Café Wha?/The Players Theatre 115 Macdougal, between Bleecker and W 3rd, New York, NY -Minetta Lane 6 - 8

“Since the 1950s the Café Wha? has been a favorite hot spot cornered in the heart of Greenwich Village. The 60s was an impressionable and revolutionary era. Artists of the time frequented the Café Wha? as it was known to be a sanctuary for talent; Allen Ginsberg regularly sipped his cocktails here. The Café Wha? was the original stomping ground for prodigies Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. Bruce Springsteen, Peter, Paul & Mary, Kool and the Gang, as well as comedians, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby also began their road to stardom on this historic stage. The Café Wha? encompassed the Beat Generation and continues to hold tight to its spirit, entertaining all walks of life.

Today, the Café Wha? showcases amazing talent with the three greatest house bands in New York City. Monday nights feature Brazooka, a completely authentic Brazilian dance band sprinkled with Jazz and Samba. Disfunktiontakes on Tuesdays with soul music, radiating the roots of R&B and Funk. What about the Café Wha? House Band? Wednesday thru Sunday they will satisfy your every need for sound, hitting on all styles of music; Motown, Reggae, R&B, and Classic/ Alternative/ Modern rock.

Every night at the Café Wha? is a party. You never know which famous musician will show up and sit in with one of these incredible bands. The New York Times raves, “Power house talent - you'd be hard-pressed to find a more exhilarating evening out." The Café Wha? is a stop you have to make whether you are living or just visiting New York City.”

“Built in 1907 and converted into a theatre in the late 1940's, the Players Theatre has been a jewel in the midst of beautiful Greenwich Village, serving as a magnet for performing artists and their audiences. The theatre has been home to such long run productions as An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Psycho Beach Party and Ruthless starring an 8yr old Brittany Spears, Natalie Portman and Legally Blonde the Musical’s Laura Bell Bundy.”

“115 (corner): A long-running Greenwich Village club where Bob Dylan had his first NYC gig, and Jimi Hendrix gained fame. Peter, Paul & Mary, Kool and the Gang and Bruce Springsteen are also claimed as former performers, along with comedians Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby.”

1 Additional Websites: http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2009/08/cafe-wha-whys-wheres-whos-and- hows.html This website offers a good history of the place, as well as some great old photographs. According to a post left my a user, the current location, the one listed above, actually opened in 1966, after Bob Dylan was through playing for Wha? moving from another place up the street. http://www.nyc.com/bars_clubs_music/cafe_wha.52180/editorial_review.aspx Picture 115 MacDougal:

It significance is its current use.

Beyond the building’s occupation by Café Wha? additional research needs to be done to determine the use and history of the building prior to the 1960s.

Reason for Consideration of 115 MacDougal:

As shown above, Café Wha? and The Players Theatre have a significant entertainment history that is well documented. An additional reason for its consideration, however, is that with its Minetta Lane facing side door, it might also provide the opportunity to discuss the theatres that once lined the Minettas. As the theaters are no longer there, so too are there no longer any physical remains that can be tied to “Little Africa” which used to be based in the Minettas. I feel the story of freed Dutch slaves owning the property in the area is an important story to tell. I also feel that their co-mingling with the immigrant communities as they moved into the area should be addressed. By a very creative stretch, I feel like this might be possible through a plaque’s placement at Café Wh

