In the complicated Greenwich Village street layout, Jones Street, along with Cornelia, is a one-block street between West 4th and Bleecker west of 6th Avenue. It was named for Dr. Gardiner Jones, on whose land the city constructed the street in the early 1800s. Great Jones Street, running between Broadway and the4 Bowery in the place of East 3rd Street, and the intersecting privatized Jones Alley were named for his brother-in-law, a renowned lawyer, Samuel Jones. (The “Great” in Great Jones Street refers to its relative substantial width in comparison to the usual in the 1800s, not lawyer Jones’ fame.)
The Greenwich Village Jones Street’s most well-known appearance was on the cover of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” in which the songsmith is seen walking with his girlfriend, the late Suze Rutolo, on a snowy day in 1962. While a “Mr. Jones” appears in a later Dylan song, “Ballad of a Thin Man,” Dylan stated he was writing about a specific person not named Jones; since he wanted a generic name, he may have decided to use the relatively anonymous-sounding Jones Street in the Village.
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8/5/23
3 comments
I see you’re keeping up with the Jones’s
Note the parking summons underneath the left wiper blade of the first car on the left-hand side of the photo. Also, note the tall female passing by the car behind it. Is it my imagination or has Parking Enforcement recruited
more attractive Parking Enforcement Agents (a/k/a meter maids)? Just kidding.
I searched successfully for that spot, and had our picture taken at the same location as Bob and Suze. My friend photoshopped Them into our picture as a foursome. I treasure it.