New York Songlines: Attorney Street

E. Houston | Stanton | Rivington | Delancey | Broome | Grand
Attorney Street was laid out sometime before 1797, but who it was named for is unknown. It's sort of the Street of the Unknown Lawyer.







W <===         EAST HOUSTON STREET         ===> E

The border of the East Village and Lower East Side

West:

Parkside Lounge

New York City, 17 May 08 by flickr4jazz, on Flickr

Corner (317 East Houston): Old-school dive bar featuring live music and comedy. Dates back to c. 1950; Charlie Parker is said to have hung out here.





155: Plantains Cash & Carry, a good place to buy cheap beer.

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East:

174 (corner): Beyond Martial Arts




164: Three Amigos Auto Repair












W <===     STANTON STREET     ===> E

West:

141 (corner): Number 35 Gallery




Nathan Straus Playground




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East:

Corner (189 Stanton): Henry Street Settlement, a branch office of the groundbreaking social service provider founded in 1893 by Lillian Wald.




























P.S. 140: Nathan Straus School

1958, Rivington St by CORNERSTONES of NY, on Flickr

Corner (123 Ridge):

School named for a co-owner of Macy's who gave much of his wealth to philanthropic projects, including lodging houses, a tuberculosis sanitarium for children, World War I relief and health centers in Palestine. Straus was a primary proponent of the pasteurization of milk.


W <===     RIVINGTON STREET     ===> E

West:

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P.S. 142: Amalia Castro School

Alphabet/City: Amalia Castro School by litherland, on Flickr

Block (100 Attorney): This 1975 school, shaped like a banjo, is named for the acting principal of P.S. 4, who died in 1973.








W <===     DELANCEY STREET    

Williamsburg Bridge

NYC - LES: Williamsburg Bridge by wallyg, on Flickr Williamsburg Bridge by hankjames215, on Flickr

Constructed in 1903, this was the second bridge to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. By allowing Orthodox Jews to walk to Lower East Side synagogues on the Sabbath, it created the Jewish enclaves in Williamsburg. Now it also allows Williamsburg hipsters easy access to the newly re-hip LES. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world until 1924 when it was surpassed by the Bear Mountain Bridge. Robert DeNiro's gang hangs out under this bridge in Once Upon a Time in America; Al Pacino drives across it when he moves from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village in Serpico.


    DELANCEY STREET     ===> E

Seward Park Extension

Block (154 Broome): A 23-story NYCHA building from 1973, paired with one on Norfolk and Broome. The AIA Guide likes its "rich facade" (the one facing east).


W <===     BROOME STREET     ===> E

West:

Block (410 Grand): A 26-story building from 1972.


















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East:

Corner (157 Broome): Broome Street Grocery

St. Mary's Catholic Church

NYC_divers 046 by L'Hibou, on Flickr

Corner (438 Grand): This is the third-oldest Catholic parish in New York City, after St. Peter's and Old St. Patrick's. Its first church, a wood structure built in 1826 on Sheriff Street, was burned by anti-immigrant arsonists; this replacement, built of fieldstone, reopened in 1833. (The red-brick Italianate facade was added in 1871, designed by prolific church architect Patrick Charles Keely.)


W <===     GRAND STREET     ===> E

Seward Park Co-Ops

Seward Park by themikebot, on Flickr

Part of Co-Operative Village, these 12 towers were designed by Herman Jessor and built from 1957-60. The Hatters and Painters unions' pension funds helped pay for the development. The complex features Socialist Realist-style murals by Hugo Gellert depicting Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR and Einstein, painted in 1959. In 1996, seward park by bondidwhat, on Flickr the co-op board tried to have the historic murals removed, but they reversed the decision after appeals from art historians and union leaders.

Is your favorite Attorney Street spot missing? Write to Jim Naureckas and tell him about it.

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