St. Marks Is Dead

The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street

By: Ada Calhoun

Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer

St. Marks Place in New York City has spawned countless artistic and political movements. Here Frank O'Hara caroused, Emma Goldman plotted, and the Velvet Underground wailed. But every generation of miscreant denizens believes that their era, and no other, marked the street's apex.

This idiosyncratic work of reportage tells the many-layered history of the street - from its beginnings as colonial Dutch director-general Peter Stuyvesant's pear orchard to today's hipster playground - organized around those pivotal moments when critics declared "St. Marks is dead". In a narrative enriched by hundreds of interviews, St. Marks native Ada Calhoun profiles iconic characters, from W. H. Auden to Abbie Hoffman, from Keith Haring to the Beastie Boys, among many others. She argues that St. Marks has variously been an elite address, an immigrants' haven, a Mafia war zone, and a hippie paradise, but it has always been a place that outsiders call home.

©2015 Ada Calhoun (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Rather than a nostalgic lament, this revelatory book celebrates an indelible cultural imprint." ( Kirkus)

Interesting history of a storied place.

Told by someone who grew up in the neighborhood, it tracks a place's role in our cultural history and raised the question "what's next?"

Awful reader.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Content is interesting, but book is not well written

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

None.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Carla Mercer-Meyer?

This person reads with no understanding of grammar or content.

Do you think St. Marks Is Dead needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

If you can, listen at the subject

Listen as you pace Saint Marks. It’s really a comforting balance of footnoted history and soothing anecdote.

If you love history and NYC buy this

Great book! I thought it was well written and so very researched and smart! I hope the author writes more.

Engrossing tale, awkward narration - but bearable

The story was great - and will be particularly interesting to people who lived in the East Village prior to 2000. The narrator has a young voice - but maybe she is too young. Referencing a local 'zine she made it rhyme with "vine." There were other awkward pronunciations - or just wrong emphasis. It was competent though - still worth the listen.