Lafayette Street: A New York City Stroll
💥Start Here
Thomas Paine is a small triangle/plaza at Lafayette & Worth St. It's a landmarked urban park, once part of a freshwater swamp surrounded by three former British prisons for revolutionaries. It connects to Manhattan’s Civic Center, and is a 2-min walk from the African Burial Ground National Monument, and a 7-min walk to the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade.
💥A Glimpse into NYC's Tattoo Culture
Five Points on Lafayette where the tattooing can be seen from the street — tres voyeuristic.
Tattooing in NYC dates back to the early 1700s with the area’s Lenape Native tribes.
By the 1890s, tattooing had become fashionable among American high society, with New York’s elite women sporting designs from birds to butterflies.
In the late 19th century, the average cost for a tattoo was just a nickel, which is about $1.35 in today’s dollars.
Tattooing was banned in NYC from 1961 to 1997 due to a hepatitis B scare. The ban led to an underground tattoo culture that thrived despite the prohibition.
Tatoo culture in NYC is not only about the art but also about the experience. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, getting inked in New York City is an experience that embodies the city’s spirit of creativity and individual expression. 🗽✒️
💥 The Historic Firehouse
DCTV is a community media hub located in the former historic firehouse, Engine Company 31. designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons and completed in 1895. The NYC Fire Department abandoned the building in 1972. It sat empty and neglected for seven years before Downtown Community Television rented and then purchased from the city in 1983 for $400,000. The building is on the US National Register of Historic Places and is designated as an individual landmark by the NYC Landmark Preservation Commission.
DCTV is also one of the leading documentary production and film-ed centers in the country.
💥Legendary Footballer Andrea Pirlo
Painted by world renown Italian street artist, Jorit. It sold as a single edition NFT. The mural existed for one year, but the NFT forever.
Now In Its Place: FOUR PAWS and The L.I.S.A. Project NYC partnered with artist Sonny Sundancer to paint a tiger as a part of the Endangered Species Act 50th Anniversary National Mural Project. Sonny Sundancer specializes in large scale-wildlife murals.
💥A Short Detour
💥Petrosino Square
Named after NYPD officer Joseph Petrosino, who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. It sits between Lafayette & Cleveland Place at the crossroads of Little Italy, the Bowery, Chinatown & SoHo.
💥The Puck Building
This historic building on the corner of Houston & Lafayette sports two gilded statues of Shakespeare's character Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is the site of the New Year's Eve party, at the end of ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ It was originally the printing facility for J. Ottmann Lithographic Company and became the home of Puck magazine, America’s first successful humor magazine, in 1887. It showcases the German Rundbogenstil, a 19th-century Romanesque revival style of architecture.
💥The Public Theater
Established by Joseph Papp one of the most influential producers in the history of the American theater. To date more than fifty-five of their shows have moved to Broadway, including A Chorus Line & Hamilton. Aside from producing some of the very best contemporary plays and musicals, it acts as a meeting place, a public forum, a writer’s hub and a cabaret/watering hole.
Cheap Tickets: A limited number of Rush tickets are available through the TodayTix app at 9AM on the day of each public performance until the inventory is sold out or until 2 hours before the performance time.
💥Colonnade Row
Colonnade Row consists of a group of 1830s row historic houses located on Lafayette just across the street from the Public Theater. The original name of these houses was Lagrange Terrace inspired by the Marquis de Lafayette’s estate in France.
Their facades, adorned with Corinthian columns, give them their iconic name: Colonnade Row, constructed using Westchester marble, sourced from Sing Sing, where convicts meticulously cut it for this project.
Today, the row house residences are private, and a number of the 40-some apartments are rent-stabilized. Legends of starving artists, love-struck poets, actors and anarchists have given these apartments an air of gritty romance.
💥 Astor Place Plaza
A single coffee stand and home to the iconic sculpture the Alamo, also known as the Astor Place Cube, or simply The Cube, an outdoor sculpture by Tony Rosenthal which spins when pushed by several people.
💥 Food & Shopping
💥 End Here
Anthony Bourdain once said, "the vacation gone wrong is almost always because people try to do too many things. Please, make the most of it by doing as little as possible."
May you enjoy exploring this single street at an unhurried pace.
It can take one hour or all day.
Getting to Lafayette Street
To Thomas Paine Park
Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station
Walking duration
3 min
Subway Lines: 4, 5, & 6
Or
To Astor Place
Walking duration
Under 1 min
Subway Line: 6
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