POE BEDDED HERE

Standing on a three-sided plot, fronting Christopher Street and two sides on Waverley Place where it forks off to go in two directions, the Northern Dispensary seems to have been here forever. Built in 1831, it offered health care for Villagers who were too poor to afford visiting physicians. In 1937, it treated Edgar Allen Poe for a cold - male colds were very serious illnesses even then!

The clinic began to offer dental care in 1841, and in recent years limited its services to dentistry. However, the clinic violated the spirit of its charter in 1986 when it refused to provide dental care to AIDS patients, among them Village writer George Whitmore. The city's Human Rights Commission fined the dispensary $47,000 which proved too great a burden for the debt-ridden clinic. In May 1989, the 158 year old institution, the oldest in New York closed its doors forever.

The previous owner, William Gottlieb, drove a beat up station wagon with broken windows, yet after his death in 1999, his collection of properties was valued at $300 million. He was notorious for buying properties and doing nothing with them - his sister Mollie Bender continues the Gottlieb tradition with no apparent plans for the building.

A private deed placed on the property stated that it had to be used to provide medical care to the "worthy poor." However, since the deed is private, it is not clear whether it could be enforced. So its future seems very unclear and in the meanwhile, the building stands eerily empty......

KING AMONG PRINCE'S

At 180 Prince Street, between Sullivan and Thompson Street, is Raoul's, serving french cuisine in authentic left-bank bistro setting. Even after 30 years, Raoul's is very popular and frequented by a well-travelled New York set.

It started in 1975, when two brothers, Guy and Serge Raoul travelled from Alsace to Soho, New York and found a little run down restaurant for sale. They were so poor that they threw nothing out, not even the salt. The booths were already in place and they kept the chairs until they fell apart. Guy turned his Alsatian cooking skills to fine steaks and fish for low prices - even cheaper at the bar.

Serge stood outside on Prince Street, a lonely figure importuning passersby to enter and taste. People began to trickle in from their illegal lofts in the neighborhood. Some came back the next night or the next week and spread the word. More people came....and came back and soon the locals were complaining about the good reviews. The rest, as they say, is New York Bistro history.

Raoul's was a location in the Scorcese film "The Departed".

Raoul's is a seriously good relaxed eatery. Try for a table in the conservatory as it entails being taken through the busy kitchens where you can briefly experience 'the heat in the kitchen'.

Don't miss the sauteed foie gras or the steak au poivre. With the continuing popularity of this establishment, it is advisable to make a reservation.

EDNA'S PLACE

The Cherry Lane Theatre, located at 38 Commerce Street (L-shaped St. between Barrow St and 7th Avenue), is NYC's oldest, continuously running off-Broadway theater. It was built as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a tobacco warehouse and box factory before Edna St. Vincent Millay and other members of the Provincetown Players converted the structure into a theater they christened the Cherry Lane Theater. It opened on March 24, 1924, with the play "The Man Who Ate the Popomack". The Living Theater, Theater of the Absurd, and the Downtown Theater all took root here, and it soon developed a reputation as a place where aspiring playwrights and emerging voices could showcase their work.

A staggering succession of plays have streamed out of this small theater, including the works of such literary luminaries as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O'Neill, W.H. Auden, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Edward Albee, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, and Joe Orton to name but a few. Playhouse Productions have featured an equally illustrious group of actors and directors including John Malkovich, Barbara Streisland, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel, Jerry Stiller, Burl Ives, James Broderick, Tom Bosley (who also worked in the theater's box office), Bob Dylan, Dennis Quaid and Joan Cusack, again only mentioning a few.

A 2008 production of "The American Dream" by Edward Albee

In 1996, Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi revitalised the Cherry Lane Theater and within a year founded a resident non-profit company. Her aim is to "sustain a community of playwrights and supporting artists, both seasoned and new, who provide a social mirror for a diverse, multigenerational audience with their work, much of it experimental in nature."

Undoubtedly, the Cherry Lane Theater is a landmark in Greenwich Village's rich and varied cultural landscape.

KING OF THE BANK ROBBERS

At 644 Broadway (at Bleeker Street) stands the building that used to house The Manhattan Savings Bank (now the Atrium clothing complex) which was the site of the 19th century's biggest bank robbery. Carried out by the King of Bank Robbers, George Leonidas Leslie, on October 27, 1878, with a gang that included such notables as Jimmy Hope, Shang Draper, Red Leary, Johnny Dobbs, Worcester Sam Perris, Banjo Pete Emerson and Eddie Goodie Gearing. They made off with over $2.7 million (over $54 million at today's values); unfortunately for them, all but $12,000 was in non-negotiable bonds.

