The Honor of Co-named Streets
Max Gordon Corner
People have been honored here in New York with co-naming of streets or places for them. Look for the special green (or in this case, blue) signs below the regular street signs and check out nycstreets.info/honorstreet
Located at the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Waverly Place, Max Gordon Corner honors Max Gordon (1903-1989) the owner of the Village Vanguard, one of the most influential clubs in the history of jazz. Photo by Brian J. Pape, AIA.
According to Wikipedia, Gordon was born in Svir, Minsk region, Russia (now Belarus) to a Jewish family, and emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1908 at age five. The family settled in Portland, Oregon. As a young man, he was interested in Russian and French novels and saw himself as a romantic type. Pursuing his parents’ wish that he become a lawyer, he moved to New York in 1926 to attend Columbia Law School but began working in nightclubs and dropped out, saying “I learned to take my education where I could find it.”
Owner Max Gordon, founder and proprietor of the iconic jazz club, the Village Vanguard in New York City. July 1983. © 2014 Brian McMillen / brianmcmillen@hotmail.com
In 1932 Gordon opened his first venue, Village Fair, in the tradition of Viennese coffee houses as a place for artists and writers. He relocated the venue once in 1934 and opened the Village Vanguard in 1935 at its present basement site at 178 Seventh Avenue South. The Vanguard initially offered poetry and was frequented by poets Maxwell Bodenheim and Harry Kemp. Over time, the club segued into cabaret acts, comedy, folk music and jazz before going exclusively jazz in 1957. The club’s artistic direction was in part guided by Gordon’s wife, Lorraine, who had a keen interest in jazz. Over time the club became a popular recording spot and over 100 jazz albums have been recorded there.
The club hosted a who’s who of jazz greats from the 1940s to the 1980s including John Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Dinah Washington, Albert Ayler, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Henry Threadgill and Thelonious Monk (at the time an unknown, discovered by Lorraine Gordon). Gordon sought new talent and gave younger performers a platform to showcase their work. In doing so he played a role in helping launch the careers of Judy Holliday, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Barbra Streisand, Pearl Bailey, Woody Allen, Dick Gregory, Lenny Bruce, Irwin Corey, Woody Guthrie, and Lead Belly.
In 1982, he authored a memoir titled Live at the Village Vanguard, which chronicles the history of the club. He had a reputation for fairness and honesty among the performers. He actively managed the Vanguard club well into his 80s. When Gordon died in 1989, Lorraine Gordon continued the work and took an active role in managing the Vanguard club.
Brian J. Pape is a citizen architect LEED-AP “Green” certified, a co-chair of the American Institute of Architects NY Design for Aging Committee, and member of Historic Buildings, Housing, and PassiveHaus Committees. He serves on the Manhattan District 2 Community Board, the Executive Committee and the Landmarks Committee.
