East 9 St, NoHo

East 9th isn't much to write home about during its tenure in Noho. There are a lot of apartment buildings and a lot of businesses but none of them really have any charm. The area is just too busy and many of the apartment buildings are just too massive for there to be any neighborhood feel. There are some beautiful buildings but there are other streets that have more. And, there is a lot of traffic and a lot of noise on this street. It's not bad. But, for the price, I would rather live somewhere else.
The northwest corner of 9th and University holds an apartment building where the novelist Dawn Powell used to live. Her lover lived on the floor below she and her husband and he had his own separate entrance. Apparently, she had wild parties and I can believe that considering she had an affair entrance to her home. Across the street is an apartment building that used to be a hotel where all of the bohemians hung out. The Knickerbocker is on the ground floor of the building and it's one of my favorite places in the city. It's kind of like a diner and kind of not. It's very old with old waiters and old regulars and I just love the place. My dad and I have lunch there every time he's in town. It's especially nice on a rainy day when you want crappy food like meatloaf and a beer. It's the epitome of unglamorous and even better for that. Across the street, at the corner is the Randall Apartments building named after the guy that owned most of Greenwich Village at one point. He's the reason that Greenwich is kind of ugly compared to the West Village. He had Alexander Hamilton write a trust that locked up his property so watertight that we still can't find a way around doing anything with a lot of the buildings. Appropriately, the apartment building across the street is called Hamilton Apartments. So, this corner is, essentially, a little homage to the two people responsible for Greenwich being dingy.
Across Broadway, 9th is taken up for a block by two massive buildings. Wanamakers was a massive, grand department store that is now a Kmart. The Kmart part is kind of depressing but the building is really beautiful. Across 9th is the Stewart Building. It was named for the man that owned another high end department store on this site. He was noted several times as "the meanest man that ever lived," The next block east is more of the same: apartment buildings and commercial space. Aside from the Cooper Union School, there's really not much to see.