Explore the real-world places that appear in The Bohemians by John Strausbaugh. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Washington Square Park, Pfaff's Cellar, The Tombs Prison, The Broadway Theatre, The Bowery and 10 more.
Fifth Avenue & Waverly Place — Heart of Greenwich Village bohemia
Washington Square Park served as the epicenter of Greenwich Village bohemian life from the 1840s onward. Artists, poets, and radicals gathered here to debate art, politics, and philosophy. The arch at the north end became an iconic symbol of the Village's countercultural identity. Key bohemian figures like Walt Whitman and Henry James walked these paths, making it the spiritual center of New York's artistic rebellion.
Originally a burial ground and later a military parade ground, Washington Square Park was redesigned in 1871 with the famous Stanford White arch built in 1889 to commemorate George Washington's centennial. By the early 20th century, it had become the gathering place for artists fleeing the commercialization of the city.
Washington Square Park remains one of New York's most vibrant public spaces, filled with street musicians, chess players, and students from nearby NYU. The arch still stands as an iconic symbol, and the park continues to attract artists and free spirits from around the world.
Visit: Washington Square Park (park)
Broadway & Bleecker Street — Walt Whitman's bohemian salon
Pfaff's was the legendary underground beer hall and gathering place for New York's bohemian literary circle in the 1850s-60s. Walt Whitman held court here, surrounded by poets, journalists, and freethinkers. The cellar became synonymous with artistic rebellion and unconventional thinking. Writers like Ada Clare and Henry Clapp Jr. made Pfaff's the intellectual headquarters of American bohemianism, where radical ideas about art, sexuality, and society were openly debated.
Pfaff's Cellar opened in the 1850s as a German beer hall beneath Broadway. It became famous as the haunt of bohemians, particularly after Henry Clapp Jr. began hosting his radical literary circle there. The space was destroyed in the 1920s during urban redevelopment.
No structure remains at the original Pfaff's location, though the site is marked by modern commercial buildings. Literary historians consider the area a sacred spot in American bohemian history, and the myth of Pfaff's continues to inspire writers and artists studying New York's radical past.
Centre Street & Leonard Street — Where bohemians faced the law
The Tombs was the infamous jail where many bohemian rebels and radicals ended up during their struggle against societal conventions. Several bohemian figures, including those involved in free love movements and anarchist circles, were incarcerated here. The prison symbolized the state's repression of bohemian ideals and served as a backdrop for discussions about the price of artistic and personal freedom.
The Tombs, officially the New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention, opened in 1838. Named for its Egyptian Revival architecture resembling an ancient tomb, it became one of America's most notorious jails, housing everyone from common criminals to political prisoners and radicals.
The original Tombs building was demolished in 1902. The site is now occupied by the Manhattan Detention Complex and surrounding civic buildings. The legend of the Tombs remains part of New York's history of resistance and incarceration.
Broadway & 42nd Street — Center of theatrical revolution
The Broadway theatre district was where bohemian artists challenged traditional theatrical conventions. Experimental theater companies and avant-garde performers pushed boundaries in productions that scandalized establishment society. These venues became stages for bohemian ideas about art, morality, and human expression, with performances that defied Victorian propriety.
Broadway emerged as the center of American theatrical life in the 19th century. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, it had become the battleground between traditional commercial theater and experimental bohemian productions challenging social norms.
Broadway remains the heart of American theater, with forty-two theaters in the district. While more commercialized than in bohemian days, occasional avant-garde productions still challenge audiences and carry on the spirit of theatrical rebellion.
Visit: Broadway Theatre District (theater)
Bowery Street from Houston to Canal — Working-class bohemian culture
The Bowery was the gritty working-class neighborhood where many struggling artists and bohemians actually lived and worked, creating art in cramped tenements and cheap lofts. Unlike the romanticized salons, the Bowery represented the harsh reality of bohemian life—poverty, desperation, and raw creative struggle. Street musicians, performers, and hustlers filled the Bowery, creating an authentic counterculture separate from wealthier bohemian circles.
The Bowery began as a rural road in the 18th century and became a densely packed immigrant neighborhood by the mid-1800s. It was known for tenements, saloons, and entertainment venues catering to working-class New Yorkers, making it affordable for struggling artists.
