Abbie Hoffman - 30 St. Marks Place (also mamouns falafal)

East Village

New York City

Art & Culture | History

Yippies, Counterculture and Abbie Hoffman

abbie hoffman mamouns falafel east village

30 St Marks place abbie hoffman east village

About Abbie Hoffman - 30 St. Marks Place (also mamouns falafal)

& why it made the Carpe City list

30 St Marks Place was home to famed 1960’s political activist Abbie Hoffman.
From 1967-1974 the basement was the epicenter of counterculture and the HQ of the politically charged Youth International Party or as they were more popularly called, the Yippies.
Hoffman and friends like Jerry Rubin founded the Yippies in order to re-ignite an aimless, drug-centered hippie movement into a force for political change.
Hoffman made headlines when he and 7 others were arrested for inciting violent protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. He and his fellow scofflaws were given the moniker the “Chicago 8” (later the “Chicago 7”) and were tried for conspiracy.
Ever a rebel with outlandish antics, Hoffman would blow kisses to the jury, be sworn in while giving the courtroom the bird and once showed up to court in a judicial robe. When forced to remove the robe he complied only to show off a Chicago police uniform below.
Most notorious may have been Abbie’s 1967 gag at the New York Stock Exchange, where he tossed a mix of real and fake dollar bills onto the trading floor as a commentary on greed and capitalism. As Hoffman watched the traders scrambling about grabbing for the cash as fast as they could he commented that it was exactly what traders do.
In character, Abbie called his 1971 book, Steal This Book. Many people did. Many stores refused to carry it.
Abbie officially became a man on the run when he skipped bail for drug charges in 1974, undergoing 3 nose jobs to stay under the radar for the 20 months he was a fugitive.
In 1980 Hoffman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and in 1989 was found dead from a massive phenobarbital overdose.
FYI – If you are looking for a cheap eat to go, you can’t go wrong by popping in for a falafel at Mamoun’s. The original, open since 1971, is in Greenwich Village.

Carpe City Trivia

Tell me more about them Yuppies.

Founded by Hoffman and partner-in-literal-crime, Jerry Rubin, the Yippies were best known for their “theatrical” style and stunts which won them lots of media attention. In 1968 the party nominated a pig – aptly named Pigasus – for President right before the opening of the Democratic National Convention, and in 1967 they used an absurdist ploy to stage an official exorcism of the Pentagon, purporting to then “levitate” it and end the war in Vietnam.

What happened to Hoffman's counterpart Jerry Rubin?

After standing side-by-side with Hoffman through the Yippies’ radical Pentagon, NYSE, and Democratic National Convention stunts, Jerry Rubin became an entrepreneur, as well as an early investor in Apple Computer. You know how that story ends, and Rubin suddenly found himself an unexpected millionaire. More sympathetic to capitalism as a way to make progress, he became a self-proclaimed Yuppie. Wait…Hippie, Yippie, and now Yuppie? YUP. Yuppie became the new term for “young urban professionals” in the 80’s, and for a time also described a common ideology of socially liberal yet fiscally conservative voters. The shift in ideology would culminate in a series of debates between Abbie and Jerry deemed “Yippie vs. Yuppie,” though the two always maintained a mutual sense of respect for one another.

What are the best practices for stealing food at a buffet?

Glad you asked. According to Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Book, you should “sew a plastic bag onto your tee-shirt or belt and wear a loose-fitting jacket or coat to cover any noticeable bulge.” Fried chicken works best, he says, and goes on to include a slew of other tips for scoring free goods, such as the silverware and toilet paper from self-service joints. It all came down to a matter of principle for Abbie: “To steal from a brother or sister is evil. To not steal from the institutions that are the pillars of the Pig Empire is equally immoral.”