St. Marks Is Dead

The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street

A provocative city history.

St. Marks is Dead (paperback)

Ada Calhoun, who grew up on St. Marks Place, interviewed 250 past and present East Villagers for this surprising New York City history, one of the best nonfiction books of 2015 according to Kirkus, The Boston Globe, and the Village Voice.

Organizing the street’s centuries-long history around the moments when people have declared “St. Marks is dead,” this vibrant, idiosyncratic work offers what The Atlantic calls a “timely, provocative, and stylishly written” new take on urban nostalgia.

The St. Marks Is Dead Book Launch—Best Book Party of All Time?

The St. Marks Is Dead book party at Cooper Union drew hundreds of East Villagers from all eras, and featured a killer band. The St. Marks Zeroes—a one-night-only band including Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, Kathleen Hanna, Champagne Jerry, Bridget Everett, and Carmine Covelli—played covers of downtown classics by groups like the Ramones and The New York Dolls. Read all about it and see a photo gallery here. Buy a St. Marks Is Dead T-shirt here. And watch the highlight video by Jose Tapia.

Photos

There are 70 images in the book, most never before published. Here are a few of them:

St Marks Map