Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

By James Maher

Name: Jasmin Olmo (and Rocko)
Occupation: Stay at home mother, Medical Assistant
Location: 9th Street and Avenue C
Time: 3:15 on Sunday, April 7

I’m 28 and I’ve lived in this area all my life. Right now I’m home with the kids and my husband works. I have two kids, an eight year old and a four year old, but I do have my certificate as a Medical Assistant. I did that for a year and then decided to take some time to take care of my kids. Hopefully once my son is in regular school then I can go back to work.

My grandparents were from Puerto Rico. My grandmother was born there. I believe she came here when she was a teenager with her mother. I think they came for a better life and everybody was moving here at that time. My grandmother cleaned houses but mostly she was a homemaker. She had 7 kids and her first very young so she was mostly home with them. I had my mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother here. My daughter was able to see these generations of women and the family. We have a lot of family. My grandmother has 22 grandchildren. I’m the 22nd. I’m the baby.

Both my parents were from the neighborhood and they met very young, in junior high school, and they were together ever since. My father was a Marine and then he worked for Sanitation. My mom also cleaned houses when she was young and then there was a point in her life where things were really rough. Both of them are now deceased, so it’s great hearing stories about them being young and the things they’ve done. My mom was a wild one when she was young. Hearing stories about her, it’s like, “Okay I’m definitely not like my mother.” That’s one thing that my grandmother used to always say to me, she was like, “You, next to your mother, you are an angel. Your mother used to do some crazy stuff.”

I can tell you, there are these projects on Avenue D, they start on 6th Street and go down to Houston Street, called the Lillian Wald Houses. My grandmother was one of the first tenants to move into those projects. She knew everyone who moved in and all of the families that were there for all those years. She was head of the tenant patrol for years. I probably have a family member in each project. We have family throughout the whole neighborhood and everyone knows each other. My Aunt still lives over there.

Me and my friends would run around the projects playing manhunt, playing hide and seek, and my mom would be in front of one building and I’m on the whole other side of the project. She didn’t have to worry because she knew everybody and everybody knew us, so if I was doing anything wrong they were definitely going to tell her. We would play manhunt and there would be like 10 of us in the elevator acting stupid and we’d get stuck in there for like two hours, hot as hell, in the summer, just hoping and praying that nobody’s parent would find out. But of course, somebody would find out. We caused a lot of trouble growing up but she didn’t have to worry about us. Nowadays it’s really different. I won’t let my daughter go downstairs to the store by herself or walk to school by herself. That’s the sad thing about it.

On my block on 10th Street on the weekends everybody’s outside playing music and somebody’s always having a party. If you walk down 10th Street between B and C, there’s always going to be people out. But I remember in the summer you could walk down Avenue D and everybody was outside with their kids. I mean everybody, in front of the stores just hanging out. The East River, I remember when I was like 7 or 8, every weekend in the summer they would have music out there. They would have a DJ in one spot and a Spanish band in another and have food. That’s what I can remember about being in this neighborhood. There was always music and food and people dancing and rejoicing and just hanging out and kids running around. Back then you didn’t have to worry about your kids running around. Nowaways it’s not like that anymore. You’ll see people here and there but a lot of people left. They’re out in Florida or down south. If you go to Miami you’ll see a bunch of people that you know from your neighborhood.

The only time you see a whole bunch of people now is during the Loisaida Festival. Every May, every Memorial Weekend, they have a big festival down Avenue C. It’s right before the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, so you’ll see a lot of people selling flags and t-shirts and there’s all types of food. You can come and eat, they have some rides for the kids, and they usually have like five Spanish bands come out. People dance in the streets and the kids are running around. You’ll see people that you haven’t seen in years. Everybody comes back for Loisaida because they know they’ll see people that they haven’t seen in awhile. They come back to see family and friends. That’s always fun to see.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.