Leslie was an architect turned robber who was known to both law enforcement and the underworld as a criminal genius. From 1874-1884 it is estimated that Leslie's gang was responsible for 80% of America's bank robberies. During this time he planned and executed over a hundred robberies and stole nearly $12 million ($230 million). In his later years he became a consultant for other robbers but allowed dalliances with two women to distract him from his task. His gang lost faith in his abilities, and on June 4th, 1884 he was found murdered on Tramp's Rock in the Bronx. His murder was never solved. His funeral was paid for by Frederika "Mother" Mandelbaum, better known as Marm, a notorious and much used fence who lived at 79 Clinton Street on the corner of Rivington Street.

WHAT DO THEY TALK ABOUT?

Let me precede this item on NYC Yellow Cabs, by confirming that my experiences of them have, with the exception of just one irritant/puzzlement, been excellent. The drivers are generally most courteous (if you are to them - fair enough), have good knowledge of New York City, and in comparison with my nearest large city at home London, compare most favorably cost-wise.

And my bone of contention? Widespread usage of cell phones by the drivers whilst the taxi is in motion. The growth in this potentially dangerous bad habit has been increasing over the past few years and has now reached the point where a driver not on a cell phone when carrying a fare is the exception rather than the rule. Many of them are on the phone when they pick you up and are still engrossed when they set you down. Considering NYC presents one of the most challenging and difficult driving terrains just about anywhere in the world, it is mind-blowingly disconcerting to have to sit behind a driver gossiping into a cell phone, and therefore not giving his full attention to the road ahead or traffic and pedestrians around them.

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the agency which is legally responsible for licensing and regulating all NYC's yellow cabs and others, expressly prohibits (although not seemingly enforcing) the use of cell phones (Driver Rule 2-25h) and also the use of 'hands-free headsets.' The situation is getting worse - during a yellow cab journey in October 2008, I heard an incoming call tone from somewhere in the front of the cab, and the driver who had been continuously on a cell phone since picking me up said to whoever he was talking to "Hang on a minute, my other phones ringing," and proceeded to have a conversation with the second phone.

What fascinates me is what they find to talk about for all of that time and whether the fares they earn are outstripping their cell phone call charges?

THE STATE OF THE UNION

Its name of Union Square Park does not celebrate the federal union but rather denotes the fact that "here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of Manhattan and the confluence of several trolley lines, as in the term "union station." In 1815, by act of the state legislature, this potter's field (cemetry for the unknown and the poor) became public commons for the city.

Union Square is noted for its impressive equestrian statue of George Washington, by Henry Kirke Brown and unveiled in 1856, the first public sculpture erected in NYC since the equestrian statue of George III in 1770, and the first American equestrian sculpture cast in bronze. Other statues in the park include the Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln and the James Fountain, a Temperance fountain with the figure of Charity who empties her jug of water, aided by a child. A newer addition is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the southwest corner of the park, added in 1986, to mark Union Square's history of social activism.

The park has historically been the start or the end point for many political demonstrations. In 1861, soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, it was the site of a patriotic rally of perhaps a quarter of a million people that is thought to have been the largest public gathering in North America up to that time. Union Square is, and was, a frequent gathering point for radicals of all stripes to make speeches or demonstrate. On September 5, 1882, in the first Labor Day celebration, a crowd of in excess of 10,000 workers paraded up Broadway, and filed past the reviewing stand in Union Square.

In the days and weeks following the appalling events of September 11, 2001, Union Square became a primary public gathering point for mourners. People created spontaneous candle and photograph memorials in the park and vigils were held to honor the victims.

In 1978, the Council on the Environment of NYC established the Greenmarket program, which provided regional small farmers with opportunities to sell their produce in open-air markets in the city. The most famous and successful is the Union Square Greenmarket, held Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday, and Saturdays between 8am and 6pm year round attracting 250,000 customers a week who purchase 1,000 varieties of fruit, vegetables, plants and related items.

Union Square is also well known for its Christmas market, which is held November 23 through until December 24th. Temporary kiosks are filled by over 100, artisans, who sell items ranging from candles and perfumes to knitted scarves and high-end jewelry.

