168 1st Avenue

East Village | built 1900

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.

1891
A three-story house on First Avenue grows into a five-story tenement
Built as a three-story residence in 1838-39, the building at 168 First Avenue is raised to four stories in 1871, in an alteration by builder William Weissner for owner Mary Cummiskey. A fifth story is added in 1891, in conjunction with work on the neighboring building at 170 First Avenue.
Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org
1904
Sicilian immigrant Michael Lanza opens his namesake restaurant
Michael Lanza, an immigrant from Sicily rumored to have been chef to Italy's King Vittorio Emanuele III, opens his namesake restaurant at 168 First Avenue. Its entrance has a stained-glass "Lanza's" sign, and the dining room has painted murals of Mount Vesuvius. The restaurant operates as a speakeasy during Prohibition and later draws mob figures, including Carmine Galante of the Bonanno crime family.
Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org
2016
Lanza's Restaurant closes in 2016 and Joe & Pat's Pizzeria moves in
Lanza's Restaurant, open since 1904, closes in 2016. Joe & Pat's Pizzeria, run by two brothers who arrived on Staten Island from Italy in 1958, moves into the space and keeps Lanza's original stained-glass sign and tile floor at the entrance.
Source: Ephemeral New York

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