The story
Max Gordon opened the club on February 22, 1935. His first try, on Charles Street, ran into trouble when police refused a cabaret license, and he took over a former speakeasy, the Golden Triangle, at 178 Seventh Avenue South. The basement is shaped like an isosceles triangle. At first the club booked folk music and Beat poetry, with performers including Lead Belly. It became mainly a jazz club in 1957.
Sonny Rollins recorded here on November 3, 1957, and John Coltrane and Bill Evans made their Vanguard records in 1961. The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band, later the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, played Monday nights from 1966 to 1990. After Max Gordon died in 1989, his wife Lorraine ran the club.
Everything that was here
- 1935–present · still open
Village VanguardNightclub
Max Gordon opened the Vanguard in 1935, and it settled into a triangle-shaped basement that had been a speakeasy called the Golden Triangle.
See the map in 1936 → - 1991–2022
Jekyll & Hyde ClubRestaurant
The haunted house restaurant where animatronic monsters entertained diners until the pandemic finally killed Dr. Jekyll.
See the map in 1992 →
Did you know?
Nearby history
Stonewall Inn
Sea Colony
White Horse Tavern
Café Society
Chumley's
Florent
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