La Lanterna

La Lanterna opened in 1977 by Carlo “Vittorio” Antonini, an avid sailor and sportsman with a passion for food and drink, who immigrated just a decade before from Liguria, Italy along with his wife, Marisa.

Having found success in their first business, Caffe Verdi of Bleecker Street, Vittorio and Marisa saw a tiny federal style townhouse at 129 MacDougal Street for rent and decided it was the perfect space for their next endeavor in the Bohemian and bustling neighborhood of Greenwich Village. This NYC Landmark building (and its identical brother and sister to the North-131 and South-127 built circa 1828) was originally an investment property constructed by notorious Bowery hat merchant Alonzo Alwyn Alvord that later transitioned from residential to mixed commercial use. Notable tenants and historical anecdotes include famed portrait photographer Nickolas Murray; folk musician, anti-war and environmental activists Pete and Toshi Seeger; Eva Kotchever’s lesbian speakeasy, Eve’s Hangout (one of the first gay bars in the heart of residential NYC) and use of the underground vaulted brick storage cellars as part of the Underground Railroad.