New York Songlines: Rivington Street

South:

Corner (213 Bowery: Regent Restaurant Equipment, part of the Bowery restaurant supply district.

1: Shiva Yoga Shala, astanga yoga studio.

7: Loreley, German-style beer garden.

11: Off-Soho Suites Hotel Alternative are really a pretty great deal.

Corner (177 Chrystie): Always Sign & Supplies Inc

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North:

Corner (215 Bowery: A&P Restaurant and Deli Equipment

4: From 1985 to 1997, this was the site of the New York Chinese Alliance Church.

8: Gussie Bierman, one of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, lived in the tenement.

Freeman Alley: Possibly named for early 19th Century surveyor Uzal Freeman, this alley has a restaurant called Freeman's at the end, noted for its taxidermy decor.

12-18 (corner): Mikco Building Materials Inc.

South:

45 (block): Rivington House--big pink building, built as P.S. 20 in the 1890s, is now a residential AIDS facility--the largest in the country. Terry Miller, writer of Greenwich Village and How It Got That Way, died here.

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North:

40: Was Kam Sung Chinese take-out; now a small art gallery called Kumukumu.

42: Jadis, French wine bar. Perhaps coincidentally, Jadis is the name of the White Witch in the Narnia books.

52 (corner): The building with the EZ Minimart used to house Studio We, a 1970s-era jazz performance space started by trumpeter James Dubois and drummer Juma Sultan.

South:

University Settlement House

Corner (184 Eldridge): Originally known as the Neighborhood Guild, this was the country's first settlement house--an institution founded on the premise that the poor needed the college-educated to settle in their midst and set a good example. The house moved here in 1899, into a building designed by John Mead Howells, who later co-designed the winning entry in the Tribune Tower competition, and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, author of the New Tenement Law and the classic history Iconography of Manhattan Island.

At University Settlement, Stokes' brother, James Graham Phelps Stokes, met radical journalist Rose Pastor. The millionaire Episcopalian socialist's 1905 marriage to Pastor scandalized the press, which called her the "Red Yiddish Cinderella."

61-63: Primera Iglesia Hispana del Nazareno/ New York Nazarene Church was built in 1905 as a Rivington Branch of the New York Public Library, designed by McKim, Mead & White. Like many libraries in New York and around the country, it was funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. It was the first New York branch library to have a roof designed for open-air reading. Its first stock of books came from University Settlement next door.

65: Kuta Satay and Wine Bar, Indonesian, was Tire Shop

Corner (145 Allen): Lovely red-brick tenement dates to 1895. Was Olivo Deli Grocery; now a frozen yogurt franchise.

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North:

Corner (192 Eldridge): During the 1890 Cloakmakers' and tailors' strike, workers invaded a scab sweatshop here on the top floor, beating the owner, Samuel Billett (who also lived in the same apartment) until he shot and seriously wounded one of the strikers.

Adath Jeshurun of Jassy

58-60: This former synagogue was built in 1903 for Jews from the town of Iasi, Romania; the architect was Emery Roth, who went on to build fancy apartment buildings like the San Remo and the Ritz Tower. Later it was the Erste Warshawer (First Warsaw) Synagogue; since 1973, it's been artists' studios and residences.

66-68 (corner): Tres Aztecas Bar/Restaurant

South:

Corner (146 Allen): Seasons Market Prepared Food to Go

83: Tobaldi, men's clothing

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North:

78: New Sicas Pizza

78-84: Kampuchea Noodle Bar, Cambodian, was Leather Connection/Leather Complex

South:

85: City Flavor, leather

87: Baishakhi Food Corp, Bengali grocery

Site of First Roumanian-American Congregation

89-93: This 2,000-seat sanctuary was originally built around 1857 as the German Evangelical Church, designed to convert Jews, it was bought in 1864 by Shaaray Hashomayim, New York's oldest Orthodox German-Jewish congregation. It reverted to a church in 1890, when a Methodist mission society moved the Allen Street Memorial Church here. Its last congregation, which bought it in 1902, worshipped here until 2006, when a roof collapse apparently rendered the building unsalvageable--a tremendous loss to the neighborhood.

