Tags: Cat Stories, Don Dickerman, Greenwich Village, Margaret A. Huntington, New York History,Pirate's Cave, Sheridan Square, Will o' the Wisp
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Could this be Crazy Cat? I’m not sure, but I do know that this cat is one of many photographed by Greenwich Village photographer Jessie Tarbox Beals, the first published female photojournalist in America. From 1900 to about 1930, Jessie took numerous photos of the Bohemian village cats, oftentimes in whimsical poses, like this “hungover” kitty.
“When you leave the sunny [Sheridan] square, you will enter the oddest little court in all New York; it has not to my knowledge any name, but it is the general address of enough tea shops and studios and Village haunts to stock an entire neighourhood. The buildings are old—old, and, of course, of wood. These artist folk have metamorphosed the shabby and dilapidated structures into charming places.”– Anna Alice Chapin, Greenwich Village, 1920
Sheridan Square is named after New York native and Civil War hero General Philip Sheridan. In the 1920s, guidebooks called it “the Mousetrap,” possibly because the small triangular “square” was created by the intersection of several streets: West 4th, Grove Street, Washington Place, and Barrow Street. The odd little court that Ms. Chapin refers to is depicted in this 1915 map — surrounded by yellow (frame) and red (brick) buildings adjacent to Sheridan Square. This interior court was accessible via a doorway in a brick wall. The Pirate’s Cave was in the triangular brick building at #133 Washington Place.
Crazy Cat and the Pirate Man
In 1916, Don Dickerman opened a tearoom called the Pirate’s Cave at 133 Washington Place in Greenwich Village. Tearooms were all the rage at this time, particularly around Sheridan Square, where one could find such quaint eating establishments – many of them in the tiny, dark basements of old frame buildings — such as the Mad Hatter, The Mouse Trap, The Black Parrot, Down the Rabbit Hole, and Will O’ the Wisp.
Don Dickerman in his lair, The Pirate’s Cave, in Sheridan Square. The “tearoom” was in the cellar of an old, 4-story, molasses-colored brick building at 133 Washington Square. Photo by Jessie Tarbox Beals, 1916
The Pirate’s Cave was what one would call a “theme restaurant,” and was no doubt the precursor to such places as the Medieval Times dinner theater. As Anna Alice Chapin wrote in her book Greenwich Village (1920):
“It is a very real pirate’s den, lighted only by candles. A coffin casts a shadow, and there is a regulation “Jolly Roger,” a black flag ornamented with skull and crossbones…There is a Dead Man’s Chest too,—and if you open it you will find a ladder leading down into mysterious depths unknown.”
Although Don would eventually expand and bring his buccaneering concept to other cities, the original tearoom on Washington Place primarily served as a place to display the hand-painted pirate-themed toys that he made in his Sheridan Square studio.
It was this studio that was, at times, guarded by a black-and-white cat named Crazy Cat. As Ms. Chapin writes:
“Following the sign of deep blue with yellow letters which indicates that this is the place where the Hand-Painted Wooden Toys are made, you must climb in the sunshine up the outside staircase, which looks as though it had been put up for scaffolding purposes and then forgotten. You may nearly fall over the black-and-white feline which belongs to no one in any of the buildings, but which haunts them all like an unquiet ghost, and which is known by everyone as the Crazy Cat.”
Ink Pot editor Forest Mann and The Quill editor Peter Newton in front of The Ink Pot at 133 Washington Place (The Pirate’s Cave occupied the basement of the former boarding house). The Ink Pot was a small monthly magazine published from 1916 to 1920. Photo by Jessie Tarbox Beals
The Pirate’s Cave had a macaw named Robert, who Don reportedly purchased on a trip to Panama. Sadly, Robert was killed when the new Pirate’s Den at 8 Christopher Street burned down in April 1929. Photo by Jessie Tarbox Beals
Crazy Cat Gets Around
As author Anna Alice Chapin noted, Crazy Cat did not belong to any one person or shop, per se, but rather made the rounds and was known to everyone. So perhaps it is Crazy Cat that New York Tribunereporter talks about in his article, “If You Want to Find Bohemia” (February 4, 1917), as he describes the Will o’ the Wisp tea room at #135 Washington Place in Sheridan Square:
As author Anna Alice Chapin noted, Crazy Cat did not belong to any one person or shop, per se, but rather made the rounds and was known to everyone. So perhaps it is Crazy Cat that New York Tribunereporter talks about in his article, “If You Want to Find Bohemia” (February 4, 1917), as he describes the Will o’ the Wisp tea room at #135 Washington Place in Sheridan Square:
“Ah, this is real Bohemia! Down the narrow alley and through the dingy door in a low room with a cat asleep in the best chair. Two young ladies — story writers, they confide — are the proprietresses.”
