New York Songlines: Horatio Street

South:

114: These West Coast apartments were put up in 1985.

Washington Commons

Corner: A patch of green with a small waterfall, created by Rockrose Development Corp. in exchange for permission to build a parking garage.

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95: West Coast apartments were a Manhattan Refrigerating Company warehouse (1898-1900). Converted 1984.

South:

82: Playwright Clifford Odets lived in this apartment building in 1933-35; he wrote Waiting for Lefty here in 1934.

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Corner (799 Washington St): Urban Myth Media

83: Rooms to Let, snug rooms rented cheaply by a real Greenwich Village artist.

81: Writer James Baldwin lived here in the 1960s while writing Another Country.

79: A four-story 1870 building that was home to novelist William Gaddis in the 1930s and '40s. It was sold at auction for $7.4 million in 2008.

73: West Village Nursery School, a coop founded c. 1962.

69: Larry Kert, the original Tony in West Side Story who later won a Tony as the lead in Company, lived here from 1977 until his 1999 death.

South:

Corner (823 Greenwich St): El Faro, Spanish restaurant founded in 1927, said to be New York's oldest; it was a favorite of novelists James Baldwin and Dawn Powell.

Corner (633 Hudson): Writer John Cheever was living in a former building here, a teenaged dropout living on bread and buttermilk, when The New Republic published his first short story. Earlier, this address was the headquarters of the Hudson Dusters, a criminal gang whose territory was Manhattan below 13th Street and west of Broadway. They were shut down by police in 1916.

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59 (corner): Christian Louboutin Shoe Salon was Astray Cafe, New American. Before that it was Hornblowers on Horatio, and earlier a Chinese dive/restaurant called Young Young.

51: Musician Todd Rundgren lived here with famous rock girlfriend Bebe Buell.

47: Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollack briefly lived at this address in the early 1930s.

Corner (637 Hudson): Frederick's Downtown, spendy French tapas, was the swanky Bivio.

South:

Corner (636 Hudson): Hudson Bar & Books, clubby cigar bar; one of only eight bars in New York City where you can legally smoke. Also Yoya, designer kids' clothes

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Corporal John A. Seravalli Playground

Corner: A sweet little place created in the early 1960s and named for a neighborhood kid who was killed in Vietnam in 1967.

38: In the movie Butterfield 8, the Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher characters live at this imaginary address.

Block (320 W 13th): White Columns, non-profit art space

South:

14 (corner): The Van Gogh is a 17-story apartment building constructed in 1960 with a distinctive curved facade.

2 (corner): This was the address of Jackson Hall, which from 1859-63 was the meetingplace of the Mozart Hall faction of the Democratic Party--opponents of Tammany Hall and supporters of Mayor Fernando Wood. Today there's a 17-story red-brick coop here that was built in 1931. Its facade features two strips of white terra-cotta balconies.

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Jackson Square

This park--acquired by the city in 1826--was apparently named for President Andrew Jackson, a hero for New York Democrats at the time. It was redesigned by Calvert Vaux and Parks superintendent Samuel Parsons in 1887. The central cast-iron fountain was installed in 1990.

234 (point): This pointy building houses Integral Yoga Natural Vitamins, Wet Dog Pet Care and Brooklyn Locksmith.

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Corner (253 W 13th): This Art Deco electrical substation was built in 1930 for the city's IND subway.