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theodoralang's review against another edition
4.5
i really enjoyed this book! i love the premise of a detailed history of just one street, from its inception to now. and because i grew up hanging out on st. marks, i loved learning more about it and the nyc history i'm a part of.
brianlokker's review against another edition
4.0
St. Marks Is Dead is a lively cultural history of St. Marks Place, the three-block stretch in New York City’s East Village between 3rd Avenue and Avenue A that’s effectively an extension of E. 8th Street. The book’s subtitle, “The Many Lives of America’s Hippest Street,” accurately describes both the street, which has a rightful claim to the “hippest” label, and the scope of the book, which explores the many cultural incarnations of St. Marks Place through the years.
As a child in the 1970s, author Ada Calhoun lived with her parents in an apartment on St. Marks Place. She doesn’t pretend to be among the hippest or coolest of the denizens of the neighborhood—in fact, she says that as a child she dreamed of being a farmer. But she can certainly claim an intimate familiarity with the neighborhood as it existed during her time there. And she has done a great job of researching and describing the history of the street and the surrounding neighborhood in other eras, beginning in the 1600s, when the only residents were the Lenape and the Dutch, right up to the gentrified, post-hip era of the 21st century.
St. Marks Place wasn’t always hip, but it has always been interesting. In the early 1900s, anarchist Emma Goldman made her home in the neighborhood, and the street became a headquarters for radicals and union organizers, acquiring the nickname “Hail Marx Place.” During Prohibition, St. Marks Place attracted mobsters and crime. In the 1950s, the Beats claimed St. Marks Place for their own. They were followed by hippies and punks. The street featured more than its share of chaos, danger, and debauchery, and for many young people, that was a big part of the attraction.
This book appealed to me because I enjoy learning about cities and New York City in particular. For most of my life, I lived in the northern New Jersey suburbs just a few miles outside Manhattan. I actually didn’t go into the city all that much when I was younger, and when I did I gravitated mostly to the West Village. So I don’t have much of a personal tie to the St. Marks Place neighborhood or the East Village (although I did go to a couple of protest meetings at St. Marks Church in the 70s, and I saw the Ramones at CBGB, and then much later, for a few years in the early 2010s, I taught a course at NYU around the corner from St. Marks Place).
Nonetheless, I found St. Marks Is Dead to be a fascinating micro-history of a place that had an outsized influence on popular culture. The book is quite detailed, chock full of names (some well-known, some not) and places, which for some readers could be a little overwhelming. But I do recommend the book, especially if you’re interested in New York City history, in urban history in general, or in the development of popular American culture in the second half of the 20th century.
As a child in the 1970s, author Ada Calhoun lived with her parents in an apartment on St. Marks Place. She doesn’t pretend to be among the hippest or coolest of the denizens of the neighborhood—in fact, she says that as a child she dreamed of being a farmer. But she can certainly claim an intimate familiarity with the neighborhood as it existed during her time there. And she has done a great job of researching and describing the history of the street and the surrounding neighborhood in other eras, beginning in the 1600s, when the only residents were the Lenape and the Dutch, right up to the gentrified, post-hip era of the 21st century.
St. Marks Place wasn’t always hip, but it has always been interesting. In the early 1900s, anarchist Emma Goldman made her home in the neighborhood, and the street became a headquarters for radicals and union organizers, acquiring the nickname “Hail Marx Place.” During Prohibition, St. Marks Place attracted mobsters and crime. In the 1950s, the Beats claimed St. Marks Place for their own. They were followed by hippies and punks. The street featured more than its share of chaos, danger, and debauchery, and for many young people, that was a big part of the attraction.
This book appealed to me because I enjoy learning about cities and New York City in particular. For most of my life, I lived in the northern New Jersey suburbs just a few miles outside Manhattan. I actually didn’t go into the city all that much when I was younger, and when I did I gravitated mostly to the West Village. So I don’t have much of a personal tie to the St. Marks Place neighborhood or the East Village (although I did go to a couple of protest meetings at St. Marks Church in the 70s, and I saw the Ramones at CBGB, and then much later, for a few years in the early 2010s, I taught a course at NYU around the corner from St. Marks Place).
Nonetheless, I found St. Marks Is Dead to be a fascinating micro-history of a place that had an outsized influence on popular culture. The book is quite detailed, chock full of names (some well-known, some not) and places, which for some readers could be a little overwhelming. But I do recommend the book, especially if you’re interested in New York City history, in urban history in general, or in the development of popular American culture in the second half of the 20th century.
lonestarwords's review against another edition
4.0
St Mark's is like superglue for fragmented identities. The street is not for people who have chosen their lives…The street is for the wanderer, the undecided, the lonely and the promiscuous.
St Mark's is Dead
The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street
Ada Calhoun
•
After loving Ada Calhoun's writing and voice in my recent read/listen of Also a Poet, I decided to check out her backlist. And while she seems best known around here for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, I chose her panoramic history of NYC's East Village, St Mark's is Dead. This is a part of the city I've spent very little time in and I wasn't truly aware of its vibrant and troubled past. I was wildly impressed with Calhoun's extensive research, which goes back to the founding of this area of NY by Peter Styvescant in the 1600s.
•
My only regret is that Calhoun didn't narrate this herself as she did Also a Poet. I know her voice would have added to the storied history of extreme counter culture that gives St. Mark's its reputation because she's lived and breathed it as a native NYC resident.
