Neighborhood Watch: Exploring Sheridan Square
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Sheridan Square is a tiny, triangle-shaped viewing garden located between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue South, at Washington Place, West 4th Street and Barrow Street. The space was named after General Philip Sheridan, a Union general considered a hero of the Civil War because, in 1865, thanks to his clever tactic, General Robert E. Lee withdrew from Petersburg, Virginia and surrendered, ending the war. Sheridan was also largely responsible for the establishment, protection, and preservation of the Yellowstone National Park. A statue of him stands in Christopher Park.
Although Sheridan Square is technically a small green space in a concrete city, the area surrounding the square tested the limits and boundaries of society, from hosting the first racially-integrated nightclub in 1938 to being the birthplace of the gay liberation movement in 1969 and a place people flocked after the Marriage Equality Act was passed this past summer.
Sheridan Square:
This triangular plot of land in the West Village was originally a settlement location for the Sappokianican Indians, who used the triangle as a trading post. In 1830, it was paved over as a public road, and used as an open space for political campaign speeches, community gatherings, drilling and marching, and somewhere for children to play. In 1918, the Interborough Rapid Transit subway station at Christopher Street opened.
During most of the 20th century, Sheridan Square was little more than a traffic-safety island. In 1982, however, a group of neighbors in the area, the Sheridan Square Triangle Association, convinced the Parks Department to it turn into a garden. GVSHP’s then-executive director, Regina Kellerman, heard about the plans and decided to conduct an archaeological dig. Dr. Anne Marie Cantwell, a professor at Rutgers, agreed to direct the site excavation and involve her students. Mostly Native American artifacts — most likely from the Sappokianican Indians — were unearthed.
Most people thought Sheridan Square was Christopher Park until the Park Department put a sign near the entrance. The confusion started in 1918 when the IRT Sheridan Square subway stop opened, and continues to today thanks to the bronze statue of General Sheridan by sculptor Joseph P. Pollia, which the Parks Department placed in Christopher Park in 1936.
Although the area may be confusing to even New Yorkers, some Sheridan Square residents don’t mind. “It’s a funny street because everybody in New York, in one point or another passes by,” said Oliver Strand, a writer who has lived at 10 Sheridan Square for seven years. “Nobody actually knows where this is. Whenever you give anybody a direction you have to say, ‘It’s across the street from the Chase. It’s on top of [a subway] station. It’s a little bit invisible as a piece of geography and I like that because, again, it’s in the middle of the city.”
Sheridan Square Playhouse and Garage:
The restaurant and jazz club Garage, which opened at 99 Seventh Ave. South, was appropriately named because the building was formerly an actual garage. Before that, however, it was the Sheridan Square Playhouse.
Sheridan Square Playhouse was one of NYC’s earliest off-Broadway theatres. The Playhouse opened May 6, 1958, with a production of Jacinto Benavente’s “Bonds of Interest.” It housed the Circle Repertory Company from 1972 through the 1993-94 season. The last production held at the Playhouse was Graydon Royce and Geoffrey C. Ewing’s “Ali” in 1992.
Stonewall Inn:
On March 18, 1957, the Stonewall Inn opened in what was formerly a restaurant gutted due to a fire. It was the largest gay club in the United States during the time, and kept up business despite constant police raids. "This was a hang out spot for gay activism in the ‘60s,” said a bartender at Stonewall, who goes by Tree. Tree has been working at Stonewall for 42 years.
Early in the morning of June 28, 1969, Stonewall became the birthplace and center of the gay liberation movement. At about 1:20 a.m., hours after Judy Garland’s funeral, a group of plain-clothed police officers entered the bar. “The riots started when the NYPD vice squad raided the places because they knew the mafia was laundering money and supporting illegal activity [by serving alcohol to gays and Native Americans, which was illegal in New York City],” said Tree. “We saw it as an attack on [the gay community], so when the cops came in, that’s when we started pushing and shoving."
