ON BROADWAY ALLEY

by Kevin Walsh

Manhattan’s grid, first imposed in 1811, is remarkably rigid between 14th Street and 59th, with very few interruptions from the system of north-south avenues and east-west streets. This is a situation unlike that of most Northeast cities, and indeed, many cities west of the Mississippi, when built on flat plains, also emulate the strict checkerboard system.

In older Northeast cities, or the oldest parts of those cities, the street system may follow a rough grid, but there are plenty of diagonals and meanderings. There is also a wealth of small alleys and dead-ends, used to enter the back doors of businesses, but also home to out-of-the-way dwellings. Unusually, NYC never developed very many of these alleys, especially in Manhattan.

There are exceptions such as Stuyvesant Street, between East 9th and 10th Streets and 2nd and 3rd Avenue, which used to be the driveway to the Stuyvesant family farmhouse when the area was completely rural, and Asser Levy Place on East 23rd Street — a cut-off former section of Avenue A. And then, there’s Broadway Alley, between East 26th and 27th Streets immediately west of 3rd Avenue.

 

Broadway Alley, by some accounts, was laid out as early as the 1830s as a break between surrounding buildings. This 1882 atlas plate shows such a break, but doesn’t name the alley.

 

By 1909, mapmakers began showing the name “Broadway Alley.” Note the individual dwellings shown on the east side of the alley. Today, just one remains.

Broadway Alley is approximately five blocks east of the actual Broadway, which is the longest street in Manhattan and the Bronx. There is speculation that along the way, it acquired the name because local property owners wanted to impart a gay, (in the ‘upbeat’ sense of the word) theatrical aura to the place. However, as you might expect, in its almost 2-century history, it has been home to prostitution and crime. It was once lined on its east side with stables and tenement houses. A story holds that the Barnum and Bailey Circus had kept their elephants in the alley at one time.

Virtually all of that colorful history has been bleached out by time, though. Let’s see what we have….

 

Only the East 27th end (the north end) gets a DOT sign. There had been one on the south end, but it gets stolen frequently. The north end of Broadway Alley received a pave job about a decade ago, and the parking is free, so local drivers take advantage of this ungated end.

 

Of the tenements that used to line the east side of the alley, only one, #8, remains. Presumably #2, 4, 6 have been lost to time. In 2012, #8 was home to The William Morrison Communications Agency.

 

The adjoining garage doors appear suitably aged.

 

A concrete slab holding the sprinkler is etched with the building number.

 

About halfway down the alley going south, the pavement cuts off and the remainder is dirt road, with concrete chips and the occasional weed. There are some signs of remaining Belgian block pavement, and the alley likely once had those along its whole length. A metal fence with barbed wire protects 3rd Avenue business from any miscreants tempted to do a break-in. The rears of some 3rd Avenue buildings extend all the way to the alley, but #8 is the only building that faces Broadway Alley.

 

Probably the rear end of a 3rd Avenue restaurant.

 

Looking north, past #8, to East 27th.

 

The owner of an East 27th Street building has placed a lamp on the wall facing the alley. As we’ll see, it’s not the only illumination.

 

Looking north from East 26th. A chain link fence has been installed to keep out the curious.

My favorite feature over the years has been the Type G wall bracket lamp placed diagonally at East 26th Street and the alley. Oddly it doesn’t seem meant to illuminate the alley itself, but merely call attention to it. It has likely been here since the 1910s, and has used a variety of luminaires using incandescent and mercury on up to the yellowish-light sodium of today. I’d love to see a photo of this from previous decades to see what kind of lights were affixed to the pole.

Unfortunately it appears to be in desparate need of a paint job or rust will claim it.

For more…

On a Manhattan Byway, Feeling Dirt Beneath Feet [NY Times from 2005]

7/5/12

25 comments

D. July 5, 2012 - 2:36 pm

On both of the maps, somehow E. 26th St. is north of E. 27th St.

But thanks. I worked in that neighborhood for about 14 years and thought I had explored it pretty thoroughly, but I don’t remember Broadway Alley.

Reply
Kevin Walsh July 5, 2012 - 3:27 pm

At least I’m consistent. Fixed both.

Reply
Kevin July 6, 2012 - 2:11 pm

Maybe it’s me, but right now, both maps appear to be the same.

Reply
Stella September 9, 2014 - 6:01 pm

I lived there 2 years ago and let me say that apartment was amazing and i created may memories there. I am now 15, and i wish i never left because i grew up in that wonderful apartment.