2 Kenny’s Castaways 157 Bleecker Street NYC. 10012 917•475•1323

“ Kenny's Castaways located at 157 Bleecker Street has seen its share of history. The building, No. 157 has been a part of New York history since the 1820's. James McCabe, author of Lights And Shadows Of New York Life, noted as early as 1872 that Bleecker Street was the headquarters of Bohemianism and the New York paper The Press in 1890 noted The Slide, located in the basement of no. 157 Bleecker Street was the wickedest place in New York. More or less untouched since the 1820's, The Slide remains in existence today as Kenny's Castaways. Much of the interior is still recognizable from the 1891 drawing and description in The Herald newspaper which states "a high barroom in the front with a stamped tin ceiling and a dance floor and orchestra at the back, flanked by two staircases to the right and left that lead up to a gallery." The ceiling, woodwork, and ceramic tile floor are all 19th century. During a recent renovation of the basement, small rooms with old plasterwork, doors, and plank boards were discovered. The boards had writing and drawings on them depicting small women, large women, arrows, sheets, and prices. They were evidence of its former self as a brothel and these boards are on display at Kenny's.” “In 1967, Patrick Kenny arrived on the scene and created the legendary club Kenny's Castaways. Patrick, my father, became a spiritual father to many of the musicians who came in droves to Bleecker Street to cast their fortune and tell their story.” “We would like to thank all the musicians who have performed here...Mark Knopfler, The New York Dolls, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nile, Steve Forbert, The Marshall Tucker Band, Steven Van Zandt, Rod Stewart, Billy Squire, Johnny Winter, Professor Longhair, Danny Gatton, The Fugees, Fishbone, Yoko Ono, Shawn Colvin, Mink Deville, Maynard Ferguson, Paul Winter, John Prine, Steve Earle, Phish, The Smithereens, Lil Buster, South Side Johnny, Ace Freeley, Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers, Ray Davies, Patti Scialfa, Kris Kristopherson, Ricky Lee Jones, John Peel, The Straubs, Jack Sonni, Jeff Healy, Joan Osborne, Lynard Skynard, Odetta, Doc Pomus, Suzanne Vega, Blues Traveler, Uptown Horns, Gary US Bonds, Chris Spedding, Georgia & The Satellites, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Bruce Springsteen, Otis Blackwell, Rita Coolidge, Spin Doctors, Clancy Brothers, Phoebe Snow, Dr. John, Charlie Daniels Band, Tommy Makem, Hound Dog Taylor...and many, many more.”

“157: Rock club established in 1967.Legends ranging from Aerosmith to Patti Smith have played here. Bruce Springsteen and the New York Dolls both played early shows here; it was Phish's first New York City gig. The building housed The Slide, notorious gaslit gay scene;NY Herald reported "orgies beyond description," which seemed to involve men dressed as women offering to have sex for money. Closed by police in 1892.” Additional Websites: http://societeperrier.com/new-york/articles/kennys-castaways-up-for-sale/ According to this website, as of 4-17-12, Kenny’s Castaways has been up for sale by the Kenny family. http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2007/12/friday-night-fever-slide-kennys.html This website offers a good history of the place. It also has a Kenny family member responding as a user clarifying some of the dates. For instance the Bleecker location did not open until 1074, after a location at 84th street had its lease run out. http://nypress.com/lost-in-place/ A Gay Old Time in Greenwich Village 157 Bleecker Street: The Slide, short piece.

3 Picture 157 Bleecker:

The Slide, owned by Frank Stevenson

“None of these were considered as bad as Frank Stevenson’s Slide located in the basement of no. 157. The Press characterized the Slide as not only the “lowest and most disgusting place on this thoroughfare,” but “the wickedest place in New York.” The Slide was especially popular with what gay historian George Chauncey has called “fairies”: described by The Press, in derisive terms typical of the time, as men who were “not worthy the name of man…effeminate, degraded and addicted to vices which are inhuman and unnatural.’” -Dolkart South Village report 57-58.

Extensive research and reference to The Slide can be found : http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY %20Herald%201892/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201892%20-%200083.pdf A pdf of the New York Herald from January 1892 http://books.google.com/books?id=q3_LrYKziVgC&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=Frank+Stevenson's +The +Slide&source=bl&ots=zHrqvCC8Pn&sig=7FydW9_OBDZq3SOWRbvxo9yFlVg&hl=en&sa=X&ei= wc_9T-3GO8i-6QHG3pWABw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Frank%20Stevenson's%20The %20Slide&f=false Google book of Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality By Jonathan Ned Katz, Chapter 20, Men Given to Unnatural Practices +Notes on pgs 384-385; all looking at the Slide http://books.google.com/books?id=NNHGuVdPELYC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=At+Midnight+in+the +Slide.+New+York+Herald,+January +5,+1892&source=bl&ots=6Oao6TAIcQ&sig=Nn2kT6dMOs4_MXbf_zA5KvLni58&hl=en&sa=X&ei =W9L9T-e6AuTo6wHD8uH9Bg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=At%20Midnight%20in %20the%20Slide.%20New%20York%20Herald%2C%20January%205%2C%201892&f=false Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Makings of the Gay Male World, By George Chauncey

