Some of the Oldest Places in New York So I Feel Better About Being 33 Years Old
^ a beautiful representation of the juxtaposition for how I felt at 28 and how I currently feel at 33
Whenever I go to write this section, I carefully mull over things I’ve already covered and ask myself what absolutely useless nuggets of New York history do I want to spend hours pouring over, deeply entrenching myself in catacombs of Google, only to regurgitate these unrequested factoids on some unsuspecting person after I’ve had a few cocktails. We’ve already visited George Washington’s dentures in person, covered locations in the city important to the Revolution, dove into the etymology of most street names in the city (twice) – and did the same for neighborhoods and boroughs – unearthed the utter chaos of the 1970s, and touched on (and stopped myself before giving a lecture circuit) on my favorite slice of New York History, the Five Points. So to arm both you and I with something more socially acceptable than the mundane minutiae of Croton Aqueduct construction, let’s go through some of the city’s oldest establishments that are still standing today and make you all into my personal flock of tour-guides-no-one-asked-for.
279 Water Street in Fidi
Built: 1794
This place has been serving alcohol longer than all but Frances Tavern. The building, the last know clap board structure in the city, started as a porter house, selling beer and ale to local sailors. It kept peddling booze over the years with a stint as a brothel.
170 Central Park West on the Upper West Side
Built: 1804
This museum is packed with jaw-dropping historical artifacts. Some examples: Napoleon’s authorization for the Louisiana Purchase and the original watercolors for John James Audubon’s The Birds of America.
54 Pearl Street in Fidi
Built: 1762
The oldest drinking house in the city, Washington bade farewell to his officers at the restaurant on this current site in 1783. In addition, the Sons of Liberty clandestinely met here and this was the site where New York Chamber of Commerce was founded.
In the Financial District
Built: 1658
Stone Street is one of New York’s oldest streets, incorporating two 17th-century roads in the Dutch colony and becoming the first cobbled street in New Amsterdam.
Broadway & Whitehall in Fidi
Built: 1733
Previously a parade ground and cattle market, it became the first public park in the city. In 1770, the British erected a lead statue of King George III there. In 1776, after hearing the Declaration of Independence, colonists marched to the Green to tear it down and melt it into bullets.
32 Spring Street in Nolita
Built: 1905
The fact that Lombardi’s was licensed by New York City in 1905 makes it not only the first pizzeria in NYC, but the first in all of the US. Prior to the Pizzeria, it had been operating as a grocery store since 1897.
2690 Broadway in Morningside Heights
Built: 1754
At what was then called King’s College, Columbia’s first class was just eight students. They initially studied in the vestry room of Trinity Church, then got its own building in 1760, and finally moved to its current location in 1897. Notable alumni include Alexander Hamilton, Teddy Roosevelt, Warren Buffett, and J.D. Salinger.
Current – Madison & E 44th
First – Catherine & Cherry, Chinatown/the Five Points
Built: 1818
At its current location since 1915, this clothing store has come to define its particular look. Abraham Lincoln wore a Brooks Brothers coat to his second inauguration, and, sadly, the same one the night he was assassinated. While Brooks Brothers currently has locations all over the world, it all started with their first store at Catherine and Cherry Streets in New York City
727 Fifth Avenue in Midtown
Built: 1837
Opened as Tiffany and Young in 1837 at 237 Broadway, the company started selling jewelry a few years later. Its Blue Book catalog has been published since 1845, and it’s been located at 727 Fifth Avenue since 1940. Fun fact: New York Yankees’ logo was initially struck by Tiffany’s onto a medal for a fallen police office. The company also makes the Vince Lombardi Trophy.