While Christopher Street is an iconic part of the West Village and the corner of Christopher and 7th Avenue has the historic mainstay Village Cigars, there is another smaller piece of history at that corner that is quite interesting.
On the sidewalk just in front of the entrance to Village Cigars is a curious tile mosaic.
It is cracked and a bit worn but can still mostly be read: "Property of the Hess estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes."
According to The Villager, in the 1910's New York City, as part of its process of expanding 7th Avenue and a subway line, used eminent domain to claim many buildings in the area. The city paid for the properties and then demolished hundreds of buildings.
This included a Hess estate building called the Voorhis, which was 5 stories tall and once owned by Philadelphia man David M. Hess.
Amazingly, after the city had finished its project, the Hess estate realized that this small triangle had not been claimed by the city and still belonged to them.
The city asked the estate to donate it to them, because of course the city would have the nerve to ask something like that... plus what was the estate going to do with it?
Well, they fought to keep the triangle and then, according to RoadsideAmerica.com, had this tile mosaic installed on July 27, 1922.
Somehow the spiteful symbol is still there 94 years later. Ah, the power of spite.
It probably deserves a plaque at the spot explaining the incredible story. Though I guess the city wouldn't want to put up a plaque about an estate sticking it to them even through a small gesture. After all the mosaic is really just a fancy way of saying 'Screw you.'
By the way, the triangle was believed to be the smallest piece of property in the city and was sold to Village Cigars in 1938 for $1,000.
Here's another photo of the triangle, because I found it fun to read again after knowing the story behind it:
It's hard to top a story like that but it's also pretty amazing that Village Cigars has been at this corner since the earlier part of the 20th century.
The billboard above it changes, but the storefront always seems to remain the same. It was even used in 'Friends' episodes as establishing shots to let viewers know that the characters were in Greenwich Village.
The Christopher Street block itself has nice old-fashioned buildings and lots of trees.
It's a pleasant and pretty quiet street once you get away from the 7th Avenue intersection. Though it is between that avenue and Bleecker Street on the other side, so nights and especially weekends can be much louder and crazier.
Anyway there are other stores near 7th Avenue including a pharmacy, a money transferring shop, and a local artisanal place called Dunkin' Donuts.
Next to DD is Fat Cat, which is a fun place for Ping-Pong, pool, and especially table shuffleboard, which is a very underrated game.
Further up the block I saw a store sign that read London.
Based on the name I thought it might be a trendy or avant-garde clothing store. Then I saw the window display below street level.
Um... maybe it's really really avant-garde? Is this the latest fashion? I'm not up on things.
Actually according to Google Maps it's called London Fetish and is an 'adult entertainment store.' It was closed, which perhaps is not surprising because I was there in the mid-morning and it didn't seem like the kind of shop that would get a lot of customers during that time.
Even though it's called London Fetish, the sign just says London, which I think is somewhat unfair to that city. If I was in London and saw a sex shop with a sign that just said New York, I might take offense. But I digress.
Across the street is, well, a church, which emphasizes the general diversity and tolerance of this area.
It's a nice building and goes back to the early 19th century.
There were two benches just outside, including an adorable little one, perhaps for children.
Are you wondering if there's a Scandinavian candy store on the block? There is and it's called Sockerbit:
Perhaps a Scandinavian shop isn't as random as I first thought, because next to the St. John's Lutheran Church is the Finnish Lutheran Church, which I didn't realize when I was on the block. They have a website and from what I can tell it is still in use, though much of the site is in Finnish (I assume).
At the Bleecker Street corner is a women's clothing shop called Accessorize. It didn't seem 'avant-garde' in any way.
Here's a look back from the Bleecker Street area:
I think that's all for this post. Here are some final looks near 7th Avenue.
From now on when I walk by Village Cigars I'll be sure to look down at the Hess triangle and appreciate the history behind it.
Thanks for reading.
Have you ever wanted to travel to England but thought, 'Gee that seems like a lot of work'? Well then head over to New York's very own Downing Street! And as you can see in the post's title, it's complete with, that's right, Winston Churchill Square. Other than those two features, though, it doesn't really resemble England at all.
Downing Street is a quiet side street in the West Village that spans two blocks before each end feeds onto a busy, big avenue. It doesn't quite run north-south or east-west, but sort of northeast to southwest in an in-between way that is common to many streets in this jumbled area of Manhattan.
At the northeast corner is 6th Avenue, and at the southwest is Varick Street, which is what 7th Avenue turns into in this area.
