8th Street and St. Mark's Place

{{short description|West-east street in Manhattan, New York}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{attached KML|display=title}} {{Infobox street | name = 8th Street/St. Mark's Place | native_name = | marker_image = | image = St. Marks Place.jpg | image_size = 350px | caption = St. Mark's Place in 2010 | other_name = St. Mark's Place | former_names = | postal_code_type = ZIP Codes | postal_code = 10003, 10009, 10011 | addresses = | length_mi = 1.3 | length_ref = <ref name="google maps w">{{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.7336436,-73.9995668/40.7266667,-73.9831075/@40.7309375,-73.9948705,15.13z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-73.993657!2d40.7310898!3s0x89c2599a16d5a2b1:0x95b6b3b17c34a852!1m0!3e0 |title=8th Street (west of Tompkins Square Park) |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref><ref name="google maps e">{{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.7256686,-73.9807619/40.7236478,-73.9760131/@40.724059,-73.9780354,16.36z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0 |title=8th Street (east of Tompkins Square Park) |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref> | width = | location = [[Manhattan]], New York City | client = | maint = [[New York City Department of Transportation]] | coordinates = |direction_a = West |terminus_a = [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Sixth]]/[[Greenwich Avenue]]s in [[West Village|West]]/[[Greenwich Village]]s |direction_b = East |terminus_b = [[Avenue D (Manhattan)|Avenue D]] in [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] | commissioning_date = [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811|March 1811]] | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | inauguration_date = | demolition_date = | north = [[9th Street (Manhattan)|9th Street]] | south = [[Waverly Place]] (6th Avenue to Broadway)<br>[[7th Street (Manhattan)|7th Street]] (Bowery to Avenue D) }}

'''8th Street''' is a [[street]] in the New York City [[Borough (New York City)|borough]] of [[Manhattan]] that runs from [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Sixth Avenue]] to [[Third Avenue]] and also from [[Avenue B (Manhattan)|Avenue B]] to [[Avenue D (Manhattan)|Avenue D]]; its addresses switch from West to East as it crosses [[Fifth Avenue]]. Between Third Avenue and [[Avenue A (Manhattan)|Avenue A]] it is named '''St. Mark's Place''', after the nearby [[St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery]] on [[10th Street (Manhattan)|10th Street]] at [[Second Avenue (Manhattan)|Second Avenue]].

St. Mark's Place is considered a main cultural street for the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]]. Vehicular traffic runs east along both [[one-way street]]s. St. Mark's Place features a wide variety of retailers. Venerable institutions lining St. Mark's Place have included [[Gem Spa]] and the St. Mark's Hotel. There are several open-front markets that sell sunglasses, clothing, and jewelry. In her 400-year history of St. Mark's Place (''[[St. Marks Is Dead]]''), [[Ada Calhoun]] called the street "like superglue for fragmented identities" and wrote that "the street is not for people who have chosen their lives ... [it] is for the wanderer, the undecided, the lonely, and the promiscuous."<ref>{{cite book |last=Calhoun |first=Ada |title=St. Marks Is Dead |date=2015 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co. |location=New York |isbn=978-0393240382 |page=275|edition=1st}}</ref>

==History==

===Early years=== [[Wouter van Twiller]], colonial governor of [[New Amsterdam]], once owned a [[tobacco]] farm near 8th and [[MacDougal Street]]s. Such farms were located around the area until the 1830s.<ref name="villagealliance1">{{cite web |url=http://villagealliance.org/eighthstreet-history/ |title=Eighth Street History |first=Luther |last=Harris |publisher=villagealliance.org |access-date=August 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531091708/http://villagealliance.org/eighthstreet-history/ |archive-date=May 31, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nearby, a Native American trail crossed the island via the [[rights-of-way]] of [[Greenwich Avenue]], [[Astor Place]], and [[Stuyvesant Street]].<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

The [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]] defined the street grid for much of Manhattan. According to the plan, 8th Street was to run from Greenwich Lane (now Greenwich Avenue) in the west to [[First Avenue (Manhattan)|First Avenue]] on the east.<ref>{{cite letter |first1=Gouverneur |last1=Morris |author-link1=Gouverneur Morris |first2=Simeon |last2=DeWitt |author-link2=Simeon De Witt |first3=John |last3=Rutherfurd |author-link3=John Rutherfurd |date=March 22, 1811 |title=Remarks of the Commissioners |url=https://thegreatestgrid.mcny.org/greatest-grid/key-documents/73 |quote=Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Streets extend westwardly to Greenwich Lane... The Market Place already mentioned is bounded northwardly by Tenth Street, southwardly by Seventh Street, eastwardly by the East River, and westwardly by the First Avenue.}}</ref><ref>{{cite map |title=Map of the city of New York and island of Manhattan, as laid out by the commissioners appointed by the legislature, April 3d, 1807 |first=William |last=Bridges |year=1811 |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804n.ct000812}}</ref> The area west of Greenwich Lane was already developed as [[Greenwich Village]], while the area east of First Avenue was reserved for a wholesale food market.

The plan was amended many times as the grid took shape and public spaces were added or eliminated. The marketplace proposal was scrapped in 1824, allowing 8th Street to continue eastward to the river.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=I.N. Phelps |title=The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1498–1909 |volume=3 |year=1918 |oclc=831811649 |publisher=Robert H. Dodd |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5800727_003/page/959 959] |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5800727_003 |quote=Market Place ... reduced in size 1815; ceases to be a market place 1824; no longer reserved for public uses, except streets and avenues to be cut through same.}}</ref> On the west side, [[Sixth Avenue]] was extended and Greenwich Lane shortened, shifting the boundary of 8th Street, ever so slightly, to Sixth Avenue and allowing [[Mercer Street (Manhattan)|Mercer]], Greene, [[Wooster Street (Manhattan)|Wooster]] and MacDougal Streets to continue northward to 8th.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=I.N. Phelps |title=The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1498–1909 |volume=5 |year=1926 |oclc=831811649 |publisher=Robert H. Dodd |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5800727_005/page/1676 1676] |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5800727_005 |quote=[March 18, 1828:] The legislature provides for the extension of Mercer, Greene, Wooster, McDougal, and Lewis Sts. northward to 8th St.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Stokes|1926|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5800727_005/page/1646 1646]: "[Feb. 14, 1825:] The common council passes a resolution ... to close that part of Art St. and Greenwich Lane lying between Broadway and Sixth Ave."}}</ref>

