[Astor Place circa the early 1980s by Carole Teller]
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has an addition to its online Historic Image Archive – a collection titled "Carole Teller’s Changing New York." (View it here.)
Here's part of an email Monday via GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman:
Carole is an artist who has lived in the East Village since the early 1960s, who has generously donated to GVSHP over 500 photographic images she took of Lower Manhattan and all of New York from the early 1960s to the early 1990s.
[T]hey show an incredible story of change in New York over the last half century. Carole had a keen and prescient eye catching things on the verge of change, erasure, demolition, restoration, or renewal. All her pictures capture slices of New York that are both familiar and foreign, since every one of these images captures a scene which in one way or another no longer exists, at least as portrayed.
Berman shared a sampling of Teller's photos... (all reprinted with permission)...
Bocce Court at First Park, from First Street west of First Avenue looking to south side of East Houston Street ... circa 1963...
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50-52 Second Ave, southeast corner at Third Street ... circa late 1970s...
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36 St. Mark's Place, south side, just west of Second Avenue, next to Gem Spa ... circa early 1980s...
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St. Mark's Place, just west of Second Avenue ... circa 1980...
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Second Avenue, west side between Second and Third Streets, looking south ... circa 1969 ...
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...and an undated photo of 113 Avenue A near Seventh Street — Ray's Candy Store...
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Prints of all these images are available for sale through the website, with proceeds benefitting GVSHP.
16 comments:
Jack Klugman and Jan Sterling play a heartless couple bent on kidnapping a young girl who lives on East 2nd Street. "The Tragic Success of Alfred Tiloff," an episode of Naked City, was broadcast on Nov. 8, 1961. They walk north past the classically architectured Nativity Church before it burned down, and stand in front of the ice cream parlor, which was next to a hat shop. Around the corner from them on East 3rd was not Maryhouse, but the Third Street Music School.
These photos are phenomenal. Thank you!
I just wish I had been around during these periods.
The young girl was innocently drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, across the street from the Marble Cemetery. But no parental supervision! She's out there alone, an easy mark for friendly-seeming folks who might buy her an ice cream cone at the fountain, or take her someplace and put her to sleep with an evil potion. But Klugman's character is not really so cold-hearted, he has qualms about going through with the plot. Think I'm going to tell you how this comes out? Wrong -- you have to start watching reruns of Naked City. The final episode of the series is a shootout in front of the theater on East 4th Street. Steven Hill is dressed as a cop, but he's not really a cop. You can't make these things up...
Naked city was shown on the decades channel a while back. Mesmerizing. As are these photos.
Sharing economy photo compiling cannot even compare. Since it mostly involves a picture of a 15 dollar hamburger or pizza.
the picture of the Hare Krishnas looks more like the block between 4th St & 3rd St, looking south.
When the EV was fun. And edgy. And well... a life style all it's own.
Felton or any other Naked City fan, was there a Naked City episode that you can recall where the character (I think it was Martin Balsam) robs a jewelry store on Second Avenue to give a gift to his daughter getting married at St. Mark's Church down the street? I saw it a long time ago but haven't been able to locate it since. Thought you might recall it. Thanks!
I remember the bank of pay phones just west of Gem Spa... Great photos.
Great Photos Thx, and man,those pay phones at Gem Spa were our home phones in the era when having a phone in your home (now pocket)wasn't something everyone had that semi emptiness of the streets that's the thing is miss the most about the time period in these photos' a little local solitude was available to all at various times of the day glorious era to be a city explorer/walker
The photo of the presumably Italian guys (some in suits) playing bocci reminds me of the bocci court at Cunningham Park in Queens. I used to watch them play with a certain yearning but the kids never played, which is probably too bad, because it seemed more interesting than shuffleboard and the games were short and dramatic yet peaceful...
I wish I had been alive during the periods these photos were taken. NYC must have been a virtual playground then. Now, I don't know what NYC is now. I like it, don't get me wrong, sometimes I love it, but these photos encapsulate a frame of time and being that no longer exists.
I recognize my father's 1979 Oldsmobile (he had the same car) in the undated photo of Ray's, and the car looks a little beat up so very likely early 80's.
I want that photo!
1984. Graffiti on the right.
Holy crap these are amazing!
Those were the best of times. Is that my favorite piano man dragging the piano down St. Marks Place, the one who used to play under the Washington Square Park arch all day? The sounds he created under the arch on a warm summer night were dark and haunting. The streets were much more open and free back then, without the hordes of Bros and Taylor Swift fans walking five abreast, yielding to no one. (Zen Pro tip: whn these groups approach you from the other direction, just stop and become one with the pavement. They will quickly split up and go around you).
You can still get Breyer's ice cream in the supermarket, but what ever happened to Sealtest ice cream? I'm sure there are tons of it buried in landfill since it probably wasn't even biodegradable. Along with TAB soda. See all those Fountain Service signs? We had just as many places thhat served candy, ice cream, shakes and desserts back then as we have today, probably more, only they also served counter food and sold newspapers etc. And they were affordable to any kid who wanted an egg cream, some Bazooka bubble gum with the comics, or an ice cream cone.
We used to play a trick with those payphones where you dialed a certain number and hung up. All the phones would start ringing at once. making a total racket, and some adult would come and pick them up one at a time, confused as to why every phone was ringing but no one was on the line. It worked every time.
Yup, @Shawn G. Chittle.
I know that Oldsmobile, too. That shot of Ray's is early 80's.
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