Several months after the riots, Stonewall closed. Over the next 20 years, a bagel sandwich shop, a Chinese restaurant and a shoe store took over the place. However, Sheridan Square remained the center of the liberation movement, with the events at Stonewall inspiring the first gay pride parade in 1970. Early meetings were held in a nearby apartment at 350 Bleecker St.. The parade was held on June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the riots.
In the early '90s, a new gay bar simply titled Stonewall opened in the west half of the original bar. During this time, Christopher Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues was called Stonewall Place by the Borough of Manhattan. Several years later, it was renovated and became a multi-floor nightclub, until it closed in 2006 due to noise complaints. A year later, in March 2007, the Stonewall Inn reopened. Now, it hosts local musicians, drag shows, trivia nights, cabaret, strip shows, karaoke and private parties. After New York State passed the Marriage Equality Act on June 24, 2011, hundreds of people crowded in the streets outside Stonewall, where couples proposed to each other and the city celebrated. On the weekends, the area is crowded, almost like a “gay Times Square,” according to Oliver Strand. Today, Stonewall offers gay and lesbian wedding receptions.
The Duplex:
The Duplex, located at 61 Christopher St., at Waverly Place, is the oldest piano and cabaret bar in New York City. It opened in the 1950s at 55 Grove St., across the street from its current location. The Duplex offers comedy, too, and hosts impromptu open-mic nights over the week at 9 p.m. “Joan Rivers got her start here, and Woody Allen did stand-up here, too,” said bartender Josh Shipley. During the 1960s, the building was the *Village Voice* offices. “The reporters had a birds-eye view of the [Stonewall] riots from the second floor windows,” Shipley said.
1 Sheridan Square:
In 1938, the first racially-integrated nightclub, Café Society, opened at 1 Sheridan Square. The club was intended to “defy the pretensions of the rich”; the name was selected to mock Clare Boothe Luce, a journalist, socialite, and later congresswoman, who referred to “café society” as the habitués of more upscale nightclubs. The nightclub showcased African American talent, as it was intended to be an American version of the political cabarets owner Barney Josephson saw in Europe prior to WWII.
Notable performers at Café Society included Pearl Pailey, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Lena Horne, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Anita O’Day, Charlie Parker, Les Paul, Mary Ford, Paul Robeson, Kay Starr, Art Tatum, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Josh White, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young and the Weavers. Billie Holiday first sang “Strange Fruit” there. At Josephson’s request, she ended her set with the song and left the stage without an encore, leaving the audience to think about the song’s meaning.
Josephson closed Café Society in the 1950s to open the now-forgotten Cookery restaurant before turning into One Sheridan Square Theatre. In the 1960s, it turned into The Haven, a gay nightclub that was destroyed during a police raid. The Ridiculous Theatrical Company was the first group to permanently base a theater there. Headed by Charles Ludlam, the company used drag actors, pop culture, and farcical comedy plays that earned them a major cult following. In 1998, Axis Company took over the space and transformed it into a black box theater that reflects Randy Sharp’s idea of total theatrical immersion. Axis produces a series of original and published plays — including “Woyzek” by Buchner, “Play” by Beckett and “A Glance at New York” by Benjamin Baker — using advanced technological components to enhance the material. Axis still exists at the space, and Philip Seymour Hoffman owns the property.
92 Grove Street:
Alex Haley, African-American journalist best known as the author of "Roots: The Saga of an American Family" and the co-author of "the Autobiography of Malcolm X” rented a small studio located on the back of a 6-story apartment building on 92 Grove St. In a small 8’ x 10’ room, Haley conducted more than 50 in-depth interviews with Malcolm X over the course of two years in the studio to write “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Haley would be sitting in a chair taking notes while Malcolm X walked around the room. “He would come down there and he was, he had big feet and he would pace the floor,” Haley said to Blackside, Inc. “He was like a caged tiger.”