Winston Churchill Square is at the corner of Downing and 6th. Here's a look at the corner from the other side of 6th Avenue:
Winston Churchill Square is a nice little space with lots of trees, plants, and birds, and several benches. The trees shield much of the park from the sky, which can be nice on hot sunny days.
Congress made Winston Churchill an honorary U.S. citizen, which has only been done for three people. You deserve a lot of money if you know the other two: they are Raoul Wallenberg and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary during the later years of World War II, when it was occupied by the Nazis. Lafayette fought for the U.S. in the Revolutionary War, was friends with several Founding Fathers, and advocated for the freeing of slaves. He also was involved in the French Revolution.
The square is a very pleasant place to sit and relax. Just try to ignore the sign about pesticide.
Here's a look across the entrance on Bleecker Street to Father Demo Square across the street, which I wrote about in a previous post.
Looking out to 6th Avenue:
And across the middle area, with a playground beyond the brick wall:
Here are some more looks inside the square:
I never did see the front of that bird's head, but hopefully he had one and was just giving me the silent treatment.
Here is a look out the entrance on Downing Street, with the restaurant Cafe Clover on the opposite corner. Its entrance is on Downing Street, and its official address is actually 10 Downing Street.
Before we walk along Downing Street towards Varick Street, there is also this sign at 6th Avenue:
It is left over from when 6th Avenue was named Avenue of the Americas in 1945.
Downing Street's two blocks are mostly residential, with some interesting buildings along the way. The intersecting street that makes Downing two blocks is Bedford Street. Here's a look at Downing Street near the 6th Avenue corner:
The street mostly has really nice brick buildings that aren't too tall or oppressive, which adds to the pleasant feel of the block. There was a newer-looking building, however, that stuck out in a bad way for me:
At least it's not 20 or 30 stories high, I guess.
I'm not sure who is or was in charge of this little box on the playground's outer wall along Downing Street, but it's an interesting quirk.
It had a calendar showing August 2012, so I guess it's not in current use. Unless they just really like the Albert Einstein quote on the page. It is a good quote.
Also, that seems to be bird poop on the outside of the case, but how did it get on a vertical surface? Does that mean that it isn't bird poop after all? Maybe I'm thinking too much about this.
Nearby, I liked this brick design:
And a few buildings down there was this stand on the sidewalk:
I hadn't heard of functional neurology, but it sounds useful. According to the American College of Functional Neurology, the field "addresses the interaction of the nervous system with the environment."
Still on the block between 6th and Bedford is a building that seemed to house an art studio. Its exterior had some nice artistic touches to it.
I found a 2014 article from the Curbed New York website saying that this building was for sale for $12 million. It can be expensive to live on a nice, charming block in this neighborhood. The building goes back to 1829, and apparently Vice President Aaron Burr owned much of this area's land and so likely owned this building's land too.
Across from this building was another nice one. I especially liked the entrance design.
In this photo we're approaching the intersection with Bedford Street:
On the left is Ditch Plains, which its website says is a 'New York-style oyster bar and fish shack.'
And across from that is Blue Ribbon Bakery Kitchen, which is a bistro and bakery and in a nice-looking building.
Here's a look at Downing Street from Bedford to Varick:
There are some more nice houses on this block with interesting designs and features.
This one had a rather distinct face on it:
It just seems to be saying, "Welcome, folks! Come on in!"
I liked the front of this building, including the horse:
There's a bit of an NYU presence on the block:
You may see a blur in the middle of that photo above. A little later I noticed a bug walking along the camera lens, and I think that's probably what that is in the photo. I didn't notice it at the time. I took this shot of it from my phone:
A photo of my camera. I believe that's meta-photography.
Here's another photo that seems to have the bug on it. The buildings are near the NYU facility, a little closer to Varick Street.
Near the Varick Street corner is a Mediterranean/Latin restaurant called Gardenia, plus a nail spa and, yes, a McDonald's.
On the opposite corner is a restaurant called Vien, which has Southeast Asian food. And above it is a bit of street art and graffiti.
And now we've made it to Varick Street.
One block to the right is the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, along with St. Lukes Place and a great work by Keith Haring at the center's outdoor swimming pool, all of which I have covered in previous posts. Here's a general look in that direction:
And of course there were some birds at the corner keeping watch over things from above.
I hope you enjoyed this look at a nice, mellow street in the West Village. London has the famous Downing Street, but I think New York's is pretty good too. Cheerio.
