Great Jones Street

Coordinates: 40°43′37″N 73°59′34″W / 40.72686°N 73.992759°W / 40.72686; -73.992759

Not to be confused with Jones Street. For other uses, see Great Jones Street (disambiguation).
The Beaux Arts firehouse at 44 Great Jones Street houses Engine Company #33 and dates from 1898–1899. It was designed by Ernest Flagg and has been a New York City Landmark since 1968.[1] (photo taken 14 July 2007)

Great Jones Street is a street in New York City's NoHo district in Manhattan, essentially another name for 3rd Street between Broadway and the Bowery.

The street was named for Samuel Jones, a lawyer who became known as "The Father of The New York Bar," due to his work on revising New York State's statutes in 1789 with Richard Varick, who also had a street named after him in SoHo. Jones was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1796 to 1799, and also served as the state's first Comptroller.[2]

Jones deeded the site of the street to the city with the stipulation that any street that ran through the property had to be named for him. However, when the street was first created in 1789, the city already had a "Jones Street" in Greenwich Village, named for Dr. Gardner Jones, Samuel Jones' brother-in-law.[2][3] The confusion between two streets with the same name was broken when Samuel Jones suggested that his street be called "Great Jones Street".[2][4] An alternative theory suggests that the street was called "Great" because it was the wider of the two Jones Streets.[3]

In popular culture

References

Notes

  1. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Postal, Matthew A. (ed. and text); Dolkart, Andrew S. (text). (2009) Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.) New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1 p.62
  2. 1 2 3 Moscow, Henry. The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan's Street Names and Their Origins. New York: Hagstrom, 1978. ISBN 0823212750, p.56
  3. 1 2 Boland, Ed, Jr. "F.Y.I.". New York Times (March 17, 2002). Accessed October 8, 2007. "In 1789 a street was opened there, but New York already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village. So the new street was named Great Jones Street because it was wider than the norm."
  4. Gordon, John Steele "A Thoroughly Unfair Quiz About New York", New York Times (August 10, 1985). Accessed October 8, 2007. "When neither man would yield the honor of having a street named for him, Samuel settled the issue—and one-upped his brother-in-law—by saying, 'Then make mine Great Jones Street.'"
  5. New York Daily News (May 5, 2005) Quote: "1960s Jazz great Charles Mingus moves in next door at 5 Great Jones Street. The term 'Jonesing' enters the language as junkies and dealers come and go from the alley next door."; as reported at "jones/jonesing" on Wordwizard
  6. Safire, William. "On Language; Jonesing" New York Times Magazine (May 11, 2003)
  7. Barrett, Grant. "Jonesing Origin" A Way With Words (December 9, 2012)
  8. Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968 at the Internet Movie Database
  9. "Charles Mingus and His Eviction From His New York City Loft, Captured in Moving 1968 Film" Open Culture (August 2, 2012)
  10. "Great Jones Street" on Powells.com
  11. Blackburn, Sara. "Great Jones Street" New York Times (April 22, 1973)
  12. Hoban, Phoebe. Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art (excerpt) New York Times (August 9, 1998)
  13. Joyce, Cynthia. "Penthouse View" Salon (May 7, 1996)
  14. "Interview with Dean Wareham" Goodreads (April 2008)
  15. Daley, David. "Just This Side Of The Moon" Hartford Courant (November 3, 2002)

External links

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