Back Down at the Cedar

Over the last five years here on Flaming Pablum I've spilled a lot of figurative ink about the loss of my beloved neighborhood local, that being the late, lamented Cedar Tavern on University Place between 11th and 12th streets. The Cedar Tavern I knew, loved and frequented unceremoniously closed up shop some time in late 2006, and I've spent the ensuing years slavishly bemoaning its absence and flipping a vehement bird at the soulless (and still-empty) condo that now stands in its footprint.

But the Cedar Tavern that really carved its name on the map was its original incarnation just a few blocks to the South (where, if I'm not mistaken, a Chase bank outlet now sits). It was at that Cedar Tavern that storied luminaries from New York's art scene used to mix, mingle and -- legendarily in Jackson Pollock's case -- get into rousing bouts of bloody-knuckled fisticuffs. A veritable CBGB for the paintbrush crowd, the original Cedar Tavern was a slice of a long-since-vanished New York City the likes of which we shall probably not see again.

Well, my friend, former colleague from TIME and art-savvy minx from the ass-whuppin' C-Monster, Carolina Miranda recently co-wrote a cool little historical piece about that Cedar Tavern for WNYC, and it's well worth a listen. Click below to do just that, and find out more by clicking right here. And throw the goats for Carolina, because she continues to rock mightily.

 

Comments

[c-mon]

dang dude, you rock HARD.

[Greg]

That wasn't the original one either. It opened in 1866 on Cedar Street, moved to 55 West Eight Street in 1933, and didn't get to 24 University Place until 1945.