The building was noted for its acoustics, earning it the nickname "the Cantor's Carnegie Hall." Opera stars Jan Peerce (Jacob Perelmuth) and Richard Tucker (Reuben Ticker) did some of their earliest singing here.

College Settlement House/Talmud Torah

95: This townhouse built c. 1840 became, in the 1890s, the College Settlement, founded by activist Vida Scudder to improve the neighborhood by bringing in Smith College graduates. Later it was the next-door synagogue's religious school, known as Talmud Torah, whose name can be seen above the door. For a while it was a private dwelling; Janine Jackson, host of the radio show CounterSpin, lived here in 1985. Now it's the hip nonprofit gallery Participant Inc.

97: Felix Tailor Shop

99 (corner): Wolfnight's wraps was Three Monkeys, and before that Paul's Boutique, a little cafe named for the Beastie Boys' album, whose cover was shot on this corner. (The original Paul's Boutique was an imaginary men's clothing store in Brooklyn.)

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North:

Corner (144 Orchard): DeMask Boutique, fetish clothing; was Leather Corner

teany

90: Small vegan tearoom owned by the DJ Moby--he mixes the music for the shop.

92: Express Tailor Shop

Babeland

98 (corner): 'inoteca, tasty Italian

South:

101 (corner): Spitzer's Corner, American, was Spitzer's Dress Store. The same building on the Essex side (No. 126-128) is the Esther Apartments.

105: Grace's Unisex--Bladerunneresque

The Hotel On Rivington

A 20-story glass tower stuck in the middle of the main street of the low-rise 19th Century proletarian Lower East Side, this hotel refers to its neighborhood as "historic" and seems specifically designed to thrust an upraised middle finger at that history. Constructed from 2001 to 2004, it stands as a monument to the need for historic districts. The architect is Matt Grzywinski, but the biomorphic egg-inspired entrance is by Marcel Wanders. The hotel bar is the acronymic Thor.

113: El Castillo de Jagua, longstanding Puerto Rican restaurant

Corner (123 Essex): Was Visconti Italian Menswear

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North:

100 (corner): Suits Warehouse

104: Edith and Daha, vintage shoes, bags etc.

Economy Candy

108: A great old-time candy store with endless varieties of usual and unusual sweets. Started in 1937 by the Cohen family that still runs it; at this (larger) location since 1985.

110: Verlaine, one of the street's fancier bars.

112: Fat Baby is a bar with a basement rock club; formerly Fuji Catering Service.

Corner (131 Essex): Farmacia Health & Beauty Aids. This was the old location of Economy Candy.

South:

Essex Street Market

Corner (120 Essex): These buildings were put up in 1938 to give pushcart vendors a home when cars forced pushcarts off the street. The north end of the market is occupied by Essex, a spacious, arty bar.

123: Welcome to the Johnsons, a bar that's an uncanny reproduction of a suburban family room. Meredith Tax's novel Rivington Street, about a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, is set at this address.

125: The building with Rivington Guitars used to be Eisler's Golden Rule Hall, which housed meeting rooms for religious, labor and radical gatherings. Earlier, this address was the African Free School No. 4, one of several founded by John Jay's Manumission Society to promote the abolition of slavery.

127: Botanica San Lazaro, named for St. Lazarus, a patron of healing, who in Cuba is associated with the African deity Babalu Aye. Also at this address is Dash Dogs, a hot dog joint with offerings like The Bug and The Infamous Stoned.

129 (corner): Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop moved here from next door. Was Lower East Side Locksmith.

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North:

118: The Magician, bar with the same owner as Tile Bar. Named for an Ingmar Bergman movie, it's a popular spot for birthday parties.

120: Festival Mexicano restaurant, noted for its chicken avocado soup

Schapiro's Wine Cellars

126: The Schapiro family has been making kosher wine since 1899--at this location from 1908. They seem to have moved their operations upstate, though.

128: Used to be Gallery 128, a performance space.

Corner: New York Mortgage Bankers Ltd.

South:

131 (corner): Schiller's Liquor Bar, a "bohemian" restaurant from the owner of Balthazar. Noted for its cozy, semi-coed bathroom. It seems to be the model for Cafe Berkman, the restaurant managed by Eric Cash, the main character in Richard Price's novel Lush Life.

Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center

Corner (107 Suffolk): Once P.S. 160, this striking neo-Gothic building from 1898 is now an arts center, featuring theaters, a gallery and film facilities. Launched in 1994 by writer Ed Vega, the center is named for a prominent Puerto Rican poet and independence advocate.

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South:

149: Centro de Medicos

151: Home of NoizGuild, promoters of noise music. In the basement is 151, an unmarked bar.

153: Loisaida Cafe, a home away from home.

155: Belly, beer, wine and sake bar

157: Porcupine Tattoo

159: Lindemann Pharmacy, since 1898

Corner (79 Clinton): Falai Panetteria, bakery and coffee shop. This was the address of Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum, the most successful fence in New York history. From 1862 until 1884, the 250-pound woman reportedly handled between $5 million and $10 million in stolen property; her home here, upstairs from the haberdashery that served as her front, was said to be as elegantly appointed as any of the mansions her furniture was stolen from. She was supposed to have run a school for young pickpockets on Grand Street, near police headquarters.

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North:

Streit's Matzos

148-154 (corner): Aron Streit began his matzo business in 1910; it moved here in 1925, where the matzos and other kosher products are still made. Now run by Streit's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

ABC No Rio

156: An arts and activism collective, and an internationally known punk venue. Founded in 1980 by Colab (Collaborative Projects), it took its name from a sign with missing letters that read "Ab[ogado] C[on] No[ta]rio"--"lawyer and notary public." It recently raised enough money to buy its building.

158: Alife Rivington Club is a secret shoe shop for sneaker cultists. This building, originally a bank, used to house Wittmayer Photographers, a portrait studio whose neon sign read "GUS PHOTO STUDIOS." The company, founded in 1898, was earlier based in the ABC No Rio building; it left the Lower East Side in 1981.

Corner (71 Clinton): Fat Hippo, stylish comfort food. Was 71 Clinton Fresh Food, said to have started the phenomenon of Clinton Street as a gourmet destination--it had the best food on the Lower East Side, according to Zagat.

South:

Corner (76 Clinton): Alias, snazzy restaurant disguised as a bodega. An offshoot of 71 Clinton, but slightly cheaper.

169: Nubia Hair

175: Nvision Arts Thrift Store & Gallery

177: N.Y. Pawnbrokers

179 (corner): A four-story green residential building from 2002, designed by Paul Castrucci.

S <===         ATTORNEY ST

P.S. 142: Amelia Castro School

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

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North:

Corner (72 Clinton): Cibao restaurant

170: Clinton Street Pizza

172: Estilo Tapiceria, furniture repair

174: Sho Time Barber Salon

176: Miracle Clothing

P.S. 140: Nathan Straus School

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.

South:

203 (block): This was once P.S. 4-- now expensive housing.

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North:

202: El Viejo Negro ("The Old Black"), a restaurant. This was the childhood address of Genya Ravan, a Jewish refugee from Poland who became lead singer of Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the original all-female rock band.

202B: Los Amigos Fishing & Hunting Club, "Members Only"

206: La Boriquena Meat Market

208: Tasty Munches, unique sesame pizzas

210: Revolver was PotLuck, neighborhood bar, previously the lesbian-oriented girlsclub, and before that Infrared Lounge

Corner (83 Pitt): Estevez Supermarket

Samuel Gompers Houses

Block (60-100 Pitt): These twin, 20-story public housing towers were built in 1964 and named for the former cigarmaker who was president of the American Federation of Labor for all but two years between 1886 and 1924.

Along the path of Rivington in the project is the Grand Street Settlement--a settlement house started in 1916.

South:

Baruch Houses

A massive housing project built mostly in 1959 and designed by Emery Roth & Sons; more than half a century earlier, Roth planned the Adath Jeshurun synagogue at the other end of Rivington. The complex, which includes 18 towers, is named for financier and presidential advisor Bernard Baruch.

283: This was the address of Grand Street Settlement, a community group originally on East Broadway, from the late 1930s until 1976. They're now nearby on Pitt Street.

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North:

280: DeWitt Reformed Church; the AIA Guide praises this simple red brick building from 1957 for its "rustic and humane charm."