The Bowery has gentrified significantly, though it retains some gritty character. The neighborhood is now a mix of trendy restaurants, galleries, and preserved historic buildings, with little remaining of the bohemian culture that once thrived here.
Avenue A & 10th Street — East Village radical gathering
Tompkins Square Park became a meeting place for bohemian rebels, anarchists, and radicals challenging the establishment. Political rallies, artistic gatherings, and countercultural movements organized here. The park represented the intersection of bohemian art and radical politics, where free spirits gathered to envision alternative ways of living and thinking.
Tompkins Square Park opened in 1834 as a public gathering space for lower Manhattan's working and immigrant classes. By the late 19th century, it had become a focal point for anarchist, socialist, and radical bohemian movements.
Tompkins Square Park remains a vibrant public space and gathering point for artists, activists, and students. It continues to host protests, concerts, and cultural events, maintaining its legacy as a space for counterculture and free expression.
Visit: Tompkins Square Park (park)
University Place & 8th Street — Abstract Expressionist hangout
The Cedar Tavern was the legendary bar where Abstract Expressionist painters and bohemian artists gathered in the 1940s-50s. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and other radical artists debated art theory, drank heavily, and engaged in the philosophical discussions that defined postwar bohemian culture. The tavern became synonymous with artistic genius, creative struggle, and the boisterous spirit of artistic rebellion.
The Cedar Tavern opened in 1913 as a simple bar in Greenwich Village. By the 1940s, it had become the unofficial clubhouse of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, attracting some of America's most innovative artists.
The original Cedar Tavern closed in 1963. A new Cedar Tavern opened in 1995 near the original location, attempting to recapture the spirit of the original with photographs and memorabilia celebrating its storied past. The new location serves as a pilgrimage site for art history enthusiasts.
Visit: The Cedar Tavern (restaurant)
East 43rd Street & Lexington Avenue — Literary bohemian journalism
The New Yorker magazine's offices became the headquarters for a more genteel form of bohemian culture—intellectual, witty, and artistically ambitious. Writers and cartoonists brought bohemian sensibilities to magazine publishing, creating space for experimental fiction, satire, and cultural criticism. The magazine represented bohemian ideals being absorbed into mainstream publishing while maintaining artistic integrity.
The New Yorker was founded in 1925 by Harold Ross with the ambition of creating a magazine of sophistication and humor for New York's educated elite. It quickly became the most important American magazine for literary and artistic culture.
The New Yorker remains one of America's most prestigious magazines, published from Condé Nast's Manhattan offices. Its offices continue to house some of America's finest writers, cartoonists, and editors, maintaining the magazine's legacy of artistic and literary excellence.
West 8th Street — Gertrude Whitney's bohemian haven
Gertrude Whitney's Studio Club served as a bohemian sanctuary for young American artists, providing studio space, financial support, and intellectual community. The club nurtured bohemian creative ambitions, supporting artists regardless of commercial viability. It represented enlightened patronage of radical artistic visions, creating an institutional framework for bohemian culture.
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, herself an artist and patron, established the Whitney Studio Club in 1914 to support young American artists rejected by conservative galleries. The club eventually became the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The Whitney Museum of American Art now occupies a modern building in the Meatpacking District. The original Studio Club building no longer exists, but the Whitney's mission of supporting innovative American artists continues the bohemian legacy of artistic freedom and discovery.
Visit: Whitney Museum of American Art (museum)
Bleecker Street & MacDougal Street — Italian bohemian café
Café Borgia was an iconic Greenwich Village coffeehouse where bohemian poets, artists, and intellectuals gathered for espresso, conversation, and performance. The café epitomized the bohemian lifestyle—intellectual discourse mixed with artistic experimentation, cheap beverages sustaining long hours of creative discussion. Musicians and poets performed impromptu sets, and the space became a nerve center of Village bohemian culture.
Café Borgia opened in the early 1950s as an Italian espresso bar in Greenwich Village. It became one of the first American coffeehouses to showcase poetry readings and became associated with the Beat Generation and folk music scenes.
