According to legend, the Queen of Sheba heard of the great and wise King Solomon of Israel and journeyed to see him. They hit it off and she came back pregnant. That child was named Menelik I.

When he became a man, Menelik went to see Solomon. The king didn't believe Menelik's story until he saw the ring that he had given Queen Sheba. Solomon rejoiced, and gave Menelik a parting gift- the Ark of the Covenant (some versions of the story say a fake ark was left).

For those of you who haven't seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark of the Covenant is the chest that contains the remnants of the tablets that Moses inscribed the ten commandments on under divine instruction.

After a "divine heat" from the tablets (or Tabot in Ethiopia) cracked the stones of the Old Church, a new Chapel of the Tablet (aka Tzion Maryam church) was built by Emperor Haile Selassie. Today, the tablets are only allowed to be seen by the guard of the tablets, who never leaves.

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Located in a building built in 1898 as a flophouse for transient men, the Village Gate nightclub opened at the corner of Bleeker and Thompson in 1958.

The Village Gate was a popular jazz club for many years. John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, and many more played here. Aretha Franklin had her NYC debut at the Village Gate.

From 1971 to 1973, a musical comedy revue called National Lampoon's Lemmings had a successful run at the Gate. Starring John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest, the show lampooned the 1969 Woodstock Festival, calling it Woodchuck.

In 2001, the off-Broadway theater in the basement, the Village Theater, hosted a play based on Janis Joplin called Love, Janis.

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Janis Joplin used to spend time at this location as a teenager and young adult when it was a coffee house. The youths would drink coffee, listen to music and read poetry.

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After Janis finished high school, she attended Port Arthur College (where her mother worked as a the registrar) and earned a key punch certificate.

Joplin would go on to study at Lamar University in Beaumont and at the University of Texas in Austin as an art major. Port Arthur College became Lamar State College-Port Arthur.

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Originally opened in a former filling station on the north outskirts of Austin, Threadgill's boasted the first beer license in the county. Janis Joplin cut her teeth singing at this juke joint.

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