Reply
Kevin Walsh September 9, 2014 - 10:34 pm

You’re only 15? Wow!

Michelle Murphy Strada June 26, 2019 - 9:15 am

My husband Robert Strada and I lived At 8 Broadway Alley for many years 1978 through 1983
Pls be in touch!

RM July 6, 2012 - 7:38 am

8 Broadway Alley used to be the home of Kaye Labs, a place that repaired and modified audio equipment. Kaye moved to Vermont some years ago.

Reply
Chee Ef July 6, 2012 - 8:49 am

KW – map JPEGS are both the 1909 version.

Reply
Kevin Walsh July 6, 2012 - 4:18 pm

I put back the 1882 map

Reply
Richard Morris July 6, 2012 - 9:57 am

I’m curious (from a UK perspective) about the ownership of the alley and the gate. Is the alley in public ownership and is the gate therefore unlawful as an obstruction of the highway? That would be the position in England.

Reply
Anonymous July 29, 2012 - 9:01 am

I lived on 26 St, a couple of doors from Bway Alley in the 60’s and 70’s. The gate at that end was put up partly in response to a rape that occured during that time. The city did not put it up, private citizens put it up. Also, the light was no longer there so citizens put a light or two in the alley. People used to walk their dogs there and it was very dirty. The gate stopped that, too. The owner of Caliban Restr on 3rd Ave paid for some of this, as did some other businesses in the area.. A florist and a hardware firm, both of whose names I’ve forgotten, also an Italian restr that had the corner and a mid block spot. They all chipped in to make the area safer because we couldn’t get the city to act. The light in your photo was installed later by the city. The alley was cobble stones back then.

Reply
mike April 18, 2013 - 8:24 pm

Amazing i lived on the 2 floor of the building on the west side of Broadway alley. I vividly remenber that rape, i actually heard the scream and saw and upstairs tenent bring down a blanket. do you recall ! did you know it is theonly unpaved street in the city of NY!

Reply
mike April 18, 2013 - 8:34 pm

do you recall the resturant ONCE apon a stove directly across the st between 24/25st and 3rd ave. Great place in 1970, always filled with celebs Joe Boyle Leslie west Huge Obrien, Vidal sasson. great neighborhood grew up on 3rd ave between 29/30 above simons hardware, still have a relative live on 25st just off of 3rdave. been there 74 years! lots of memories from that part of NYC

Reply
Anonymous April 9, 2019 - 7:19 pm

Your uncles and neighborhood friends called it Cat Alley. It was a good place to hide out as youngsters.

Reply
Anonymous July 29, 2012 - 9:08 am

One more detail of the area, Kaye Audio may have been there to be adjacent to RCA. The big pretty brick building on the South side of 26 btw 3rd and Lex was an RCA factory of some sort before it was the Carpenters Union School and eventually the Baruch Library. Hooray for Baruch for saving a very attractive building. It is made with those nice fine small bricks that Stanford White was so fond of. You don’t see them very often any more. Carnegie Hall was built with them. Most of the examples of this masonry are gone, victims of the wrecking ball.

Reply
The Last Dirt Road In Manhattan « Scouting NY September 24, 2012 - 11:28 pm

[…] Doing some research after shooting Broadway Alley, I see that I’m about the last person to realize there’s a dirt road left in Manhattan. The NY Times alone has written about it three different times (ha, that last article almost reads like there isn’t an ounce of dirt in the five boroughs), and I see that Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY did a piece on it just this last July. […]

Reply
pb January 5, 2014 - 9:16 am

I lived at 8 Broadway Alley in the 1980’s. The apt. was on the second story and directly above ‘The Book Worm’ bookstore. The door in the picture opens to a staircase that leads up to the apartment door. It was an expansive space with two bedrooms at opposite ends. My bedroom window faced the alley so you can imagine the sounds that I heard late at night in that alley in the mid 80’s

Reply
robert October 15, 2014 - 3:29 pm

I lived at 8 Broadway Alley from 1991 until 2011. It was a funky, gritty place, but as Stella (my daughter !) noted above, we created a lot of memories there, mostly good .

The alley was paved in 1992 because every time it rained the water would seep under the front door . I had one of my workers replace the (green) entrance door seen in the photo, along with the roof door . There was prostitution for a while that drifted over from Park Ave, but I installed a good lock on the gate on 27 st and we were better secured after that . I painted that gate a few times to keep it looking reasonably decent .The gate on the south side of the alley, facing 26 st, was in bad shape; my good neighbor Bill Morrison and I were very very vigilant about keeping miscreants, dog-walkers, and crackheads out of the alley, and we got an abandoned car moved out of the alley through persuasion and force of will after which time the southern facing gate was almost always locked .

