I once again walked the length of West Broadway from the World Trade Center north to Washington Square Park in June 2026. I had done this on a couple of occasions since Forgotten NY was instituted in 1999, but the Manhattan streetscape is forever changing so I thought I owed it another look. I did quite a bit of photography in lower Manhattan (Tribeca and Soho) in early and midsummer because an old workplace had promised work in the late summer and fall (they came through last year but not this year). Thus I wound up averaging 3+ miles walking daily, thinking I’d be chained to the computer later. Best laid plans!
The camera was drawn to this 3-story brick building, #499 Broome, on the corner: I am attracted to older buildings that have been relatively unaltered. The SoHo Landmarks Preservation Commission report reveals it was constructed in 1825 for Alfred S. Pell, and retains its original window lintels and single roof dormer.
I also noticed its first floor occupant, Kenn’s Broome Street Bar. Interior photos are available at Yelp. Ellen Williams and Steve Radlauer’s “Historic Shops and Restaurants of New York” (Little Bookroom, 2002) reveals that a bar/restaurant of some type has occupied the space since the 1850s (a 1940 tax photo shows it as “Gotham Bar & Grill”). It has been a hangout for truckers approaching the Holland Tunnel, and later artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Willem DeKooning, Robert Mapplethorpe and Keith Haring, when SoHo attracted creatives and artists before it was gentrified with expensive apartments and shops. Its present incarnation was founded in 1972 by Kenneth “Kenn” Reisdorff, later joined in ownership by his brother Bob, hence the “Bob and Kenn’s” sign over the door. Kenn died at age 92 in 2014, but his daughter Julie Reisdorff and long-time regular/partner Jonathan Kaufman now run the establishment.
Check out the ForgottenBook (HarperCollins, 2006), as well as Forgotten Queens (Arcadia, 2013). I also have a chapter in the anthology “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg” (Reaktion, 2007). As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
10/27/26