4 Reason for Consideration of 157 Bleecker:

Out of all of the sites, this has become the one that I feel is most deserved of a plaque. The building remains a bar and entertainment venue, as it has been since the late 19th century. It is the original location of Frank Stevenson’s The Slide and therefore is a tangible link to the history of the “long lane of corruption and drunkenness” that was once Bleecker Street that can serve as a representative of the bars and saloons that once shared the street. The Slide is the epitome of the bohemian atmosphere of the South Village at the turn of the century and early 20th century. The Slide gained notoriety as “one of the first gay-oriented nightspots to gain citywide attention,”1 and so provides the chance discuss the history of the LGBT community.

It provides the opportunity to speak not only about that point in Bleecker Street’s history, but also an opportunity to discuss the notorious saloon keeper Frank Stevenson and his other infamous establishment The Black and Tan Club. Discussion of the The Black and Tan Club opens the door for another important discussion on race relations in the South Village at the turn of the century. As discussed in both Dolakrt’s South Village Report and Brown’s The Italians of the South the immigrant population and the African American community readily mixed and mingled in the South Village, with the Italians taking over what had once been known as “Little Africa.” As alluded to in its names, The Black and Tan Club was an establishment that allowed all races of people to enter, and was one of reasons for its notoriety. This is its blurb from the New York Songlines website:

“153 (corner): Was the address of The Black and Tan Club, "the bloodiest boudoir around," according to New York Unexpurgated. The basement bar was run by Frank Stephenson, "a corpselike figure with a personality to match.... Crazy Lou, a famous local harlot derived from Boston society, mingled here... even in retirement. For one month after her body was found in the East River, Frankie set up her customary glass of whiskey at her regular table...and absolutely nobody could sit there till 2:00 A.M." The club got its name from its mixed-race clientele. “

Though The Slide provides more than enough history to draw upon, the establishment that now occupies the space is famous in its own right. Kenny’s Castaways is a rock club that gave start to many of famous musician and group from about 1967 onwards. According to their website, and numerous other sources, Kenny’s was the first stop for bands such as Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen on their way to fame. According to the sources, the Kenny family maintained many features of The Slide, including the long bar. They also saved and displayed wall panels from the basement that indicate the building’s past life as a brothel.

1 http://nypress.com/lost-in-place/

5 Mills House no. 1 160 Bleecker Street NY, NY

“Mills House No.1 located at 160 Bleecker Street NY, NY was designed by architect Earnest Flagg in the 1800’s as a men’s hotel. This is the only survivor of a group of three men’s hotels from the late 1800’s built by Mills in New York City. The hotel was built in accordance with the 1879 Tenement House Law known as the ‘Old Law.’ It offered clean, safe, lodging and it closed during the day to encourage men to find work. This block-wide building contained over 1,500 single rooms, today it has 189 luxury Co-op units. The building has two signature identical massive 10 story interior air shafts that are covered with skylights. Hence the name, “The Atrium.” With two 60-square foot ventilation shafts penetrating a structure that occupies four city lots, this building exemplifies Flagg’s main proposals for changes in the zoning laws. A major lobbyist for housing reform, Flagg might have been inspired by the layout of the Dakota [1884], or by the apartment buildings he had seen in Paris during his studies abroad. The legendary Jazz Showcase named the Village Gate also was located in this building for over 30 years. Currently, it is a CVS with “The Village Theater” located below, Knickerbocker Village NY real estate and management firm is holding 5000 Sq feet of office space located at 189 Sullivan st entrance. Description provided by Matat Khatamov”

“Mills House No. 1 Block: This structure was built in 1896 by philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills as apartments for single homeless men; Ernest Flagg was the architect. Novelist Theodore Dreiser stayed here for 20 cents a night. Later The Greenwich, a seedy hotel where Allen Ginsberg lived in 1951. Converted in 1976 to the decidedly less downscale Atrium apartments. 162: Movie Poster Gallery. Also a bar of some sort. 160: Entrance to the Atrium apartments. 158: Village Theaterspace was Art D'Lugoff'sVillage Gate, legendary jazz showplace from 1957 to 1993; home of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. (Note sign on corner of building.) Later the club Life. Bob Dylan wrote ''A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall'' in a basement apartment of this building.”