===19th century=== After the Commissioners' Plan was laid out, property along the street's right of way quickly developed. By 1835, the [[New York University]] opened its first building, the Silver Center, along Eighth Street near the Washington Square Park. [[Row house]]s were also built on Eighth Street. The street ran between the [[Jefferson Market]], built in 1832 at the west end, and the Tompkins Market, built in 1836, at the east end. These were factors in the street's commercialization in later years.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

Eighth Street was supposed to extend to a market place at [[Avenue C (Manhattan)|Avenue C]], but that idea never came to fruition. Capitalizing on the high-class status of Bond, [[Bleecker Street|Bleecker]], [[Great Jones Street|Great Jones]], and [[Lafayette Street]]s in [[NoHo, Manhattan|NoHo]], developer Thomas E. Davis developed the east end of the street and renamed it "St. Mark's Place" in 1835.<ref name=curbed201409>{{cite web |url=http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/04/the_strange_history_of_the_east_villages_most_famous_street.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020195231/http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/09/04/the_strange_history_of_the_east_villages_most_famous_street.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 20, 2014 |title=The Strange History of the East Village's Most Famous Street |publisher=Curbed NY |date=September 4, 2014 |access-date=August 17, 2015 |author=Nevius, James}}</ref> Davis built up St. Mark's Place between Third and Second Avenues between 1831 and 1832. Although the original plan was for [[Federal architecture|Federal]] homes, only three such houses remained in 2014.<ref name=curbed201409/>

Meanwhile, Eighth Street became home to a literary scene. At Astor Place and Eighth Street, the [[Astor Opera House]] was built by wealthy men and opened in 1847.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ireland |first=Joseph Norton |title=Records of the New York Stage, from 1750 to 1860 |volume=2 |location=New York |publisher=T. H. Morrell |year=1867 |page=[https://archive.org/details/recordsofnewyork00irel_0/page/n603/mode/2up 515] }}</ref> Publisher [[Evert Augustus Duyckinck]] founded a private library at his 50 East Eighth Street home. Anne Lynch started a famous literary salon at 116 [[Waverly Place]] and relocated to 37 West Eighth Street in 1848.<ref name="villagealliance1"/> Around this time and up until the 1890s, Eighth Street was co-named Clinton Place in memory of politician [[DeWitt Clinton]], whose widow lived along nearby [[University Place (Manhattan)|University Place]].<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

In the 1850s, Eighth Street housed an educational scene as well. The [[Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art]], a then-free institution for art, architecture and engineering education, was opened in 1858. The [[Century Association|Century Club]], an arts and letters association, relocated to 46 East Eighth Street around that time; the Bible House of the [[American Bible Society]], was nearby. In addition, the Brevoort Hotel, as well as a marble mansion built by [[John Taylor Johnston]], were erected at Fifth Avenue and Eighth Street.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

At the same time, German immigrants moved into the area around [[Tompkins Square Park]]. The area around St. Mark's Place was nicknamed {{lang|de|[[Little Germany, Manhattan|Kleindeutschland]]}}, or "Little Germany", because of a huge influx of German immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. Many of the homes turned into [[boarding house]]s, as the area had 50,000 residents but not a lot of real estate. [[Tenement]] housing was also built on St. Mark's Place.<ref name=curbed201409/>

By the 1870s, apartments replaced stables and houses along the stretch of Eighth Street west of MacDougal Street. The elevated [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third]] and [[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue]] Lines were also built during that time, with stops along the former at [[Ninth Street (IRT Third Avenue Line)|Ninth Street]] and along the latter at [[Eighth Street (IRT Sixth Avenue Line)|Eighth Street]].<ref name="villagealliance1"/><ref name=curbed201409/>

[[File:Wanamaker Annex.jpg|thumb|right|[[Wanamaker's Department Store|Wanamaker]] Annex]]

At the southwest corner of Broadway and Eighth Street, the street's first commercial building was built. By the 1890s, buildings on the stretch from Bowery to Fifth Avenue were used for trade.<ref name="villagealliance1"/> In 1904, the [[Wanamaker's Department Store]] opened at the former [[A.T. Stewart]] store along Broadway between 9th and 10th Streets, with an annex built at Eighth Street.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

===20th century=== In the early 1900s, Little Germany was shrinking. At the same time, Jews, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians from Eastern Europe started moving in. In 1916, members of the [[Slovenes|Slovenian]] community and [[Franciscans]] established the [[Slovenian church of St. Cyril, New York|Slovenian Church of St. Cyril]], which still operates.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Surk |first=Barbara |date=September 28, 1997 |title="NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: EAST VILLAGE; Slovenian Church Endures" |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/28/nyregion/neighborhood-report-east-village-slovenian-church-endures.html |website=The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331}}</ref> At this point, St. Mark's Place was considered a part of the [[Lower East Side]].<ref name=curbed201409/>

On the western stretch of Eighth Street, an art scene was growing. [[Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney]], [[Daniel Chester French]], and other artists moved in the stables at MacDougal Alley at this time. By 1916, a studio complex for artists replaced most of these stables, making the areas around Eighth Street popular for [[bohemianism|bohemian]]s. Whitney, a patron for other American painters, combined four houses on West Eighth Street houses into the [[Whitney Museum of American Art (original building)|Whitney Museum]] in 1931.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

The 1927 construction of the skyscraper at [[One Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)|One Fifth Avenue]], as well as the [[Eighth Street Playhouse]] movie theater, helped influence development on the Sixth Avenue end of the street, where construction of the [[IND Eighth Avenue Line]] had required destruction of many buildings there.<ref name="villagealliance1"/> On an adjoining block, the [[New York Women's House of Detention|Women's House of Detention]] was built in Jefferson Market complex in 1929–1932 and existed through the 1970s.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

In the 1930s, after [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] ended, West Eighth Street became an entertainment area. Around that time, the [[New York School (art)|New York School]] movement for [[abstract expressionist]] painters was centered around Eighth Street, with many such painters moving to Eighth Street.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

After [[World War II]], property along 8th Street was converted to apartment houses. The Rhinelander Estate, one of the major landowners on Eighth Street, erected a building between Washington Square North, Fifth Avenue, West Eighth Street, and the Whitney Museum site. Sailor's Snug Harbor, the other major land owner, demolished the blocks from Fifth Avenue to Broadway on the north side of Eighth and Ninth Streets, including the popular Brevoort Hotel. It replaced these blocks mainly with low-rise apartment buildings and stores, as well as two [[high-rise]]s.<ref name="villagealliance1"/> Around this time, West Eighth Street was also becoming the location of neighborhood commerce.<ref name="villagealliance1"/>

