The Downtown Pop Underground

Bastiano's Cellar Studio

1 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10014

40.729610

-73.993260

0
Blue Hawaiian Discotheque

135 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003

40.733650

-73.986600

1
Bridge Theatre

4 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

40.729120

-73.989640

2
Café Bizarre

106 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012

40.730160

-73.999590

3
Cafe Wha?

115 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

40.730080

-74.000550

4
Club 82

82 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003

40.726320

-73.989780

5
Continental Baths

230 W 74th St, New York, NY 10023

40.780310

-73.982180

6
Electric Circus

23 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

40.729190

-73.988530

7
Gerde's Folk City

11 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014

40.732930

-74.002230

8
Hotel Diplomat/Le Jardin

210 E 47th St, New York, NY 10017

40.753540

-73.971640

9
Mercer Arts Center

240 Mercer St, New York, NY 10012

40.727900

-73.995490

10
Reno Sweeney

126 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011

40.737050

-73.998660

11
The Cheetah

Broadway & West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

40.763380

-73.982880

12
The Dom

23 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

40.729190

-73.988530

13
The Loft (original location)

647 Broadway, New York, NY 10012

40.726820

-73.995920

14
Trude Heller's

418 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011

40.734010

-73.999020

15
Village Gate

185 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012

40.728100

-73.999980

16
Village Vanguard

178 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014

40.736040

-74.001720

17

Bastiano's Cellar Studio

1 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10014

The first production of the Jackie Curtis-penned Glamor, Glory and Gold, directed by Ron Link, was performed at Bastiano’s Cellar Studio in Greenwich Village.

Blue Hawaiian Discotheque

135 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003

The Blue Hawaiian Discotheque was one of the many underground discos that sprouted up downtown in the first half of the 1970s, and was the site of a performance by Patti Smith as part of her “Rock and Rimbaud” series in 1974.

Bridge Theatre

4 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

The Bridge Theatre was above the Café Au Go Go on Bleecker Street, which benefited from the abundant Greenwich Village foot traffic—especially when the Fugs performed there during their residency.

Café Bizarre

106 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012

Café Bizarre was one of the first coffeehouses to cash in on the folk and beatnik boom, and in 1965 it was where Ed Sanders, Andy Warhol, and others discovered the Velvet Underground.

Cafe Wha?

115 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

Opening its doors in 1959, Cafe Wha? was among the first wave of coffeehouses that populated MacDougal Street—hosting musicians and comedians such as Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce, and Joan Rivers.

Club 82

82 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003

During the early 1950s and 1960s, when it was known as the 82 Club, this Lower East Side venue had been one of the premier venues for drag queens, though by the early 1970s it had rechristened itself Club 82 and operated as afterhours disco and underground rock club.

Continental Baths

230 W 74th St, New York, NY 10023

The Continental Baths, located on the Upper West Side, was a gay bathhouse where the New York Dolls once played and Bette Midler regularly performed with Barry Manilow (who sometimes blended in with the patrons by wearing nothing but a white towel).

Electric Circus

23 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

The Electric Circus—located in the space on St. Mark’s Place that was formerly known as the Dom, where the Velvet Underground had a residency—featured acrobats, go-go dancer, and even John Cage onstage playing an experimental-acoustic game of chess.

Gerde's Folk City

11 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014

Gerde's Folk City was one of the many coffeehouses around MacDougal Street that hosted hootenannies.

Hotel Diplomat/Le Jardin

210 E 47th St, New York, NY 10017

Hotel Diplomat was a midtown hotel with deteriorating ballrooms where downtown bands occasionally played, like the New York Dolls; the early disco Le Jardin was located in the hotel.

Mercer Arts Center

240 Mercer St, New York, NY 10012

Before the Mercer Arts Center collapsed in 1973, it was where underground theater, glam rock, video art, and performance art briefly intersected in the early 1970s—planting the seeds of what would become known as “punk.”

Reno Sweeney

126 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011

Reno Sweeney was an intimate cabaret located at 126 West Thirteenth Street in Greenwich Village, where Holly Woodlawn and many other downtown acts performed.

The Cheetah

Broadway & West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

The Cheetah was a Midtown discothèque that also hosted a production of Hair before it opened on Broadway in the spring of 1968.

The Dom

23 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

The Dom was a former Polish wedding and social hall on St. Mark’s Place that became a popular bar where bohemians congregated; it was at the Dom where Ed Sanders suggested to Tuli Kupferberg that they should form the Fugs, and the Velvet Underground performed as part of Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

The Loft (original location)

647 Broadway, New York, NY 10012

The Loft was founded in 1970 by an Italian man named David Mancuso, who ran it out of his living space (an actual loft) in order to circumvent city regulations, governing clubs, and bars; originally located at 647 Broadway in Greenwich Village, it was a short walk from Mercer Arts Center and CBGB.

Trude Heller's

418 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Joshua Light Show founder Joshua White designed lighting at Trude Heller’s and other discothèques in the mid-1960s, where he began to develop techniques that he refined at the Fillmore East.

Village Gate

185 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012

The Village Gate, a popular venue where jazz artists like Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Cannonball Adderley played, also employed Theatre Genesis’s Ralph Cook and Sam Shepard.

Village Vanguard

178 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014

Future CBGB owner Hilly Kristal was the manager of the famed jazz club the Village Vanguard in the 1950s before opening Hilly’s on East Thirteenth Street, where he booked folk and blues acts throughout the 1960s.