Additional Websites: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/06/realestate/streetscapes-mills-house-no-1- bleecker-street-clean-airy-1897-home-for-1560.html?src=pm “Streetscapes/Mills House No. 1 on Bleecker Street; A Clean, Airy 1897 Home for 1,560 Working Men” NYT article from 1994 that gives a good history of the building from its construction into the 1980’s. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a12680/ LOC historic photograph of the building. https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/mills-house-number-1/ A seedy place to stay in the Village in 1970 http://www.bartleby.com/175/6.html/ An excerpt from Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). The Battle with the Slum. 1902 discussing Mill House No. 1.

6 Picture 160 Bleecker:

The history is its significance. The building is currently the 160 Bleecker apartment building, shared by various commercial establishes at ground level.

“One of the most important experimental housing projects in New York is located in the South Village which replaced Depau Row on the south side of Bleecker Street between Thompson and Sullivan Streets in 1896-97. Mills House was a home for single men funded by banker and philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills and designed by housing reformer Ernest Flagg. Typifying model housing projects sponsored by the city’s elite, Mills House was not a charitable building project; rather Mills ran the home as a business, but he expected only a limited profit. Mills House consisted of two ten-story, fireproof brick blocks with concrete floors. These buildings surrounded a fifty-foot square light court. Inside there were 1,500 tiny bedroom cubicles, each 5 x 7 feet and lit by a single window facing either a street or the court. The rooms were to be used only for sleeping, with residents at work during the day (they were forbidden to use their rooms between 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.). Amenities included a sitting room with palms; restaurants; reading and smoking rooms; a self-service laundry; and baths and washrooms. On the exterior, the building is faced in light-colored brick, with the windows arranged in groups of six. Flagg’s French training is evident in the cartouches over the entrances and in the monumental cornice supported by wrought-iron brackets. The building was heard but not designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966. Mills House has two additions – one, at 183-185 Sullivan Street, is a six-story building designed by Flagg in 1897, and the other, at 183-185 Thompson Street, is a seven- story structure designed in 1907 by J. M. Robinson. Mills House is now a condominium known as the Atrium; needless to say, its small cubicles were combined as part of the conversion in the mid-1970s. While Mills House No. 1 has been extensively researched and is a well-known example of reform housing efforts at the turn of the twentieth century’” -Dolkart South Village report 39-41.

7 Reason for Consideration of 160 Bleecker:

The reason I think this building should be recognized can be seen in the extensive research that many have already conducted on the building. I included it on this list after walking past the building and noticing that there was not already, shockingly to me, a plaque recognizing its significance. It is an extant reminder of the late 19th century reform movement and has an interesting history in terms of its purpose and the way it was run.

8 Mori’s Restaurant/ Bleecker Street Cinema 144-146 Bleecker Street

“Mori's Restaurant (1884 - 1938) was a landmark Greenwich Village eating establishment which featured Italian cooking. It became bankrupt during the aftermath of the Great Depression. Founded by Placido Mori, the business had been located at 144 - 146 Bleecker Street (Manhattan) since it opened in 1884. It survived the Prohibition era and the worst years of the depression, when it was temporarily padlocked. The restaurant began as a small bar and eatery and expanded to fully occupy a "rambling, old-fashioned" five-story building near Sixth Avenue (Manhattan). Placido Mori filed a petition for bankruptcy in January 1938, stating that the corporation had no assets and liabilities totaling $70,000. The building formerly occupied by Mori's Restaurant was sold by Caroline Bussing through A.Q. Orza, broker, in October 1943. In 1920 Mori gave fledgling American architect Raymond Hood room, board, and the job of re-decorating the restaurant, critical help to the young Hood. Mori's gravesite in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is marked with a sculpted memorial designed by Hood and sculptor Charles Keck.”

