When most people think of Woody Guthrie, the image that comes to mind is that of the hard-traveling Okie who crisscrossed the country during the Great Depression. But the folk singer was also a pretty hard-bitten New Yorker. For most of the second half of his life (Guthrie died in 1967), he called Gotham home — as outlined in the new audiobook album "My Name Is New York: Ramblin' Around Woody Guthrie's Town." The three-disc set not only compiles some of the songs he wrote here, but also includes a comprehensive list of local spots significant to Guthrie's life and work.
This is his New York.
Almanac House (a k a The Loft) 70 E. 12th St.
In 1941, Woody teamed up with Pete Seeger in the Almanac Singers, a folk collective that sang pro-union and anti-war songs. The group used this East Village spot (which has since been torn down and replaced by a different apartment building) as the first of many bases around New York City. In her narration of the audiobook, Guthrie's daughter,
Nora, says that communal living occasionally jarred with Woody's independent ways: "Pete Seeger once joked, 'I can't stand him when he's around, but I miss him when he's gone.' "
5 W. 101st St., between Central Park West and Manhattan Avenue
After establishing himself in New York with a popular radio show, in 1940 Woody sent for his wife, Mary, and children, Gwendolyn, Sue and Bill, who were living in Pampa, Texas. The family's fourth-floor apartment near Central Park West was a social hub. "Alan Lomax, Lead Belly, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Burl Ives all continuously streamed in and out," says Nora. But Woody felt stifled by the radio show and, even though it paid well, he decided to quit — prompting Mary to take the kids and leave. The two later divorced.
Hanover House Hotel 101 W. 43rd St. at Sixth Avenue
Woody Guthrie arrived in New York after an epic cross-country journey in 1940, and although he only stayed at the Hanover House Hotel for a few weeks, it was long enough to pen "This Land Is Your Land" — a song that remains the unofficial anthem of the United States. "[It] described the beauties of the country he had traveled through on his journey east," says Nora. The International Center of Photography now stands on the site of the old Hanover House Hotel.
Marjorie Mazia's apartment 148 W. 14th St., apt. 14
Although still technically married to Mary, Woody struck up a relationship with a dancer named Marjorie in early 1942. In her apartment, he started writing his famous autobiography "Bound for Glory," which was published in 1943 and became a favorite book of many future music stars. "Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and even Joe Strummer, all were intrigued by the story of the Dust Bowl balladeer," explains Nora.
BROOKLYN
49 Murdock Court, apt. 1J, Brighton Beach
It was here that folk singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott stayed with the family in 1950 and '51, soaking up Woody's songs and vocal style and employing them in his own act. "[Jack] became the bridge that connected Woody Guthrie to the folk musicians that began to emerge in the 1950s," explains Nora. Woody's landlord at Murdock Court was Fred Trump — father of future property tycoon Donald.
Brooklyn State Hospital
681 Clarkson Ave., between Troy Avenue and East 43rd Street, Flatbush After being diagnosed with Huntington's chorea, a genetic, degenerative brain disorder, Woody spent much of his final decade in various hospitals, including Brooklyn State (now the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center). But as the folk scene exploded a few miles away in downtown Manhattan with many performers playing his songs, Woody's legend grew exponentially. Some even paid him visits, including a young Bob Dylan. "I was there more as a servant," recalls Dylan. "I went there to sing him his songs . . . he would ask for certain ones. I knew them all! I was like a Woody Guthrie jukebox!"
West 37th Street at the boardwalk, Coney Island
Photo: Christian Johnston
When Woody finally succumbed to Huntington's disease in 1967, the family decided to scatter his ashes in the ocean where it met the beach on Coney Island. "This spot on the beach had been ours," remembers Nora. "[It's] where we built sandcastles with my dad. This is where we all learned to swim and rolled in the waves all those years ago. We felt that this should be my father's final resting place, just down the block from our Mermaid Avenue home."
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