Pastries and Rock n Roll: 2nd Avenue between 6th and 7th Street

Any block with a great bakery and iconic rock roots is okay with me. And I also like rock songs about sweets. "Savoy Truffle" by The Beatles comes to mind. It was a George song on the White Album.

We're in the East Village and the bakery is called Moishe's Bake Shop. 

That isn't a street running through the bakery, it's the reflection of 2nd Avenue in the window. 

The bakery is near the 7th Street corner, which is across the street from the corner that had a gas explosion in 2015. I wrote about that block last month, here's a link if you're interested. 

Moishe's has many cookies, pastries and breads. Here's another look in the window:

The baking is done on site, according to an article from The Villager. The article also profiles the owner, Moishe Perl, and discusses how his father survived a Nazi concentration camp and then moved to America and became involved in baking. Here is a link to the article:

http://thevillager.com/villager_248/thekingofkosher.html

In my online research I found varying dates of the bakery's origins. Even its own website says 'since 1978' and also 'For over 40 years...' Maybe all the discrepancies are due to possible prior locations. Either way, it has been in this neighborhood for several decades. 

Here are some of their tasty treats that were sampled:

Three flavors of hamantaschen:

And jelly roll cake:

No, those weren't all just for me. How dare you. Okay, most of them were just for me. 

Now that we're all high on sugar, let's get into some rock n roll history. 

A few doors down on the same side of the street was the Fillmore East, which existed from 1968-1971 and held shows featuring some of the biggest names in music. Here is the building today, which houses... a bank.

The site of the Fillmore West in San Francisco is now a car dealership. Things change, I suppose. 

Just inside the bank, a couple of walls feature photos and articles about the building's history. Here are some of those photos, showing the Fillmore East days:

I recognize Jerry Garcia on stage so I assume that's the Grateful Dead playing.

There is also a plaque on the outside of the building:
The plaque mentions the venue's acoustics, and in fact all or part of many live albums were recorded here by such artists as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Miles Davis, Derek and the Dominos, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and many more.  

Here are some more looks at the tribute inside the bank to the building's history:

Whoever wrote that last line at the bottom, about the bank inheriting the history, either had a great sense of humor or none at all. 

At least the current bank here has a nice tribute to the past, I suppose. That tribute also includes other establishments mentioned above besides the Fillmore East, such as various types of theaters.

Probably the best tribute on the block to the Fillmore East is actually outside, on the nearby corner lamppost.

It was decorated by Jim Power, the Mosaic Man, who was also mentioned in my post on the neighboring block.

The lamppost features many artists who performed at the Fillmore East, along with promoter Bill Graham's name and the venue's opening and closing dates. Here's the opening month of March 1968:

And the closing in June 1971:

Along the right side above, next to The Who and Led Zeppelin, it seems to say www.themosaicman.com. There's a cool blog dedicated to him at mosaicmannyc.com.

Here's The Allman Brothers Band:

From top to bottom, this one reads, Procol Harum, Country Joe and the Fish, and The Doors. 

I didn't know the name Procol Harum but I recognized parts of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" when I listened to it later. 

The Doors played here in March 1968 and afterwards ate with Bill Graham at Ratner's, which was a kosher restaurant next door. I would imagine that many artists ate there since it was so close to the theater. That space is now a market and part of an NYU building:

Here are some more looks at the lamppost. It's amazing that Jim Power fit so much on just one post. I don't know what the top name is here but the bottom is Cream.

In the background is a restaurant on the corner called Mighty Quinn's BBQ.

Here's B.B. King, Frank Zappa, and T. Rex:

I like the crown for Chuck Berry, acknowledging his place in music history. You can see Joni Mitchell below that, and then Jethro Tull as well in this shot:

Here's the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana:

And we can't leave out Jimi Hendrix and Janis:

I'd say that lamppost is as cool as anything you can see in a museum. And it's right there on the street, for everyone. A fitting tribute to that era of music. 

By the way, there's also a happy birthday message on the lamppost, which I don't know the story behind. But here it is:

On the other side of the street is Middle Collegiate Church:

There's a plaque on the church near the entrance:

Anything associated with New Netherland is quite old. At least by America's standards. Less so in other parts of the world, or for those who were here before the Europeans, for that matter. 

Peter Minuit was Director of New Netherland from 1626-1631. He is also considered to be behind the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Lenape Native Americans. It would become New Amsterdam and eventually New York City. 

As the plaque notes, this church building was constructed in 1891, which is not as old but again still old for America. The stained glass windows are Tiffany glass.

I liked this light and its leafy design, just right of the church entrance:

The building just to the right of the church had a nice quaint look to it:

And to the left of the church was a pleasant-looking cafe/restaurant on the corner:

I think that's all for this block. It's a fun one to check out, right down to a colorful fire hydrant:

Safety doesn't have to be dull!

Anyway, there's certainly a lot of history here, and different kinds of history at that. And afterwards you can have some tasty pastries as a souvenir, which is way more delicious than a plastic I Heart NY keychain.