New York Songlines: Grove Street

Hudson Street | Bedford St | Bleecker St | 7th Avenue South | West 4th Street | Washington Place | Waverly Place | Christopher St

Named for trees through which the street was originally cut--though the first recorded name was Columbia Street, later renamed Cozine Street after a prominent family, and then Burrows Street after Lt. William Burrows, who died during the victory of his ship the Enterprise over the British Boxer. Finally renamed Grove to avoid confusion with Barrow Street.








S <===             HUDSON STREET             ===> N

South:

2 (corner): Art Deco apartments from 1938.

4-10: The AIA Guide describes these "excellent" Federal-style houses, built 1825-1834, as "honest and humble."

Grove Court

Greek Revival mews built as working-class homes, 1848-1854; originally known as Mixed Ale Alley. The courtyard is said to have inspired the O. Henry story "The Last Leaf."

12: Angela Lansbury lived here in The World of Harry Orient.

14-16: Two pristine Greek Revival townhouses from 1840.

G
R
O
V
E

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

PS 3: Melser Charette School

Block (488 Hudson): When the Marquis de Lafayette, visiting the United States in 1824, asked to see "the best example of the public school system," he was taken here. Today the school has a special emphasis on creativity.












S <===             BEDFORD STREET             ===> N

According to New York: The Movie Lover's Guide, the New York set on the Paramount backlot was supposed to be based on the part of Greenwich Village around Bedford from Grove to Commerce.

South:

Corner (90 Bedford): This building serves as the exterior for the apartment on Friends; in real life, it houses the restaurants Little Owl (formerly Chez Michallet) and Moustache (tasty Mideastern).

26: John Ritter lived here in Hero at Large.

28-38: Greek Revival/Italianate townhouses built 1851-1852. Emma Goldman was living in No. 36 when she was deported to the Soviet Union during the 1919 Red Scare.

42: Pink Teacup, Southern cooking

Corner (314 Bleecker): AOC, French opened in 2003, stands for l'Aile Ou la Cuisse, the name of a 1976 French movie about an undercover restaurant reviewer. Was Grove, known for its garden (which is still there).

48: Crime novelist Patricia Highsmith lived here in 1940.

G
R
O
V
E

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

17 (corner): Wood-frame house built 1822 for window-maker William Hyde. Author James Baldwin frequently stayed here.



39: Grove Street Playhouse

45: This Federal-style manor house, said to be the last of its kind in the neighborhood, was built in 1830 for Village developer Samuel Whittemore. John Wilkes Booth plotted Lincoln assassination with co-conspirators here. Served as a hospital during Spanish-American War. Poet Hart Crane lived here in 1923. Used as Eugene O'Neill's house in the movie Reds.

Corner (316 Bleecker): Jamson's Adventures in Gifts


S <===             BLEECKER STREET             ===> N

South:

Corner (315 Bleecker): Used to be the Porto Rico coffee store, now at 201 Bleecker.
















































52 (corner): Home to Omad Records

G
R
O
V
E

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Club Raleigh at the Oaks

49 (corner): Was the Five Oaks piano bar, where legendary scat singer Marie Blake headlined in the 1970s and '80s. Since 1998, co-owned by piano player David Raleigh. Sharing this address was Halo, a briefly "in" restaurant/bar that boasted of being the site of Britney Spears' 18th birthday party. As 317 Bleecker, the building also features An American Craftsman.

53: Grove Street Brasserie

Rose's Turn

55: Cabaret bar. Was the original Duplex (now on Christopher), cabaret that featured Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield. Cellar was Romany Marie's Tea Room, classic bohemian hangout featuring "gypsy" tea-leaf reading.

Arthur's Tavern

57: New York's oldest jazz club (since 1937). Charlie Parker played here regularly.

Marie's Crisis

59: Revolutionary writer Thomas Paine died on this spot, June 8, 1809, in the farmhouse of his friend Marguerite de Bonneville. The current building dates to 1839, and houses, a piano bar named for Paine's American Crisis papers, which used to be owned by Marie Dumont. Another Marie--Marie Blake--sang scat here in the 1950s and '60s. A good place to meet chorus boys. Bette Midler lived upstairs here in the 1970s. A young Patricia Highsmith was another habituee.

61 (corner): Hakata Tonton, Japanese that specializes in pigs' feet. Its predecessor, Taka, used to serve grasshoppers. In the 1950s was Il Nib--Italian for "The Nest" --noted for its espresso. Also Grove Pharmacy.

In 1947, Anthony Hintz, hiring boss for Pier 51, was shot outside his third floor apartment here. Hintz lived long enough to finger the shooter: John "Cockeye" Dunn, the corrupt union boss who controlled the piers--except Hintz's. Dunn and an accomplice were executed; the case inspired the movie On the Waterfront.


S <===             W 4TH ST / 7TH AVE S             ===> N

72: Mythos, a Greek restaurant, was Jack Delaney's Steak House, "an expensive restaurant visited by some of the Beat writers on special occasions"--Beat Generation in New York. It's visible in a sign montage on the old Electric Company show.




G
R
O
V
E

North:

S <===           7TH AVENUE SOUTH / WEST 4TH STREET           ===> N

South:

Sheridan Square

Named for Philip Henry Sheridan, Union cavalry commander and Indian fighter. Best known quote: "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." But the statue of Sheridan is in nearby Christopher Park. Here is found the Sheridan Square Viewing Garden, planted in 1982 by local volunteers to replace an unsightly traffic island.

S <=== WASHINGTON PL

The Monster

80: Long-running gay bar, big enough for disco and show tunes at the same time. In 1939, this was the address of El Chico, a club featuring "authentically Spanish" entertainment.

88: Federal style, 1827; remodeled as French Second Empire (1860-1875).

90: Federal style, 1827; converted to artist's studio by painter Robert Blum, 1893.

92: This house protected African-Americans during 1863 Draft Riots. Remodeled as the Burges Chamber Studio. Beat character Lucien Carr lived here in the 1950s, and Jack Kerouac used to stay here for weeks on end; Carr appears in On the Road under the name "Damion." Carr's son Caleb, who also lived here, grew up to write The Alienist.


S <=== WAVERLY PL

Northern Dispensary

This landmark was built as a clinic for the poor in 1831, with a third floor added in 1854. It's one of those Village paradoxes--it's a triangular building with two streets (Grove and Christopher) on one side, and one street (Waverly) on the other two sides. The dispensary's best-known patient was Edgar Allen Poe, treated for a head cold in 1837--don't laugh; they could be fatal in those days. In 1960 it became a dental clinic, which in 1986 refused to treat a patient who was HIV-positive. He sued and bankrupted the clinic. The building was briefly the Hostel for the Disabled, but since 1998 has been standing empty.

G
R
O
V
E

S
T
R
E
E
T

North:

Christopher Park

Named for Charles Christopher Amos, a developer who laid out and named several Village streets after himself. (Amos Street became West 10th.) The park is often mistaken for Sheridan Square, because it has the statue of Philip Henry Sheridan in it. Also contains the more benign Gay Liberation statues by George Segal.
















































S <===             WAVERLY PL / CHRISTOPHER ST             ===> N

S <===             CHRISTOPHER ST / WAVERLY PL             ===> N


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

New York Songlines Home.

Sources for the Songlines.