MacDougal Street

MacDougal Street

Minetta Tavern, at 113 MacDougal Street
Postal code	10011, 10012
Location	Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates:	40.730023°N 74.00052°W / 40.730023; -74.00052
North end	West 8th Street
South end	Prince Street
East	Sullivan Street
West	Sixth Avenue

MacDougal Street is a one way street in Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street is bound in the south by Prince Street and in the north by West 8th Street, covering eight blocks on its eastern side and six on its western side. It has been the subject of many songs, poems, and other forms of artistic expression. MacDougal Street has been frequented by numerous famous individuals. It is named for Alexander McDougall.

Historic locations and residents

• On the corner of West 8th Street/MacDougal at 32 West 8th Street is the former location of 8th Street Books, where Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg first met.
• Louisa May Alcott lived in her uncle's home, 130–132 MacDougal. Some say she wrote Little Women here.
• Jackson Pollock lived in apartment no. 9 in MacDougal Alley.
• The Czech-American sculptor Albin Polasek rented space at 9 MacDougal Alley from 1914 until 1916.
• At the corner of MacDougal/Washington Square North at 27 is the former residence of Matthew Broderick and Uta Hagen.
• Eleanor Roosevelt lived on the corner of MacDougal/Washington Square North at 29 after the death of president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• The southwest corner of Washington Square Park, which flanks one side of MacDougal Street, is the site of many historic chess games as well as the film Searching for Bobby Fischer.
• Eugene O'Neill lived at the corner of MacDougal/Washington Square South at No. 38.
• In the upstairs of 137 MacDougal Street was the homebase of the Liberal Club which existed during the 1910s. Members included such notable intellectuals as: Sherwood Anderson, Theodore Dreiser, Max Eastman, Emma Goldman, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Margaret Sanger, Upton Sinclair, and Lincoln Steffens.
• 146 MacDougal used to be a Caribbean restaurant frequented by James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Marlon Brando, Eartha Kitt, and Henry Miller.
• Caffe Reggio, at 119 MacDougal Street, a coffeehouse since 1927, has been featured in many movies, including The Godfather Part II. Many celebrities have been spotted or photographed in this location. In 1959, presidential hopeful John F. Kennedy made a speech outside the coffee shop.
• The Comedy Cellar at 117 MacDougal Street has featured nearly every notable American comedian.
• Bob Dylan had his first New York City gig at Cafe Wha?, No. 115. This is also where Jimi Hendrix played some early gigs.
  

  

  No. 114, Esperanto Café, in 2009
• No. 116 MacDougal Street used to be the The Gaslight Cafe, where Gregory Corso, Bob Dylan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi Jones, Jack Kerouac, Ray Bremser, and many others would read poetry. Bob Dylan lived there for a time.
• Minetta Tavern is a trattoria/bar which has seen such regulars as E. E. Cummings, Joe Gould, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill, Ezra Pound, and many others.
• At the corner of MacDougal and Bleecker Street, at 93, is the former site of the rowdy San Remo Cafe, which attracted many bohemians such as James Agee, W. H. Auden, James Baldwin, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Miles Davis, Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, Jack Kerouac, Jackson Pollock, William Styron, Dylan Thomas, Gore Vidal, and many others.

References

Notes

External links

• Macdougal Street: A New York Songline
• "Positively 4th Street Revisited" from Q, May 1995, pp. 56, 57; with images
• "The Beats Go on" by Brian Niemietz, New York Post, January 13, 2007; article about The Beats in Greenwich Village, particularly about MacDougal Street nos. 93 (San Remo), 115 (Cafe Wha?), 119 (Caffe Reggio).
• Minetta Tavern on Time Out New York
• Caffe Reggio website and history