On Sullivan Street

Sullivan Street, which runs from Soho to Greenwich Village, is a favourite street of mine. I walk down it almost daily and adore its architecture and how quiet it is, especially when compared to the nearby bustling streets. Named for American Revolutionary War General John Sullivan, who would go on to become governor (then call “president”) of New Hampshire, it has been home to some well-known residents including Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who was born at number 177. One day last fall, I walked from one end to the other, taking some photos along the way. Here are a few of them.

Starting at the corner of Sullivan and Broome Street in Soho, these first few tree-lined blocks are filled with a mix of Federal row houses, Italianate-style apartment buildings, and the Vesuvio Playground. There's also a handful of businesses, including a great bodega/newsstand (Soho News International) and leather goods shop (Il Bisonte) as well as some restaurants including Blue Ribbon and Alidoro, which makes some of the best sandwiches in the city (you just have to be careful and follow the rules when you order). 

The block between Prince and Houston though is my favourite. It is heavily populated with places to eat including the Dutch, Local, Once Upon a Tart , and Pepe Rosso. The last is not surprising as this block still has traces of its Italian past from the style of the buildings to the still present Pino's Prime Meat (Joe’s Dairy, maker of some amazing Mozzarella, shuttered its doors in 2013 after being open for 60 years). The block ends with the massive Church of St. Anthony of Padua, which was built 1886-88 in the Romanesque Revival style. St. Anthony's was the first American parish established to minister to Italian immigrants.

Cross over Houston and the atmosphere changes, for one block anyway. This is where you find the MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historical District, a row of Greek Revival-style row houses built in the late 1840s that shares a large, private garden with the houses behind it on MacDougal Street. They are reminiscent of London, which is only fitting as Anna Wintour lives at number 172. The street has managed to retain its 19th-century feel even with the addition of a modernistic glass structure next to the old school Legionnaire Club. 

Hit Bleecker Street and suddenly Sullivan Street changes again. This is NYU territory and there’s a definite downtrodden look to the next few blocks filled with bars and cheap eateries. One place of note is the Sullivan Street Tea & Spice Company, which occupies the former Triangle Social Club, a notorious mob hangout for the Genovese crime family. Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, who lived across the street, was a well-known mafia figure who would wander around in a robe, acting disoriented in an attempt to avoid arrest. It didn’t work and he was sent way in 1997. The shop has retained the club's original mural, mosaic-tile floor, and old tin ceiling.

The last block of Sullivan is taken over by NYU buildings including its law school and dead ends at Washington Square Park, which is due its own post. So many houses, so many stories. I could have taken a photo of each one. 

Photos by Michele.

Jefferson Market Garden

Walking through the Village on Sunday I spotted some lovely red roses peeping over a black iron fence near the Jefferson Market library. To my amazement, the gates were open and inside I made a wonderful discovery.

Mere steps from busy Sixth Avenue was a hidden garden. Walking slowly along a brick path that wrapped around a lush green lawn, I took in the trees including yellowwoods and crabapples, a pond filled with koi and goldfish, a blooming rose garden, and benches tucked into hollows including one under a rose-draped trellis. I couldn't believe my eyes. How was it I hadn't been inside before?

I soon found the answer. The garden is opened to visitors only on certain afternoons in spring and summer when the weather is nice so I've probably always passed by at the wrong time. I also learned that the site was originally the location of the Women's House of Detention (the library next door was a courthouse at the time). Built in 1931, the prison generated a lot of attention for its art deco design and for stories of the constant noise that rang out from the prison as the incarcerated women shouted down to people below. The prison was demolished in 1973 and two years later the Jefferson Market Garden was born.

Today the garden is maintained by a group of volunteers and plays host to concerts and children's events. I can't wait to return with my camera (I only had my phone that day) and capture more of the garden's loveliness. 

To find out more about the garden, visit their website here. 

Photos by Michele. 

Remembering the Fire

Workers inside the Triangle Waist Company factory.

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in a Greenwich Village factory that claimed the lives of 146 people and changed labour laws forever. Last Friday, on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered to remember the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Firefighters try desperately to put out the fire.

The Triangle Waist Company, which manufactured shirtwaists for women, occupied the top three floors of the Asch Building at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street. The company employed mainly female workers, most of whom were Italian and Jewish immigrants. On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, near the end of the work day, a fire broke out on the eighth floor and quickly moved to the rest of the factory. Some workers managed to get out but the main exits were locked and the fire escape outside soon collapsed. The fire department's ladders could only reach to the sixth floor. People on the street below watched in horror as more than 60 people jumped to their deaths. By the end of the day, 146 people were dead, 129 of whom were women.

Some of the victims had picketed for labour changes just the year before.

The fire was the worst industrial accident in New York City history, and it horrified the nation. The tragedy helped to galvanize the labour unions and laws were passed to change poor working conditions.

Newspapers reflected the public's outrage.

On the anniversary of this horrible tragedy people carrying symbolic shirtfronts marched from Union Square Park to the site of the factory. In front of the building, the names of the dead were read out while a single bell tolled, making sure that the victims would not be forgotten.

To find out more about the fire, check out the new HBO documentary Triangle: Remembering the Fire. While some of the images are disturbing to watch (the film includes photos of the bodies), it shouldn't be missed.