After the elevated train lines were demolished in the 1940s and 1950s, the real estate industry tried to entice residents to the St. Mark's Place area, describing the neighborhood as "[[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]]". This area became home to an underground scene, and as it was far from public transportation, it became rundown. A 1965 ''[[Newsweek]]'' article described the East Village by telling readers to "head east from [[Greenwich Village]], and when it starts to look squalid, around the Bowery and Third Avenue, you know you're there."<ref name=curbed201409/>

In the 1960s, Macdougal and West Eighth Streets, as well as St. Mark's Place, became a popular area for [[hippie]]s.<ref name=curbed201409 /> A women's clothing store, a pharmacy, and bookstores were replaced by [[fast food]] restaurants and other shops, directed toward the area's tourism base.<ref name="villagealliance1" /> By 1968, St, Mark's Place became a stopping point for [[tour bus]]es, which formerly skipped the area.<ref name=curbed201409 />

In 1977, St. Marks Place became the epicenter of [[punk rock]], when [[Manic Panic (brand)|Manic Panic]] opened its doors on July 7, 1977 (7/7/77).<ref>{{Cite web | last=Lubitz | first=Rachel | date=April 10, 2018 | url=https://mic.com/articles/188830/how-two-sisters-went-from-founding-the-first-punk-store-in-america-to-creating-manic-panic#.5ygZ7vo5A |title = How two sisters went from founding America's first punk store to creating Manic Panic |website=Mic}}</ref> The shop quickly attracted musicians from Cyndi Lauper to the Ramones.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://gvshp.org/blog/2012/07/06/manic-panic-35-years-of-making-our-lives-more-colorful/ |title = Manic Panic – 35 Years of Making Our Lives More Colorful|date = July 6, 2012|author=Andito|website = Village Preservation Blog}}</ref>

In 1980, hot dog company [[Nathan's Famous]] moved into the location of a former bookstore on Eighth Street, to the anger of some Greenwich Village residents. However, other establishments, such as the [[B. Dalton]] bookstore, clothing stores, and shoe stores, started to attract tourists to the area.<ref name="villagealliance1" /> By the 1990s, the areas around both Eighth Street and St. Mark's Place were becoming rapidly [[Gentrification|gentrified]], with new buildings and establishments being developed along both streets.<ref name=curbed201409 /> The Village Alliance Business Improvement District was formed in 1993 to care for the area around Eighth Street.<ref name="villagealliance1" />

==Notable buildings and sites== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = 295 East 8th Street entrance.jpg | width1 = 162 | caption1 = The entrance to 295 East 8th Street, with "Talmud Torah Darchei Noam" above the door | image2 = WTM tony 0058.jpg | width2 = 158 | caption2 = [[Marlton House]] in 2008 }} [[File:Whitney Museum 8-12 West 8th Street.jpg|thumb|right|175px|The original location of the [[Whitney Museum]], three converted townhouses at 8–12 West 8th Street]]

===8th Street=== '''East''' * 127 [[Avenue B (Manhattan)|Avenue B]], also known as 295 East 8th Street, on [[Tompkins Square Park]], was originally the Tompkins Square Lodging House for Boys and Industrial School. It was designed by [[Calvert Vaux|Vaux & Radford]] and built in 1887. The building later became the [[Children's Aid Society|Children's Aid Society Newsboy and Bootblacks Lodging House]], and was briefly a [[synagogue]], Talmud Torah Darchei Noam. The building was restored in 2006, and is now apartments.<ref>{{cite aia5|page= 201}}</ref> The building was featured prominently in the 2002 film, ''[[In America (film)|In America]]''. * The [[stucco]]-faced apartment building at 4–26 East 8th Street between Fifth Avenue and [[University Place (Manhattan)|University Place]] was built in 1834–36 and remodeled in 1916. It was designed by [[Harvey Wiley Corbett]], and has been described as a "stage set, symbolic of the 'village' of a bohemian artist."<ref name=aia134 /> * The residential apartment building at [[One Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)|One Fifth Avenue]], on the southeast corner of East 8th Street, was built in 1929 and was designed by Helme, Corbett & Harrison and Sugarman & Berger. The brown brick building features numerous [[setback (architecture)|step-backs]], [[battlement]]s, [[buttress]]es and other suggestions of medieval architecture.<ref name=aia134>{{cite aia5|page= 134}}</ref> * The full-block building on 8th Street bordered by [[Lafayette Street]], [[9th Street (Manhattan)|9th Street]] and [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]], which carries the addresses 499 Lafayette Avenue and 770 Broadway, was built in 1902 to be the Annex for the giant [[Wanamaker's|John Wanamaker's Department Store]] located one block north between 9th and [[10th Street (Manhattan)|10th]] Streets. The two buildings were connected by a skybridge over 9th Street which was dubbed the "Bridge of Progress".<ref>{{cite book|title=What to See in New York |year=1912|publisher=John Wanamaker, New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whattoseeinnewyo00john/page/22 22], 31|quote=The Wanamaker business occupies two buildings—the fine old structure erected by A. T. Stewart, with its eight floors, and the new Wanamaker Building, occupying the entire block south of the Stewart Building, with sixteen floors. Combined area of the two buildings, about 32 acres. Two large tunnels under and a double-deck bridge over Ninth Street connect the two buildings.|url=https://archive.org/details/whattoseeinnewyo00john|access-date=April 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=East 9th Street Then and now|first=Drew|last=Durniak|date=December 7, 2011|url=http://gvshp.org/blog/2011/12/07/east-9th-street-then-and-now/|publisher=The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation|quote=By 1955, Wanamaker's sold its northern store property between East 9th and 10th Streets. Before the planned demolition of the building, a fire broke out in 1956 and gutted the structure. In its place was built a huge white-brick-clad residential building called Stewart House in 1960.|access-date=April 27, 2013}}</ref> The main store was destroyed by fire in 1955, but the Annex building remains, and features retail space as well as offices. * Across the street, also between Lafayette Street and Broadway, 8th Street runs behind Clinton Hall at 13 Astor Place, also known as 21 Astor Place. This was once the site of the [[Astor Opera House]] outside of which the [[Astor Place Riot]] occurred. The Opera House opened in 1847 and closed in 1890 to be replaced by the current building, designed by [[George E. Harney]], which became the site of the [[New York Mercantile Library]]. The library left the 11-story building in 1932, and it has since been a union headquarters (District 65 of the Distributive Workers of America), the Astor Place Hotel, and, as of 1995, condominiums.<ref>{{cite aia5|page=157}}</ref><ref>[http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Clinton%20Hall%20page/Clinton.html "Clinton Hall"] on ''Forgotten New York''</ref>

