West 42nd St. Coterie
The West 42nd Street Coterie was a bohemian group that often gathered at Ada Clare’s home. Clare, the “queen” of the Bohemian circle at Pfaff’s, played a pivotal role in maintaining the Bohemian society during this time. She provided a congenial atmosphere for the Pfaffians during her Sunday night receptions: “Ada Clare was magnetic in addition to her mental brightness and store of maternal treasures inherited from her family, and with her wealth and beauty she attracted the higher grades of men and women” (Rawson 103). Rose Eytinge recalls that “there, of a Sunday evening, could be found a group of men and women, all of whom had distinguished themselves in various avenues,--in literature, art, music, drama, war, philanthropy. The women were beautiful and brilliant, the men clever and distinguished” (21). Many members of the coterie may also have been frequenters of Pfaff’s, such as: Stephen Pearl Andrews, Anna Ballard, Joel Benton, Myron Benton, Albert Brisbane, Charles Elliott, William Fry, Benjamin Masset, Christopher Oscanyan, Dr. Edward Ruggles, Charles Seymour, and Mary Freeman Goldbeck.