TANKS FOR THE MEMORY

New York has a lot of famous landmarks, but the humble, ubiquitous water tower is, perhaps, the true symbol of the city and the overriding memory that remains in most visitors minds forever after leaving NYC. These workhorses of water supply are found all over New York City, ensuring an adequate supply of drinking water to the city's population.

There is an extraordinarily large concentration of small water towers dotting the city's rooftops with recent estimates suggesting that there are over 10,000 water towers in the city, with over 100 built or replaced each year. There are only two large companies that build them, both of which have been competing since the 19th century.

Each tank is custom-built for the building it serves and is designed to hold an adequate capacity of water for the day. At night, more water is pumped into the tower for use the next day. Some buildings hide their towers within enclosures, but most expose them for all the world to see, often on platforms above the roof surface. The rooftops of southern Manhattan are dotted with many visible examples of this form.

The towers are needed because of the city's weak gravity-driven water supply. Water to NYC is provided through a 19th century system of aqueducts fed by various reservoirs. This system relies on gravity to deliver water and since it doesn't use any moving parts, this design has aged extremely well. However, the designers didn't envisage there would be many tall buildings in New York and to overcome the weak gravity-drive, any building over six storeys needs a water tower to ensure adequate pressure to every floor. By placing the water supply on the roof, buildings are able to use gravity to increase their water pressure.

Water towers have been appreciated as a whimsical aspect of the NYC skyline for well over 60 years now and there is just something mildly comical about seeing a modern stone and glass edifice with a pokey little water tower perched on the roof.

SAFE HOUSES?

The Old Town Bar (opened 1892) 45, East 18th St. between Broadway & Park

The Ear Inn (building dates from 1817, Inn from 1850) 326, Spring Street.

The Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden (1892) 24th Avenue just west of 31st in Astoria

McSorley's (below) exists today, as a valuable reminder of NYC's rich heritage particularly in the area first populated by the immigrant explosion, primarily because the operators of the business own their own freehold. In the country which symbolises free enterprise, it is incongruous to criticise the right of an individual or corporation when action is taken to maximise the value of an asset, whether it be increasing rents or redevelopment. However, over the years many traditional businesses have been forced to close down for precisely these reasons thus depriving future generations of an insight into their origins.

It is believed that the three traditional, atmospheric and historic watering holes above, along with McSorley's, have freehold owner/operators, and hopefully will be around for many years to come.

"I WAS SITTING IN McSORLEY'S.......

McSorley's Old Ale House is the oldest Irish Tavern in NYC, located at 15 East 7th Street in the East Village. It was one of the last of the 'Mens Only' pubs. It opened its doors in 1854 and ever since has been a gathering place, a watering hole, the subject of art and literature and even a Supreme Court controversy. Women were not allowed in until 1970 when the National Organization for Women attorney's Faith Seidenberg and Karen DeCrow took their case to the District Court and won. It did so "kicking and screaming."

McSorley's serves only two ales, light and dark - $4.50 for two (2007 pricing), each glass is half a pint. The aged artwork, newspaper articles covering the walls, the sawdust floors, and the Irish waiters and bartenders help to give McSorley's Old Ale House an atmosphere that many consider reminiscent of 'Olde New York.' No piece of memorabilia has been removed from the walls since 1910. Much historical paraphernalia exists in the bar, like Houdini's handcuffs, which are connected to the bar rail. Also one must take notice of the wishbones hanging above the bar. Story has it that they were hung there by boys going off to World War I and when they came back they would remove them, so those that are left are from the men who did not return.


Famous people have frequented McSorley's, including Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Boss Tweed, and Woody Guthrie. Literary figures like Brendan Behan, Paul Blackburn, LeRoi Jones, Gilbert Sorrentino, George Jean Nathan were regulars. McSorley's was the focus of several articles by New Yorker author Joseph Mitchell and included in his much acclaimed collection of NYC stories "Up in the Old Hotel."

Two of McSorley's most famous mottos include "Be Good or Be Gone", and "We were here before you were born". Prior to the 1970 Supreme Court ruling, the motto was"Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies." The raw onions can still be had as part of the famous McSorley's cheese platter. The prime condiment is some extremely spicy hot mustard found on each table in a beer mug.

...DRINKING THE ALE, WHICH NEVER LETS YOU GET OLD"

From poem by Edward Estlin Cummings (1884-1962)

LEGAL SCANDALS

The Potter Building at 38 Park Row

Park Row is located in the Financial District and was previously called Chatham Street, and during the late 19th century it was nicknamed Newspaper Row, as most of NYC's newspapers located here to be close to the action at New York City Hall.

