John Coltrane's Never-Ending West Side Story
We read with interest the lead story in yesterday's Metro section, "Hell's Kitchen, Swept Out and Remodeled." We're always intrigued by the changing face of the city, we're recently frustrated by the disappearance of neighborhood quirks and characters, and we're saddened by the increasing unlikelihood of ever again finding rival dancing gangs on the West Side. And while the article touched on all those points, we were most intrigued by this one:
A milestone in the neighborhood's evolution was the opening in 1977 of Manhattan Plaza, two Mitchell-Lama government-subsidized rental towers with 3,500 tenants where 70 percent of the apartments were reserved for workers in the performing arts. Celebrities like Tennessee Williams, Larry David and John Coltrane all lived there during less profitable stretches of their careers.
In fairness to Coltrane, it's not entirely his fault the late 1970s were a less profitable stretch in his career: He died in 1967.
