Monday, April 20, 2015

The Porn Buddha + Edward Mooney House

The Rosemary was a small theater in Chinatown, which fit less than 500 ticket holders in their main room, and balcony. The cinema specialized in kung fu features and B-movie fare when it opened in 1978, but by the late 80s started showing porno on weekends. By 1990, porn flicks were their staple until they closed their doors in 1996.
Found at 133 Canal Street (between Bowery and Chrystie Street), they re-opened the following year as a Mahayana Buddhist temple.


Where there once was a canvas screen a thousand freaks freaked to, now sits a huge, golden Buddha. The statue is 16ft (5m) high, and is hollow within.


Along the walls of the main hall are lithographs depicting the Buddha's history and deeds, as well as ritual drums and instruments.
If you visit, be careful where you point your camera, as photos are not allowed in certain areas, and of certain religious objects and offerings.
After you've donated a buck, pick your fortune from the stacks of yellow bundles found throughout the place, and head a few blocks south to the corner of Bowery and Pell Street to see the Edward Mooney house.


Finished in 1789, it is now Manhattan's oldest row house still standing.
The home was constructed by affluent butcher Edward Mooney, on land confiscated from British Loyalist James De Lancey, so as to be near the slaughterhouses where he made his fortune. After his death in 1800, the joint was passed from buyer to buyer, one of which extended the structure in 1807. Since that time, the building had functioned as a saloon, hotel and even a brothel, but is now a bank.


The residence was made a landmark in 1966, and entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.