Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Sanctum Sanctorum

Sanctum SanctorumWhile in New York for NY Comic Con my partner and I made a detour to have dinner with his sister at a wonderful tapas restaurant in Greenwich Village. Never having been to that part of town I wasn't sure what to expect. It was kind of a hip, trendy little neighborhood with some fabulous shops and about every third person asked us for directions like we knew something.

While we were killing time standing there on Bleecker it hit me. Dr. Strange (my favorite Marvel comic book hero) was supposed to live in the Village, but where? I did a google text request to get the address for "Sanctum Sanctorum Greenwich Village New York" and it came back: 177A Bleecker St New York.*

I about lost my mind. Here I was standing on Bleecker, and we looked at the shop numbers and we were in the 170's. We looked across the street and there on this white awning it said 177, and I snapped this picture.

177 Bleecker

Of course the building there was 177 specifically, and it looked nothing like the awesome building that we see in the comics. And of course we both found it endlessly amusing that Dr. Strange lives above the frozen yogurt bar "Pinkberry" right next the DC crossover "Joker Tattoos" shop. And of course I started theorizing about how there was really some magical dimension shifting business going on there and the Sanctum was just in one of those Harry Potter-esque sideways places like #12 Grimmauld Place.

If you'd like to see a better shot of the street there you can see it on Google Maps using the "street view".

I think this ranks at the top of the list of the geekiest things I've ever done.


* I also got a second text with the address 1407 Greymalkin Lane, West Chester New York, which is the address of the Xavier Academy in X-Men.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is Great! Love it! Good work!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thanks for doing the great nerd scout work for us.

Mr.joetomasello@gmail.com said...

I grew up in NYC and read Dr. Strange week to week as it was published in the 60's. I was a galavanter and explorer of the street. I always thought and still believe that the physical inspiration for the graphic image of "The Sanctum Santorum" was on the corner Minetta Lane and Minetta Street one building down and across the street from the rear door of the Cafe Wha?. It has a wrought iron gate, a court yard, and an atelier to this day. I showed it to my son last month before we had iced espresso's at theCafe Regio. You can look is up on google map and see a picture. Minetta Lane & Minetta Street, NYC,NY. The building is now painted blue. It is true about the address being around the corner on Bleeker being the numeral address of record for Dr.Stranges corporal form.

Anonymous said...

Great find! I plan on snapping a pic myself as I'm going there too. I know that its been literally forever in Internet time, and I don't know if I'll get a response, but I just thought that you guys should know: 1407 Greymalkin Lane, in Westchester, is blocked off by the property of a reclusive, little old lady who claims that it's not there, even though there is a building that can clearly be seen on satellite. Regardless, if you do go up there, the little old lady in question, her house is pretty damn nice looking, and it's practically a mansion in and of itself, although, to be honest, it's no X-Mansion. Fair warning, the spot is extremely difficult to reach, even with GPS, and your car MUST have four wheel drive. The people who live up there, (save for the recluse), are very neighborly, friendly, and hospitable. However, despite the fact that they all seem to know each other, none of them know about the old lady or the house. Either way, good luck!

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