The Downtown Pop Underground

Café Bizarre

106 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012

40.730160

-73.999590

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Café La MaMa (original location)

321 E 9th St, New York, NY 10003

40.728900

-73.986050

1
Café La MaMa (second location)

82 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

40.726470

-73.988900

2
Café La MaMa (third location)

122 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

40.728070

-73.987600

3
Café Le Metro

149 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

40.729530

-73.987410

4
Café Rafio

165 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

40.728810

-74.000030

5
Cafe Wha?

115 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

40.730080

-74.000550

6
Caffe Cino

31 Cornelia St, New York, NY 10014

40.731410

-74.002560

7
Five Spot Café

2 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

40.729340

-73.989790

8
Gaslight

116 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

40.729690

-74.000470

9
Gerde's Folk City

11 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014

40.732930

-74.002230

10
Les Deux Mégots

64 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003

40.727310

-73.987100

11
Why Not Café

120 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

40.729790

-74.000360

12

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.

Café La MaMa (original location)

321 E 9th St, New York, NY 10003

Café La MaMa’s first location was in a basement on East Ninth Street, right next door to the Harris family’s longtime residence, and after it moved to Second Avenue, Ellen Stewart kept this space as a rehearsal studio.

Café La MaMa (second location)

82 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

After the first Café La MaMa location was shut down by the city, Ellen Stewart moved it to a loft at 82 Second Avenue, which was quickly vacated after Ellen Stewart was tipped off that the police were going to raid it one night.

Café La MaMa (third location)

122 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

Right after a performance of Paul Foster’s Balls at Café La MaMa’s second location, Ellen Stewart enlisted the audience to move the entire set, seats, and other items to a new location up the street, at 122 Second Avenue—just before the police raided the 82 Second Avenue location.

Café Le Metro

149 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

Before Mickey Ruskin opened Max’s Kansas City, he ran Café Le Metro—a literary hotspot where Andy Warhol first met Ronald Tavel, who was enlisted to write scenarios for several of Warhol’s films.

Café Rafio

165 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012

In the heart of Greenwich Village, Café Rafio was surrounded by other neighborhood staples such as Café Au Bizarre, Circle in the Square, Village Gate, and the Gaslight, among many others.

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.

Caffe Cino

31 Cornelia St, New York, NY 10014

Arguably the first Off-Off-Broadway theater venue, Caffe Cino was located on Cornelia—a quiet one-block-long street that terminates to the north at West Fourth Street that hosted many an experimental theater production and performance.

Five Spot Café

2 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003

The Five Spot Café, where many jazz legends performed, was frequented by Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, and John Vaccaro of the Play-House of the Ridiculous.

Gaslight

116 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

Located on MacDougal Street, the Gaslight was a coffeehouse that was a haven for Beat writers and which hosted the likes of Bob Dylan and the Holy Modal Rounders in the early 1960s.

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.

Les Deux Mégots

64 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003

Les Deux Mégots, run by future Max’s Kansas City proprietor Mickey Ruskin, was an East Village coffeehouse that was part of the underground poetry scene in the first half of the 1960s.

Why Not Café

120 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012

The Why Not Café, located across the street from the more famous Café Wha?, was a typical tourist trap coffeehouse of that era—where future Max’s Kansas City booker Peter Crowley worked in the 1960s, luring in customers off the street.