A brief history of foursquare
OST Cafe is one of A brief history of foursquare.

1. OST Cafe

441 E 12th St (at Avenue A), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · East Village · 198 tips and reviews

DensDens: Naveen and I built half of the original foursquare prototype here (pre-SXSW 2009). This was before I was drinking coffee, so I was downing like 5 hot a day here (someone's gotta pay for that wifi!)

Think Coffee is one of A brief history of foursquare.

2. Think Coffee

7.7
248 Mercer St (btwn W 3rd & W 4th St), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · Greenwich Village · 323 tips and reviews

DensDens: Naveen & I built 1/2 of the foursquare prototype here (mostly at the back table near the bathroom). The "mayor" feature in 4SQ came from our buddy Chad making fun of us for camping at that table :)

3. Corner Shop Cafe

643 Broadway (at Bleecker), New York, NY
Breakfast Spot · Greenwich Village · 4 tips and reviews

DensDens: There's been a bunch of diff bars below this cafe. At @lock's bday party in Jan 2009, downstairs is where @Naveen & I decided we should try to replace dodgeball w/ 4SQ & launch it @ SXSW in March.

4. Essex Ale House

179 Essex St (btw Houston & Stanton), New York, NY
Bar · Lower East Side · 1 tip

DensDens: Before this place as Essex Ale House, it was called 12" (er, vinyl record) which was ground zero for early days of dodgeball.com. On the day dodgeball was bought by Google we threw a huge party here.

Ace Bar is one of A brief history of foursquare.

5. Ace Bar

7.5
531 E 5th St (btwn Avenue A & B), New York, NY
Bar · Alphabet City · 151 tips and reviews

DensDens: This was a go-to during my grad school days at NYU, Ace Bar was always used as the "example" for dodgeball.com & foursquare use cases. It's still the first place I think of when testing new features.

NYU ITP is one of A brief history of foursquare.

6. NYU ITP

721 Broadway Fl 4 (at Waverly Pl), New York, NY
College Communications Building · Greenwich Village · 27 tips and reviews

DensDens: Hey, I graduated from ITP in 2004! My thesis project, dodgeball.com (sold to Google in 05) was born here. A lot of the "life as a game" ideas in 4SQ came the "Big Games" class Frank Lantz's taught.

The Magician is one of A brief history of foursquare.

7. The Magician

7.1
118 Rivington St (at Essex St), New York, NY
Bar · Lower East Side · 77 tips and reviews

DensDens: This place was ground zero for the blogger/Gawker scene in 2003-2004 and has always been a big hangout for the early dodgeball.com crowd. My brain is hardwired to use "The Magician" as a test search.

The Scratcher is one of A brief history of foursquare.

8. The Scratcher

8.0
209 E 5th St (btwn 2nd & 3rd Ave), New York, NY
Bar · East Village · 80 tips and reviews

DensDens: Official after-work bar of team foursquare. If both bathrooms do not have foursquare stickers on the doors/mirrors/toilets, someone's getting fired... #justsaying

7B Horseshoe Bar aka Vazacs is one of A brief history of foursquare.

9. 7B Horseshoe Bar aka Vazacs

8.0
108 Avenue B (at E 7th St), New York, NY
Dive Bar · Alphabet City · 105 tips and reviews
Max Fish is one of A brief history of foursquare.

10. Max Fish

178 Ludlow St (btwn E Houston & Stanton St), New York, NY
Bar · Lower East Side · 48 tips and reviews

DensDens: Back in the dodgeball.com days, this spot is where the very first "friend-of-a-friend" message actually worked back in 2005 ("Hey, Mona is across the street and you know Mona thru Brian - say hi!"). Read more.

East Village Tavern is one of A brief history of foursquare.

11. East Village Tavern

5.5
158 Avenue C (at E. 10th St.), New York, NY
Dive Bar · Alphabet City · 53 tips and reviews

DensDens: When we were still working on foursquare out of my apt, this place was where the very first "pop-up tip" actually worked ("At EV Tavern? Try the fries!") That's when I knew we were onto something good

12. The Bowery Electric

6.4
327 Bowery (at E 2nd St.), New York, NY
Music Venue · East Village · 85 tips and reviews

DensDens: We threw a massive party here on the eve that Google shut down dodgeball. @harryh made t-shirts (I still have some), me & @arainert DJed & @naveen and I launched foursquare a week later @ SXSW 2009.

Bleecker Street Bar is one of A brief history of foursquare.

13. Bleecker Street Bar

56 Bleecker St (at Crosby St), New York, NY
Bar · NoHo · 103 tips and reviews

DensDens: Bleecker Bar may be the home to the very first checkin ever (2001?) One of the orignal use cases from the dodgeball.com days: "I want to know when my friends are at the bar watching a baseball game."

Verlaine Bar & Lounge is one of A brief history of foursquare.

14. Verlaine Bar & Lounge

7.8
110 Rivington St (btwn Ludlow & Essex St.), New York, NY
Lounge · Lower East Side · 190 tips and reviews

DensDens: Where I met @harryh for the first time (2005). It was a few mos before the dball/Goog deal went thru, but HarryH (a Goog eng) knew the deets & pitched me on wanting to work w/ us once we got to Goog.

Angry Wade's is one of A brief history of foursquare.

15. Angry Wade's

224 Smith St (at Butler St.), Brooklyn, NY
Sports Bar · Boerum Hill · 62 tips and reviews

DensDens: Back in October 2004, my buddy Alex & I were here watching a Red Sox/Yankees playoff game when we got the call from Google saying that they wanted to buy Dodgeball.com (the predecessor to Foursquare)

Little Cupcake Bakeshop is one of A brief history of foursquare.

16. Little Cupcake Bakeshop

8.5
30 Prince St (at Mott St), New York, NY
Cupcake Shop · NoLita · 320 tips and reviews

DensDens: After years of R&D, it was here where 4SQ's "Pilgrim" technology *actually worked* for the very first time (Aug 16, 2013). This was Foursquare's "invented the Flux Capacitor" moment. :)

17. Village Voice

80 Maiden Ln (at Liberty St), New York, NY
Office · Financial District · 3 tips and reviews

DensDens: The building was home to Foursquare's very first offices (2009-2012). We grew from 2 to 100+ people in this space. No trip down memory lane is complete w/out a pint at The Scratcher across the street.

18. Foursquare HQ

568 Broadway Fl 10 (at Prince St), New York, NY
Tech Startup · SoHo · 188 tips and reviews

DensDens: This spot was 4SQ's home for 6 yrs (2012-2018). A lot of great products & technology were built here. To whomever occupies this space in the future, enjoy the great energy Team 4SQ has left behind.

19. Foursquare HQ

50 W 23rd St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY
Tech Startup · Flatiron District · 49 tips and reviews

DensDens: First! :)  Behold our new Corporate HQ... the "appropriate amount of fancy" for a biz 9 yrs in the marking that's been inventing the future of location tech every step of the way! Welcome everyone!