Hello, Greenwich Village

After  lunching in Chelsea Market, we head to Greenwich Village. Our first stop: the White Horse Tavern (567 Hudson St. @11th Ave.), where the poet Dylan Thomas reportedly drank 18 whiskey shots shortly before his death. We did not try to break his record. One of the oldest pubs in New York, the White Horse Tavern dates to the 1880s and has been frequented by the likes of Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, Anais Nin, and Jim Morrison. Also, Sean Jesse, Melody Dunn, Lauren Tucker, and Madison Camp have been photographed outside of it. By me. On this trip.

After seeing the exterior of the building where Carrie Bradshaw lived in “Sex and the City” (though it was supposed to be several miles away on the Upper East Side) and the Charles Street homes of author/artist Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), poet Hart Crane (The Bridge), Okemah-born singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie (his first lease in NYC), novelist Sinclair Lewis (Babbit), composer Charles Ives, we made our way to the small cul de sac called "Patchin Place." The novelist Theodore Dreiser (Sister Carrie, An American Tragedy) once lived at this address. Though the entrance to the alley is gated, it is unlocked, so we ventured in for a peek. There are only 2 old gas lamps still left in NY - one of them is at the back of the alley (though its electric these days). Looking back down the alley towards the entrance gate, you can see the ornate Victorian Gothic Jefferson Market Library, formerly a courthouse built after the Jefferson Market was leveled in 1873. Beside it: The Jefferson Market Garden, once the site of a women’s prison, where scandalous Broadway legend and Hollywood movie star Mae West was kept (it helped her career).


we dropped in on poet e. e. cummings at #4 patchin place (see above), but he was out. and dead since 1962. mr. cummings lived in common-law marriage with fashion model and photographer marion morehouse from 1924 until his death.  i may have recited the opening lines "anyone lives in a pretty how town . . ." while we were here. the small case letters in this paragraph are a tribute to mr. cummings's signature style. you're welcome, e. e.

After leaving Patchin Place, we walked by the house that was accidentally blown up in 1970 by the 60s radical group The Weathermen during bomb-making practice (oops). Dustin Hoffman lived next door in #16. We also passed the house where Marlon Brando lived when he first moved to New York to take up acting, and the 10th street home where Mark Twain lived between 1900-1901. We strolled down Washington Mews--one of the few genuine cobblestone streets you'll find in New York-- and then arrived at Washington Square Arch.

The Washington Square Arch, modeled after the Arche de Triomphe in Paris, was built in 1892. The first model, created in 1889 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration, was made of wood and papier-mache.


A band of raucous NYC hooligans climbed on these stanchions and generally flaunted norms of civilized society.  The picture above is a testament.  Only later did I realize that we were the hooligans.

After leaving the square, visited the facade of NYU's "Edgar Allan Poe House" (85 W 3rd St). Edgar Allan Poe lived on the third floor at 85 West Third Street in Greenwich Village from 1844 to the early months of 1846. While there, he wrote "The Cask of Amontillado," and revised and published "The Raven." The NYU "Edgar Allen Poe House" is a facsimile of the real house, which was further down the block.

Around the corner, we spotted Cafe Wha?, where Bob Dylan first played when he came in Greenwich Village. Peter, Paul and Mary also played here back when folk music was somewhat (ironically) avant garde, and according to my good friends at Wikipedia, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and Woody Allen played here early in their careers (presumably they did not follow each other on the stage).

I told everyone that iconic the album cover of Dylan's first successful album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (that's the one that leads with "Blowin' in the Wind") featured a photograph taken of him and his girlfriend on Jones Street--which we were looking down at the time.

Two hours after lunching in Chelsea Market, we weren't ready for dinner, so we settled for gelato on Bleecker Street instead at "Grom." "Come una volta" means "the way it used to be."

After gelato, we visited a house where Washington Irving lived in the early 1800s (11 Commerce St.), and then the Narrowest Home in NYC (75 1/2 Bedford St.). The Narrowest Home--less than 10 feet wide--used to be the driveway/carriageway of the home next door, which was built in 1799, making it the oldest in Greenwich Village (though the facade is newer). Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) lived here. So did Cary Grant, apparently.

We saw the house (64 Morton) where John Belushi was living when he died of a drug overdose in 1982, and the Church of St. Luke in the Fields (487 Hudson St.). Built in 1821, St. Luke's is the third oldest church in NY. One of its founders was Clement Clarke Moore who wrote "Twas the night before Christmas." Memorial service for Dylan Thomas was held here in 1953,

"So no one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke; you're broke; your love life's D.O.A. It's like you're always stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year. But I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. I'll be there for you,'cause you're there for me too."

We didn't see Ugly Naked Guy, but Jacob did stand under an oddly shaped pipe.


This plaque at 59 Grove Street reads: "Thomas Paine / Born--1737 / Died--1809 / On this Site."The words at the top read: "The world is my country." The words running down the right side of the plaque read: "To do good is my religion," and those on the left say "All mankind are my brethren." At the bottom of the plaque are the words: "I believe in one God and no more," and below that, in small print: "This tablet was placed on June 9th, 1923 by the Greenwich Village Historical Society." That's an outline of the United States at the top of the plaque, and one of Great Britain and France in the lower left and right corners, respectively.

As we were walking on the High Line back to the Youth Hostel, Sidney told me that her smart phone believed that we had walked over seven miles so far. And we had a lot to go. After checking in at the Chelsea High Line Youth Hostel, we had dinner at the 10th Street Pizza and Cafe, and then checked in to the McKittrick Hotel, where we had a date with adventure.

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