This alley is private. The whole time we lived there, NYC never cleaned, removed the snow, etc . The alley was held in common by the Shegerians (the owners of 8 Broadway Alley) , the Japanese Restaurant, and (questionably) the building at 160 East 27 st. 8 Broadway Alley and 368 Third Ave share the same boiler and are physically connected underground . Believe it or not, we grew flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs on the roof. At one time I had about 60 plants on the roof, which received sunlight all day long . We had great tomatoes and herbs and had our share of parties on the roof .

George Kaye, who I invited in as a rommate back in early “92 before I met my wife, lived in the apt on the top floor for a few months. My future wife moved in with me in the summer of ’92, at which time George moved downstairs and set up an analog audio lab. He was a musician and a lot of good music emanated from the first floor .

Although the building looks pretty gritty and the apartments had their share of problems, my apartment on the top floor, which was approximately 1300 square feet, had skylights, wall to wall carpeting, and large windows . The television show “Castle” filmed parts of their pilot show in my bedroom , on the fire escape, and in the alley itself . We had many televsion and movie people approach us, most of which we declined because of the nuisance factor . Castle paid us pretty well
and my family and I went to Florida for a week right after the filming wrapped . The movie “Daredevil” was shot in our alley and on our roof as well . However, the crew of that film took it upon themselves to take over the alley without our permission; it seems that the city of NY decided to give those bastards a permit to shoot on private property . That was the last time anyone filmed without our permission .

I have many many vignettes about living at 8 Broadway Alley along with my wife and 2 daughters (Leah is my 2nd) . Feel free to reply or email me if you would like more info .

Robert C

Reply
Zach Kussin August 25, 2017 - 4:48 pm

Hi Robert — my name is Zach Kussin and I’m a reporter at the New York Post. I know your comment was posted awhile ago but I hope this reply can still connect me to you. Per DOB records, 8 Broadway Alley has been approved for demolition and I’m interested in pursuing a story. Hopefully we can get in touch…

Reply
Michelle Murphy January 5, 2018 - 9:21 pm

We lived at 8 broadway alley in the late 70s and early 80s
Call us
Michelle Murphy Strada
631-645-3909 Michellemurphy@mac.com Robert Strada
917-294-0939
robert strada@mac.com

Reply
Michelle Murphy January 5, 2018 - 9:24 pm

My wild bohemian Robert Strada, lived here at no. 8 Broadway Alley when we met in 1979…I moved in, and wallpapered, painted, and curtained the ancient loft…we had the whole building and alley to ourselves, and a few stray folks seeking refuge in the cobblestoned gated roadway now and then….we could even park our cars there…my fiat spider convertible, navy w camel, and his split window coup, a mustard ’77 corvette.

Reply
Mitch Kaften April 30, 2018 - 9:34 am

If I’m not mistaken, the entrance at 155 E. 26th Street, up the stairs (now Tri-Star) was for many years a restaurant/nightclub, called of all things “Broadway Alley”.

Reply
Evan R May 15, 2018 - 12:20 pm

Well … it seems 8 Broadway Alley is not long for this world.

Itzhaki and Continental scrap plans for Kips Bay tower, sell site for $64M
By Mark Maurer

Itzhaki Properties and Continental Ventures ditched plans for a Kips Bay rental tower in favor of selling the site to another developer for $64 million, sources told The Real Deal.

Minrav USA, the U.S. arm of Israel-based Minrav Development, closed Monday on the purchase of the development site at 368 Third Avenue, sources said. The site, which offers 116,000 buildable square feet, was delivered vacant.

Minrav is expected to follow through on the site’s approved plans, which called for a 34-story, 103-unit residential tower, sources said.

Reply
Anonymous November 2, 2020 - 12:33 pm

We have lived at 153 e 26 street for nearly 30 years. Broadway alley was indeed closed off with gates due to a rape. The gates were taken down in the dark of night a few years ago when construction began on what I believe is 8 Broadway alley. There was another rape just after the gates were taken down. It’s terrible!! The alley has once again become a place for people to hide and a place where terrible things can happen in the shadows. I love my large rent stabilized apart,ent, but wish the gates were back on Broadway alley so I can feel safe.

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.