240 Centre Street

Centre Market Place is a one block long street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering Mulberry Street to the east, Grand Street to the south, Broome Street to the north, and Centre Street to the west. Centre Market Place was originally an extension of Orange Street (now Baxter Street, which starts at Grand Street, where Centre Market Place ends), before being formally renamed Centre Market Place in April 1837, after Centre Market, which was west of the street. At one time, the street was at the top of a high hill. Currently, local residents consider Centre Market Place to be part of the NoLIta neighborhood. At the southern end of the street, on the corner of Grand Street, is Onieal's restaurant, which features a cavernous wine cellar that once served as a speakeasy during Prohibition. Gentlemen of means would walk through the front of the Police Building, perhaps make a contribution to the "widows and orphan fund" and then walk through the cellar corridor connecting the two buildings.9 Centre Market Place was once the location to "The People's Bath House", a privately run public bathhouse built by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. The People's Baths served as a model to which the City of New York would later build the city's truly public bathhouses. The block also included several gun stores including the John Jovino at 5 Centre Market Place, and the older Frank Lava Gunsmith at 6 Centre Market Place. The gun stores were part of a gun district owing to its proximity to the police headquarters at 240 Centre St. A row of townhouses at No. 1, 2, 4, and 5 were rehabilitated by two developers, a husband-and-wife team, incorporating found architectural castoffs scavenged from around the world as part of its facade.The street was home to many well-known writers, poets, and artists, including the noted crime photographer Weegee, who lived in a small studio apartment at 5 Centre Market Pl.

The Odd Fellows Hall is a building at 165-171 Grand Street between Centre and Baxter Streets, in the Little Italy and SoHo neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1847-48 and designed by the firm of Trench & Snook in the Italianate style, one of the city's earliest structures in this style, which Joseph Trench had brought to New York with his design for 280 Broadway in 1845. His partner, John B. Snook, was responsible for many cast-iron buildings in SoHo. The mansard roof was an addition, designed by John Buckingham and built in 1881–82. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows used the building until the 1880s, when they moved uptown with the city's population. The building was afterwards converted for commercial and industrial use.The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1982, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

John Jovino Gun Shop or the John Jovino Company was a firearms dealer and factory located at 183 Grand Street, in Little Italy, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was the oldest gun retailer in New York City and said to be the oldest gun shop in the United States. The store closed as a result of the financial hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic.The store, which was known for its sign depicting a revolver, was founded in 1911 by John Jovino who sold it to the Imperato family in the 1920s. It remains in the family. The store was once located at 5 Centre Market Place, part of a gun district behind the former police headquarters on Centre Street, but later moved to its present location. The store "does about $1 million worth of business annually", a figure which was higher before the New York Police Department opened an internal firearms bureau. The company used to own a gun factory in Brooklyn, the only one in the city, which made Colt M1911 pistols and reproductions of American Civil War-era Henry rifles. The company, known as Henry Repeating Arms, moved its headquarters from New York City to Bayonne, New Jersey, in 2013. Although many of its customers are in law enforcement, the company was near the top of a list of sellers whose guns were linked to New York City crimes in a 2003 report by a Columbia University researcher using data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Some 102 guns of 11,700 used in crimes and later identified came from the Jovino shop. According to current owners, until the 1980s the Jovino Company was "one of the biggest dealers in the country" and sold guns to many police departments. The study did not suggest any wrongdoing by the dealers listed (the store is not legally responsible for how people use the products they legally sell) and did not take into account that a store that has a higher volume of sales would most likely have a higher number of sales to people who later used the firearms in crimes, even if the store had a lower ratio of firearms used in crimes bought from the store per total sales than a store with a smaller volume of sales. A 2007 Village Voice article raised questions about the store's sales to United Nations diplomats from the Democratic Republic of Congo.The shop was seen in the film Serpico, in both season one, episode 13 ("A Death In The Family") and season 2, episode 5 ("Wedded Bliss") of Law & Order, very briefly in Mean Streets as well as The Brave One. The shop's Centre Market Street location was seen in the 1957 television series Decoy, appearing in the first season, episode four, titled To Trap a Thief.