'''West''' * [[Marlton House]] at 3–5 West 8th Street between [[Fifth Avenue|Fifth]] and [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Sixth]] Avenues in [[Greenwich Village]] was built in 1900 as the Marlton Hotel, a [[single room occupancy]] (SRO) facility. It was notable for its [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] clientele, but since 1987 it has been used as a dormitory for [[The New School]]. * The three former 1838 row houses at 8–12 West 8th Street between Fifth Avenue and [[Macdougal Street]] in Greenwich Village were converted in 1931 by Auguste L. Noel of Noel & Miller into the first home of the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]], which sculptor and heiress [[Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney]] had established in 1929, after the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] rejected the donation of her extensive collection of contemporary and [[avant-garde]] artworks. In 1914, Whitney had started the Whitney Studio at 8 West 8th Street, just behind her own studio on MacDougal Alley. The museum was located here until 1954, when it moved uptown. The building is currently, along with 14 West 8th Street (built in 1900), the [[New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture]].<ref>{{cite nycland|page=54}}</ref>

{{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = Hamilton-Holly House.jpg | width1 = 154 | caption1 = Hamilton-Holly House (#4) was part of the same 1830s development as... | image2 = Daniel-leroy-house-20-st-marks.jpg | width2 = 173 | caption2 = ...the [[Daniel LeRoy House]] (#20); the developer was Thomas E. Davis.<ref name=nycland /> }} [[File:Little Germany House.jpg|thumb|right|173px|The German-American Shooting Society clubhouse at#12]] [[File:Arlington Hall NYC.gif|thumb|right|250px|Arlington Hall at #19–23, c.1892]] {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = Club-57.jpg | width1 = 145 | caption1 = Club 57 at #57 | image2 = Physical Led Zeppelin.jpg | width2 = 184 | caption2 = The ''[[Physical Graffiti]]'' buildings at #96 & #98 }}