“Mori was a popular Italian restaurant at the corner of Bleecker and Laguardia. The facade retained its classic looks until a couple years ago when Duane Reade took over. Even then, the window frames, columns, lintels, circular railings and top windows are the same. Duane Reade destroyed the set back off the street and the large ground floor windows, which were still intact pre '06. Lenny of Something Special was married here. The top pic was taken by Bernice Abbott, 1935.” “Originally two Federalist era townhouses, the facade of the building was redesigned for Mori's Italian restaurant by Raymond Hood in 1920. The restaurant went out of business in 1938. The building hosted a variety of tenants until 1962. In that year the Bleecker Street Cinema, an indie art house, beloved in its era, opened in the building. After the cinema closed, a series of music venues occupied the building including the Elbow Room (06) and Nocturne, as well as Kim's Underground Video (RIP). Most all of these businesses departed the location due to rising rents. It's an eternal New York story”

146: The Elbow Room. Formerly Bleecker Street Playhouse; originally Mori's, famous Italian restaurant. Facade designed by Raymond Hood (1920), architect of Chicago's Tribune Tower. 144: Kim's Underground, art/foreign/classic/cult videos. Was the Bleecker Street Cinema, where Woody Allen watches old movies in Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Aidan Quinn, playing Madonna's boyfriend, worked in Desperately Seeking Susan.

Additional Websites: http://espanyu.org/nyu-and-environs-2/found-frescoes-144-146-bleecker-street/ A good article on the theater that followed the restaurant. Link to NYT article about the Found Frescoes by Quintanilla. Good old and current pictures of the sight. As well as an update concerning their relocation. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/realestate/streetscapes-the-bleecker-street-cinema-the-lost-frescoes- of-an-artist-soldier.html?src=pm Streetscapes: The Bleecker Street Cinema; The 'Lost' Frescoes Of an Artist-Soldier, by Christopher Gray http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/bleecker-street-cinema/ “movie fanatics who lived in New York in the 50s, 60s, and 70s still bemoan the loss of certain legendary theaters, like Bleecker Street Cinema, which opened in 1962 and closed in 1990.”

9 Picture 144-146 Bleecker:

The history is its significance. The building is currently shared by a Duane Reade and a stationary store.

“One important venue that attracted a variety of uses is the former Mori’s Restaurant at 144-146 Bleecker Street, originally a pair of Federal row houses. In 1883, the ground floor of one of these houses was converted into Mori’s Restaurant by Florentine immigrant Placido Mori. By 1920, one of the residents of the apartments upstairs was the young architect Raymond Hood. Mori had Hood design a new facade for the two buildings. Hood created a conservative Colonial Revival front with a row of columns at the base and carved stone plaques above. Every Friday, Hood, Ely Jacques Kahn, Joseph Urban, and other architects met here for lunch, often bringing guests including Ralph Walker and Frank Lloyd Wright. Mori’s closed in 1938, and the building later served as a theater, a center for anti-fascist organizations, the restaurant Montparnasse, and, for many years as the Bleecker Street Cinema, a major venue for classic, avant-garde, and foreign films, which closed in 1990.” - Dolkart South Village report 70-71 http://news.google.com/newspapers? nid=1955&dat=19340903&id=Xa4hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jpoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4268,483730 Prohibition era reference within an article on Hood and his relationship with Mori.

I included this building for the fact that it is still standing, and much of the original detail added by architect Raymond Hood is still visible. It was, for years, and Italian restaurant owned by and immigrant from Florence, Italy, and therefore can be used as a representative for the Italian immigrant community that formed the base of its home in the South Village. The structure predates the restaurant’s opening in 1883, as it is formed by two federal style houses. The restaurant, Mori’s, resided in that location until 1938, after which the building housed a number of purposes, as can be read above in the passage from the South Village Report, including a center for anti-fascist organizations. That is supported by the finding of frescos by Luis

10 Quintanilla on the walls. See the first two links under additional information to learn more about the fascinating finding, and their eventual restoration and removal to Spain. Another important tenant to the building is the famous Bleecker Street Cinema, which stood as a center for independent films for over thirty years. There are a great number of resources and stories surrounding the Bleecker Street Cinema and its place in the community.

