In this photo by Jordan Matter, dancer Alex Wong leaps above Minetta doing the splits. Behind him is not the end of Minetta, but rather where it sharply turns. He is dancing with spirits of the past behind him.
Bob Dylan wrote Blowin’ In The Wind at 11 Minetta where the red building is behind Alex Wong. Southside Johnny’s album cover for This Time It’s Real (1977) was shot there. Patti Smith was photographed nearby in 1974 by Frank Stefanko.
Al Pacino lived at 5 Minetta in the movie Serpico (1973).
Brad Pitt dined at Minetta Tavern in Sleepers (1996). Shaft was there in 1971. Adam Sandler was there in Big Daddy (1999). John Hurt was there in An Englishman In New York (2009)
At Minetta Tavern many writers have toasted to something, including Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, ee cummings, Dylan Thomas, Pulitzer winner Louis Bromfield and Max Bodenheim. Reader’s Digest was founded in the basement in 1923.
Gwen Meyerson painted Minetta.
This street was once Minetta Brook which got covered up.
Minetta is one of my most favorite streets in New York. It is one of the most quietest streets with few storefronts and a winding route on the map.
LIttle Africa was once here. Jacob Riis photographed Black and Tan Saloon in 1890. There was a lot of homicidal crime on this street then.
Behind Alex Wong where Minetta starts to turn you can see a white building at 16 Minetta. A friend of John F Kennedy named Robert Isabell lived there. He was a flower arranger. It then became a photo studio and then a loft party spot.
These are the spirits to which Alex Wong is dancing.
X Marks The Spot 