Cafe Bohemia
15 Barrow Street | West Village | built 1896
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1896
Conrad Schafer builds a four-story stable with a horse's head in its pediment and lives above it
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In 1896 Conrad Schafer put up a four-story yellow-brick stable at 15 Barrow Street, designed by H. Hasenstein, and lived above the horses himself. A decorative horse's head sits in the pediment. When the building was converted to apartments in 1927-28 the horse's head stayed, as did three Romanesque arched windows on the top floor, so the building's stable origins still show on its facade.
“…built originally as a stable for Conrad Schafer ... It was erected in 1896 and Schafer once lived above the stable. Designed by H. Hasenstein…”
- 1955
Jimmy Garofolo turns his failing room at 15 Barrow Street into the Cafe Bohemia jazz club
Jimmy Garofolo had owned the room since 1949 and tried it as a restaurant, a bar and a stage without success. In 1955, with the saxophonist Charlie Parker's name attached to it, the room opened as the Cafe Bohemia jazz club. Parker died before his engagement began, but the publicity drew enough support to keep the club going until 1960. The Miles Davis Quintet, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Oscar Pettiford's band all played there.
“The club was opened in 1955 by Jimmy Garofolo. Garofolo had owned the room since 1949 and had operated it as a restaurant, bar, and stage…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1955
Cannonball Adderley sits in with Oscar Pettiford's band on his first night in New York
Julian Adderley and his brother Nat reached New York on June 19, 1955, where Julian planned to work on a master's degree at New York University, and went straight to the Cafe Bohemia that night to hear Oscar Pettiford's band. Pettiford's regular saxophonist, Jerome Richardson, was at a recording session, so Pettiford asked Charlie Rouse, who had no horn with him, to sit in, and Rouse was told to borrow the saxophone of the stranger with a case. Rouse asked Adderley to sit in instead, and the reluctant bandleader allowed it. Adderley played his first official night at the club on June 21 and recorded his first album as a leader on July 14.
“Rouse asked Cannonball if he would like to sit in with the group. Reluctantly, the leader complied and allowed Adderley to play. Overnight Adderley rose to prominence…”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Then & Now photos: 15 Barrow StreetVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now
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