Bleecker Street (Manhattan)
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Looking south from Abingdon Square

Bleecker Street looking west from The Bowery.

Bleecker Street is a famous street in New York City's Manhattan borough. It is perhaps most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street is a spine that connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but was once a major center for American bohemia.

Bleecker Street connects Abingdon Square, the intersection of Eighth Avenue, and Hudson Street in the West Village, to the Bowery in the East Village.

Nearby sites include Washington Square Park and music venue Cafe Wha?, where Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Kool & the Gang, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, and many others began their careers. The legendary club CBGB, which closed in 2006, was located at the east end of Bleecker Street, at the corner of Bowery.

Transportation

Bleecker Street is served by the 6 Train at Bleecker Street station. Southbound (downtown) passengers can transfer to the Broadway-Lafayette Street station for service on the B, D, V, and F trains. The 1 train Christopher Street / Sheridan Square station is one block north of the north end of Bleecker Street

Traffic on the street is one-way, going south and east. Early in December 2007 a portion was set aside as a bicycle lane.

History

Bleecker Street is named for Anthony Bleecker (1770–1827), a lawyer, poet and friend of Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, because the street ran through his farm. In 1808, Bleecker and his wife deeded to the city a major portion of the land on which Bleecker Street sits.^[1]

Originally Bleecker Street extended only as far west as Sixth Avenue. Then in 1829, Bleecker Street was joined with Herring Street, extending Bleecker Street northwest to Abingdon Square.

Landmarks

• Bayard-Condict Building

Notable night spots

• The Bitter End at 147 Bleecker Street
• Cafe Au Go Go was at 152 Bleecker Street
• The Village Gate was at 160 Bleecker Street

Notable eateries

• Magnolia Bakery at the corner of Bleecker Street and West 11th St.
• John's (Pizzeria) 278 Bleecker Street

Notable residents

• James Agee lived at 172 Bleecker Street, above Cafe Espanol (1941–1951)
• Robert Frank
• Alicia Keys

Cultural references

• 11th and Bleecker is mentioned in New Line Home Entertainment's 1990 production of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.^[2]
• Japanese pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki visited Bleecker Street during recording of her (miss)understood album. The pictures were later published in Hamasaki's famous "Deji Deji Diary" that is published in each issue of ViVi Magazine.^[3]
• Bleecker Street is the name of a trail at Hunter Mountain.
• The Saint of Bleecker Street, an opera by American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1955.
• Long-running television series Friends featured Bleecker Street signposts in several cut-scenes.
• Humorous web comic Alien Loves Predator features Bleecker Street in some episodes and also on an "AlP" T-Shirt.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the Steely Dan song "Almost Gothic" from the album Two Against Nature.
• The Marcy Playground song "The Vampires of New York" mentions "All the whores on Bleecker Street".
• Simon and Garfunkel have a song titled "Bleecker Street" on their album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M..
• Bruce Springsteen, frequent visitor of the Bleecker Street club Cafe Wha?, says "Cat somehow lost his baby down on Bleecker Street" in his song "Kitty's Back" off his album The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "Punkrocker", featuring Iggy Pop, by The Teddybears.
• Bleecker Street is referenced in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, notably in The Wolves of the Calla.
• Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum is located at 177A Bleecker Street.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "New Amsterdam" by the band Travis.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "Myriad Harbour" by The New Pornographers.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the songs "Cindy's Cryin'" and "Phil" by Tom Paxton.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "What Do You Know About Love?" by Lloyd Cole.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "Underground Town" by ska band The Toasters.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "New York Girls" (aka Can You Dance The Polka) by British folk rock band Steeleye Span.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "Bleecker Street" by Joie Blaney of Joie/Dead Blonde Girlfriend.
• Much of the 2007 film No Reservations (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart) is set in a restaurant on the corner of Bleecker and Charles streets. The name of their fictitious restaurant is 22 Bleecker.
• In The WB series What I Like About You, Holly and Valerie live in an apartment on Bleecker Street.
• Bleecker Street is mentioned in the song "Tin Angel" by Joni Mitchell (on her 1969 album Clouds), and in her "Song for Sharon" from the album Hejira.
• The Marc Jacobs store on Bleecker Street is mentioned in the novel Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes as hangout for emaciated young women.
• The Happy Carrot restaurant Woody Allen's character owned in the movie "Sleeper" was on Bleecker Street.

References

1. ^ Crane, Frank W. "Many Titles in 'Village' Area Traced Back to Old Ownerships; Admiral Warren, Who Gave Greenwich Its Name, and Aaron Burr Appear Frequently --Trinity and Rhinelanders Big Holders", The New York Times, November 18, 1945, Real Estate section, p. 121. "It was Anthony Bleecker, one of the most prominent members of the family, who with his wife deeded to the city the greater part of Bleecker Street in 1808."
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Memorial Hamasaki - DataBase pour Ayufans - Ayumi Hamasaki

External links

• Forgotten New York
• New York Songlines: Bleecker Street
• Textual map from NYWiki

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