The Potter Building, is the second to go by that name. The first, home to the New York World, went up in flames in 1882. Mr Potter smartened up with his replacement structure. It's the first building in New York to have used fireproof cast and pressed terracotta in its ornamental facade and the first to use a structural steel framework. And Mr Potter was right - 126 years later, it is still standing.

It will be noticed that nowadays the ground floor is a Starbucks coffee shop and like many of their locations below 14th Street, is loaded with history.

Being so close to City Hall, the Potter Building was chock full of lawyers. And where you find lawyers, you find scandal. The annals of New York history seem to be replete with stories of 38 Park Row legal eagles being indicted and jailed, or committing suicide before the authorities had a chance to do so.

There was 38 Park Row lawyer Herbert Valentine, who shot himself in the head in his hotel on Broadway in 1905. In 1915, "lawyer-actor" (whatever the dickens that is) Lorlys Elton Roger caused some women a whole lot of trouble with his serial philandering resulting in his rejected mistress poisoning and strangling her two children but botching her attempt at suicide with bichloride of mercury. The mistress Ida Sniffen Walters-Rogers was tried for the death of her two kids and committed to a institution for the criminally insane. Roger was divorced by his real wife and indicted as a white slaver.

Another curious happening was when in 1902, Mrs Frederick Keating, wife of wealthy 38 Park Row attorney Keating, was arrested by a store detective at B Altman, for shoplifting. At first she denied shoplifting but then confessed. She blamed her transgression on "The Girl and the Judge," a play by Clyde Fitch she had seen on Broadway a few weeks before, in which the central character was an aging mother who shoplifted. "Ever since I've been unable to keep myself from stealing anything I could carry away from the stores." It was a good job that she hadn't seen "Irma la Douce"! Relatives said she was suffering from "nervous prostration."

HOUSE OF DEATH

14 West 10th Street (near Fifth Avenue)

New York City, has more than its fair share of 'Ghost' stories and haunted buildings, and that is hardly surprising given its tumultuous history. From early 1800's to but a few years ago, this city experienced a massive explosion of immigrant led population growth, squalor, criminality, violence, poverty, depravity and wretchedness. A myriad of human tales of misery and hopelessness were played out in the teeming streets and buildings of New York City, so its little wonder that the odd 'spirit' defiantly persists to remind us of the past.

This classic brownstone was constructed in the 19th century and is believed to be haunted by the 22 people who have died in the house, as well as Mark Twain. Twain, who lived here from 1900-1901, is rumoured to haunt the stairwell in the house. In addition, criminal attorney Joel Steinberg lived in the house in 1987 when he was accused and later convicted of the brutal murder of his 6-year-old adopted daughter Jessica Steinberg.

There are many other 'ghostly' tales to be told and I will bring some of these to you in the future.

PIER 45

Pier 45, seen here from an apartment roof, stretching majestically into the Hudson River, is part of the Hudson River Park which runs along the west side of Manhattan offering greens for sunbathing, free concerts, and a wide range of outdoor activities. The 850-foot pier is in Greenwich Village (at the western end of Christopher Street) is NYC's most picturesque pier for sunbathing and free activities. Amenities include shade structures, lots of seating areas and a stretch of grass lawn that has become a favorite spot for sunbathing and display of the 'body beautiful'.

Very nearby you can grab food and refreshments at Regatta Cafe or catch the NYC Water Taxi and find comfort in the usually well kept restrooms. During the Summer the Hudson River Park Trust sponsors free concerts of varied genres of music.

Sometimes called 'Queer Pier'

Being at the end of Christopher Street does result in attracting gay users but having used Pier 45 on many occasions, my family and I have not found this to be in the least bit disconcerting. In fact, it does not in any way detract from the excellent facilities, views of the Hudson River, shipping, and New Jersey shoreline and overall enjoyment factor. It has to be - given the weather of course - one of NYC's cheapest (free if you don't use the cafe) leisure spots. SSh - don't tell everybody!

WAS SID....VICIOUS HERE?