His writing studio consisted of a desk and a small table for his silent typewriter. In an interview with Kurt Anderson for Studio 360, Haley’s son, Bill, said people living at 92 Grove St. “probably [did] not” know the depth of the history that happened in their apartment.
In the 1950s, Lucien Carr lived in the same apartment building. Carr was a member of the original NYC beat generation and known for murdering David Kammerer, a teacher at Washington University in St. Louis and a friend of William S. Burroughs. Carr worked as an editor for the United Press International. It is still an apartment building.
One if by Land, Two if by Sea:
One if by Land, Two if by Sea is a restaurant located at 17 Barrow St. in Sheridan Square. It is considered one of New York City’s most romantic restaurants, with people getting engaged there often. Owner Armand Braiger claims the property was once Vice President Aaron Burr’s — who was famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 — carriage house. Many customers even claim they see the ghost of Burr in the restaurant, with dishes flying and chairs being pulled out from people.
However, no title records list Burr as the owner of 17 Barrow St. Burr died only two years after tax and other records state the building was built. Architectural historian Regina Kellerman told *The New York Times* in 1998 his estate was “nowhere near” the block.
Christopher Park:
Christopher Park, located at Grove Street, West 4th Street and Stonewall Place, is often mixed up with Sheridan Square due to the placement of a statue of General Sheridan in the park in 1936. The park was developed as a tobacco farm in 1633 from 1638 before being split in to three farms: the Trinity Church, Elbert Herring’s farm in the south end, and Sir Peter Warner’s farm in the north end. Skinner Road — which was later renamed Christopher Street to honor Charles Christopher Amos, an heir of a trustee to the Warren estate — was laid out along a line that separated Warner’s farm from the other two. From 1789 to 1829, Christopher Street was divided into lots, with blocks laid out along the length of the street.
Christopher Park also served as a divider for the Village. The area began to overcrowd during the early 1800s, and a devastating fire broke through the area in 1835, forcing residents to petition the city to condemn a block at the park’s location to create a park. Between the widening of Seventh Avenue and the construction of the IRT subway line in 1910, the area was divided into working-class neighborhoods in the west and an artistic community to the east, with Christopher Park in the center.
Although Sheridan Square is technically a small green space in a concrete city, the area surrounding the square tested the limits and boundaries of society, from hosting the first racially-integrated nightclub in 1938 to being the birthplace of the gay liberation movement in 1969 and a place people flocked after the Marriage Equality Act was passed this past summer.
Sheridan Square:
This triangular plot of land in the West Village was originally a settlement location for the Sappokianican Indians, who used the triangle as a trading post. In 1830, it was paved over as a public road, and used as an open space for political campaign speeches, community gatherings, drilling and marching, and somewhere for children to play. In 1918, the Interborough Rapid Transit subway station at Christopher Street opened.
During most of the 20th century, Sheridan Square was little more than a traffic-safety island. In 1982, however, a group of neighbors in the area, the Sheridan Square Triangle Association, convinced the Parks Department to it turn into a garden. GVSHP’s then-executive director, Regina Kellerman, heard about the plans and decided to conduct an archaeological dig. Dr. Anne Marie Cantwell, a professor at Rutgers, agreed to direct the site excavation and involve her students. Mostly Native American artifacts — most likely from the Sappokianican Indians — were unearthed.
Most people thought Sheridan Square was Christopher Park until the Park Department put a sign near the entrance. The confusion started in 1918 when the IRT Sheridan Square subway stop opened, and continues to today thanks to the bronze statue of General Sheridan by sculptor Joseph P. Pollia, which the Parks Department placed in Christopher Park in 1936.
Although the area may be confusing to even New Yorkers, some Sheridan Square residents don’t mind. “It’s a funny street because everybody in New York, in one point or another passes by,” said Oliver Strand, a writer who has lived at 10 Sheridan Square for seven years. “Nobody actually knows where this is. Whenever you give anybody a direction you have to say, ‘It’s across the street from the Chase. It’s on top of [a subway] station. It’s a little bit invisible as a piece of geography and I like that because, again, it’s in the middle of the city.”
