The punk club that's been listed in the National Register Of Historic Places

At about the same time Studio 54 was gathering steam uptown, another club made its mark on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Founded 1973 by Hilly Kristal at 315 Bowery, CBGB became known worldwide as a famed venue of punk rock and new wave bands including the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and Talking Heads as well as countless others.

The name CBGB & OMFUG stands for "Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers." The club initially catered to country, bluegrass, and blues music (along with poetry readings), but within a few years punk became its mainstay.

Over the years as the neighborhood changed, the club fought to stay open, but was eventually forced out due to rising rents and gentrification. In 2006, the doors to CBGB finally closed. Today, the clubs lives on in market ventures such as the CBGB Music and Film Festival, CBGB radio (on the iheartradio app) and countless t-shirts.

The club's building even made it to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 as part of the Bowery Historic District. Of its nomination it is said, "CBGB was founded in 1973 on the Bowery, in a former nineteenth-century saloon on the first floor of the Palace Lodging House. The legendary music venue fostered new genres of American music, including punk and art rock, that defined the culture of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s, and that still resonate today. In this role as cultural incubator, CBGB served the same function as the theaters and concert halls of the Bowery's storied past. The former club, now occupied by a retail business, remains a pilgrimage site for legions of music fans.”