A New York Times Editors' Choice

A vibrant narrative history of three hallowed Manhattan blocks -- the epicenter of American cool.

St. Marks Place in New York City has spawned countless artistic and political movements. Here Frank O'Hara caroused, Emma Goldman plotted, and the Velvet Underground wailed. But every generation of miscreant denizens believes that their era, and no other, marked the street's apex. This idiosyncratic work of reportage tells the many layered history of the street -- from its beginnings as Colonial Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant's pear orchard to today's hipster playground -- organized around those pivotal moments when critics declared "St. Marks is dead."

In a narrative enriched by hundreds of interviews and dozens of rare images, St. Marks native Ada Calhoun profiles iconic characters from W. H. Auden to Abbie Hoffman, from Keith Haring to the Beastie Boys, among many others. She argues that St. Marks has variously been an elite address, an immigrants' haven, a mafia warzone, a hippie paradise, and a backdrop to the film Kids -- but it has always been a place that outsiders call home. This idiosyncratic work offers a bold new perspective on gentrification, urban nostalgia, and the evolution of a community.

• We started tracking this book on September 11, 2015.
• This book was $14.16 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 87 times in the past 3,707 days.
• The current price of this book is $9.99 last checked 4 hours ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past 90 days.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $9.86.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on November 16, 2022.
• This book has been $1.99 2 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $15.37 last reached on September 24, 2016.
• This book has been $15.37 one time since we started tracking it.

• HistoryAmericasUnited StatesState & LocalMid-Atlantic
• HistoryAmericas
• HistoryUnited StatesState & LocalMid-Atlantic

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• File Size: 163 KB