A CAST OF CHARACTERS

By Molly Salas it explains what they do or and those who have come According to Randy in an interview with The why they do it. In essence, and gone. Credico, the only reason New York Times that the po- Nestled within Green- not only do the residents he’s not in prison is because lice are far too stringent wich Village, Gay ’s shape Gay Street, but the 12 GAY STREET he’s an upper-middle class about marijuana use on Gay crooked pathway connects environment that Gay Street white man. Throughout his Street, when they should be to Wa- has fostered throughout the life and career, Credico has focusing on catching mur- verly Place, yet remains pri- last 180 years substantially made an effort to reform derers and solving more vate, secluded and serene. shapes its residents. In terms Rockefeller Drug laws and serious problems. Credico As Christopher and Waverly of a whole community, the a justice system he views as calls himself a “politically Place intersect on their own, whole is greater than the inherently racist. Accord- active comedian,” and finds Gay Street does not only sum of its parts, but that ing to him, “He’s dead and it ludicrous that the small- serve as a redundant inter- doesn’t mean the parts are mediary between these two entirely insubstantial. points of interest. BETTY COMPTON, Rather, its crookedness EVERYWHERE Actress adds character to the Vil- Notorious for being the lage, not only deviating from HORSES mistress of Mayor Jimmy the grid but also Walker, Betty Compton was deviating from the notion of an English actress who per- perfectly straight city blocks: formed on . Con- the sudden wonky turn ob- venient to Jimmy Walker’s scures the northernmost apartment on St. Luke’s end of the street from view Place, the corner apartment almost entirely. at 12 Gay Street was well- he’s still destroying lives, Mr. est street in Manhattan, ac- As far as Gay Street is con- known. After Jimmy Walker Rockefeller is.” cording to him, “nabs more cerned, the importance of fled the country to Europe From his early beginnings people per capita than any what goes unseen is tanta- after corruption charges as a stand-up comedian, block in the city. Right here mount to the overall charac- When Washington were brought against him, he originally began doing on Gay Street.” terization of Gay Street as a Square opened in 1826, he and Betty Compton were impressions of politicians, As Gay Street often seems whole: its characters, those New Yorkers began to traf- married in 1936, when they and appeared on The Tonight empty and quiet, it makes who have come and gone as fic much adopted a child together Show with Johnny Carson. He sense that marijuana us- residents of Gay Street work more heavily than ever and returned to New York, can often be seen “wearing ers might use the block as a together to create a rich nar- before, making it soon ap- this time living on the Upper cowboy boots (for height), place where it would not be rative of daily life. parent that there would be East Side. They divorced in jeans and a tired sport suspect to light up. “People Whether real or fictional, a need for a place to store 1941, and Compton died of jacket above a rumpled tie come over here thinking human or animal, the char- their horses while they were breast cancer in 1944. that, once he reaches his of- since it’s off the beaten path acters of Gay Street have, in out frolicking in the park or 13 GAY STREET fice, will be dumped on the that it’s a place, it’s a haven one way or another, shaped enjoying an afternoon in the floor,” (Finn). to smoke pot. It’s just the the essence of the street and Village. RANDY CREDICO, Recognized within the opposite,” Credico says. contribute to the story of In order to accommodate Politically Active Comedian stand-up community, Ran- His outspokenness has got- Gay Street just as Gay Street this need, the passageway dy has been featured in the ten him into trouble in re- contributes to the character that later became Gay Street documentary “60 Spins cent years. In 2008, he tried of Manhattan as a whole. was originally created to be Around the Sun,” and two to interfere with policemen As varied as the newswor- used as stables. The horses articles in The New York arresting some young men thy residents of Gay Street did not live there for long, Times. In the more recent of for using marijuana outside are, from activists to notori- however, as Gay Street was the two “Fending Off Pot his home. Although Credico ous attorneys to authors to officially widened for resi- Smokers on Gay Street,” was arrested for this inter- mistresses, each time they dential use in 1833. Each Credico felt it was time to ference, it has not hindered are mentioned, despite their building on the street was get vocal about drug use on his