The Public Theater

The Astor Library was a free public library in the East Village, Manhattan, developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell. It was primarily meant as a research library, and its books did not circulate. It opened to the public in 1854, and in 1895 consolidated with the Lenox Library and the Tilden Foundation to become the New York Public Library (NYPL). During this time, its building was expanded twice, in 1859, and 1881.

Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City. It is named after Joseph Papp, the theatrical producer who established the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater and the free Shakespeare in the Park program in Central Park. The venue hosted Amy Winehouse and Adele made their U.S. headlining concert debuts. In 2013, its 15th anniversary year, it was declared one of Rolling Stone Magazine's 10 Best Clubs in America.

The Astor Library Building (also known as the Public Theater Building and Joseph Papp Public Theater) is a theater and former library building at 425 Lafayette Street in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US. It was built in three stages between 1854 and 1881 for the Astor Library and, since 1967, has housed the Public Theater. The building was one of the first properties designated as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The library was built by William B. Astor, son of the library's founder, John Jacob Astor. The original structure was constructed to designs by Alexander Saeltzer, while subsequent additions by Griffith Thomas (in 1856–1859) and Thomas Stent (in 1880–1881) followed Saeltzer's original design. The building is made of brick and stone and is mostly three stories high, except for the central section, which rises four stories. Inside were features such as a staircase leading to a double-height reading room. The modern-day building has six stages for the Public Theater, which reuse some of the original interiors, including the reading room and lobby. Work on the building commenced in 1850. The original portion of the building opened for limited use on January 9, 1854, and was opened to general use on February 1, 1854. Partly due to the presence of the Astor Library, bookbinding and publishing firms such as The De Vinne Press and J.J. Little & Co. settled around Lafayette Place. The Astor Library later became part of the New York Public Library, which abandoned the building in 1911, when the books were moved to the newly constructed New York Public Library Main Branch by Bryant Park. In 1920, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society purchased it. By 1965 it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater (then known as the New York Shakespeare Festival) persuaded the city to purchase it for use as a theater, and it was converted for theater use by Giorgio Cavaglieri, reopening in October 1967. The building was renovated in the early 2010s.

Astor Place Tower (also known as Sculpture for Living) is a 21-story residential building located on Astor Place in Manhattan. The building was developed by The Related Companies and designed by architect Charles Gwathmey. The building was panned by architectural critics as a symbol of gentrification, and sales of the building's condos were slow.

The Astor Place Theatre is an off-Broadway house located at 434 Lafayette Street in the NoHo section of Manhattan. The theater is located in the historic Colonnade Row, originally constructed in 1831 as a series of nine connected buildings, of which only four remain. Though it bears the same name, it was not the site of the Astor Place Riot of 1849. Designed in Greek Revival style and fronted by imposing marble columns, the buildings served as residences for the Astor and Vanderbilt families, and are among the oldest structures in the city. They were designated as New York City landmarks in 1963. Bruce Mailman bought the building in 1965. On January 17 1968, the theater opened with Israel Horovitz’s The Indian Wants the Bronx starring newcomer Al Pacino. Since then, it has gained a reputation for introducing works by aspiring and often experimental playwrights, including Tom Eyen (Women Behind Bars, The Dirtiest Show in Town) and John Ford Noonan (A Couple White Chicks Sitting Around Talking). Established writers like Terrence McNally (Bad Habits), A.R. Gurney (The Dining Room, The Perfect Party) and Larry Shue (The Foreigner) also have premiered plays here. The musical revue, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris enjoyed a successful run in 1974.Since 1991, the theater has served as home to the Blue Man Group, which purchased the theatre in 2001.

