So, after visiting New York a couple of times and having seen most of the main tourist attractions, it was time to explore some of the less familiar places. In particular, some of the iconic city locations which meant so much to me during my youth.
Setting out on a warm Spring morning, I finally had the opportunity to take a personal tour of lower Manhattan and Midtown. In search of some of those places that seemed so glamorous and exotic when I was growing up.
The places on my self guided walk ranged from the Ghostbusters fire station in lower Manhattan to the famous hang out of writers and rock stars, the Chelsea Hotel. Hopefully, New York hadn’t lost its character and replaced these iconic places with dull, hipster coffee shop hangouts just the same as so many other cities.
During this trip, I was staying in a hotel in Soho. Just down the road was the location from one of the best film of the 1980s, the original Ghostbusters.
Who Ya Gonna Call? Ghostbusters
“Don’t cross the streams!” There no mistaking the Ghostbusters headquarters which is actually the Hook & Ladder Company 8’s firehouse located at 14 North Moore Street, Tribeca.
The building is still a working firehouse. The firefighters based here were among the first to respond to the 9/11 attacks.
One For The Beastie Boys Fans
Walking along Canal Street towards the Lower East Side then turn left along Ludlow Street for a few blocks. On the corner where Ludlow meets Rivington Street, you’ll find the location of the fictional clothing store named Paul’s Boutique.
Paul’s Boutique was the Beastie Boy’s second album. The album cover featured the fictional store and folded out to show a panorama of the whole intersection. The mural on the wall changes quite regularly, the faces of the one I saw appeared a bit odd.
Joey Ramone Place, Bowery
Walk along Rivington Street until the Bowery and then turn north until you reach the intersection with East 2nd street. Here you’ll find the sign for Joey Ramone Place. Apparently, the sign is one of the most stolen street signs in New York.
Gonna Take A Walk Down To Union Square
Continuing walking up Bowery then onto 4th Avenue which leads you to Union Square. Not quite the words of Lou Reed but close enough ‘Gonna take a walk down to Union Square. You never know who you’re gonna find there‘.
Overlooking the square is the Decker Building, this was the second location of ‘The Factory’, Andy Warhol’s studio and where he was shot in 1968 by Valerie Solanas.
From Union Square walk up Broad and then head west along W 23rd Street. It’s worth walking an extra block to see the Flatiron building before head back to W 23rd Street.
Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, you’ll find the historic Chelsea Hotel. The former home for many famous and infamous writers, musicians, artists and actors including Arthur C Clarke, Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen. Also, the Chelsea Hotel is where Sid Vicious stabbed Nancy Spungen, his former girlfriend.
The hotel has been shrouded with scaffolding for over 10 years. Several long-tern guests still reside in the hotel although the building’s future is still in limbo.
Drinking With Dylan (Thomas Not Bob)
From the Chelsea Hotel walk south down 8th Avenue towards the West Village, at W 11th Street you’ll find the White Horse Tavern. It is one of the few remaining bars in Greenwich Village which were frequented by the writers and artists during the 1950s and 1960s.
It’s the last bar where Dylan Thomas drank before he returned to the Chelsea Hotel. He fell ill and died on 9 November 1953.
The Other Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Talking of Dylan, not far from the White Horse Tavern is Jones Street. This is the street Bob Dylan is walking down on the cover of his 1963 album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
After Jones Street continue walking along West 4th Street through Greenwich Village and then turn south down MacDougal Street.
Cafe Wha?
Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Bruce Springsteen and Jimi Hendrix have all played at Cafe Wha. This was where Chas Chandler became Jimi Hendrix’s manager and shortly afterwards he had his first hit in the UK with ‘Hey Joe’.
That completed my unofficial self-guided tour of Lower Manhattan and from Cafe Wha, it was only a short walk back to my hotel in Soho. If you haven’t stayed in Lower Manhattan I highly recommend staying there next time. The area feels far more intimate than midtown, like a collection of small towns rather than a big city.