===St. Mark's Place=== * <nowiki>#</nowiki>2 – Beginning in 1962 it housed [[The Five-Spot]], one of the city's leading [[jazz]] clubs. Innovators such as [[Thelonious Monk]], [[Charlie Parker]] and [[Charles Mingus]] all appeared there. It later became "The Late Show", a vintage clothing store that was popularized by the [[New York Dolls]] and owned by their valet, Frenchie.<ref name=lot>{{cite web |last=Ferrara |first=Eric |title=A Comprehensive Guide to St. Mark's Place |work=Lower East Side History Project |date=November 19, 2024 |access-date=2026-02-28 |url=https://www.leshp.org/blog/a-comprehensive-guide-to-st-marks-place/ }}</ref> Punk rocker [[GG Allin]] also lived in the building at some point.<ref>Calhoun (2016), p.xiv</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>4 – The Hamilton-Holly House was built in 1831 by [[Thomas E. Davis]] and sold to Colonel [[Alexander Hamilton Jr.|Alexander Hamilton]], the son of [[Alexander Hamilton]], first [[Secretary of the Treasury]], in 1833.<ref name="Hamilton Holly House">{{cite web|url=https://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/hamiltonholly.pdf |title=Hamilton Holly House |publisher=Landmarks Preservation Commission |access-date=May 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014012550/http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/hamiltonholly.pdf |archive-date=October 14, 2012 }}</ref> From 1843 to 1863 it was owned by Isaac C. Van Wyck, the candle and oil merchant. The building was owned from 1863 to 1903 by butter merchant John W. Miller, who added a two-story addition and a meeting hall on the first floor. From 1901 until 1952 the building was owned by the C. Meisel company, a manufacturer of musical instruments. Between 1955 and 1967 it housed the Tempo Playhouse, New Bowery Theatre, and Bridge Theatre, noted for experimental theater, music, dance, and independent film.<ref name="Hamilton Holly House"/> In 1964 it housed the New Bowery Theatre, a showcase for the American Theatre of Poets. In 1965, the theater drew official attention for screening ''Flaming Creatures'', a controversial film by Jack Smith, which depicted provocative scenes and was seized by the police. The organizer, Jonas Mekas, was arrested, and the film was labeled “obscene” by the court. Jonas Mekas went on to found the Anthology Film Archives, a center dedicated to preserving and showcasing independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. In 1979, it found a permanent home in a former courthouse at 32 Second Avenue.<ref name=lot /> From 1967 it housed the [[Limbo (boutique)|Limbo]] boutique, which in 1975 was sold to Ray Goodman who opened [[Trash and Vaudeville]], a punk clothing store<ref name=lot /><ref>{{cite news |last=Van Meter |first=William |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/fashion/trash-and-vaudeville-still-selling-punks-look-after-38-years.html?pagewanted=all |title=The Shop That Punk Built |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 9, 2013}}</ref> that operated in that location until 2016. The building was designated a [[List of New York City Landmarks|New York City landmark]] in 2004.<ref name=nycland /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>6 – The [[Modern School (United States)|Modern School]], founded in 1901 in [[Barcelona]] by [[Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia|Francesco Ferrer]], opened a New York branch here in January 1911. It was led by anarchists [[Emma Goldman]] and [[Alexander Berkman]], who founded the Francisco Ferrer Association in 1910, "to perpetuate the work and memory of Francisco Ferrer", who had been executed in October 1909 for plotting to kill [[Alfonso XIII]], the King of Spain, and masterminding the events of [[Tragic Week (Catalonia)|Tragic Week]], a mass riot in and around Barcelona.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/modern_school/modern.shtml |title=Modern School Collection, Manuscript Collection 1055, Special Collections and University Archives|publisher=Rutgers University Libraries |access-date=May 1, 2012}}</ref> Beginning in 1913 the building housed the Saint Mark's Russian and Turkish Baths. In 1979 the building was renovated and renamed the [[New St. Marks Baths]], a gay bath house.<ref name=song>[http://www.nysonglines.com/8st.htm "8th Street"] on ''New York Songlines''. Accessed:2011-02-21</ref> The New Saint Marks Baths was closed by the New York City Department of Health in 1985, due to concerns of HIV transmission. The building subsequently housed [[Kim's Video and Music|Mondo Kim's]] from 1995 until early 2009. Since 2014, the building has been home to one a [[Barcade]] location. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>8 – The New York Cooking School, founded by [[Juliet Corson]] in 1876, was the country's first cooking school. It figured prominently in the city's first known [[Italian-American Mafia|Mafia]] [[murder|hit]] in Manhattan, the 1888 killing of Antonio Flaccomio, when it was La Triniria Italian Restaurant. The killer dined there with his victim, then stabbed him a few blocks away.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>11 – Home to [[Shulamith Firestone]], feminist, activist, author of ''[[The Dialectic of Sex]]: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' and ''Airless Spaces'', in the seventies and eighties. The storefront at the top of the stairs was the original location of [[St. Mark's Comics]], which opened in May 1983. In 1993, the store moved directly downstairs to the storefront beneath the original location. The downstairs storefront operated through February 2019 when the location closed<ref>Grieve. [http://evgrieve.com/2019/01/st-marks-is-deader-st-marks-comics-is.html "St. Mark's is deader: St. Mark's Comics is closing after 36 years"] EV Grieve (January 29, 2019).</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=McLauchlin|first=Jim|url=https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/42802/business-3x3-mitch-cutler-formerly-st-marks-comics|title=BUSINESS 3X3: MITCH CUTLER (FORMERLY) AT ST. MARK'S COMICS|publisher=Blogs.villagevoice.com|date=March 26, 2019|access-date=April 3, 2020}}</ref> before relocating to Brooklyn in 2021.<ref>{{cite web | last=Reid | first=Calvin | date=June 1, 2021 | url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/86529-st-mark-s-comics-to-reopen-in-brooklyn-s-industry-city.html | title=St. Mark's Comics to Reopen in Brooklyn's Industry City |work=Publishers Weekly }}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>12 – Designed by William C. Frohne and built in 1885, as the clubhouse for the ''{{Lang|de|Deutsch-Amerikanische Schützen Gesellschaft}}'' (German-American Shooting Society). The facade says ''{{Lang|de|Einigkeit macht stark}}'' (Unity is strength). The building is a remnant of ''{{Lang|de|Kleindeutschland}}'' ([[Little Germany, Manhattan|Little Germany]]), the home of many German immigrants from the mid-19th Century until the [[SS General Slocum|''General Slocum'' disaster]] of June 15, 1904.<ref name=aia4>{{cite AIA4}}</ref> The building was designated as a [[List of New York City Landmarks|landmark]] in 2001.<ref name=nycland>{{cite nycland|pages=65–66}}</ref> In the late seventies it housed The New Cinema, featuring film and video by independent filmmakers, including [[Eric Mitchell (filmmaker)|Eric Mitchell]], Anders Grafstrom, [[Scott and Beth B]], [[Jim Jarmusch]], Charles Ahearn and [[Amos Poe]]. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>13 – Home to [[Lenny Bruce]] in the mid-1960s.<ref name=lot /> [[Sylvain Sylvain]], guitarist for the [[New York Dolls]], lived in the basement apartment in the mid 70s. This was the original location of the [[St. Mark's Bookshop]],<ref name="song" /> before it moved across the street to #12. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>15 – Former location of "Paul McGregor's Haircutter." McGregor was known for inventing the [[shag (hairstyle)|shag]], which he gave to [[Jane Fonda]]. Other customers were [[Warren Beatty]], [[Goldie Hawn]] and [[Faye Dunaway]]. Supposedly, Beatty's film ''[[Shampoo (film)|Shampoo]]'' was based on McGregor.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kleinfield |first=N. R. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/22/style/on-the-street-of-dreams.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114074153/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/22/style/on-the-street-of-dreams.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=November 14, 2013 |title=On the Street of Dreams |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 22, 1992}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Bay |first=Cody |date=June 25, 2010 |url=http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1754 |title=Cinemode: ''Klute'' |website=On This Day in Fashion |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525020601/http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=1754 |archive-date=May 25, 2011}}</ref> From 1995 to 1999, the building was home to Coney Island High, a live punk rock music venue co-founded by [[D Generation]] singer, [[Jesse Malin]], and notable for being the location of [[No Doubt]]'s first New York City performance in November 1995. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>17 – Site of the first [[Hebrew Christian Movement|Hebrew-Christian Church]] in America, in 1885.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>19–25 – As Arlington Hall, this was the site of a 1914 shootout between "Dopey" [[Benny Fein]]'s Jewish gang and [[Jack Sirocco]]'s Italian mob, an event that marked the beginning of the predominance of the [[Italian American]] [[gangsters]] over the [[Jewish American]] gangsters. Arlington Hall also had some notable speakers including Police Commissioner [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1895) and [[William Randolph Hearst]] (1905). The building later housed the Dom Restaurant, with its well-known Stanley's Bar – where [[The Fugs]] played in the mid-1960s – [[Andy Warhol]] and [[Paul Morrissey]] turned The Dom into a nightclub in 1966, which served as a showcase for the ''[[Exploding Plastic Inevitable]]'', Warhol's multimedia stage show for the [[Velvet Underground]]. In early 1967, the Dom morphed yet again into The Balloon Farm. Later that year, the lease was transferred to Brandt Freeman International, LTD, and renamed the [[Electric Circus (nightclub)|Electric Circus]].<ref>[http://leshp.org/history/component/content/article/97-st-marks-place/113-19-25-st-marks-place?directory=79 "19–25 St. Mark's Place"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106203418/http://www.leshp.org/history/component/content/article/97-st-marks-place/113-19-25-st-marks-place?directory=79 |date=November 6, 2010 }} on the ''Lower East Side History Project'' website</ref> The building also served as the second location for the [[CBGB|CBGB Fashions]] retail store from November 2006 through June 2008.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dodero |first=Camille |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2008/03/cbgb_st_marks_s.php |title=CBGB St. Mark's Shop Closing at the End of June |publisher=Blogs.villagevoice.com |date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=March 3, 2014 |archive-date=April 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430075945/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2008/03/cbgb_st_marks_s.