4th Street (Manhattan)

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4th Street
Washington Square South
3rd Street
(6th Avenue to Avenue D)

4th Street is a street in

10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Streets in Greenwich Village. Most of the street has the same 40-foot (12 m) width between curbstones as others in the prevailing street grid, striped as two curbside lanes and one traffic lane, with one-way traffic eastbound. The portion from Seventh to Eighth Avenues is westbound (northbound geographically) and is approximately 35 feet (11 m) wide, a legacy of the original Greenwich Village street grid. The section of four short blocks from MacDougal Street to University Place which forms the southern border of Washington Square Park is called Washington Square South.[2]

The north/south portion (from Sixth Avenue to 13th Street) was formerly called Asylum Street, after the Orphan Asylum Society, which stood on Asylum Street between Bank Street and Troy Street (now West 12th Street). The asylum was demolished in 1833 and the street was renamed West 4th Street. Later, the cross streets (Amos, Hammond, and Troy) were renamed West 10th, 11th, and 12th Streets, causing the current confusion.[3]

Landmarks

Due to the layout of streets in Greenwich Village, West 4th Street, running south to north, intersects West 12th Street, which runs west to east

Located near Washington Square Park's south-west corner, between

Gay Men's Health Crisis. The church was sold in 2005 to a developer for conversion into residential units.[5]
During construction, parts of the church were salvaged to form the furniture and interior architecture of Urban Spring, a cafe in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Judson Memorial Church, located at the corner of Thompson Street and Washington Square South, was designed by architect Stanford White and stained glass master John La Farge.

The

<F>​, and M trains) at Sixth Avenue is one of the major transfer points in the New York City Subway
.

The street is home to the basketball and handball West Fourth Street Courts, known as "The Cage", a hangout for some of New York's best basketball players and the site of a citywide streetball tournament.[6]

Historic locations and residents

West 4th Street has always been a center of the Village's bohemian lifestyle. The Village's first tearoom, The Mad Hatter, was located at 150 West 4th Street and served as a meeting place for intellectuals and artists.

The infamous Golden Swan bar (known as the "Hell Hole"), at the corner of Sixth Avenue, was a famous haunt of

Bolshevik Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World, later the source for the film Reds.[7]

Sculptor and art patron

. Sloan lived at 240 West 4th St and painted locations on the street including the Golden Swan.

The street was later home to the famous folk club Gerde's Folk City (11 West 4th Street), which hosted the New York debuts of Bob Dylan in 1961 and Simon & Garfunkel. Dylan also lived from early-1962 until late-1964 in a small $60-per-month studio apartment at 161 West 4th Street;[9] the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was photographed at nearby Jones Street at West 4th, and the street may have inspired his 1965 hit song "Positively 4th Street". Louis Abolafia, the 1968 hippie candidate for the presidency, had his artists' studio and campaign headquarters at 129 East 4th St.

Music venue The Bottom Line was at 15th West 4th Street from 1974 to 2004.

References

  1. ^ Google (August 31, 2015). "4th Street (Manhattan)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  2. ^ "Washington Square South" Google Maps
  3. ^ Walsh, Kevin (November 1999). "The Street Necrology of Greenwich Village". Forgotten NY. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  4. ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (2003). Guide to New York City Landmarks. John Wiley and Sons. p. 50.
  5. ^ Amateau, Albert (July 27, 2005). "Washington Square church is sold". The Villager. Vol. 75, no. 10. Archived from the original on 2005-11-09.
  6. ^ Martindale, Wight Jr. (2005). Inside the Cage: A Season at West Fourth Street's Legendary Tournament. Simon Spotlight Entertainment.
  7. ^ Bunyan, Patrick (1999). All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities. Fordham University Press. pp. 143, 147.
  8. ^ Wolff, Janet (2003). "Women at the Whitney, 1910–1930". In Carbonell, Bettina Messias (ed.). Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts. Blackwell Publishing. p. 485.
  9. ^ Sounes, Howard (2002). Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. Grove Press. pp. 108, 164.

External links