North Moore Street

North Moore Street is a moderately trafficked street in TriBeCa, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs roughly east–west between West Broadway and West Street; automotive traffic is westbound only.

Naming

On street signs and maps, the street is usually written as "N. Moore Street", much as numbered streets in Manhattan (as well as Houston Street) are usually prefixed "E." and "W.". Despite persistent stories that it was named for Nathaniel Moore, the street is named North Moore Street for Benjamin Moore (1748–1816), the second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the father of Clement Clarke Moore.^[1]

North Moore Street is sometimes confused with the older Moore Street, a short street located near the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan; also, there is no "South Moore Street".

Culture

H&L 8 firehouse at Varick & N. Moore Streets

In 1969 Fluxus artist Joe Jones opened his "Music-Store" at 18 North Moore Street where he presented his repetitive drone music machines in the window so that anyone could press the numerous door buttons to play the machine noise music in the window.^[2] He also gave small musical installation performances alone or with the likes of Yoko Ono and John Lennon,^[3] among others. After moving out of 18 N. Moore Joe Jones's store-loft space became the art studio of No Wave artist Joseph Nechvatal, then Jon Hassell and finally video artist Bill Viola before being merged into Walkers Restaurant.

Exterior shots of the Ghostbusters headquarters were filmed at the FDNY Hook & Ladder No. 8 Firehouse, located at 14 North Moore Street, at its intersection with Varick Street. A small parking lot at the corner of West Broadway a block away was "a staging area for foam and vehicles ... [for] the classic" 1984 comedy. The interiors of the building were filmed in Fire Station No. 23 in Los Angeles.

The same W. Broadway/N. Moore corner has also been the location for the diner set of It Could Happen to You (1994 film), a set site for Zoolander (2001 film) and, in 2006, the location for a free-standing billboard advertising the animated film Enchanted.^[4]

Notable residents

• John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-1999), journalist and lawyer^[5]
• Lindsay Lohan
• Ice Cube
• David Letterman
• Ed Burns
• Christy Turlington
• Nathan Lane

References

External links

• "N. Moore St. in Tribeca", discussion board, Gotham Center for New York City History, June 3, 2003 start.
• "New York City Street Names", forum, JonnyMac, lead contributor, January 26, 2003 start.
• "N Moore St, New York, NY", Google Maps.