NYC East Village Mystery

The enduring lot sits empty and alone. The strewn rubble and scattered pieces of brick is a sad reminder of something that used to be. But what is that something? How did that neighborhood scar, which opens a gap in the block between 13th and 14th Streets, come to be? The answers give one a brief glimpse into a small piece of NYC history and the effects of the constant change that continually alters the face of the city.

In the now dilapidated space, now considered the edge of the East Village, once sat the B.F. Keith Vaudeville Theatre called the Jefferson. The entertainment venue opened in 1913 and was later purchased by the theater giant RKO. After operating into the 1970s the theater closed down. The building was demolished in 2000 and today only a few scattered pieces remain of the once grand theatre.

The lot, which fills with green shrubbery and ferns during spring and summer, hasn't gone on without incident. In 2004 an eerie event occurred amongst its rocky mounds. On a day early in June of that year, a strange trunk appeared. An area homeless man's curiosity lead him to investigate its contents where inside he found the lifeless body of a woman, and not the chest of gold bars he might have been expecting.

With a once lively past and an eerie murder, the gaping reminder of something that once was remains as 2010 comes to an end. Peering through the lot from 14th street gives you a clear view of the building across 13th Street that once took place in the filming of the movie Taxi Driver. Perhaps Robert DeNiro and Jodi Foster remember that vaudeville turned movie theatre that loomed across the street as they worked, awaiting its demise.

John Chappell, "RKO Jefferson Theater", Cinema Treasures.
Jen Chung, "Body Found on 13th Street ", Gothamist.