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.
dang dude, you rock HARD.
Posted by: c-mon | October 08, 2010 at 11:32 AM
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.
Posted by: Greg | October 18, 2010 at 01:57 PM