11 Minetta Tavern 113 MacDougal St., New York, NY 10012 (Btw. Bleecker & W. 3rd Street) Tel. 212-475-3850

“Minetta Tavern was opened in Greenwich Village in 1937. The Tavern was named after the Minetta Brook, which ran southwest from 23rd Street to the Hudson River. Over the course of its long history, the Tavern was frequented by various layabouts and hangers-on including Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O'Neill, E. E. Cummings, Dylan Thomas, and Joe Gould, as well as by various writers, poets, and pugilists. Keith McNally, Lee Hanson, and Riad Nasr have worked together since 1997 on three restaurants: Balthazar, Pastis and Schiller's. In March 2008 they became partners in Minetta Tavern. Luckily they are still talking. Since its renovation, Minetta Tavern has best been described as "Parisian steakhouse meets classic New York City tavern."

“As per Eater, Keith McNally’s refit of the Minetta Tavern (at the corner of MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane) will be finished in early 2009 with at least some of the original décor intact. The tavern was the hangout over the years for a host of literary lights, including e.e. cummings, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was also a favorite of Joe Gould—whose life was chronicled by the New Yorker’s Joseph Mitchell—who claimed to be working on his Oral History of Our Time at the bar. Also, when the Minetta Tavern was still a speakeasy (called the Black Rabbit), it rented out its basement to Dewitt and Lila Bell Acheson Wallace who published the first issues of the Reader’s Digest there. The magazine’s entrance was rumored to be through a trapdoor in the tavern. Does that mean they shared space with the Black Rabbit’s illicit booze supply? The first print run of the digest—limited to 5,000 copies—came out in February 1922. By 1923, the Wallaces had moved to Pleasantville, New York, which is still the magazine’s corporate home. Today, the magazine prints over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone and has scores of foreign language versions.”

Corner (113 Macdougal): An Italian restaurant founded in 1937, it was a meeting place for Ezra Pound, e.e. cummings, Ernest Hemingway, etc. Joe Gould worked on his Oral History of the World here; murals depict Village history. Until 1929 it was The Black Rabbit, a speakeasy run by Eve Adams before Eve's Hangout; Eugene O'Neill and Max Bodenheim were customers then. Reader's Digest was founded in the basement in 1923. The restaurant appears in the movie Jimmy Blue Eyes as La Trattoria, a mob-run joint--which is not so far-fetched, given that the owner was busted for running an Ecstasy ring in 2000. In 2008, it was acquired by restauranteur Keith McNally, who planned to switch the menu from Italian to French.

12 Additional Websites: http://thevillager.com/villager_274/hopingthatjoe.html Article addresses the concern over the changes that came with Minetta Tavern being bought and sold in 2008. http://www.pinkpignyc.com/at_the_sign_of_the_pink_p/2009/08/the-minetta- tavern-eating-history.html Some origins information, connections to first beat writers, second to San Remo. Menu. http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2009/10/minettas-gould.html noting the changes wrought by new owners, particularly a missing painting of Joe Gould http://theboweryboys.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html Mad Men Mention. Eve Adams. Joe Gould Picture 113 MacDougal:

The history is its significance.

Though it has been apparently loving restored to its former glory by its new owner, the menu and feel of the place have changed according to numerous sources. The Minetta Tavern first life was apparently a speakeasy whose basement housed the first publication of The reader’s Digest in 1922. As a speakeasy until 1929, it was called the “The Black Rabbit” and owned by Eve Adams, the “Queen of the third sex.” Adams was as a notorious, lesbian, speakeasy owner who would eventually be deported for her scandalous writing. The Minaetta tavern was a stomping ground for many writers of the early 20th century as is noted in the links provided above. The building is still there and in operation as a restaurant under the name Minetta Tavern. It would provide a great place to talk about Eve Adams and the LGBT community that found an early home in the Village, especially since 129 MacDougal, another building connected to Eve Adams was landmarked in 2004. The space has interesting connections to the beginnings of The Reader’s Digest as well as connections to various artists, writers, as well as eccentric regular Joe Gould whose portrait once hung on the wall. Caution may want to be taken however as there are a number of conflicting and not confirmable facts coming to light with the research of specific people associate with the building.

13