The Astor Place station, also called Astor Place–Cooper Union on signs, is a local station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Fourth Avenue, Cooper Square, and Astor Place between the East Village and NoHo, it is served by 6 trains at all times, <6> trains during weekdays in the peak direction, and 4 trains during late night hours. The Astor Place station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes the Astor Place station started on September 12 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The station's platforms were lengthened in the late 1950s, and the station was renovated in the mid-1980s. The Astor Place station contains two side platforms and four tracks; express trains use the inner two tracks to bypass the station. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Astor Place and are not connected to each other within fare control. The original station interior is a New York City designated landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Playwrights Horizons Theater School is a studio in the Tisch School of the Arts Undergraduate Department of Drama. Its members are inspired by the synergy that comes in telling stories from every possible angle and diverse perspective. Playwrights champions the philosophy that every performer should write, every writer should direct, every director should design, every designer should perform and, of course, everyone should be on crew. Accordingly, the school invites established and emerging artists to collaborate and create contemporary work for, of, and by its students. Playwrights maintains that the investigation of many methods leads to innovations that invite an exciting and promising future for its students — and for the future of the American theater. Notable alumni include Raúl Esparza, Leslye Headland, Jessica Hecht, Camila Mendes, Rachel Chavkin, Mara Wilson and Sam Pinkleton.

Colonnade Row, also known as LaGrange Terrace, on present-day Lafayette Street in New York City's NoHo neighborhood, is a landmarked series of Greek revival buildings originally built in the early 1830s. They are believed to have been built by Seth Geer, although the project has been attributed to a number of other architects. The buildings' original name comes from the Marquis de Lafayette's estate in France, but the series of nine row houses, of which four remain, owe their existence to John Jacob Astor, who bought the property and whose grandson John Jacob Astor III later lived at No. 424. The buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name LaGrange Terrace and the facades remain standing on Lafayette Street south of Astor Place.

Indochine is a French-Vietnamese restaurant founded in the 1980s in New York City by restaurateur Brian McNally (who had previously co-founded The Odeon with his brother Keith McNally) and music producer John Loeffler. Opened “among the auto body shops of gritty Lafayette Street” it sits in a historic row of buildings across from the Public Theater known as La Grange Terrace, which was, at times, the home of Vanderbilts, Astors, Julia Gardiner Tyler (wife of President Tyler), and Warren Delano Jr. (grandfather of FDR). Opening in 1984 with a dinner honoring artist Julian Schnabel, Indochine quickly became a popular gathering place for members of what is referred to as the East Village art scene, which included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, and Andy Warhol. In 1992, McNally sold the business to Jean-Marc Houmard — who had started at the restaurant as a waiter in 1986 — along with partners Michael Callahan and chef Huy Chi Le. The restaurant retained much of its original design, including the signature palm leaf motif and low lighting, as well as its unique menu, considered by many as an early example of the fusion cuisine trend in the United States. Critical reception has varied over time. A 1984 review in The New York Times which described it as offering “some invigorating food from Southeast Asia.” In a follow-up piece, they remarked that the "still-trendy-after-all-these-years” restaurant served "vivid and authentic" spring rolls; another review by The Infatuation called the same signature rolls "entirely generic." However, in 2004 Times critic Frank Bruni remarked that “food was beside the point,” calling Indochine “the epitome of cool” and the living idea of a restaurant as a "badge of knowingness and belonging.” In 2009, marking its 25th anniversary, Rizzoli published Indochine: Stories, Shaken and Stirred, a photo book featuring archival images of high-profile guests in the restaurant over the years, such as Madonna, Kate Moss, Grace Jones, Marc Jacobs, Bruce Weber, and Valentino with many of the photos taken by Patrick McMullan, Roxanne Lowit, and Patrick Demarchelier, published alongside stories by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Anthony Haden-Guest, and Moby, and artworks by Francesco Clemente, Helmut Lang, Ruben Toledo, Tom Sachs, and more. Around this time, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour described Indochine as “virtually unique in New York – and pretty much everywhere else, for that matter.”

Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at the intersection with Cooper Square, Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Eighth Street – Alamo Plaza and Astor Place Station Plaza. "Astor Place" is also sometimes used for the neighborhood around the street. It was named for John Jacob Astor (at one time the richest person in the United States), soon after his death in 1848. A $21 million reconstruction to implement a redesign of Astor Place began in 2013 and was completed in 2016.

St. Ann’s Church was the name of a former Roman Catholic parish church at 110-120 East 12th Street between Fourth and Third Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

Sinclair House was a 19th-century hotel which stood at 754 Broadway and Eighth Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was demolished in 1908.