950. Long known as the Beach Street Park, it got its present name in 1985. 6 T H A V E N U E East: LISPENARD ST   ===> E AT&T Building A 28-floor Art Deco landmark built in 1930 to a Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker design. Originally AT&T's Long Distance Building, since 2001 it's housed the telecom company's main offices. W <===     WALKER STREET     ===> E West: Corner (1 Walker): Tribeca Park Gourmet 6 T H A V E N U E East: Tribeca Grand This fancy hotel opened in 2000. Owned by Hartz Mountain Industries, the pet food company that also owns the Soho Grand and (formerly) the Village Voice. I went to a very wild party here once. W <===     WHITE STREET     ===> E West: 6 T H A V E N U E East: S <===     CHURCH STREET     ===> N Is your favorite 6th Avenue spot missing? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it. New York Songlines Home. NYSonglines' Facebook Fan Page. Share Deep Sixth. A page all about 6th Avenue from Forgotten NY.