Could this be Crazy Cat sitting on the bench seat near the fireplace in the Will o’ the Wisp tea room in Sheridan Square? Photo by Jessie Tarbox Beals
The Will o’ the Wisp was one of several tearooms that occupied an 18th-century, four-story wood frame building next door to the Pirate’s Cave and Ink Pot on Washington Place. The Will o’ the Wisp occupied the lower level; Idee Chic, another tearoom, and the Aladdin Shop, which specialized in coffees and Oriental sweets, were at the top of the steps.
By 1918, The Pirate’s Cave, Aladdin Shop, and all the other tearooms where Crazy Cat made his home had abandoned ship at 133 Washington Place and the old wood frame building next door. (Reportedly, Don had been ordered to walk the plank by the judge in a landlord versus tenant dispute.)
Sometime around 1919, Margaret A. Huntington took some funds she had obtained through cotton and stock speculations to purchase all of the three-, four-, and five-story tenements at 129 to 135 Washington Place. She then partnered with cotton broker Spencer Waters and filed plans to construct a $200,000 theater on Crazy Cat’s former territory. These plans all fell through.
Nos. 129 to 135 Washington Place (right to left) were scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a 1,000-seat theater in 1919. The old Pirate’s Cave was in the center building, and next door to the left was the Will o’ the Wisp. New York Herald, December 21, 1919
The Love Triangle (Love Square?)
According to Supreme Court records, sometime around 1923 Margaret Huntington “married” Clinton Mudge Hall, a stock broker. She had met Mr. Hall a year before through their mutual business partner, Spencer Waters, when she was still married to Mr. Huntington (first name unknown) and Clinton was married to Mary Austin Hall.
According to Supreme Court records, sometime around 1923 Margaret Huntington “married” Clinton Mudge Hall, a stock broker. She had met Mr. Hall a year before through their mutual business partner, Spencer Waters, when she was still married to Mr. Huntington (first name unknown) and Clinton was married to Mary Austin Hall.
Reportedly, the two couples had taken a trip together to Palm Beach, Florida, in the winter of 1922. The couples were accompanied by Spencer Waters, a New York cotton broker who had recently become separated from his wife.
A few days into the trip, Margaret Huntington and Clinton Hall returned to New York City to “conduct business.” Mary Austin Hall stayed behind on a yacht in Palm Beach with Spencer Waters. (I have no idea what happened to Mr. Huntington, Margaret’s husband.) The new couples become infatuated with each other, and it was decided that if all four got divorced from their current spouses, they could then marry their new loves.
By 1923, Waters had reportedly spent $100,000 on the Washington Place theater project. The project fell through due to zoning law conflicts and Margaret Huntington — now Margaret Huntington Hall — sold the buildings to a woman named Margaret Reilly. Spencer Waters never did marry Mary Austin Hall, and I don’t know if he ever got his money back (although he did sue Margaret in court in 1924).
In the end, the buildings were demolished in 1924 and replaced by 129-135 Washington Place (present-day 13-15 Sheridan Square). The six-story and basement elevator building, pictured below, was designed by John Wooley. The building has 52 residential units — a first-floor, one-bedroom condo was recently listed at $3,395 a month (sorry, no cats or other pets allowed).
Sheridan Square Arms at 13-15 Sheridan Square
In Part II of this bohemian cat tale, we’ll visit one other Crazy Cat haunt in Greenwich Village. And in the final part, I’ll tell you more about Jessie Tarbox Beals and all the Bohemian cats she photographed in Sheridan Square and around Greenwich Village.