•
The East Village has been home to well known artists, writers and musicians for decades and it spawned the hippie generation. But it's also endured incredible poverty, a horrific drug culture, was ravaged by AIDS and has been home to riots, grisly murders and flagrant promiscuity. Calhoun doesn't sugar coat any of it - her writing is raw, edgy and true. This was one eye-opening read and probably one of the reasons I was forbidden to go to NYC in high school!
•
The book comes full circle to 2015 and the years following the Giuliani era of “gentrification.” Now this area boasts high rent and an influx of business and young tenants who (like the generations that came before) want to live where all the action is. The action now is a bit cleaner and safer although it’s definitely grungier than other parts of the city, that seems to be part of its persona.
•
This is my kind of non-fiction - the memoir of a neighborhood told via some great research and writing. Again, very niche, but if you love NYC and history, you'll be very entertained, and a bit shocked.
St Mark's is Dead
The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street
Ada Calhoun
•
After loving Ada Calhoun's writing and voice in my recent read/listen of Also a Poet, I decided to check out her backlist. And while she seems best known around here for Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, I chose her panoramic history of NYC's East Village, St Mark's is Dead. This is a part of the city I've spent very little time in and I wasn't truly aware of its vibrant and troubled past. I was wildly impressed with Calhoun's extensive research, which goes back to the founding of this area of NY by Peter Styvescant in the 1600s.
•
My only regret is that Calhoun didn't narrate this herself as she did Also a Poet. I know her voice would have added to the storied history of extreme counter culture that gives St. Mark's its reputation because she's lived and breathed it as a native NYC resident.
•
The East Village has been home to well known artists, writers and musicians for decades and it spawned the hippie generation. But it's also endured incredible poverty, a horrific drug culture, was ravaged by AIDS and has been home to riots, grisly murders and flagrant promiscuity. Calhoun doesn't sugar coat any of it - her writing is raw, edgy and true. This was one eye-opening read and probably one of the reasons I was forbidden to go to NYC in high school!
•
The book comes full circle to 2015 and the years following the Giuliani era of “gentrification.” Now this area boasts high rent and an influx of business and young tenants who (like the generations that came before) want to live where all the action is. The action now is a bit cleaner and safer although it’s definitely grungier than other parts of the city, that seems to be part of its persona.
•
This is my kind of non-fiction - the memoir of a neighborhood told via some great research and writing. Again, very niche, but if you love NYC and history, you'll be very entertained, and a bit shocked.
oceanwalk's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful look at the entire history of one of New York's most famous and infamous streets. This book goes literally from the beginning of civilization along where St. Mark's would be, to 2014. Every era is filled with a fantastic cast of characters, some so ridiculous, you'll wonder how they can be real. If there's a theme though, it's that change in NYC is constant but the spirit of places like St. Mark's endures, calling generation after generation.
vkeatongrreb's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. Fun read for everyone who loves all things NYC history and culture. I loved her roasting the basic white men. A quote went along the lines of “a white middle class male artist spray painted ‘clones go home’ with apparently no irony despite having just moved to EV less than two years ago from his Pennsylvania suburb.”
nobookendinsight's review against another edition
5.0
✔️an iconic city
✔️an expansive history
✔️an unusual main character
✔️an authentic storyteller
✔️an irresistible read right up my alley
I loved this book! Highly recommend for any history lover, especially if you love New York City.
✔️an expansive history
✔️an unusual main character
✔️an authentic storyteller
✔️an irresistible read right up my alley
I loved this book! Highly recommend for any history lover, especially if you love New York City.
isabelmarks's review
FINALLY FUCKING FINISHED THIS. Very me to read 100 pages of it over three months and then 200 pages in one day. Go isabel tho.
My main complaint about this book was the very short chapter dedicated to AIDS. I think there should have been more??? Especially in a book chronicleing (i cant spell it and so i give up) the culture changes on a historically queer street, it was so jarring to hear so little. In general, I would have liked it if the book changed pace more often and dwelled on a few things, the constant stream of super short anecdotes started to get a little headachey and boring.
however, the book as a whole was very not boring!! super fast paced. I loved the emphasis on the class divides and cultural divides, the parts that resonated with me most were definitely when calhoun wrote about the Black and Latino families not understanding abbie hoffman burning money as protest because they didn't have money to spare and calhoun talking about how she wanted to live anywhere else growing up.
also the end was so helpful in learning more about giuliani & gentrification.
i also liked the vibe of this book a lot & think it did a good job at both romanticizing it and explaining the reality
My main complaint about this book was the very short chapter dedicated to AIDS. I think there should have been more??? Especially in a book chronicleing (i cant spell it and so i give up) the culture changes on a historically queer street, it was so jarring to hear so little. In general, I would have liked it if the book changed pace more often and dwelled on a few things, the constant stream of super short anecdotes started to get a little headachey and boring.
however, the book as a whole was very not boring!! super fast paced. I loved the emphasis on the class divides and cultural divides, the parts that resonated with me most were definitely when calhoun wrote about the Black and Latino families not understanding abbie hoffman burning money as protest because they didn't have money to spare and calhoun talking about how she wanted to live anywhere else growing up.
also the end was so helpful in learning more about giuliani & gentrification.
i also liked the vibe of this book a lot & think it did a good job at both romanticizing it and explaining the reality