Sheridan Square Playhouse and Garage:
The restaurant and jazz club Garage, which opened at 99 Seventh Ave. South, was appropriately named because the building was formerly an actual garage. Before that, however, it was the Sheridan Square Playhouse.
Sheridan Square Playhouse was one of NYC’s earliest off-Broadway theatres. The Playhouse opened May 6, 1958, with a production of Jacinto Benavente’s “Bonds of Interest.” It housed the Circle Repertory Company from 1972 through the 1993-94 season. The last production held at the Playhouse was Graydon Royce and Geoffrey C. Ewing’s “Ali” in 1992.
Stonewall Inn:
On March 18, 1957, the Stonewall Inn opened in what was formerly a restaurant gutted due to a fire. It was the largest gay club in the United States during the time, and kept up business despite constant police raids. "This was a hang out spot for gay activism in the ‘60s,” said a bartender at Stonewall, who goes by Tree. Tree has been working at Stonewall for 42 years.
Early in the morning of June 28, 1969, Stonewall became the birthplace and center of the gay liberation movement. At about 1:20 a.m., hours after Judy Garland’s funeral, a group of plain-clothed police officers entered the bar. “The riots started when the NYPD vice squad raided the places because they knew the mafia was laundering money and supporting illegal activity [by serving alcohol to gays and Native Americans, which was illegal in New York City],” said Tree. “We saw it as an attack on [the gay community], so when the cops came in, that’s when we started pushing and shoving."
Several months after the riots, Stonewall closed. Over the next 20 years, a bagel sandwich shop, a Chinese restaurant and a shoe store took over the place. However, Sheridan Square remained the center of the liberation movement, with the events at Stonewall inspiring the first gay pride parade in 1970. Early meetings were held in a nearby apartment at 350 Bleecker St.. The parade was held on June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the riots.
In the early '90s, a new gay bar simply titled Stonewall opened in the west half of the original bar. During this time, Christopher Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues was called Stonewall Place by the Borough of Manhattan. Several years later, it was renovated and became a multi-floor nightclub, until it closed in 2006 due to noise complaints. A year later, in March 2007, the Stonewall Inn reopened. Now, it hosts local musicians, drag shows, trivia nights, cabaret, strip shows, karaoke and private parties. After New York State passed the Marriage Equality Act on June 24, 2011, hundreds of people crowded in the streets outside Stonewall, where couples proposed to each other and the city celebrated. On the weekends, the area is crowded, almost like a “gay Times Square,” according to Oliver Strand. Today, Stonewall offers gay and lesbian wedding receptions.
The Duplex:
The Duplex, located at 61 Christopher St., at Waverly Place, is the oldest piano and cabaret bar in New York City. It opened in the 1950s at 55 Grove St., across the street from its current location. The Duplex offers comedy, too, and hosts impromptu open-mic nights over the week at 9 p.m. “Joan Rivers got her start here, and Woody Allen did stand-up here, too,” said bartender Josh Shipley. During the 1960s, the building was the *Village Voice* offices. “The reporters had a birds-eye view of the [Stonewall] riots from the second floor windows,” Shipley said.
1 Sheridan Square:
In 1938, the first racially-integrated nightclub, Café Society, opened at 1 Sheridan Square. The club was intended to “defy the pretensions of the rich”; the name was selected to mock Clare Boothe Luce, a journalist, socialite, and later congresswoman, who referred to “café society” as the habitués of more upscale nightclubs. The nightclub showcased African American talent, as it was intended to be an American version of the political cabarets owner Barney Josephson saw in Europe prior to WWII.