advocacy for these drug achievements, specific refer- built prior to 1833, and has Randy Credico as the opening act Gay Street. users since. ence is made to the street thus seen the entire residen- on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson A resident of 13 Gay Through comedy clubs they called home, as though tial history of Gay Street Street, Credico is adamant and working outreach to in- fluence drug users to make own space and the way he ly with him to repeal the Why? Because David Ryan better choices, Credico injects his morals into those Rockefeller drug laws. Some lived in the same apartment claims that he “uses the stage around him, including the of his famous clients include as Ruth and Eileen McK- to attack the system.” He is NYPD, allows him to “take Dr. Martin Luther King, enney, which inspired the critical of the ways that po- possession of the sound- Jr., Daniel Berrigan, Lenny collection My Sister Eileen, a lice officers use his street as scape,” to not sit idly while Bruce, Stokely Carmichael, play by the same name, and a loca- those who wan- various members of the At- the musical Wonderful Town! tion to der on his street tica Uprising, Chicago Sev- The New York Times article hit a decide to light en, and the Black Panthers. “Act I, Scene 1: A Basement DR. CRAIG MORRIS, quota up, but to take He worked closely with the in the Village,” featured Mr. Senior Vice-President and Dean of ar- action while ACLU and defended the Ryan and his view of Green- of Science; Curator, Department r e s t s they are there, “Freedom Riders” in 1960. wich Village throughout his of Anthropology at the American a n d and through His use of theatrics over residency there, as well as Museum of Natural History am- the interview, substance, and his radical his advocacy against the b u s h take preventa- views brought him under opening of a PATH train ’s own m i l d tive measures harsh scrutiny by the com- entrance on Waverly near- Indiana Jones, Dr. Craig of- for the future munity, which his daughters by. The article was printed Morris, a former resident fend- (867). Credico’s on December 21, 2003. of 13 Gay Street, served as e r s . arrest in 2008 Ryan died on Christmas day co-curator of the exhibit “Ei- has since got- of that year in a fire in his “Petra: Los City of Stone,” t h e r ten him count- apartment. at the American Museum there’s less interviews Despite living in a literary of Natural History in 2003 a and articles in artifact, David Ryan brought (where Harrison Ford is snitch various newspa- his own story all his own to chased in Indiana Jones and or there’s a camera, I don’t pers, as well as gigs at com- Gay Street. Ryan and his the Last Crusade). Morris know what,” he says. Cred- edy clubs to further spread apartment were described as wasn’t limited to his job as ico’s interview with The New his message through sound. “55 and newly retired from curator-Senior-Vice-Presi- York Times shows his will- As recently as October 27, a career in insurance, [he] dent of Science, however. ingness to create awareness Credico served as the MC was boyish in ripped jeans He has described his par- around a problem he finds for a comedy event regard- and a cable-knit sweater… ticipation in archaeological important, for he is not spe- ing Occupy , in a nest of a room, lined digs as “paradise,” and took cifically discouraging -peo which gave protesters an with velvet and damask and part in the Fisk University ple from lighting up at all, opportunity to let off some chintz, stray bits of statu- civil rights movement. The but rather hoping to raise steam as well as comedians ary, Wedgwood and cande- New York Times article “Al- awareness about the inher- to make conjectures about tried to rectify with the PBS labras, squeeze bottles of ways New Joy to Be Found ent corruption within the the longevity of the move- documentary “Disturb- lighter fluid and an Ingres in Ancient Ruins” describes criminal justice system. ment. All of this was done ing the Universe,” after his print in an impressive gilded Dr. Morris as “tall and slim, Larry David, creator of with a giant marijuana leaf death. Opponents to his frame,” (Green). with round horn-rimmed Seinfeld, suggests, “He actu- to the performer’s right. activism call his answering glasses, Dr. Morris may not ally does something, and Mr. Credico’s Interview Can machine with threats, at- be quite as combative as In- that’s shocking to me… He’s be Found Here. tack his windows with paint diana Jones, but he attacks the only comedian I know pellets, and call him a “self- ancient ruins with compa- who isn’t self centered.” hating Jew.” His office in the rable zest.” Sitting on his stoop, re- basement of 13 Gay Street Dr. Morris’s specialty was counting the events of his is scattered with law books, the