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>20 – The [[Daniel LeRoy House]] was built as part of an elegant row of houses in 1832, of which this [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] building is the only survivor. It is a [[List of New York City Landmarks|New York City Landmark]] (1969),<ref name=nycland /> and is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]<ref name=aia4 /> Daniel LeRoy was related to the [[Peter Stuyvesant|Stuyvesant family]] and his wife was a member of the eminent [[Fish family]]. From 1980 to 2015, it served as the home of Sounds record store — whose customers included the [[Ramones]], the [[Beastie Boys]], [[John Belushi]], [[Afrika Bambaataa]], [[Rick Rubin]], [[John Zorn]], [[Joe Jackson (musician)|Joe Jackson]], [[Steve Buscemi]], [[Thurston Moore]], [[Paul Shaffer]], [[Natalie Merchant]], and [[Henry Rollins]].<ref>{{cite news | last=Philips | first=Binky | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/keith-richards-amy-carter_b_780434?ec_carp=4639863004914753542 | title=Tales From a New York Record Store | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=November 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>Grieve. [http://evgrieve.com/2015/09/the-last-record-store-on-st-marks-place.html "The last record store on St. Mark's Place is closing,"] EV Grieve (September 21, 2015).</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>24 – This was the original location of the [[Limbo (boutique)|Limbo]] clothing boutique, which opened for business in 1965 and moved to #4 in 1967.<ref name=song /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>27 – In the 19th and early 20th century, this was [[Children's Aid Society]]'s Girls' Lodging House.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>28 – From 1967 to 1971, this storefront housed Underground Uplift Unlimited (UUU), which created and sold some of the most noteworthy protest buttons and posters of era, including "Make Love Not War."<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>30 – [[Abbie Hoffman|Abbie]] and [[Anita Hoffman]] lived in the basement in 1967–68; the [[Yippies]] were co-founded with [[Jerry Rubin]] there.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>33 – Home to poet [[Anne Waldman]] in the late 1960s/mid-1970s. In 1977, the storefront was occupied by [[Manic Panic (brand)|Manic Panic]], the first U.S. boutique to sell punk rock attire, which developed its own line of make-up and vibrant hair dyes;<ref name=lot /> notable patrons have included performers [[David Bowie]], [[Cyndi Lauper]], [[Debbie Harry]], and [[Joey Ramone]]. One of the building's two storefronts was used to portray Ray's Occult Books for an exterior shot seen in the 1989 film ''[[Ghostbusters II]]''. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>34 – Location of the East Side Bookstore, 1960s–1980s. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>51 – In the early 1980s, this was home to 51X, a gallery that featured [[graffiti art]], representing artists such as [[Keith Haring]], and [[Jean-Michel Basquiat]].<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>52 – Annex to the [[Hebrew National Orphan Home]], founded in 1912; its main entrance was on 7th Street.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>57 – [[Club 57 (nightclub)|Club 57]] was an important art and performance space in the late 1970s and early 1980s; notable people, such as [[Ann Magnuson]], [[Keith Haring]], [[Klaus Nomi]], [[John Sex]], [[Kenny Scharf]], [[David Wojnarowicz]], [[Wendy Wild]], [[The Fleshtones]], and [[Fab Five Freddy]], performed or showed there.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>60 – Building constructed in 1920; later location of the spacious studio apartment of [[abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]] painter [[Joan Mitchell]], where she lived and painted from 1951 to 1957.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>62 – The Roman Catholic [[Slovenian church of St. Cyril, New York]] is a Franciscan mission serving the Slovenian community of the New York City area. The parish was founded in 1916 with the purchase of this brownstone. For the 80th anniversary of the parish, the narrow church was repaired and the interior redesigned by architect Eduardo Lacroze with sculptures by Bogdan Grom. The parish hosts [[Slovene language|Slovenian]] language classes and monthly Slovenian cultural events after Sunday Mass.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>66 – Location of St. Mark's Hospital of New York City in operation from 1890 to 1931.<ref>{{cite web|title=St. Mark's Hospital|website=nycago.org|url=http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StMarksHospital.html}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>75 – The Holiday Cocktail Lounge has had a range of visitors including [[W. H. Auden]], [[Allen Ginsberg]]<ref name=littour /> and other [[Beat generation|Beat]] writers, [[Shelley Winters]], and [[Frank Sinatra]], whose agent lived in the neighborhood.<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>77 – Home to [[W. H. Auden]] for almost 20 years.<ref name=littour /> The basement of this building was the location where the newspaper ''Novy Mir'' ("New World" or "New Peace"), a Russian-language Communist paper, was founded in 1916. It was edited by [[Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin]], and [[Leon Trotsky]] worked there; the paper stopped publishing after the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]] of October 1917.<ref name=leshp77>[http://leshp.org/history/component/content/article/97-st-marks-place/85-77-st-marks-place?directory=79 "77 St. Mark's Place"]{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} on the ''Lower East Side History Project'' website. Accessed:2011-02-21</ref> [[File:Loz rent car.JPG|thumb|[[Rent Is Too Damn High Party]] car parked on St Mark's Place, where founder [[Jimmy McMillan]] lived until 2015<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marzulli |first=John |date=January 29, 2015 | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rent-damn-high-party-head-eviction-suit-nixed-article-1.2096701 |title = Rent is Too Damn High party leader Jimmy McMillan's lawsuit over eviction gets nixed|website = [[New York Daily News]]}}</ref>]] * <nowiki>#</nowiki>80 – Home of [[Leon Trotsky]].<ref name=leshp77 /> Theatre 80<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.Theatre80.net |title=Welcome |publisher=Theatre 80 |access-date=March 3, 2014}}</ref> saw the premiere of ''[[You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'' in 1967. Formerly the Jazz Gallery, site of the last performance by [[Lord Buckley]]. Now also the home of The Exhibition of the American Gangster, a museum of the American Gangster.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.Museumoftheamericangangster.org |title=Museum of the American Gangster 80 St Marks PL NY, NY 10003 (212)228-5736 | An exploration into Organized Crime in America |publisher=Museumoftheamericangangster.org |access-date=March 3, 2014}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>85 – The 1871 birthplace of painter and caricaturist [[Lyonel Feininger]].<ref>{{Cite book|author =Hess, Hans|title=Lyonel Feininger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dE2AQAAIAAJ&q=Lyonel+Feininger+hess|location=New York|publisher=Abrams|year=1961|page=1|access-date=January 11, 2015}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>94 – Home of "UNDER St. Mark's Theater", an alternative performance venue and black box theater from the 1970s.<ref name="Info">[http://www.horsetrade.info/InfoUNDERstmarks.html "Info"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623144623/http://horsetrade.info/infounderstmarks.html |date=June 23, 2011 }} on the UNDER St. Marks website. Accessed:2011-02-21</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>96 & #98 – The [[Led Zeppelin]] album ''[[Physical Graffiti]]'' features a front and back cover design that depicts these two buildings, which feature carved faces. [[Mick Jagger]], [[Keith Richards]], and [[Peter Tosh]] are seated in front of #96 in the music video for the [[Rolling Stones]] song "[[Waiting on a Friend]]".<ref name=lot /> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>97 – Home of Yaffa Café from 1982 to 2014.<ref>{{cite news |last=Arino |first=Lisha |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141002/east-village/yaffa-cafe-closes-after-31-years-on-st-marks-place/ |title=Yaffa Cafe Closes After 31 Years on St. Marks Place |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131040152/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141002/east-village/yaffa-cafe-closes-after-31-years-on-st-marks-place/ |archive-date=January 31, 2019 |work=DNAinfo |date=October 2, 2014}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>101 – From the mid-1970s to 1983, the poets [[Ted Berrigan]] and [[Alice Notley]], who were married to each other, lived here. In Berrigan's "The Last Poem", he wrote: "101 St. Mark's Place, apt. 12A, NYC 10009/ New York. Friends appeared & disappeared, or wigged out/ Or stayed; inspiring strangers sadly died; everyone/ I ever knew aged tremendously, except me."<ref name=littour>{{cite web|last=Lauckner|first=Sally|title=A Literary Tour of the East Village|url=http://localeastvillage.com/2010/10/19/a-literary-tour-of-the-east-village/|work=The New York Times|via=''The Local East Village'' weblog of ''[[The New York Times]]''|date=October 19, 2010|access-date=February 21, 2011}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>102 – Home of independent filmmaker [[Scott Crary]].<ref name="Travel New York City">{{cite book|title=Travel New York City: Illustrated City Guide And Maps|publisher=MobileReferences|author=|year=2006|isbn=9781605010281}}</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>103 – Home of singer/performer [[Klaus Nomi]] in the 1970s. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>104 – Location of the [[Notre Dame School (Manhattan)|Notre Dame Convent School]] from 1989 to 2002<ref name="School History">{{cite web|url=http://www.cheznous.org/about_History.php|title=School History|access-date=August 1, 2007|publisher=Notre Dame School website|author=NDS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928201235/http://www.cheznous.org/about_History.php|archive-date=September 28, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is now the site of George Jackson Academy.<ref>[http://www.gjacademy.org/about/ "About GJA"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726110221/http://www.gjacademy.org/about/ |date=July 26, 2011 }} on the George Jackson Academy website</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>105 – Early 1860s home of [[Uriah P. Levy]], the first Jewish commodore of the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] and who was also known for purchasing [[Monticello]] to work toward its restoration and preservation. * <nowiki>#</nowiki>122 – Former location of [[Sin-é]], a neighborhood café where [[Jeff Buckley]] performed a regular spot on Monday nights. Other musicians such as [[David Gray (British musician)|David Gray]] and [[Katell Keineg]] also performed there. Sin-é closed in the mid-1990s.<ref>[http://www.sin-e.com/html/history.html A Short History of Sin-e] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305033435/http://www.sin-e.com/html/history.html |date=March 5, 2007 }}, accessed December 21, 2006</ref> * <nowiki>#</nowiki>132 – Known at the time as St. Mark's Bar and Grill, this is the second location on the street to be used in the "Waiting on a Friend" video by the Rolling Stones. After several business changes at the address, a Rolling Stones-themed bar named Waiting on a Friend opened at the location in September 2018. However, by October 2019, the bar had permanently closed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://evgrieve.com/2018/09/start-me-up-stones-themed-waiting-on.html|title = Start me up: Waiting on a Friend opens on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://evgrieve.com/2019/10/the-wild-son-shapes-up-on-1st-avenue.html |title = EV Grieve: The Wild Son shapes up on 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place}}</ref>