Mulberry Street is a principal thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is historically associated with Italian-American culture and history, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the heart of Manhattan's Little Italy. The street was listed on maps of the area since at least 1755. The "Bend" in Mulberry, where the street changes direction from southeast to northwest to a northerly direction, was made to avoid the wetlands surrounding the Collect Pond. During the period of the American Revolution, Mulberry Street was usually referred to as "Slaughter-house Street", named for the slaughterhouse of Nicholas Bayard on what is now the southwest corner of Mulberry and Bayard Streets, which was located there until the summer of 1784, when it was ordered to be removed to Corlaer's Hook.Mulberry Bend, formed by Mulberry Street on the east and Orange Street on the west, was historically part of the core of the infamous Five Points; the southwest corner of Mulberry Bend formed part of the Five Points intersection for which the neighborhood was named. Aside from Mulberry, the other four streets forming Five Points were Anthony Street (now Worth Street), Cross Street (now Mosco Street), Orange Street (Baxter Street), and Little Water Street (which no longer exists).

The Stephen Van Rensselaer House at 149 Mulberry Street between Grand and Hester Streets in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was built c.1816 in the Federal style by Stephen Van Rensselaer III. It was originally located on the northwest corner of Mulberry and Grand, but in 1841 was moved down the block to its current location. The two-story dormered house is typical of Federal-style row houses which were common at the time in Manhattan below 14th Street.The house was designated a New York City landmark in 1969, and in 1983 was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Grotta Azzura, named for the Blue Grotto on the Isle of Capri is an Italian restaurant on the corner of Mulberry Street and Broome Street in the Little Italy section of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The dining establishment was founded in 1908 by the Davino family and reopened in October 2003 in its original space after having been shut for six years. It is noted for having been a frequent haunt of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack as well as Enrico Caruso. In its later incarnation, it was a hangout for Heath Ledger, the young actor who spent some of his final days living in a rented loft space at 41 Broome street just down the street from the eatery.Grotta Azzura was one of the first places to serve "Lobster Fra Diavolo" (from the devil in Italian), an Italian American dish rather than a continental Italian one. Wine expert Victor Hazan and his wife the chef Marcella Hazan once told The New York Times that they first remembered eating it there circa 1940. Marcella went on to say "You brought me to that restaurant. I remember the dish clearly because it was so heavy and typical of Italian cooking in America. We don't eat like that in Italy".In 1977, a member of the restaurant's founding family, John Davino published a book of recipes associated with the establishment called The Recipes of the Grotta Azzurra.

The Center for Italian Modern Art is an American art museum and research center in the SoHo district of Manhattan, in New York. It specializes in Italian modern and contemporary art. It was started in 2013, and is a 501(c)(3) organization. It publishes an online journal, Italian Modern Art, and offers fellowships for study at the center or in Italy.

Ferrara Bakery and Cafe, established in 1892 by Antonio Ferrara, claims to be America's first espresso bar. It is located in Little Italy, Manhattan, New York City and offers Italian delicacies. Ferrara has remained a family owned business since its inception and is operated at its original location on Grand Street by the family's fifth generation of bakers.

Little Italy (also Italian: Piccola Italia) is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, once known for its large Italian population. It is bounded on the west by Tribeca and Soho, on the south by Chinatown, on the east by the Bowery and Lower East Side, and on the north by Nolita.

The African Free School was a school for children of slaves and free people of color in New York City. It was founded by members of the New York Manumission Society, including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, on November 2, 1787. Many of its alumni became leaders in the African-American community in New York.

Umbertos Clam House is an Italian seafood restaurant located at 132 Mulberry Street in Little Italy in Manhattan (New York City), New York, United States. Umbertos became known for its "tasty dishes of calamari, scungilli, and mussels", but initially became prominent, weeks after opening, for being the site of the murder of gangster Joe Gallo. The restaurant was founded and is owned by members of the Ianniello family.

Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino Square is small triangular park in lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by Cleveland Place and Lafayette and Kenmare Streets, two blocks north of the old police headquarters at 240 Centre Street, at the juncture of the Little Italy, Nolita, and SoHo neighborhoods. Formerly Kenmare Square, it changed its name in 1987 in honor of Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino, an early 20th century NYPD official dedicated to investigating and combating, among other adversaries, the Black Hand, an early version of the Mafia in America. The park underwent a $2 million renovation in 2008–2011, and is the site of a controversial CitiBike docking station.