Inca of Peru, and was interference with the ar- oriental rugs, and his Por- so enthralled by Peru as a rest and, subsequently, his tuguese water dog, Libby, country that he decided own arrest as a result, con- and was allegedly a stop on He had once been a Ful- to have an apartment and tributes to what Corbould the Underground Railroad. bright scholar and held Bas- transportation in Lima, just would call “an assertion of There, he and Credico work tille Day parties, and lost in case. While Dr. Morris, self through sound” (862) WILLIAM KUNSTLER, together and often Credico a partner to AIDS in the 64 in 2003, has since passed Credico’s morals are clear: Radical Lawyer will answer the phone and 1980s. The unique intersec- away, his legacy lives on help others avoid a sticky William Moses Kunstler pretend to be Kunstler. “He tion of Gay, Waverly and through Gay Street and the situation by telling them not was for a time, America’s would say the damnedest Christopher form a triangle, American Museum of Nat- to break the law (or special- most well-known and con- things,” said Kunstler. He which created a space for a ural History. ly, to not break the law there.) troversial lawyer in the ear- and his two daughters ap- communal garden for the Credico’s protection of his ly 1970s until his death in peared as extras in the film residents of the west side of 2005. He lived “Carlito’s Way,” and his 14 GAY STREET Gay Street and the south of n e x t - d o o r dedication to helping, as Christopher. Ryan adorned to Dr. Craig he described them, “pari- DAVID RYAN his portion of the garden Morris and ahs with the heavy hand of Anti-PATH Demolition Activist with a French flag and two above Randy government on their shoul- David Ryan moved into rainbow flags. Credico at 13 der,” has made an influen- his basement apartment at “I moved here because it Gay Street, tial mark on Gay Street and 14 Gay Street in the early was creative and alive and where Kun- as a whole. 1970s, and would often not ,” he said. stler mentored Today, his wife Margaret wake up to the sound of Ryan adopted the notion Credico and and dog Libby still live at tourists singing songs about that “has always loomed worked close- 13. Ohio outside his window. larger than the actual acre- age that physically defines in the basement of 14 Gay concerted with her lack of on the neighborhood’s dis- in 1936, around the time she the neighborhood,” (Green). Street. The musical changed male companionship, where tillation into ‘’a kind of started becoming outspoken As the author points out, to this fact to show them at she breaks into “One Hun- iconographic shorthand.’’ against McCarthyism and spend a morning with Mr. Christopher Street (“Ain’t it dred Ways to Lose a Man,” A novelist only needed to Communism. Years later, Ryan is to engage in a little where she battles her write ‘then she moved to the she was vocal about her op- time travel: you feel the last wits and intelligence Village,’ ‘’ wrote Mr. Wetz- position to the Vietnam War, days of Village rebellious- against being demure steon, ‘’to evoke an entire and often fueled her writing ness, especially the early and dumb (37). At the set of assumptions -- she’s with autobiographical ex- 70’s, just post-Stonewall end of the play, after a bit rebellious, artistically perience and political sen- ones, and you sense the meeting upon meet- inclined, sexually emanci- timents. About Gay Street, very first Village, too, the ing with editors, and pated and eager to be on she wrote, “Of all the men I early 19th-century hamlet one in particular, Mr. her own.’’ Yet Carlito’s Way slept with in my studio-bed of cow paths and neat brick Bob Baker, getting ar- avoids the concept of the on Gay Street (and there and clapboard houses, now rested with Brazilian Village altogether, perhaps were a lot: I stopped count- crooked with age. Although quaint, ain’t it sweet, pleas- sailors in Brooklyn, Ruth to distance Gail from this ing) I liked Bill Mangold the Mr. Ryan no longer occupies ant and peaceful on Chris- realizes her success is im- notion of emancipation and best. Until I began to see the basement apartment topher Street”) (4). The tour minent, and romance with independence: she needs Philip Rahv,” (Intellectual of 14 Gay Street, a “visual guide starts to read. “Ever Mr. Baker the editor ensues. Carlito to thrive, and this Memoirs). While she moved sensation that lingers after since 1870 Greenwich Vil- After all of the tribulations Village apartment façade out of her Gay Street apart- the stimulus that provoked lage has been the Bohemian and chaos, Ruth and her won’t get in her way. She ment after her marriage it has disappeared” still re- cradle of painters, writers, sister Eileen realize that in essence plays the damsel to James R. West in 1961, mains (Woods). His willing- actors, etc., who’ve gone moving to New York, and in distress, and, surround- her biting prose and strong ness to dive headfirst into on to fame and fortune. specifically the Village, was ed by this cast of involved, political voice lives on in activism against PATH mir- Today in 1935, who knows a great match. While Ohio motivated, members of the through her literature and rors a time-honored Village what future greats live in was comfortable and hom- community on the behalf of her apartment. tradition of protecting the these twisting alleys? Come ey, Ruth and Eileen’s experi- the public good, Gail’s char- integrity and historic char- along!” (4). Ruth, an aspir- ence on Christopher Street acter would be better suited LOOKING acter of Greenwich Village, ing writer, who throughout (but in actuality, Gay Street) living on a more generic FORWARD and will live on. the play is described as the honed the right amount of street, not one with such homelier yet more intelli- camaraderie and neighbor- a rich history of activism. DeCerteau said that “New gent sister, sends her manu- hood relationships while Sure, it’s pretty, but Gail’s York has never learned the scripts everywhere with no at the same time opening presence on the street is an art of growing old by playing success. Eileen, hoping to be them up to new career and uncomfortable juxtaposition on all its past,” (91). While an actress, is often regarded romantic possibilities in a between strong characters this project was not initally as the better looking, boy bigger, more bustling city. (Carlito) and weak charac- intended to turn into a long, crazy sister, and meets men ters (Gail), and as evidenced comprehensive obituary all around the city like it’s 17 GAY STREET by Gay Street, weak charac- of a street, its current resi- nothing. Upon their arrival, ters don’t necessarily fit the dentscan use their example Ruth and Eileen meet all mold. to perpetuate the same spirit sorts of characters around of activism and community. Christopher Street. A phi- 18 GAY STREET The residents of Gay Street losopher carrying a sign know each other, and form saying “Meeting at Union the identity of Gay Street Square” as he yells “Down that “provides a way of con- with Wall Street! Down with ceiving and constructing Wall Street!” (8). A cop, an space on the basis of a finite Italian who owns a restau- number of stable, isolatable, rant, a former professional GAIL FROM CARLITO’S and interconnected proper- football player, a painter, all WAY ties,” (94). Gay Street was a live on Christopher Street The character Gail, from street of lawyers, activists, RUTH AND EILEEN and interact with Ruth and the Al Pacino film Carlito’s actresses, characters and McKENNEY Eileen. Suddenly, they find Way, lives at 17 Gay Street, personalities, but today the Wonderful Town opens on themselves living in a base- but it is very difficult to see residents still share a com- Christopher Street in the ment and paying the steep how. She is portrayed as MARY MCCARTHY mon thread: they work not 1930s. A tour guide leads a rent of $65. Through trib- a dancer for passion but Novelist, Critic only for themselves, but for group across the street, and ulations of underground stripper for money, and the Mary McCarthy was an those around them, both on he’s singing. “On your left, workers blasting out the new film does very little to situ- American author and the- the immediate street and in Washington Square, Right subway (presumably the 1 ate Gay Street as a part of ater critic known for her far- society as a whole. Each in- in the heart of Greenwich train), eating spaghetti ev- the Village and everything left politics and her satiri- dividual part, when the de- Village… My what charm! ery night, the sisters wonder, that implies. In ‘’Repub- cal comments on marriage, tail is amplified, comprises My what grace! Poets “why, oh why, oh why, oh - lic of Dreams; Greenwich intellectuals, and the role the whole, but doesn’t nec- and peasants on Waverly why did I ever leave Ohio?” Village: the American Bo- of women. An outspoken essarily minimize it. Place-“ (4). By way of Ohio, (26). The sisters soon realize, hemia, 1910-1960’’(Simon Trotskyist and anti-Stalinist, Ruth and Eileen move to however, that the hometown & Schuster, 2002), Ross McCarthy moved Greenwich Village, where they left was stifling and the Wetzsteon, a contributing to 18 Gay Street they settle on Christopher city they moved to was full editor at The Vil- Street. Wonderful Town was of possibilities, albeit tak- lage Voice for 32 based on the collection of ing some getting used to. years who died short stories by Ruth McK- While Eileen meets man af- in 1998, mused enney entitled My Sister Ei- ter man, Ruth remains dis- leen, who in real life resided