==Public transportation== * [[List of bus routes in Manhattan|Bus]]: ** [[M8 (New York City bus)|M8]] – Eastbound from Sixth Avenue to Avenue A ** {{NYC bus link|M2|M3}} - Eastbound from Fifth to Fourth Avenues ** {{NYC bus link|M1|M55}} - Eastbound from Fifth Avenue to Broadway (some weekday M1 service is extended to Fourth Avenue) * [[List of New York City Subway stations in Manhattan|Subway stations]]: ** [[Astor Place (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)|Astor Place]] on the [[IRT Lexington Avenue Line]] serving the {{NYCS trains|Lexington local}} ** [[Eighth Street–New York University (BMT Broadway Line)|Eighth Street–New York University]] on the [[BMT Broadway Line]] serving the {{NYCS trains| Broadway local}} ** The {{NYCS trains|West 4th}} of the [[New York City Subway|subway]] stop on [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Sixth Avenue]] half a block south of Greenwich Avenue's southeastern end at the [[West Fourth Street–Washington Square (New York City Subway)|West Fourth Street–Washington Square]] station ** The {{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh south}} stop on [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]] one block north of Greenwich Avenue at the [[14th Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|14th Street]] station ** The {{NYCS trains|14th Eighth}} stop on [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]] and 14th Street half a block north of Greenwich Avenue's northwestern end at the [[14th Street–Eighth Avenue (New York City Subway)|14th Street–Eighth Avenue]] station ** The {{stl|PATH|Ninth Street}} [[Port Authority Trans-Hudson|PATH train]] station on Ninth Street just north of Greenwich Avenue at Sixth Avenue

