Cedar Tavern
Encyclopedia
The Cedar Tavern was a bar and restaurant in New York City
last at 82 University Place between 11th and 12th Streets. It was famous as a former hangout of many prominent Abstract Expressionist painters and beat
writers. The establishment was located at 24 University Place in its heyday, but closed in April 1963 and reopened three blocks north in 1964 in a more upscale pub style.
The Cedar Tavern was opened in 1866 on Cedar Street. In 1933 it moved to 55 West Eight Street, and in 1945 it moved to 24 University Place. Jackson Pollock
, Willem de Kooning
, Mark Rothko
, Franz Kline
, Michael Goldberg
, Antonio Narducci, Landes Lewitin and others of the New York School
all patronized the bar in the 1950s when they lived in Greenwich Village
. Historians consider it an important incubator of the Abstract Expressionist movement. It was also popular with writers Allen Ginsberg
, Jack Kerouac
, Gregory Corso
, Frank O'Hara
, and LeRoi Jones. Pollock was eventually banned from the establishment for kicking in the men's room door, as was Kerouac, who allegedly urinated in an ashtray.
In 1955 the Cedar Tavern was purchased by Sam Diliberto, a butcher, and his brother in law, John Bodnar, a window washer, from Joe Provenzano. Robert Motherwell
had a studio nearby in the early 50's, and he held a weekly salon for artists there. The Cedar was the closest place for them to have a drink afterwards. Pollock, DeKooning, Kline, Aristodimos Kaldis
, Phillip Guston, Al Leslie and the others liked it for its cheap drinks and lack of tourists or middle-class squares. Univ. Place in those days was downmarket and dangerous because of the several welfare and single-room occupancy hotels in the area; muggings were common. Sam and John looked to the East Village
around St. Mark's Pl. to reopen when the building was sold and demolished in 1963. After a year they bought the building at 82 Univ. Pl., which had been occupied by an antique store, and built the new bar in a more upscale pub style. By this time Pollock and Kline were gone, DeKooning was abstaining from alcohol, and the scene never revived.
In the 1960s Tuli Kupferberg
of The Fugs
, David Amram
, and occasionally Bob Dylan
, were known to patronize the Cedar Tavern. D.A. Pennebaker, Dylan, and Bob Neuwirth
met there to plan the shooting of Dont Look Back
.
The old site, where most of the significant events in the establishment's history occurred, is now occupied by a large residential building, the ground floor retail space of which was most recently a women's clothing store.
Diliberto's sons Mike and Joe ran the place successfully for many years until 2006, when they decided to develop the site into condominiums. In December 2006, the Cedar Tavern closed to allow for the construction of a seven-story addition to the building in which it is housed. Its owners had pledged to reopen in six months, but an opinion piece in the December 3, 2006 edition of The New York Times
speculated that it was closed for good. This proved prescient; in the wake of Joe Diliberto's death on Oct. 27, 2007, his brother Mike failed to reopen the establishment.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
last at 82 University Place between 11th and 12th Streets. It was famous as a former hangout of many prominent Abstract Expressionist painters and beat
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
writers. The establishment was located at 24 University Place in its heyday, but closed in April 1963 and reopened three blocks north in 1964 in a more upscale pub style.
The Cedar Tavern was opened in 1866 on Cedar Street. In 1933 it moved to 55 West Eight Street, and in 1945 it moved to 24 University Place. Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
, Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
, Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
, Franz Kline
Franz Kline
Franz Jozef Kline was an American painter mainly associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement centered around New York in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and attended Girard College, an academy in Philadelphia for fatherless boys...
, Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. His work was recently seen in September 2007 in a solo exhibition at Knoedler & Company in New York City, as well as several exhibitions at...
, Antonio Narducci, Landes Lewitin and others of the New York School
New York School
The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in New York City...
all patronized the bar in the 1950s when they lived in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Historians consider it an important incubator of the Abstract Expressionist movement. It was also popular with writers Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, Frank O'Hara
Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...
, and LeRoi Jones. Pollock was eventually banned from the establishment for kicking in the men's room door, as was Kerouac, who allegedly urinated in an ashtray.
In 1955 the Cedar Tavern was purchased by Sam Diliberto, a butcher, and his brother in law, John Bodnar, a window washer, from Joe Provenzano. Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
had a studio nearby in the early 50's, and he held a weekly salon for artists there. The Cedar was the closest place for them to have a drink afterwards. Pollock, DeKooning, Kline, Aristodimos Kaldis
Aristodimos Kaldis
Aristodimos Kaldis was an artist and left-wing activist in New York.It is impossible to think of East Tenth Street and of the gallery and museum scene during the 1950s without including Kaldis in the picture. His friendship with leading members of the New York School dated from the 1930s...
, Phillip Guston, Al Leslie and the others liked it for its cheap drinks and lack of tourists or middle-class squares. Univ. Place in those days was downmarket and dangerous because of the several welfare and single-room occupancy hotels in the area; muggings were common. Sam and John looked to the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
around St. Mark's Pl. to reopen when the building was sold and demolished in 1963. After a year they bought the building at 82 Univ. Pl., which had been occupied by an antique store, and built the new bar in a more upscale pub style. By this time Pollock and Kline were gone, DeKooning was abstaining from alcohol, and the scene never revived.
In the 1960s Tuli Kupferberg
Tuli Kupferberg
Naphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg was an American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs.-Biography:...
of The Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
, David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
, and occasionally Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, were known to patronize the Cedar Tavern. D.A. Pennebaker, Dylan, and Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A...
met there to plan the shooting of Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back
Dont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
.
The old site, where most of the significant events in the establishment's history occurred, is now occupied by a large residential building, the ground floor retail space of which was most recently a women's clothing store.
Diliberto's sons Mike and Joe ran the place successfully for many years until 2006, when they decided to develop the site into condominiums. In December 2006, the Cedar Tavern closed to allow for the construction of a seven-story addition to the building in which it is housed. Its owners had pledged to reopen in six months, but an opinion piece in the December 3, 2006 edition of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
speculated that it was closed for good. This proved prescient; in the wake of Joe Diliberto's death on Oct. 27, 2007, his brother Mike failed to reopen the establishment.
Trivia
- The Cedar Tavern continued to be known as the "Cedar Street Tavern" even after its move two miles north of that street.
- The Cedar Tavern is featured in the first chapters of Augusten Burroughs' book Dry, and also in Joyce Glassman Johnson's memoir of Jack Kerouac, Minor Characters, and is the setting for Dawn PowellDawn PowellDawn Powell was an American writer of novels and stories.-Biography:Powell was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, a village 45 miles north of Columbus and the county seat of Morrow County. Powell regularly gave her birth year as 1897 but primary documents support the earlier date...
's The Golden Spur. - The Cedar Tavern is featured in Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard, serving as the meeting place of fictional artist Rabo Karabekian and his Abstract Expressionist painter friends.
External links
- Features photographs then and now
- Panorama of the Cedar's bar