Jean-Michel Basquiat's Studio and Apartment

57 Great Jones Street now houses a semi-secret Japanese restaurant called Bohemian, but its more significant chapter belongs to Jean-Michel Basquiat, who lived and worked here until his death at the iconic age of 27. Basquiat’s trajectory was fast and total: starting as a graffiti writer tagging SAMO across the East Village, then playing in a post-punk band called Gray with Vincent Gallo, performing at Max’s Kansas City, CBGB, and Mudd Club. Along the way he picked up the connections that led to a role in Downtown 81 and an appearance in Blondie’s “Rapture” video.

The paintings came next — Neo-Expressionist canvases that announced a major talent. He showed in the infamous “Times Square Show,” met Andy Warhol in 1982 (the same year he briefly dated Madonna), and moved into this loft, which was owned by Warhol. It was here that Basquiat created the work that gallerists Annina Nosei, Larry Gagosian, and Mary Boone competed for.

Not long after Warhol’s death, Basquiat died of a heroin overdose here on August 12, 1988.

The building itself has a long history. During the Civil War it served as a horse stable, then was converted to a dance hall and saloon in the early 1900s, frequented by the Italian mob. In 1905, a gangster “slipped and fell on a bullet” inside and survived — for exactly two days, before someone else finished the job.

Location: 57 Great Jones Street, New York, NY 10012