Notable performers at Café Society included Pearl Pailey, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Lena Horne, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Anita O’Day, Charlie Parker, Les Paul, Mary Ford, Paul Robeson, Kay Starr, Art Tatum, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Josh White, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young and the Weavers. Billie Holiday first sang “Strange Fruit” there. At Josephson’s request, she ended her set with the song and left the stage without an encore, leaving the audience to think about the song’s meaning.
Josephson closed Café Society in the 1950s to open the now-forgotten Cookery restaurant before turning into One Sheridan Square Theatre. In the 1960s, it turned into The Haven, a gay nightclub that was destroyed during a police raid. The Ridiculous Theatrical Company was the first group to permanently base a theater there. Headed by Charles Ludlam, the company used drag actors, pop culture, and farcical comedy plays that earned them a major cult following. In 1998, Axis Company took over the space and transformed it into a black box theater that reflects Randy Sharp’s idea of total theatrical immersion. Axis produces a series of original and published plays — including “Woyzek” by Buchner, “Play” by Beckett and “A Glance at New York” by Benjamin Baker — using advanced technological components to enhance the material. Axis still exists at the space, and Philip Seymour Hoffman owns the property.
92 Grove Street:
Alex Haley, African-American journalist best known as the author of "Roots: The Saga of an American Family" and the co-author of "the Autobiography of Malcolm X” rented a small studio located on the back of a 6-story apartment building on 92 Grove St. In a small 8’ x 10’ room, Haley conducted more than 50 in-depth interviews with Malcolm X over the course of two years in the studio to write “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Haley would be sitting in a chair taking notes while Malcolm X walked around the room. “He would come down there and he was, he had big feet and he would pace the floor,” Haley said to Blackside, Inc. “He was like a caged tiger.”
His writing studio consisted of a desk and a small table for his silent typewriter. In an interview with Kurt Anderson for Studio 360, Haley’s son, Bill, said people living at 92 Grove St. “probably [did] not” know the depth of the history that happened in their apartment.
In the 1950s, Lucien Carr lived in the same apartment building. Carr was a member of the original NYC beat generation and known for murdering David Kammerer, a teacher at Washington University in St. Louis and a friend of William S. Burroughs. Carr worked as an editor for the United Press International. It is still an apartment building.
One if by Land, Two if by Sea:
One if by Land, Two if by Sea is a restaurant located at 17 Barrow St. in Sheridan Square. It is considered one of New York City’s most romantic restaurants, with people getting engaged there often. Owner Armand Braiger claims the property was once Vice President Aaron Burr’s — who was famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 — carriage house. Many customers even claim they see the ghost of Burr in the restaurant, with dishes flying and chairs being pulled out from people.
However, no title records list Burr as the owner of 17 Barrow St. Burr died only two years after tax and other records state the building was built. Architectural historian Regina Kellerman told *The New York Times* in 1998 his estate was “nowhere near” the block.
Christopher Park:
Christopher Park, located at Grove Street, West 4th Street and Stonewall Place, is often mixed up with Sheridan Square due to the placement of a statue of General Sheridan in the park in 1936. The park was developed as a tobacco farm in 1633 from 1638 before being split in to three farms: the Trinity Church, Elbert Herring’s farm in the south end, and Sir Peter Warner’s farm in the north end. Skinner Road — which was later renamed Christopher Street to honor Charles Christopher Amos, an heir of a trustee to the Warren estate — was laid out along a line that separated Warner’s farm from the other two. From 1789 to 1829, Christopher Street was divided into lots, with blocks laid out along the length of the street.
Christopher Park also served as a divider for the Village. The area began to overcrowd during the early 1800s, and a devastating fire broke through the area in 1835, forcing residents to petition the city to condemn a block at the park’s location to create a park. Between the widening of Seventh Avenue and the construction of the IRT subway line in 1910, the area was divided into working-class neighborhoods in the west and an artistic community to the east, with Christopher Park in the center.
Reporting by Stephany Chung, Richard Rabeau & Andrea Vocos.
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