== In popular culture == [[File:Gem Spa.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Gem Spa]] was the "corner store" for locals for nearly a century before closing due to financial hardship during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].]] [[File:StMarks2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Cherries, an adult store on St. Mark's Place whose signage was part of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'''s opening montage. The store closed in late 2011.]]

St. Mark's Place appears in a variety of works in popular culture. Notable examples include:

===Music=== * In the video for The Rolling Stones's "Waiting on a Friend", Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Peter Tosh are seen sitting on the stoop of 96–98 St. Mark's Place before Jagger and Richards walk to St. Mark's Bar and Grill at 132 St. Mark's Place to meet and perform with the rest of the band. In the song, Jagger mentions 8th Street. * On the back cover of the first [[New York Dolls]] LP, the band is pictured standing in front of [[Gem Spa]], a newspaper, magazine and tobacco store, which was known for its fountain [[egg cream]]s, located on the southwest corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue, at 131 Second Avenue.<ref>{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Joseph |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B15F73A5B0C728FDDAE0894DD404482&scp=7&sq=Gem%20Spa%20egg%20cream&st=cse |title=The Pizza Is Still Old World, Only Now the Old World Is Tibet |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 31, 2005 |quote=For New Yorkers, this was the nectar of a Jewish neighborhood, and Gem Spa was the drink's sacred temple, certified as such by magazines and travel writers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Berkon |first=Ben |url=http://www.newyork.com/pages/landing?blockID=275641 |title=Gem Spa: Classic egg creams in New York |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125080056/http://www.newyork.com/pages/landing?blockID=275641 |archive-date=November 25, 2010 |website=NewYork.com}}</ref> * The narrator of [[Tom Paxton]]'s "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues", upon smelling [[marijuana]] on someone's breath during the [[Vietnam War]] remarks, "He smelled like midnight on St. Mark's Place." * [[The Holy Modal Rounders]] mentioned the street in their song "Bad Boy" in the lyric "he'll sell your heart on St. Mark's Place in glassine envelopes/he'll cut it with a pig's heart, and burn the chumps and dopes". * [[Earl Slick]]'s 2003 solo album ''Zig-Zag'' features a song called "Saint Mark's Place". * In [[Lou Reed]]'s song "Sally Can't Dance", Sally walks down St. Mark's Place where she lives in a [[rent control]]led apartment. * In the [[King Missile]] song "[[Detachable Penis]]" vocalist [[John S. Hall]] states, "Then, as I walked down Second Avenue towards St. Mark's Place / Where all those people sell used books and other junk on the street / I saw my penis lying on a blanket next to a broken toaster oven." * The album ''We Are Only Riders'' by The [[Jeffrey Lee Pierce]] Sessions Project features a song called "Saint Mark's Place", a duet with [[Lydia Lunch]]. * The music video for [[Billy Joel]]'s 1986 song "[[A Matter of Trust]]" was shot in the Electric Circus building and features extensive footage of the block. * [[The Replacements (band)|The Replacements]]' 1987 song "[[Alex Chilton (song)|Alex Chilton]]" contains the line, "Checkin' his stash by the trash at St. Mark's Place." * [[Moe (band)|Moe's]] song "New York City" contains the line, "Hits his brakes and points out the freaks on St. Mark's Place." * [[Kirsty McGee]]'s ''Frost'' album (2004) contains a song called "Saint Mark's Place". * The [[Tom Waits]] song "Potter's Field" from his ''[[Foreign Affairs (Tom Waits album)|Foreign Affairs]]'' album contains the line "You'll learn why liquor makes a [[stool pigeon]] rat on every face that ever left his shadow down on St. Mark's Place." * The [[Rank and File (band)|Rank and File]] song "I Went Walking", on their 1982 album ''[[Sundown (Rank and File album)|Sundown]]'', presents a cynical look at the St. Mark's Place of that time, containing the lines: "Have you ever seen a sheep in a porkpie hat? Ever see a lemming dressed all in black? Well, you might have been there, but I'll tell you just in case: Just take a walk down St. Mark's Place." * [[The Sharp Things]] album, ''Foxes and Hounds'', features a song called "95 Saint Mark's Place". * The [[They Might Be Giants]] song "On The Drag" includes the line "The allure of St. Mark's Place". * [[Joe Purdy]]'s song "The City" has a verse, "When we left Brooklyn it was raining so hard. / Come up on 8th and the rain it cleared off. / We're just people watching on 3rd and St. Mark's." * The [[Marcy Playground]] song "Vampires of New York," on their debut album, ''[[Marcy Playground (album)|Marcy Playground]]'', includes the line "Come take in 8th street after dark". * The New York [[anti-folk]] artist [[Jeffrey Lewis]] references St. Mark's Place in the song "[[Manhattan (Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts album)|Scowling Crackhead Ian]]" as the location in which Lewis and the eponymous Ian grew up and remain.

===Television=== * In the double-episode season six opening episode of ''[[Mad Men]]'', "[[The Doorway]]", [[Betty Draper|Betty Francis]] goes to St. Mark's Place to find a girl who has run away after losing her parents, and in season 6, episode 4 ("[[Mad Men season 6#Episodes|To Have and To Hold]]", set in early 1968), [[Joan Holloway|Joan Harris]] and her hometown friend Kate visit the [[Electric Circus (nightclub)|Electric Circus]] nightclub, located at 19–25 St. Marks Place, during a night out on the town.<ref>{{cite news|journal=Vulture|date=April 22, 2013|url=http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/mad-men-recap-season-6-to-have-and-hold-heinz.html|title=''Mad Men'' Recap: The Electric Circus |first = Matt Zoller |last=Seitz}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| magazine=The New Yorker |first=Alex|last=Ross|title=The Rest is Noise: Electric Circus, Electric Ear|date=April 21, 2013|url=http://www.therestisnoise.com/2013/04/electric-circus-electric-ear.html}}</ref> * In the opening credits to ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (c. 2010), a shot of Cherries adult entertainment store's neon signage is featured. * In the season 3 ''[[Sex and the City]]'' episode "Hot Child In The City", [[Sarah Jessica Parker]]'s character Carrie goes to get her shoe fixed on St. Mark's Place and ends up dating a man who works at a comic book store on the block. Part of the episode is filmed at the actual [[St. Mark's Comics]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Moker |first=Molly |date=May 21, 2014 |url=http://www.fodors.com/news/story_3018.html |title=Tour the Top 25 'Sex and the City' Locations |website=Fodors}}</ref> * In the season 9 episode of ''[[Friends]]'' titled "[[The One with the Mugging]]", it is revealed that [[Ross Geller|Ross]] was mugged outside St. Mark's Comics as a child. * The second-season finale of the [[Comedy Central]] series ''[[Broad City]]'' is set around the main characters on a night out along St. Mark's Place, and the episode is titled "St. Mark's". * [[All Elite Wrestling|AEW]] wrestler [[Hook (wrestler)|Hook]] is billed from St. Mark's Place.

===Film=== * In [[Andy Warhol]]'s ''[[Trash (1970 film)|Trash]]'', most of the street scenes of [[Joe Dallesandro]] were filmed on St Mark's Place. * In the films ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989) and ''[[Ghostbusters: Afterlife]]'' (2021), Ray's Occult Books, a bookstore run by [[Ray Stantz]], is said to be located at 201 St. Mark's Place. The exterior of one of the two storefronts at 33 St. Mark's Place, was used to portray the store in ''Ghostbusters II''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inguanzo |first1=Ozzy |title=Ghostbusters: Afterlife: The Art and Making of the Movie |date=November 2021 |publisher=Titan Books |location=London |isbn=9781789096521 |page=126}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|New York City}} * [[East Side Hebrew Institute]] (ESHI)

==References== '''Notes''' {{Reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography''' * {{Cite book|title=St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street|first=Ada|last=Calhoun|location=New York|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|year=2016|isbn=978-0-393-24038-2}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * [http://www.nysonglines.com/greenwichav.htm Greenwich Avenue: A New York Songline], virtual walking tour * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101004164854/http://leshp.org/history/component/content/article/87-14th-to-houston/53-st-marks-place-lot-by-lot-history "St. Marks Place"] at the Lower East Side History Project * [http://www.nysonglines.com/8st.htm 8th Street/St Marks Place: New York Songlines], history of buildings and establishments along 8th Street and St Marks Place * [http://www.lespi-nyc.org Lower East Side Preservation Initiative]

{{DEFAULTSORT:8th Street}} [[Category:East Village, Manhattan]] [[Category:Ghostbusters]] [[Category:Greenwich Village]] [[Category:Streets in Manhattan]] [[Category:West Village]]