Hotel Chelsea, at 222, West 23rd. Street nr. 7th Avenue, is one of the city's most notorious landmarks, a hotspot brimming with character even as it sinks into old age. It has long been a center of artistic and bohemian activity and it houses artwork by many of the artists who have visited. The 12 storey red-brick 'Preserved' status building that now houses the Hotel Chelsea was built in 1883 and opened a year later as a private apartment cooperative; it was the tallest building in New York until 1899 and was at that time in the center of the Theatre District. However, after a few years a general financial downturn and the relocation of the theatres

bankrupted the Chelsea cooperative and in 1905, the building was purchased and opened as a hotel.

Owing to its long list of famous guests and residents, the hotel has an ornate history, both as a place for creative modern art and home of bad behaviour. Bob Dylan composed songs while staying here, and poets Alan Ginsberg and Gregory Corso chose it as a place for philosophical and intellectual exchange. Dylan Thomas died here from alcohol poisoning after collapsing into a drunken stupor in The White Horse Tavern, in Hudson Street.

Others to have visited or stayed at the Hotel Chelsea include Eugene O'Neil, Thomas Wolfe, and it was here while in residence that Arthur C. Clarke wrote '2001:A Space Odyssey'. Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Arthur Miller, William Burroughs and Patti Smith are among the many, many celebrities who have stayed here too.

On October 12, 1978 Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols may have stabbed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen to death in their room in the Hotel Chelsea. Although initially arrested on suspicion of the murder, he was bailed and never charged. Ten days after her death he attempted suicide and was hospitalised for a considerable time. Later he was charged with smashing a beer mug in the face of Patti' Smith's brother and was sent to Riker's Island jail for 55 days and whilst there, is reportedly accredited with writing the following for Nancy:

You were my little baby girl

And I shared all your fears

Such joy to hold you in my arms

And kiss away your tears

But now you're gone there's only pain

And nothing I can do

And I don't want to live this life

If I can't live for you

To my beautiful baby girl

Our love will never die.

He died on 3rd February 1979, from complications arising from a heroin overdose.

FROM WATERY BEGINNINGS

The Collect Pond was a body of fresh water near the southern tip of Manhattan, covering approx. 48 acres and running as deep as 60 feet. The pond was fed by an underground spring, and its outflow ran through marshes to the Hudson River. The pond was located just north of today's Foley Square and just west of modern Chinatown.

During the 18th century, the pond was used as a picnic spot in the summer, and a skating rink in the winter. In 1796, the first experimental steamboat was launched on its waters. Industry almost immediately started to make use of the water, and dumped its waste there as well. This included tanneries, breweries, rope walks, and slaughterhouses. By the late 18th century, the pond had become an open sewer emitting a foul odour and considered a fearful health risk by the authorities and so they initiated a programme to fill the sewer with earth from an adjacent hill.

In 1805, in order to drain the garbage-infested waters, designers opened a forty-foot wide canal that today is known as Canal Street. By 1811, the City had completed the filling of Collect Pond. A neighbourhood known as Paradise Square soon arose over the pond's previous site. Unfortunately, due to the area's extremely high water table, Paradise Square began to sink in the 1820's. The neighbourhood again began emitting an acrid stench, prompting the most affluent residents to leave the area. By the 1830's, Paradise Square had become the notorious "Five Points", an extremely poor and mightily dangerous neighbourhood renowned for its crime, filth and depravity, so well depicted in Martin Scorsese's multi award winning film "Gangs of New York", based on a book by Herbert Asbury and starring, Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz.

Starting at the turn of the last century, the whole area was cleared of the slum tenement buildings and became known as the Civic Center, due to the presence of many government offices. In 1960, the City Park's Department created Collect Pond Park, boasting a large, green open area circumscribed by benches and trees, thereby providing the area with a well-deserved sense of its character and history.

THE SINGING UNDERPANTS

Robert John Burck, (born December 23, 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio), is better known as the Naked Cowboy, is an American busker and prominent figure of NYC's Times Square. His routine consists of playing his guitar wearing only cowboy boots, a hat, and underwear pants, with the guitar strategically place to give the illusion of nudity.

During a television debate on the morality of his act, the debate host, Larry Elder ruled that Burck's persona was not immoral and not a danger to public safety. Burck replied, "Actually I think I am an inspiration to public safety". Whilst appearing in Times Square he commutes in daily from a Motel on a New Jersey freeway.

In return for a monetary consideration he will oblige and pose provocatively for photographs with ladies of assorted shapes, sizes and ages. When asked to comment on his singing most, if not all, of the women reply, "What singing?" Wonder where he keeps his sandwiches?