Café Borgia still operates at its original Bleecker Street location, though it has been modernized. It remains a neighborhood institution and bohemian landmark, continuing to attract artists, writers, and students seeking the spirit of literary Greenwich Village.
Visit: Café Borgia (restaurant)
Bleecker Street & Macdougal Street — Literary gathering place
The San Remo Bar was a legendary bohemian haunt where beat poets, writers, and artists congregated in the 1950s. Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gregory Corso debated literature and philosophy here. The bar became a symbol of bohemian literary life, where radical artistic visions were forged through intense conversation and creative collaboration.
The San Remo opened in the 1920s as a simple Italian bar and gradually became a bohemian literary establishment. By the 1950s, it was the unofficial headquarters of the Beat Generation and New York School literary movements.
The San Remo closed in the early 1990s, unable to compete with gentrification and changing neighborhood demographics. The space is now occupied by a bank, but a plaque commemorates its bohemian legacy. Literary enthusiasts still visit to stand outside and remember its storied past.
Bleecker Street & Minetta Lane — Old Village watering hole
Minetta Tavern was a historic Village bar that served bohemian crowds, artists, and literary figures throughout the 20th century. The tavern's long history connected different waves of bohemian culture—from early Village anarchists to Beat poets to contemporary artists. The bar represented continuity and community within the ever-changing bohemian landscape.
Minetta Tavern opened in 1937 in a space that had housed speakeasies during Prohibition. It became one of Greenwich Village's oldest continuously operating bars and a cherished neighborhood institution.
Minetta Tavern continues to operate and has been restored to its original 1930s-40s aesthetic. It remains a beloved Village landmark, packed with literary history and frequented by tourists and locals seeking authentic bohemian atmosphere.
Visit: Minetta Tavern (restaurant)
Fifth Avenue & 9th Street — Legendary bohemian salon
Mabel Dodge's Fifth Avenue salon was the most famous bohemian gathering place of the early 20th century. She hosted anarchists, artists, writers, radicals, and intellectuals in her lavish apartment, facilitating the cross-pollination of bohemian ideas. Figures like Emma Goldman, Carl Van Vechten, and John Reed attended her salons, which became legendary for sophisticated discourse and daring ideas about art, politics, and social revolution.
Mabel Dodge, a wealthy arts patron and activist, established her famous salon around 1912. It became the gathering place for New York's bohemian and radical intelligentsia, influencing major artistic and political movements of the era.
The original building still stands on Fifth Avenue, though Mabel Dodge's salon no longer operates. The space is now residential apartments, with no public commemoration of its historical significance. Historians and bohemian enthusiasts mark it as a pilgrimage site in the history of American bohemian culture.
East 8th Street from Second to Third Avenue — Counterculture epicenter
St. Mark's Place became the East Village heart of 1960s counterculture bohemian life. Hippies, radicals, artists, and musicians inhabited the street's cheap tenements and gathered in its stores and venues. The street embodied bohemian rejection of mainstream values, with youth creating alternative communities through music, drugs, political activism, and artistic experimentation.
St. Mark's Place developed as a gathering place for bohemian youth during the 1960s counterculture movement. The street's affordable rents and proximity to NYU made it attractive to young artists and activists fleeing conformity.
St. Mark's Place remains a vibrant cultural corridor, though heavily gentrified. Vintage stores, tattoo parlors, and bars continue to serve as gathering places for artists and young people. The street maintains bohemian character despite rising rents and commercialization.
East 10th Street at Second Avenue — Contemporary bohemian poetry
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church became a crucial venue for bohemian poets and experimental writers from the 1960s onward. The project hosted readings, performances, and workshops that kept bohemian literary traditions alive and evolving. It became a sanctuary for experimental poetry, avant-garde performance, and radical artistic expression.
The Poetry Project began in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery as a response to the commercial poetry establishment. It provided a space for young poets rejected by mainstream literary institutions to develop their craft and reach audiences.
The Poetry Project continues to operate as one of New York's most important venues for experimental poetry and performance. It remains a thriving bohemian institution, hosting readings and events that maintain the radical artistic tradition.
Visit: The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church (landmark)
More by John Strausbaugh: All John Strausbaugh books
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